Hairball Hijinks Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Hairball Hijinks (The Bad Hair Day Mysteries)

  Hairball Hijinks

  Trimmed to Death Excerpt

  Interview with Marla Vail

  Bonus Recipes

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Follow Nancy Online

  Books by Nancy J. Cohen

  Sign up for Nancy J. Cohen's Mailing List

  This story comes after Hair Brained, #14 in the Bad Hair Day Mysteries.

  Bonus One: An interview with Marla

  Bonus Two: 5 new recipes!

  Bonus Three: A sneak preview of Trimmed to Death

  Copyright © 2018 by Nancy J. Cohen

  Hairball Hijinks: A Bad Hair Day Cozy Mystery Short Story

  Published June 12, 2018 by Orange Grove Press

  Digital ISBN: 978-0-9985317-4-8

  Digital Layout by www.formatting4U.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This book is licensed for your personal use only. No part of this work may be used, reproduced, stored in an information retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written consent by the author. Any usage of the text, except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews, without the author’s permission is a violation of copyright.

  With thanks to Lois Crockett for suggesting the story title.

  Hairball Hijinks

  Marla Vail approached her friend Tally’s hospital room. The nurse on the phone said Tally had awakened from her coma, but was she alert? How much did she comprehend about what had happened? Had the doctor told her Ken had been killed in their car accident?

  Her heart thundering, she clutched the bouquet of flowers she’d bought in the gift shop downstairs. She stopped by the semi-private room where Tally had been transferred.

  “Hello?” she called in a tremulous voice. She entered on wobbly knees, afraid of what she might find.

  “Marla, I’m over here. Thank goodness you’ve come.” Tally gave a feeble wave from the bed near a window. Nobody occupied the space by the door.

  Marla rushed in, overwhelmed at the site of her best friend sitting up in bed. She plopped the flowers down on the windowsill and hugged Tally’s thin frame. She’d thought this day would never arrive.

  Stepping back, she studied Tally with moisture-filled eyes. “How are you feeling? It’s incredible to see you awake after all this time.”

  Her face wan, Tally regarded Marla with a tearful smile. “I’m still getting used to the idea of being alive. The doctors said you’ve visited often and took charge of everything. They also told me about Ken.”

  Marla sank onto the bedside and grasped her friend’s hand. “I’m so sorry, Tally. It’s horrible. We... Phil flew in to make arrangements. Your brother-in-law gave Ken a proper burial. We missed you being there.”

  “I’ll visit his gravesite when I get out of here. It’s hard for me to comprehend that Ken is gone and I’m a widow now. In fact, I can’t remember much of what happened that night.”

  “Do you want to talk about it, or is it too soon?” Marla withdrew her hand and took a deep, shaky breath. Her fears had dissipated that Tally might have recovered but with some residual deficits. Thank God she seemed normal in terms of her mental faculties. She didn’t appear to have any tremors or other neurological impairments, at least not anything overtly evident.

  “First tell me about Luke. Is my baby okay?” Tally asked.

  “Yes, he’s fine. Dalton and I love taking care of him. I don’t know if I’ll be able to give him back to you,” Marla said with a teasing grin. “Both of our mothers have been helping out, and we’ve found a reliable day care center. He’s been a joy.”

  “I’ll be forever grateful, Marla. Now I have to raise him without his father. I don’t know how I can manage.”

  “Ken had a generous life insurance policy. You won’t have to worry about the mortgage or Luke’s college fund. And once you’ve relocated your dress boutique, the income will help pay for his care.”

  Tally clapped a hand to her mouth. “Holy smokes, I haven’t even thought about my business. What’s happened at the shop? The girls must have had a fit when they didn’t hear from me.”

  “No problem. I’ve been consulting with your manager. Stacy has been handling things in your absence.”

  “Really? But you don’t understand. The landlord gave us a deadline.”

  “I know. A new owner bought the shopping center, and he’s chasing all the old tenants out. You might hate me for it, but I had to make the decision for you on whether or not to accept his termination offer.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I accepted his terms so you could get the bonus. In the meantime, I found a creative solution so you wouldn’t lose your stock. We’ll sell your dresses in my day spa lounge. There’s plenty of room, and it’ll be fun for our customers.”

  “That’s kind of you, Marla. I don’t deserve your generosity.”

  “Of course you do. You’re my best friend.”

  Outside in the corridor, rattling noises from a cart sounded along with a nurse’s voice. It must be medication time. At least Tally’s room was relatively quiet without any beeping noises from monitors and such. Come to think of it, all of Tally’s extraneous life support lines were gone. Most of her bruises were fading, but she must be weak from lying in bed for so long. Had the doctors mentioned anything to her about rehab?

  First things first, Marla told herself. Stick to the topic at hand.

  “Can I tell Stacy you’re awake?” she asked. “Your manager will want to come visit.”

  Tally gave a sigh. “I suppose I’ll have to reenter the world at some point, won’t I? I’m not sure I’m ready for visitors yet, though.”

  “I understand. You need time to mourn your husband.”

  Tally picked at the bedsheets. “That’s not all I have to process. I’m afraid I owe you a deep apology.”

  “What do you mean?” Marla had an inkling, but needed to hear it from her friend.

  “I hadn’t been myself before the accident. I kept things from you and withdrew from our relationship. And yet when push came to shove, you stepped in and did everything only the truest friend would do. I betrayed your trust.”

  “No, you didn’t. You had secrets to keep. It’s understandable under the circumstances.”

  “How much have you learned?”

  “Pretty much everything.” Marla briefed her on what had happened. “Dalton will want to speak to you.” Her husband, a homicide detective, had been involved in the case. So had people from the state’s insurance fraud division, who might want to interview Tally.

  “I’m not surprised about Darryl. When Ken told me his suspicions regarding someone in the office, he swore me to secrecy. He didn’t know who he could trust or how far this thing reached. It could have involved any one of his employees, although I’d always thought Darryl had an attitude.”

  “He was being used by Liam Kelton. How did you get onto the man? I presume you didn’t suspect him initially of being a lead figure in the fraud scheme.”

  Tally shifted her position. One of her pillows slid down, and Marla reached over to adjust it.

  “I discovered a letter from my mother hidden in an old cookbook. It hinted at an affair she’d had before her marriage. If my father found out about it, that could be what led to their divorce. But who was this other man
, and what was his relation to me? I did the math and didn’t like my conclusions. The person who wrote the letter was Liam, a married man with children.”

  “So you went to Central Florida to talk about your mother?”

  “Yes, and to ask him about our relationship. There was a good possibility Liam was my biological father. He treated the whole thing as a hoax meant to blackmail him or to cast scandal upon his good name.”

  “That was a valid fear on his part. The man had political ambitions. If you turned out to be his daughter, the news could rock his marriage as well as his hopes for the future. He set you up as a target the night of the accident to get you out of his way.”

  “I thought the crash had to do with the fraud investigation.”

  “Darryl may have caused the accident, but he was acting under orders from Liam. He forced the female agent they’d captured to call Ken. Ken rushed out of the house to rescue her. You would have been home alone with Luke. But when you changed your plans, Darryl forced your car off the road. Meanwhile, you left Luke with Mrs. Phelps who was Liam’s sister. She’d been planted there to keep an eye on you and make sure you didn’t rat him out.”

  Tally covered her face with her hands. “How could I have been so gullible? Mrs. Phelps might have harmed Luke.”

  “Yes, but she didn’t. Mrs. Phelps regarded Luke as her nephew and wanted to raise him as her own child. She had a warped sense of entitlement and would never have hurt him.”

  Marla neglected to tell Tally how Liam had threatened to drop Luke into a canal unless Dalton let him escape. It had been his sister who’d thwarted his plans for the baby’s sake.

  “There’s so much I kept from you,” Tally confessed in a tearful tone. “I couldn’t stand staying home all the time with the baby. Instead of enjoying our time together, I got depressed. So I joined a ladies’ tea circle. We met in different places, and it was fun. But Rissa acted strange, and I started to get uncomfortable around her.”

  “Tell me about it. I met the women when I was tracking your movements. They were all a bit weird. I liked Edie, who told me about the Safety First Alliance and their efforts to prevent children from dying in hot cars. I’ve volunteered for their organization, so at least one good thing came out of those meetups. Did you ever figure out what Rissa was doing on the side?”

  “Not really. Something was going on with her, but I couldn’t pinpoint it. She invited me to a party at her house. I didn’t go and decided to cut things off with the group.”

  “That was a wise decision, but we can talk more about it another time. Where do you go from here? Have the doctors mentioned rehab?” Marla didn’t want to heap too much information on Tally at once. It was best to focus on her physical recovery and the grieving process.

  “I need to rebuild my strength. My muscles have wasted despite the therapy they’d done to maintain my mobility while I was unconscious. So it looks like I’ll be headed to the rehab center for a while.”

  Marla gave her a gentle smile. “Don’t worry about Luke. He’s fine with us. I’ve been taking care of your mail and other household matters, so don’t even think about coming home until you’re ready.”

  Tally bent her head. “How will you ever forgive me for shutting you out? I swear I’ll never keep secrets between us again.”

  Marla reached over to hug her. “Hey, you’ll never get rid of me. I am here for you, now and always.”

  ****

  After weeks of rehab, Tally had finally been discharged and allowed to go home. Marla had settled her in yesterday, giving her time to mourn Ken’s loss and to adjust to life on her own. Today she was bringing Luke to leave in his mother’s care. Tally had been thrilled to see her child during the brief visits allowed at the rehab center. Hereafter, Marla would be the visitor if she wanted to see Luke again.

  She shut off the engine and emerged into the balmy spring air. In her trunk, she’d put some of the baby items she had borrowed from Tally’s house. Dalton would bring the rest over later. Emptiness frayed her heartstrings as she unfastened Luke from his car seat.

  How she’d miss him! She’d enjoyed watching his cute facial expressions and hugging his soft body. She’d miss his gurgles and coos as she fussed over him at his daily bath. For one last time, she kissed the soft spot on his temple and sniffed his baby essence. How could she let him go?

  Nonetheless, it was her duty to deliver him to his mother. For months, she had prayed her caretaker role would be temporary and Tally would regain her senses. Now that the moment had arrived, Marla clung to Luke.

  Even as she embraced him, the front door flung open and Tally rushed outside.

  “Luke, my baby! You’re home!” Tally took him from Marla’s outstretched arms and held him close. “Oh God, Marla, what would I have done without you? You’re my savior. I owe you and Dalton an eternal debt.”

  “Nonsense; you owe us nothing. We’re honored you chose us to look after your son. We’ve loved caring for Luke. It’s hard to leave him.” Marla’s voice hitched, and she blinked rapidly as moisture tipped her lashes.

  Be happy for your friend, she admonished herself. Don’t show her how much this hurts.

  “You’re welcome to come over anytime,” Tally said. “No more secrets between us, and no formalities either.”

  “I know. Let me get the car seat and then I’ll join you in the house.” She turned away so Tally wouldn’t see her eyes glistening. Happy and sad at the same time, she unfastened the device from the back of the car.

  Luke wailed as the distance between them grew farther. The sound shot darts into her heart. He’d become familiar with Marla’s face and now would have to readjust to his mother.

  Carrying the seat in one hand and the diaper bag in another, she followed Tally into the house. She plopped the items on the floor in the foyer.

  “I’m in the kitchen,” Tally called.

  Marla sauntered inside, pleased to see Tally bustling around like normal. She’d fastened her blond hair into a ponytail. In the rehab center, Tally was finally able to get a proper hair wash. Marla would like to get her into the salon for a good conditioning treatment and a trim.

  “I’ve put Luke down for a nap,” Tally said. “He may be too excited to sleep, but we’ll have a few minutes. Would you like a cup of coffee? I went food shopping this morning and bought some chocolate chip cookies if you want one.”

  “Still the chocolate addict, are you?” Marla’s throat constricted. She’d feared her friend might never be the same. Thank the Lord for giving Tally back her life.

  “I need to satisfy my sweet tooth,” Tally replied. “Maybe it’ll give me some energy. I get tired so quickly.”

  “That’s to be expected after the ordeal you’ve been through. You’ll regain your strength. The housekeeper I hired will be arriving soon. She’ll fix your dinner while you tend to Luke. Dalton has vetted her, so her credentials check out. Do you want me to stay until she comes?”

  “No, thanks. You’ve done so much already. I don’t want to take up too much of your time.” Tally poured her a cup of coffee from the coffeemaker carafe and put a carton of cream on the table. “It seems so odd here without Ken. I can’t believe he isn’t coming home.”

  “When you’re ready, Dalton can help you sort through his things if you wish. But take one step at a time, or you’ll feel overwhelmed.”

  Marla should write down a list of all the items she and Dalton had accomplished in Tally’s absence. They’d already taken care of insurance, credit cards, and billing. But Tally would have to contact those companies so their correspondence reverted back to her address. And she’d need to switch the household accounts into her name. But these matters could wait until later.

  “Thanks for keeping up with the mail,” Tally said as though reading her mind. “That’s a chore in itself.”

  “Everything will get done. Remember that Dalton and I are available whenever you need us.”

  “I know, and I love you. You’re like a sister to me
.” Tally hugged her before they broke apart and took seats at the kitchen table.

  Marla took a sip of coffee to ease her tight throat. An inner glow filled her. She had her friend back. Together, they’d face whatever life threw at them next.

  Unfortunately, life threw a curveball their way before Marla could even finish her drink. A loud knock sounded in the foyer.

  Hearing Luke begin to wail, she stood. “I’ll get it. You take care of the baby,” she told Tally. Marla hastened to the front door. After a glance through the peephole, she opened the door to face an elderly woman with white hair.

  “I heard you were taking care of Tally’s affairs after her accident, and I recognized your car in the driveway. You have to help me,” said the lady with a frantic expression.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe we’ve met.”

  “I’m one of Tally’s neighbors. I understand you’ve a reputation for solving crimes. Thanks to your efforts, the police discovered who hurt Tally and her husband. Poor thing to lose her man that way. Now my guy is missing. I can’t find Mr. Stanton anywhere.”

  “What do you mean?” Did the woman really address her spouse in that formal manner?

  “I went out on some errands. When I got back, he was gone. I don’t know how he could have slipped out of the house on his own.”

  Marla gave her a sharp glance. She wanted to learn more, but Luke had quieted, and she didn’t dare risk waking the baby by asking this person inside. Besides, it wasn’t her house. She didn’t have that right.

  However, Marla couldn’t turn the woman away. Her natural inclination was to help people, so she stepped outside and shut the door behind her. The first order of business was to determine if this lady was legit or a scam artist preying on folks in the community.

  “Which house is yours?” she asked.

  The lady pointed down the street. “I’m at number, um...” A momentary confusion showed on her face. “It’s that beige house with the white columns. I have the fake flowers planted in front. What’s the point of real ones when you have to water and fertilize them and replant in the spring?”