Free Highlights to Heaven by Nancy J. Cohen

another one of my instructors. Cutter owns a salon on Las Olas now. Do you keep in touch with him?”
    Before answering Marla, Virginia called out, “Not that way,” to a student doing a piggyback perm. “You’ve put the rods too far in the back. Move them over here.” After demonstrating the proper technique, she turned her attention back to Marla. “Cutter is always looking for promising graduates. I saw him at the Wella show a few weeks ago. He’d brought his friend.”
    “Oh? Male or female?”
    “The same guy as before.”
    Marla gave her a curious glance. “Light or dark hair?”
    “Very dark, with those Latin good looks.”
    “Hmm.” Couldn’t have been Yani Verkovich; and, besides, you had to be a licensed professional to get into the shows.
    “There’s one of Carolyn Sutton’s girls.” Virginia pointed to a student fixing a fancy updo on a mannequin. “You used to work for her, didn’t you?”
    “Carolyn gave me my first job after I graduated.”
    “She sponsors students here. Some of them don’t speak much English, so I don’t know where she gets them. She employs them in her salon after they graduate.”
    Marla put a hand on Virginia’s arm. “Carolyn is opening a salon in the same shopping strip as my place. I thought her previous location looked rundown, and our rent is probably higher. How can she afford to move, plus sponsor any students? How much is tuition today, by the way?”
    “It costs twenty-five hundred for the year. That includes fees, books, uniforms, and a personal styling kit. Field trips cost extra.”
    Marla dropped her hand. “I think someone must be financing her.” Marla’s ex-spouse, Stan, had tried to undermine her lease at one point in Carolyn’s favor, but she’d defeated his efforts. After she helped solve the murder of his third wife, they’d become allies if not friends. He wouldn’t back her rival this time, so who would? Get back on track . Dealing with the competition wasn’t her priority right now.
    “Do me a favor,” she said to Virginia. “If you see Cutter again, don’t mention that I was here.”
    The director’s eyes widened with glee. “I know! You’re planning to surprise him with the reunion, aren’t you? How delightful. It’s so unusual for people to keep in touch these days.”
    “I appreciate your help,” Marla said before taking her leave. Celebrating Cutter’s stint as her teacher was the last thing on her mind. She needed to learn what Cutter knew about Goat, if the deaths of these two stylists were coincidental or not, and where the history of hairdressing fit into it all.

Chapter Six
    Marla, didn’t get a chance to ask Cutter Corrigan about her classmates, because when she reached Heavenly Hair Salon at five P.M., he was just leaving. She followed in her Toyota as he strode along the sidewalk, then turned right at the corner. Thinking he must be going for a bite to eat, she was surprised when he climbed into a black Mercedes in the rear lot and headed off.
    It might be better if she spoke to him at home anyway; the salon wouldn’t be very private for the questions she wanted to ask. But instead of aiming toward the part of town where he lived, according to the address she’d looked up, Cutter veered west on Broward Boulevard-all the way west, to Flamingo Road. Gritting her teeth, she followed, hoping they wouldn’t end up on Alligator Alley for a trip to Naples.
    Staying several cars behind him, she passed the WELCOME TO DAVIE sign after the 1-595 underpass going south on Flamingo Road. Plant nurseries, herb farms, and palm-tree growers lined either side of the long stretch, interspersed by vast open spaces studded with pines, palms, and native shrubs. As they crossed the intersection at Southwest Thirty-Sixth Court, Marla spied a couple of tour buses in the parking lot at Flamingo Gardens on their left. Not much farther up the avenue, Cutter turned where a sign said WILD BIRD ranch. He charged down a bumpy dirt road