Facials Can Be Fatal by Nancy J. Cohen

Author:Nancy J. Cohen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning
Published: 2017-07-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

“How did you get that journal?” Mrs. Dale demanded.

“Val must have left instructions for this book to be sent to a friend in the event of her death. The friend, one of our customers, thought I should pass it on to my husband.”

“Oh, my. I never guessed . . . I never thought—”

“Wait. You mailed it to Nadia?”

Mrs. Dale gazed out the window. “I was following Miss Val’s wishes and figured Nadia already knew what was inside.”

“Nadia did admit she and Val knew each other’s secrets. Do you know what this is about, Mrs. Dale?”

The woman’s lips compressed. “All I’ll say is that Miss Val felt torn after she read that book, but she wasn’t at fault for her father’s sins.”

Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. “Who is the Warren fellow who wrote it? Was it someone Val knew?”

“Warren was her father. Miss Val took on her mother’s family name after her divorce. Once she’d read those pages, she was glad of her choice.”

“Did her father share this book with her while he was still alive?”

“No, Miss Val discovered it while sorting through his things after he died.”

Marla squirmed with impatience, wishing to get to the heart of the secrets. “What happened during his early trip to Florida?”

Mrs. Dale plucked at her apron. “Something nobody wanted to talk about, then or now.”

Marla tried another tack. “I take it Val’s dad married into wealth?”

The housekeeper nodded, her expression easing at the safer topic. “The mother was a Weston. They made their fortune from Florida’s East Coast Railroad in the 1890s. Miss Val didn’t have an easy childhood, trying to live up to her parents’ expectations. Her sister, Miss Cathy, was better suited in that regard. Miss Val tried to please them once by marrying, but it didn’t work out. She claimed the guy was only after her money and got a divorce.”

“I hear the former husband remarried and lives in California.”

“He did all right for himself. I often wonder if Miss Val’s the one who did him an injustice.”

“How so?” Marla leaned forward, her shoulders aching from inactivity. She wanted to rise and pace the room but maintained her seat so as not to disrupt the flow of conversation. Mrs. Dale seemed eager to talk, as though she couldn’t trust the other staff members enough to confide in them.

Mrs. Dale’s gaze darted toward the door. “You might ask her friend Nadia that question.”

Marla let a weighty pause come between them. “Why did Val give this book to you for safekeeping rather than the trustee of her estate?”

The housekeeper gave her a narrowed glance. “She wasn’t too happy with him, that’s why. At first, she loved the guy like an uncle, but lately she’d begun to suspect he hadn’t fallen far from the tree.”

“Meaning?”

“Like father, like son.”

Marla gritted her teeth in frustration. Mrs. Dale wasn’t going to give up any names. About to whip out the photos on her cell phone that Jason had sent, she had a better idea.

“I’d love to see an album of Val’s childhood to get a better sense of her personality.

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