Shop Til You Drop Dead (A Hollis Brannigan Mystery) by Dorothy Howell

Author:Dorothy Howell [Howell, Dorothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dorothy Howell
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

I swung into Carlotta Cain’s driveway, grabbed the garment bag out of the back, and hurried up the sidewalk determined to make this quick. If I pushed hard I could get to Allison’s house, then Genevieve’s. Barbara was going to call soon and I absolutely had to have some concrete information for her about Edith’s death. Then I could make it back to the office and package my off-listers’ items for the afternoon delivery.

The front door was closed and locked this time, so I knocked and rang the bell twice. A few minutes dragged by and finally the door opened a crack. Half of Carlotta’s face peered out at me.

“I have your gown,” I told her, and held up the garment bag. I put some enthusiasm into my voice, hoping it would speed things along. “It’s perfect. Just what you wanted.”

She glared at me for a few more seconds, then her gaze darted around as if someone was lurking behind me. Finally she opened the door and stepped back. She had on the same caftan and jewelry I’d seen her in on my previous visits.

“Here you are running around, taking your own sweet time, doing to suit yourself,” she said, shaking her head in disgust.

I fought off the urge to be annoyed by her attitude. Carlotta, after all, had always lived alone with no family to break up her day, drop by, or intrude on her. She wasn’t used to accommodating anyone else’s schedule.

“You’re going to love this,” I said, holding the garment bag a little higher and hoping to distract her—and get this visit over with.

“You young girls,” Carlotta grumbled, as I followed her through the foyer and into the living room. A musty gloom clouded the dim room. The television was on; the figure of a young woman was frozen on the screen.

“That’s you,” I realized, pointing at the TV.

The image was of Carlotta as a much younger woman, probably in her early twenties. Her hair and makeup were done to perfection and she wore a slinky dress and stiletto shoes.

Carlotta glanced at the screen, then turned to me. “You young girls these days, you don’t know what it used to be like. How things were. What we had to deal with.”

It was a party scene. Her head was thrown back, her smile wide, her eyes alive with laughter.

“Always at the mercy for studio heads, producers, directors, casting agents,” she said, her voice rising a little. “Sweep things under the rug. Pretend they didn’t happen—that they didn’t matter. Do what they said—or else. Do it—and still they’re not happy.”

I’d been down memory lane with Carlotta and her back-in-my-day tirades on my previous visits. This time my annoyance edged toward sadness. How could that lovely, successful young girl on the screen have turned into the bitter woman standing before me?

“You never told me where you’re wearing the gown,” I said, unzipping the garment bag. “Some place awesome, I’ll bet.”

Carlotta, lost in the image of herself on the television, slowly turned to me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.