Chapter 10

LILLY

Lilly was on the Spa’s second floor, preparing for the next appointment: a last-minute addition to her day listed only by initials. One final supply check to tick all the boxes on the pre-appointment checklist — Annie loved a completed checklist — and she headed downstairs to reception.

Her hand on the polished hickory banister as she took the stairway down, she felt the surreality of working—and Annie owning — this massive house. A house where, two decades ago, she’d stood next to Annie’s father, David, facing his WASPy parents. It was a brief visit, punctuated with cold shoulders and icy glares from Annie’s paternal grandparents, tears from her as she’d run out. Being two months pregnant, she’d stopped to vomit in their shrubbery and felt zero guilt about it.

She’d hoped and dreamed that David and his family would soften once the baby was born. Who can resist a grandbaby?

David’s parents, apparently.

Her mom sat at the reception desk, looking out over the sunny foyer. Two potted citrus trees with shiny green leaves stood on either side of the front door, its stained glass rectangle projecting Monet-like scenes onto the carpet.

“Hey, Mom. Do you have the paperwork for my next appointment?”

“Yes.” She placed a file on the counter. “And your herb client, Frank? We are being blind copied on his emails with a personal assistant service.” She clicked open emails. “Some of these have a private investigator copied. Should I be forwarding these to you?”

“They copied me? Why? What could that possibly have to do with his herbal formulas?”

Before her mom could answer, the door opened and a woman in fashionable, perfect-fitting black yoga pants and a fashion yoga top walked in. Her hair pulled back, she was wearing a ball cap and sunglasses. Branwen almost didn’t recognize her.

Lilly did. Instantly suspicious, she shot her mother a look, eyebrows raised almost to her hairline. She recovered and greeted the woman. “Welcome, Elaine. Thank you for booking a spa treatment. I am so sorry for your loss.”

Elaine sniffed, but her eyes were dry. “Phil and I, well. The divorce was in the works, you know. I’m fine.” She tossed her head and sat her purse on the reception desk, posture perfect. “I just came from the Course, actually.”

Holy crap, Lilly thought, this was Phil’s widow; their divorce wasn’t quite final. And she was here? This soon after the murder? Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the Camel.

She stammered, “Um, Elaine, have you had this kind of spa treatment before?”

“Yes, years ago when I visited India and Sri Lanka on a cruise. It’s just what I need right now.”

“Okay, let’s get you up to the spa room so you can change,” Lilly said and led her upstairs.

Three minutes later, Lilly was back, leaning across her mother’s desk. “Spill it, Mam,” resorting to a Welsh lilt to really get under her mother’s skin. “How did the recently widowed, soon-to-be ex-wife of Annie’s old boss who you found murdered on the golf course just happen to be my 2:00 today?”

Her ‘mam’ kept her eyes on the computer screen, clicking the mouse emphatically a few more times. “As someone who could have a vested interest in the golf course owned by her late, almost-ex husband, I called and offered her a complimentary session to help her in her time of grieving.”

“What?” Lilly put an elbow on the counter and held her forehead in her palm.

“You should be glad I did. I wanted to see what she knew, but get this. Annie called after her visit to Gabriel and the golf course. Elaine’s claim on the Course is unknown. If she inherits the golf course from Phil and is running it instead of Gabriel, then the future of the spa depends partially on her cooperation. You’ve seen Annie’s numbers and projections. The Spa needs the Course, the special events and tournaments, to build our client base.”

Lilly was still. Darn it. She’d avoided Elaine and her clique — the well-to-do of Crystal Valley that cavorted with the rich and sometimes famous tourist set that used the Rocky Mountains as their winter playground. It hadn’t occurred to her, at least not in the front of her mind, that Annie’s spa would be part of that playground.

Inhale, she told herself. Elaine is grieving. Treat her like any other client. She rolled her eyes at her mother’s smug smile, then rolled her shoulders back, and headed up the stairs.

The universe had one hell of a sense of humor.

***

Lilly zipped the single-unit sauna around her client, leaving her head exposed with everything from the neck down enveloped in steam. For her, the hardest part was done—the physical massage part. She gave her wrists a stretch and gentles rolls.

“Elaine, close your eyes, and I’ll spritz some cooling rosewater on your face.” Elaine complied. Lilly placed a cool, rolled towel around Elaine’s neck where it met the sauna, to ensure no steam escaped. “Your pores will open and you’ll absorb the oils still on your skin from the abhyanga oil massage. Steam and sauna have many health benefits.” Lilly spritzed cool rosewater above her head again, and heard Elaine sigh. “You’ll only be in the sauna for five more minutes.” Lilly glanced at the kitchen timer, and when she looked back at Elaine, she saw tears and mascara running down her cheeks. She grabbed a tissue. “Oh, dear, are you okay? Should we stop?”

“No, it’s—pleasant.” She let out a sob. “I just—I don’t—” She looked up at Lilly, her countenance softer, without the air of ‘untouchable and better than you’ she usually oozed. “We were already getting divorced. He was a bastard, Lilly, a lying, cheating bastard, but he shouldn’t be dead.” She sobbed again. “Him dying wasn’t part of the plan!”

Lilly stood, dabbing Elaine’s tears, but she took a step back internally. Wasn’t part of the plan? What a weird way to express it. And Elaine’s sadness—was it for Phil or for herself? Something seemed disingenuous about her tears, possibly of the crocodile variety.

Lilly adjusted the towel around Elaine’s neck, even though it didn’t need it, her brain looping fast like a race car on a circle track, her eyes on the timer. She reminded herself that her daughter and mother were the nosey sleuths, not her, and brought her attention to the moment and the client.

“Let it all out. This is good, because the next part is the stream of warm oil, called shirodhara. It’s extremely soothing for the nervous system.”

She sobbed more, choking out, “He really was such a dirty, cheating jerk.”

The timer chirped a soft ding, and Lilly switched off the sauna. Letting the steam dissipate naturally, she grabbed a thick, plush robe. She unzipped the sauna, holding the robe up in front of her face to give Elaine privacy as she stepped into the robe. “That feels lovely,” she said, still sniffling. Lilly handed her another tissue, holding Elaine’s elbow and guiding her over to the massage table, helping her lie down, and sliding a bolster under her knees and another blanket on top.

“You’ll sense warm oil on your forehead. This little contraption gently swings like a pendulum, never touching you, but letting the oil stream over your forehead. Take a few deep breaths for me, Elaine.” As she spoke, Lilly’s experience shone through as she deftly loaded the warm oil and quickly lined the dhara patra or oil swing (is that the name) over Elaine’s forehead.

She turned up the ambient music and kept Elaine in her peripheral vision. The tears dried, and her posture lost its rigidity, her shoulders and facial muscles softening. Lilly took a seat in the corner, close enough to watch but far enough away to take client notes on her tablet. She updated Elaine’s client file and then turned on office messaging.

Lilly: Elaine’s set to be done on time. LMK when the next patient is here.

Branwen: Okay. Need a snack?

Lilly: A matcha oatmilk latte, if we still have some.

Branwen: Got it.

Lilly: Mom…

Branwen: ?

Lilly: So—Elaine potentially inheriting the golf course. That’s…motive? To get Phil out of the way?

Three dots appeared, a reply finally appearing.

Branwen: How did Annie and I miss that? We need to update Frances, see if he has Elaine’s alibi.

Lilly checked the timer…six minutes left. She sat back in the chair, relaxing, taking deep breaths herself to the beach wave and gentle strumming guitar spa soundtrack. She had to take a rest where she could; the Ayurvedic spa package was a full 2.5 hours.

From the top drawer, she pulled out a round tin of liniment and began rubbing it on her wrists. Committed to helping Annie get the spa off the ground, the pancha karma massages were a physical workload. It also wasn’t something a lot of people were trained in. If Annie would hire another massage therapist, she could still run an herbal apothecary, help with new patient intakes, and reduce her physical massages to a few times a week. Lilly had become adept at using talk to text in her paralegal work to further help her wrists. She closed her eyes.

Soon, the timer emitted a soft, gentle chime, almost imperceptible, and Lilly opened her eyes and stretched, twisting side to side. Another chime, a little louder, then another. She stood and spoke gently, “Elaine,” and eased the equipment out of the way. Elaine slowly opened her eyes.

“That is transcendental.” Her voice was softer; the cadence was slower. “Amazing.”

“Excellent,” Lilly replied. “No caffeine or screens for as long as you can manage.” She opened the door. “The solarium is free, if you’d like to have some quiet, meditative time.”

She escorted Elaine to the changing room, and Branwen appeared with a travel mug, clean sheets, and a fresh robe on a rolling cart. “Perfect timing, mom.” Lilly started stripping linens off the massage table, and pulled out cleaner. Branwen took over the cleaning as Lilly sat down to drink her tea.

Elaine emerged from the changing room, and Branwen walked her to the front door. Branwen’s returning, hurried steps were loud on the staircase. The two continued to reset the room.

Lilly said “I won’t say anything about Elaine’s treatment as a client, but she was deeply upset that Phil was dead,” she stopped to look at Branwen, “and said it ‘wasn’t the plan.’”

Branwen’s eyes got a far-away look as the held the pillow whose pillowcase she was changing. “When your father passed so young, I had a similar thought: that it wasn’t the plan.” She fell silent, her face showing she was lost in memories.

Lilly picked up her matcha, sipping and giving her mom a moment before asking, “So you don’t think that Elaine was, you know.” Lillwen waved her hand around, her mug sloshing, “the one who...”

Her mom gave a nod. “She absolutely could be. Elaine was always calculating and cold, and never had a friend or hosted a dinner party that wasn’t strategic. From what I saw, she never socialized for fun or friendship, but upward movement.”

The front door chimed, and as her mom turned to head downstairs, she looked back. “It’s a chilling thought, isn’t it?”

Lilly rubbed the goosebumps that appeared on her arms.