from her, although admittedly, June Moody was difficult to read.
“So,” June said, turning her head to exhale, “tell me about the Dominican Cohiba.”
Carlotta recognized the name as the brand of the cigar she’d brought in. Her mind whirled for an explanation more reasonable than the real one. “I work in a department store, and someone left it. I’m just trying to find the owner.”
“I see,” June said mildly. “That’s mighty generous of you.”
Carlotta smiled guiltily.
“Did you actually see the person who left it?”
“N-no.”
“You just found it?”
“In the pocket of a men’s jacket that had been returned.”
“Ah. So why couldn’t you just check the sales receipt?” June puffed on her cigar casually, but her eyes were wary.
Carlotta averted her gaze and pretended to concentrate on her cigar.
“If you expect me to give you the name of my best customers,” June said, “you’re going to have to come up with a better story than that.”
With a sigh, Carlotta decided to come clean with the woman. What choice did she have? “The jacket that I found the cigar in was purchased by a woman named Angela Ashford, who’s…dead.”
She had June’s full attention now. “Go on.”
“Angela drowned, but the circumstances around her death are suspicious and I thought…that is, I wondered…if she could have been involved with a man who had…hurt her.”
June exhaled, then gave Carlotta a pointed look. “You mean, killed her?”
“I don’t know.”
“If her death is suspicious, then why aren’t the police involved?”
“Let’s just say they’re not interested.”
“So you thought you’d do a little investigative work on your own?”
Carlotta nodded.
“Were you friends with this Ashford woman?”
“Sort of,” Carlotta hedged.
“Was she married?”
“Yes.”
“So this jacket, the cigar—they don’t belong to her husband?”
“No.”
June’s eyebrows shot up. “I see. So the person who bought the cigar could have been a lover?”
“Maybe. Again, I don’t know.”
June sat forward and tapped ash into the beautiful ashtray. “So you’re asking me to divulge the names of the customers who bought this particular kind of Cohiba, knowing that it could lead to an investigation?”
Carlotta nodded again. “If it’s an expensive cigar, it couldn’t be that many customers.”
“Only a handful,” June confirmed.
Carlotta’s heart began to beat faster, partly due to the nicotine infusion, partly due to the feeling that she was onto something. She puffed on the cigar, then exhaled in a frustrated sigh. “Are you going to help me?”
June studied her for a few seconds, then leaned forward and used her cigar to gesture to the people around them. “Carlotta, most of the guys in here are decent fellas who come to hang out because their wives don’t want cigar smoke stinkin’ up the living-room curtains. But some of my customers—well, they aren’t the nicest people. Are you sure you know what you’re getting yourself into?”
Carlotta swallowed a mouthful of the martini, then shook her head against the sting of alcohol. “No. But this feels…necessary.” Besides, she was starting to get used to having “not nice” people in her life: a fugitive father, lurking loan sharks, a detestable detective.
June lifted her glass. “Fair enough, darlin’. I’ll give you what you want. But you’d better watch your step. If your suspicions are correct, one dead girl is plenty enough.”
21
“Mrs. Susan Harroway,” Carlotta read from the napkin on which she’d written the names that June Moody had given to her the night before, after the cigars had been smoked and another round of martinis exhausted.
“Harroway is an old Atlanta name,” Hannah said, reclining on Carlotta’s bed in full goth getup and fingering the silver barbell piercing her tongue. “I don’t know a Susan in particular, but I’ve catered parties for various Harroways.”
“I’ll ask Michael at the store. Maybe he’ll know something about her.” Carlotta worked her mouth from side to side. “But June told me the woman said the cigar was a gift, so that could mean her husband, her father, a brother.”
“Or a boyfriend,” Hannah added.
Carlotta frowned. “Not everyone cheats on their spouse.”
“Sure they do, if they live long enough. Who else is on the list?”
“Dr. Joseph Suarez. I looked him up in the phone book and he’s a plastic surgeon. His office is in Buckhead.”
“A plastic surgeon in Buckhead? Ooh, big surprise.”
“Michael mentioned that he had a friend who worked in a clinic where Angela got Botox injections. Maybe Dr. Suarez works there.”
“Hmm. Next name?”
“Bryan D’Angelo. June says he’s an attorney and I got the feeling that he’s a little shady.” She bit the end of her fingernail. “Maybe Liz Fischer knows him.”
“Who’s that?”
“Wes’s attorney,” she said dryly. She hated the thought of calling the woman. Liz’s history with Detective Terry made her even less palatable in Carlotta’s eyes.
“Do you have a beef with Liz?”
“She was my dad’s attorney, too.”
“Oh?” Hannah’s voice rose in curiosity, probably, Carlotta presumed, because she rarely mentioned her father.
“What about Dennis Lagerfeld?” Carlotta asked to redirect Hannah’s attention.
Her friend squinted, as if the name was familiar.
“His is the last name on the list. June said he used to be a professional athlete.”
“Oh, right,” Hannah said, nodding. “Receiver for the Falcons, maybe ten years ago. Man, he was fucking gorgeous. I wonder if all that muscle has gone to fat.”
