“Actually, I was thinking you might have a chat with their daughter, Kristi.” Jane rushed on before Sunny could interrupt with objections. “I happen to know where she’ll be from about noon till one tomorrow. I always bump into her at the beauty salon.”
“It’s a small world,” Sunny said.
“I can switch you into my appointment,” Jane went on, her enthusiasm growing. “And you can do your reporter thing on her. It would be perfect. And you know you need a trim, Sunny. Come on. I’ll pick up the tab.”
“All right,” Sunny capitulated. “On one condition. You’ll have to cover for me at the office. If any important calls come in, you’ll have to get me on my cell.”
They made the necessary arrangements, with Sunny silently shaking her head. If Ollie Barnstable caught wind of this, she’d probably end up owing him a week’s work.
*
The next morning went smoothly enough. The good news was that Ollie didn’t turn up to try and make life difficult. Jane arrived at the office early, so Sunny had a chance to get her set up comfortably. Then Sunny got in her Wrangler and headed for the salon. The place was actually on the outskirts of Saxon, the next town up the coast, which in recent years had gone considerably upscale, and this beauty parlor was definitely part of that process. It wasn’t just a hairdressing establishment anymore; it was a day spa—not that Sunny had a day to spend there.
She sat in a gown provided by the management, waiting for her shampoo and looking over the other clients. Kristi Venables was easy to spot. Most of the customers were somewhat older than Sunny. Kristi looked like a younger edition of her mom, her face perhaps a bit plumper, with the start of bags under her eyes.
As the two youngest people waiting for treatments, it was easy enough to strike up a conversation with Kristi. “It’s nice to get away from the job for a little bit, even if it’s only a long lunch hour,” Sunny said.
Kristi sighed. “I just wish I had a job to get away from. When I graduated college, I thought I was lucky, scoring a public relations gig in Boston. I thought the two summers I’d worked for them as an unpaid intern were paying off.”
She scowled. “But then they laid off my whole department, I couldn’t keep my place in Boston, and I ended up back here with my folks. Do you know how hard it is to get a PR job around these parts?”
Actually, Sunny did. When she couldn’t find any journalism work, she had made the rounds for any job that might use her skills at writing copy. “You probably have a better shot than a lot of people,” she said, trying to put some sympathy in her voice. “You’ve got some experience, but not so much that you’d price yourself out of the market here.”
Kristi looked a little surprised. “I never thought of it that way. All I’d see when I went on interviews was a lot of people with better résumés than mine.”
“A better résumé doesn’t necessarily get you a job—not when a company figures you’ll be out the door as soon as you can use that résumé to find a better salary.” She’d had several interviews where she’d heard as much. “You just have to keep trying.”
“That’s for sure,” Kristi said. “I hate depending on my mom and dad for everything. I’m even on their insurance again. I kinda need it, since I have asthma. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
She looked very young for a moment. “Most of the time, it’s not like I’m even with them. Dad’s away in Augusta, ‘running the state,’ as he likes to say. And Mom isn’t home much. Sometimes I think they just don’t like to see me hanging around.”
“Maybe we just majored in the wrong stuff in college,” Sunny suggested with a smile. “We should have gone out for something more practical, like being a vet.”
Kristi laughed. “I don’t think my allergies would let me do that. And maybe it’s more dangerous than you think. A vet got killed in Portsmouth last week! My mom used to bring our dog to him, and do you know what? The cops came yesterday, asking questions. I guess they must be getting desperate if they thought my mom could tell them anything.”
Sunny kept her voice light. “What was it like? Were they all, ‘Where were you on the night of the twenty-third?’”
She did her best cop voice, and Kristi laughed again. “You know, you’re pretty close. They did ask where Mom had been, but as it turns out, she was home with me all evening. She was supposed to go out, but then she didn’t.”
