Corpse Suzette

“I’m sure it’s listed in our
inventory.”
    After a minute or so of
searching, she found it. “Here you go. That’s right; I remember now. It’s
called Bot-Avanti. It’s the latest thing on the market.”
    “And why would Suzette have
switched to it, if you know?” Myrna gave a little sniff. “It’s cheaper.”
    “It costs less per bottle?”
    “Well, no. It’s actually
expensive initially. But it’s much more concentrated.”
    Savannah nodded. She couldn’t
wait to get back to Dirk with this little tidbit. “And they keep a good stock
of it here at Emerge?”
    Myrna squinted at the
screen. “Actually, there’s only a few bottles of it here. Most of it is at
Mystic Twilight, our old spa. That’s where Suzette did most of her work.”
    “What’s going on there
these days?”
    “Not much there either.
It’s as dead as here.” She lowered her voice. “Between you and me... Mystic
hasn’t had a real client in months now. Suzette and Sergio had pretty much
turned their backs on the old place and invested all of their time, energies,
and money in this new one. That’s why we were so hoping this opening would make
a big splash.” She sighed. “I guess now it’s more like a belly flop. We’re all
going to have to start looking for jobs around here. It’s so sad. We all had
such high hopes for the new place.”
    Savannah studied the
receptionist, her face with its overworked, windblown look, her swollen lips
that looked like she’d had an allergic reaction to a new lipstick. She thought
how hard it must be to live Myrna Cooper’s life, even without losing one’s job.
    “Are you going to be okay?”
Savannah asked her.
    Myrna’s eyes sparkled. She
smiled and it occurred to Savannah that, in that moment, Myrna was a lot
prettier than any plastic surgeon could make her. “Oh, don’t you worry about
me,” she replied with a toss of her head. “I’m like a cat. I always land on my
feet. Always.”
    Savannah laughed and patted
her shoulder as she stood to leave. “Glad to hear it. And when I’m finished
with this whole Suzette/Sergio business, we’ll go out again and since I won’t
be ‘working,’ I’ll have a margarita.”
    “One big enough to take a
jacuzzi in. My treat.”
    “It’s a date.”
     
    “I thought it was supposed
to be warm all year here in Southern California,” Abigail said as she wrapped
her sweater more tightly around her and covered her bare feet with the edge of
the beach towel.
    On a larger blanket next to
her, Savannah and Tammy were busy setting out a picnic that Savannah had thrown
together at the last moment. She and Tammy had a frequent ritual of packing a
dinner and bringing it down to the beach to watch the sunset. Thinking Abigail
would enjoy this west coast experience, they had suggested it when she had
given a thumbs down on fajitas at Casa Madre.
    But at the moment, the
beach picnic wasn’t going over all that well either.
    “What is that stuff you’ve
got there?” Abby wanted to know as she peered into the crock pot that Savannah
had pulled from a box.
    “It’s southern style pulled
pork,” she told her. “And, girl, you haven’t lived ’til you’ve sunk your
chompers into some of this.”
    Abby looked doubtfully into
the pot. “Looks like somebody already ate it.”
    Tammy cringed and Savannah
counted to ten before saying, “That’s because the pork was cooked for hours in
a sweet and spicy barbecue sauce until the meat fell all apart. It’s very
tender and tasty.”
    Abby wrinkled her nose. “I
don’t think I’m going to eat any of it. What else do you have?”
    “Onion buns to put the meat
on, coleslaw and corn on the cob. So if you don’t eat the pork, it’s gonna be
slim pickins for you, kiddo.”
    When Abby grunted in reply,
Tammy said, “Let me make you a sandwich of this and if you don’t like it, I’ll
eat it.”
    Abby looked surprised.
“You? I thought Miss Vegetarian never ate anything like that. Where’s your tofu
burger?”
    Tammy laughed. “When it
comes to Savannah’s pulled pork sandwiches, even I fall off the wagon.”
    Abby seemed satisfied with
that and settled back on her towel to take in the scenery while Tammy and
Savannah assembled their sandwiches.
    “I guess it’s pretty nice
here,” Abby said, as she studied the horizon. The sky, deep turquoise blue, was
tinged with gold and a delicate shade of peach around the sun, which had dipped
halfway into the water.
    Far in the distance off