A Killer Necklace Read online

  A KILLER NECKLACE

  Fashionation with Mystery #2

  Melodie Campbell and Cynthia St-Pierre

  A KILLER NECKLACE

  Fashionation with Mystery #2

  SMASHWORDS EDITION

  Published by Imajin Books at Smashwords

  Copyright © 2015 by Melodie Campbell and Cynthia St-Pierre. All Rights Reserved.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  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, living, dead (or in any other form), business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Smashwords Edition License Notes

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  www.fashionationwithmystery.com

  FIRST EDITION eBook

  Imajin Books

  October 15, 2015

  ISBN: 978-1-77223-138-0

  Cover designed by Ryan Doan, www.ryandoan.com

  Praise for A Killer Necklace

  “5 Stars for A Killer Necklace. After having so enjoyed Gina, Becki and Tony in A Purse to Die For, A Killer Necklace does not disappoint. The story races along, unfolding around truly believable, and lovable, characters. The final chapters are hard to put down as the pace picks up, moving steadily and convincingly towards the climax. Now my only question is: ‘What's next and when will they be back?’” —Lorna Gray, author of Finding Daylight

  “Once again Cynthia and Melodie have seamlessly combined their words and talent to create another fun adventure for Gina and her friend Becki. A wonderful cast of characters to keep you enthralled every step of the way.” —Nanci M. Pattenden, author of Body in the Harbour: A Detective Hodgins Victorian Mystery

  Melodie's Dedication

  For my brother Mark.

  Cynthia's Dedication

  To my newfound family of blood brothers and sisters.

  Melodie's Acknowledgements:

  Many thanks to Joan, Cathy, Alison, and Cheryl, dear friends and fellow writers who are always there to encourage and support. And warm hugs to Cindy, the best writing partner a gal could have.

  Cynthia's Acknowledgements:

  Thank you Melodie, Janani, Patti, and members of Write Now @ King; part of my loving community of family, friends, neighbours, doctors, nurses, technicians and volunteers who helped me make it to cancer-free.

  Part I

  Chapter 1

  Shivering is an involuntary physical reaction to temperature. Same with the sweat on my forehead. Humidity.

  Tony tried to push down all thoughts that were extraneous to the job at hand—finding Gina.

  Entering the one large room, dimly lit by two tiny windows set high in the concrete walls, he flipped the switch on the wall to his left. The glare of bare fluorescents created more contrast, is all. Brighter lights. Deeper shadows.

  Despite his training, his heart pumped like he was running uphill.

  He always overcame fear with preparation, with experience. But this wasn’t fear; this was irrational terror, on behalf of someone he loved more than life itself.

  Gina.

  She had been investigating a murder. The body of a woman found in a basement, like this one. Now Gina had been forcibly taken.

  He tried to convince himself that he had the strength, the training to deal with whatever he found.

  Then he stepped forward.

  Chapter 2

  Three Weeks Earlier…

  “Why do you need two suitcases when you’re only going away for a weekend?”

  Gina could hear the smile in Tony’s voice. Still, it made her a titch miffed.

  “One is for my wedding dress. I promised to show Becki and the other girls at the shower.”

  “How come they get to see it and I don’t?” He lay on the bed, with both hands behind his head. He still hadn’t gotten dressed yet, and the sight of his curly brown hair and bare chest always did something to her.

  That’s why she couldn’t look at him. It was too tempting, and she was on a deadline.

  She turned toward the closet, exasperated. “You’re the groom, Tony! It’s bad luck. You don’t get to see my dress until the day of.”

  He was grinning now. “All the more reason I should just pick you up and run off with you right now. Escape all this nonsense.”

  Back with another dress, she lay it carefully down on the tissue paper to fold it. It was important she take special care of this new Versace dress. There would be lots of pictures, and Becki even said the local press might be there.

  Besides, it wasn’t every day you went to your own bridal shower.

  “I’m not eloping with you. Becki would kill me.”

  He snorted. “More likely, she would kill me.”

  That was true, actually. Gina’s adopted aunt would whip him silly with words if he wrecked this wedding they had been planning for months.

  Gina turned back to packing her main suitcase.

  Becki wasn’t really adopted, of course. Becki had been her grandmother’s goddaughter. She was more like a cherished older sister to Gina, and although they were not actually related, they looked like they could have been.

  Gina’s chestnut hair was longer and wavier than Becki’s and her body a bit more curvy, but they both had pretty brown eyes. In fact, Gina looked more like Becki than she did her real aunts. And that suited her just fine.

  “So you’re going all the way up to Black Currant? Why not Langdon Hills? It’s half the distance.”

  She shivered, remembering the last time they had been to Langdon Hills. “Becki is hosting the shower, Tony. Of course it’s got to be at her place. If we had it at Grandma’s old house, then Carla would be the hostess.”

  She didn’t want that. While she and Aunt Carla had made an uneasy truce, that house wasn’t a place of joy anymore. Ian had died there.

  She missed her cousin Ian badly.

  “I love Black Currant in the spring. It’s beautiful up north, when all the greenery starts filling in.”

  “You’re beautiful up north,” Tony murmured. “Down south too.” He moved like a panther, grabbed both her arms and pulled her down to the bed.

  “Tony! I just got dressed.”

  “So?” he said. “It’s fun unwrapping presents.”

  Tony was ready to leave before she was quite finished packing.

  “Can I take those two suitcases down to the car for you?”

  She nodded. “Thanks. Have you still got a key?”

  He held the sparkly keychain up with one hand. “I’ll put them in the trunk for you. But first…”

  He came back for one quick final hug.

  “You behave,” he said, reaching his arms around her and kissing her hair. “Stay away from bears and wilderness men, okay?”

  Gina giggled into his chest. “You’re all the bear I need.”

  He swatted her butt, and released her.

  “Call me when you get there.” He bent to pick up the suitcases.

  She watched him leave and
couldn’t stop herself from smiling.

  Tony had thought two suitcases was a lot for a long weekend away. Little did he know that the second suitcase didn’t contain her wedding dress.

  Pack an haute couture wedding dress in a suitcase? Fold it up like a pair of pants or sweater? Nobody would do that. Well, maybe a man would. She chuckled to herself.

  The first suitcase contained her clothes. She had three fancy events to attend, and you just never knew what the weather was going to do up north. The second suitcase contained shoes, two purses, toiletries, books and presents for Becki.

  The wedding dress would stay in its long garment bag. She would lay it across the back seat of her car where it wouldn’t be crushed.

  Just thinking about that dress made her heart race with excitement.

  Gina disappeared into the walk-in closet to collect it.

  Two hours later, she had cleared the city outskirts and was well on her way to cottage country.

  It was a beautiful day for a road trip. Not a cloud in the clear blue sky and the air was that perfect temperature for wearing a summer dress. Often June days in the city were a smoggy sauna. Just a few hours north, it was heaven.

  This was Thursday, so before the weekend rush.

  She loved visiting Becki and her husband Karl in Black Currant. Ever since Becki married Karl eleven years ago and moved up north, these visits had been the highlight of her summer holidays.

  Now that had been a wedding to remember. Gina smiled, thinking what a contrast it would seem compared to the posh event that had been planned for her and Tony.

  Becki and Karl were married in a small outdoor service at Grandma’s Georgian Revival house in Langdon Hills. Becki had worn a simple off-white sheath dress, and had carried fresh flowers, of course. Roses and daisies, as she recalled. Gina remembered grumbling about the bridesmaid dress she had to wear, which was a soft coral shade, and much too plain for her young taste.

  But the wedding had been great fun. Grandma had always enjoyed playing the grand matriarch, like in some PBS drama. Aunt Linda was her typical entertaining self, criticising all the gifts that had been displayed on the dining room table. Uncle Reggie had gotten royally plastered as usual.

  All the cousins had been there. Gina had danced with both Tony and Ian for most of that night.

  Poor Ian. She missed her older cousin so much. Such a horrible thing, to be murdered in cold blood.

  And Grandma. Life just wasn’t the same without her. Perhaps it had been a natural death after all, like Carla insisted. Even more likely, they would probably never know for sure.

  She sighed. The turn off the main highway was up ahead. Just seeing Becki would make her feel better.

  Something lumpy lay in the middle of the road, spotted with black. She swerved to avoid it, crossing over into the other lane, and as she did, the crows flew off it.

  Some poor animal was now a lifeless carcass. Gina shivered.

  Chapter 3

  Becki Green peered out her apartment window and gazed down on Main Street. Gina would probably pull her new Camaro into a parking slot right in front of Becki and half-sister Anne’s design shop below.

  Expect heads to turn, Becki thought. Shiny red sports cars are not the norm in this town.

  Those same heads would spin like tops once Gina stepped out of her car.

  Gina wasn’t quite tall enough and maybe a bit too curvy to have worked the runways of the major designers but that didn’t stop her from wearing their clothes with a great deal of panache.

  Becki turned from her window and headed to the kitchen to set the round table in the dining nook for afternoon tea. It would be just the two of them. Gina would need time to unwind from the long drive. Plus it would be fun to catch up on each other’s lives before Karl got home.

  Becki carefully laid out a couple April Cornell cotton floral napkins, two vintage teacups and saucers, a gleaming silver teapot and an English three-tiered cake stand that she would soon fill to overflowing with an assortment of homemade scones, delicate tea sandwiches and pastry cream tarts topped with fresh fruit.

  She heard a car door slam.

  She rushed back to the window and saw a woman directly below with chestnut hair. Had Gina parked in the back? Was that her about to open the door on the street and come tripping up the stairs? From this extreme angle, it was hard to see much more than the top of a head.

  No, the woman continued to walk up the Interlock sidewalk until she was out of sight. Imposter Gina.

  Becki, enough of this fidgeting! Gina will get here when she gets here. Why are you so anxious? People your age are supposed to remain calm, cool and collected.

  She forced herself to sit on her own couch.

  Without wanting to, she wondered if she should have chosen a more in-your-face yellow than Buttercream for the living room walls. She adjusted one of the stems in the vase of multi-coloured tulips on the coffee table.

  Rap, tap, tap.

  Becki jumped to her feet. She flung open her solid wood panel door and there stood her lovely ‘niece.’

  “Hi Gina!” A huge smile burst onto Becki’s face. “How are you? Come in! Come in! How was your trip?” She opened her arms.

  “I’m good. So nice to see you!” Gina hugged her back.

  When they pulled apart, Becki said, “The kettle has boiled once already. I’ll plug it in to reheat and we’ll have some tea. You must be starving. Did you eat anything on the way up? So much to talk about with your wedding only three weeks away!”

  “Let’s go for a walk,” Becki suggested after noticing a good hour and a half had slipped by and they were still indoors. “It’s beautiful out and I know you love the beach.”

  “Bring it on!” Gina said jumping up.

  “Do you have the right shoes?”

  “The path along the lake is crushed gravel, right? My sandals will be fine. If we do decide to walk on the sand, I’ll slip them off.”

  Becki loved showing Gina around Black Currant Bay. The charming small town still boasted nearly all of its original buildings. Gina had been here many times, of course, but the atmosphere changed with every season. The beginning of June was the signal for shopkeepers to display picnic baskets, children’s pail sets and straw beach bags brimming with colourful swim suits, whimsical flip-flops and paperback romances.

  Only residents knew that the lake wasn’t warm enough to actually swim in until July.

  They strolled to the bottom of Main Street and right into Harbourfront Park.

  Gina cheered, “Dairy Maid is open for business!”

  “First day this year.”

  “Let’s come back for a chocolate malted one day before I go.”

  After strolling up and down the shore, they plumped themselves down at the end of the marina’s wood pier, dangled their feet over the edge and looked out over white-capped waves as far as the eye could see.

  The sun had started its long descent to the horizon and warmed the right side of their faces. A clean-smelling breeze drifted in off the bay and blew back their hair.

  No one appreciates the arrival of summer as much as Canadians, thought Becki.

  “I wish life was always so simple,” Gina said wistfully.

  “Wedding plans got you stressed out?” Becki asked.

  “Oh no, I’m looking forward to marrying Tony.”

  “Well, that’s a good thing.” Becki didn’t press her. She waited for her to divulge more, whenever she was ready.

  “It’s just that some of the girls at work…”

  “Uh-huh?”

  “I have a hard time connecting with them.”

  “You?”

  “Yes me.” Gina pulled a strand of dark hair from across her eyes. “I mean, they’re cordial but it’s like they keep this distance between us somehow. I’ve invited a bunch of them to our wedding, but, I don’t know how to put this, it’s like they’re not really rooting for me. You know what I mean?”

  One single advantage comes with age and t
hat’s experience. Becki had twenty more years of it than Gina and she knew exactly what it felt like to be on the outside of things sometimes. Oh, she’d made two really good friends since she’d been here in Black Currant Bay but many of the townsfolk couldn’t get past their mistrust of ‘that hippie vegetarian designer from Toronto.’

  “I’m betting they’re jealous of how you look.” Might as well state the facts. “How you dress.” Becki was sure Gina knew how much she loved her, so she risked being blunt.

  Gina looked at her with a crestfallen expression.

  “No question about it, you stand out. I know fashion is your passion. Trouble is, people tend to want others to conform. So they judge and they criticize, hoping to bring everyone to one level of sameness.”

  “You’re not suggesting I—”

  “Of course not. Is there anything wrong with beauty or the pursuit of it in all its forms? Art? Music? Fashion?”

  “No.”

  “Are you walking all over people in your effort to express your sense of style?”

  “You know me better than that!”

  “So shrug off the negativity.”

  “Sometimes it’s hard.”

  Sometimes it’s impossible, Becki thought.

  Gina’s cellphone rang.