Read Online Bad Hair 8 - Day Perish By Pedicure by Nancy J. Cohen - Free Book Online Page A

the hotel staff found out and told me. She had a prescription bottle in her bathroom.”
    “Oh, yeah? Was it something she took regularly? I wonder if seizures might be an adverse side effect.”
    “I’m not a pharmacist—how should I know?” Jan shrugged. “I gather people don’t usually pop those pills like tranquilizers. It’s likely Chris had some sort of disorder.”
    “Was she close enough to anyone on the Luxor team to have shared confidences?” Marla asked.
    “Not in the way you mean, darling. No one knew her secrets, not even the guys she bedded. With her, it was more a control thing, you know?”
    They arrived at the booth, and Marla abandoned further speculation for the moment. Jan assessed their progress and smoothly got the operation underway. By noon they’d set the stage and laid out all the products on the sales counters.
    “Let’s grab lunch,” Jan told the assembled crew, “and then we’ll head over to Marla’s salon. The models are supposed to arrive by one o’clock. Amy Jeanne, you’ll stay here to orient the store managers when they come in.”
    Miguel, bobbing his head to music from his iPod, raised his hand. “I don’t have to go, do I? If I stay here, I can pass out flyers to the other exhibitors.”
    “Good point Tyler, why don’t you guard the booth and talk up our products to anyone who walks by? And you’ll have to dispose of those empty cartons. There’s not supposed to be any visible trash.”
    Listening to her made Marla weary. For an energy boost, she bought a mandarin orange chicken salad in a takeout container at the food court. Wandering into the convention center lobby, she elected to eat at one of the tables set up by a coffee bar, away from the loud din of drills and hammers. Georgia, who’d trailed after her, slumped into the opposite seat.
    “I’m glad a few people are staying behind,” Marla confessed. ‘That will make for less confusion at the salon. You and Jan from the sales team, Liesl and myself to assist Sampson and Ron. How many models will there be?”
    Georgia scrunched her eyes. “Six for the cutand-style demos. Sampson wants them to display our spring palette. We need to work on their coloring today, although some are scheduled for perms or other processing first.”
    Bless my bones, how are they going to crowd so many people into the salon? “Just how do you expect us to get all these models done? I hadn’t planned to keep my place open late.”
    “Don’t worry, Amy got their costume measurements already, and we still have tomorrow morning for prep work. Ron said we could use his hotel room if we need extra space.”
    By one-thirty only five girls had checked in, and Ron was missing. Standing by the curb outside, Jan hailed a couple of taxis. “I’ll go over to your salon with Sampson and this bunch. Liesl, you’re with me since you have to assist our artistic director. Find Ron,” she ordered Marla and her friend, “then meet us there. I have a hunch you might find him in his room. He may have already started prepping one of the models.”
    “I’ll go look,” Marla told Georgia, whose haggard expression concerned her. Back inside the hotel lobby, she pointed to a comfy seating arrangement. “Wait for me there. If you need a brief snooze, go ahead.”
    Anxious to proceed to her salon to head off whatever disasters might occur, she hustled to the elevators. Ron’s room was on the tenth floor. Once inside the lift, she sagged against a wall. This day kept getting longer, and if every show was so exhausting, she’d rethink her decision to participate next time. But it could just be that Chris’s death had put a pall over their energy. Sighing, she added another cup of coffee to her mental priority list.
    “I’ll be right there,” Ron’s voice shouted in response to her knocking on his door. A moment later, he swung the door wide while she blinked at him. He wore a white towel tucked around his waist and nothing else. Behind