Read Online Killer Blonde by Elaine Viets - Free Book Online Page B

the head scarf and gloves she found in the pocket. She was glad it was a chilly night.
    The security guard at the lobby door said, “Good night, Miss Vicki.”
    Minfreda said nothing, which was typical Vicki. Her late boss didn’t waste words on the hired help.
    She drove Vicki’s 1968 pink Mustang convertible. Minfreda longed to put the top down and feel the wind in her hair, but she didn’t dare. She didn’t want anyone looking at her too closely.
    Vicki’s home was in a subdivision with square houses on square blocks. It was pink, of course. Minfreda let herself in with Vicki’s keys.
    Inside, the place was a pulsating pink. The living room was pink and black, a sleek modern design that Minfreda liked. She thought it looked sophisticated.
    The bathroom was pink, right down to the pom-pom poodle cover on the toilet paper.
    The bedroom was a mad welter of pink ruffles—on the bedspread, the lamp shades, and the curtains. It was like walking into a live peony. All that throbbing color left Minfreda queasy, but the only thing she could find to soothe her stomach was Pepto-Bismol.
    Minfreda kept on Vicki’s pink gloves while she packed her boss’s clothes, shoes, and makeup in three pink suitcases. She also took Vicki’s checkbook and savings account passbook, plus three hundred in cash she found in Vicki’s lingerie drawer when she packed up her clothes. She cut up the credit cards and left them on the kitchen table, along with the note she’d typed at the office. It was addressed to Vicki’s sister.
    Dear Val,
it said.
It’s time you had a little fun. I won’t be needing my Mustang convertible where I’m going.
    That was certainly true. But Minfreda hoped Val believed her sister had taken off for Tahiti or Timbuktu. She also hoped that if Val got the Mustang, she wouldn’t look too hard for Vicki.
    The keys are on the kitchen table,
the letter said.
My rent is paid through the end of the month, and there’s a first and last months’ security deposit to cover any other expenses. Please give anything you don’t want in the house to Goodwill.
    Minfreda took an empty shopping bag, then locked up Vicki’s house.
    Fort Lauderdale has miles of canals. Minfreda drove to a deep-water canal and dropped the heavy suitcases off a bridge. She stood on the bridge, waiting to see if the luggage burst open and the clothes floated to the top. Her luck held, and so did the suitcases. They sank like concrete.
    Minfreda neatly folded the pink coat, gloves, and scarf into the shopping bag and took a bus back to the office. It was midnight when she got to the company parking lot and slipped into her own car.
    At eight the next morning, Minfreda put on the pink coat, scarf, and gloves one last time. She stopped at the bank and withdrew all Vicki’s money. Minfreda planned to use the money to maintain her blonde hair. She would never be called “Mouse” again.
    She dropped the pink coat, scarf, and gloves in an apartment Dumpster on the way to work. Minfreda tucked the pink bundle under an old carpet, which gave her a sense of completion.
    Minfreda was at the office at 9:00 A.M ., looking refreshed and rested.
    And why not? She’d gotten away with murder.

Chapter 9
    Suddenly, there was silence.
    Helen realized it was not 1970. She was back in the present, sitting by the pool at the Coronado. Her wineglass was empty. Margery’s cigarette glowed in the darkness, like an alien eye.
    â€œThat’s it?” Helen said. “How did you know Vicki was dead? Or that Minfreda killed her? Did Minfreda confess?”
    â€œOh, no,” Margery said, refilling the glasses. “She never said a word.”
    Helen felt woozy from the wine, and oddly cheated.
    Margery seemed to read her mood. “This blonde got away with murder, remember? People who get away with crimes don’t go around bragging that they killed someone.”
    Right,