Free Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai: a Danger Cove Hair Salon Mystery (Danger Cove Mysteries Book 5) by Traci Andrighetti, Elizabeth Ashby Page A

much better story, wouldn't it?" She gave a disappointed sigh. "But she died from complications following the surgery. Dr. Windom reported the Darvocet incident to the police, though. He knew that the allergy had been documented in the patient's file and that Bertha must've deleted it."
    "Maybe it was deleted by accident," I suggested. "If you press the wrong computer key, you can lose an entire document."
    "Who said anything about computers?" Donna asked. "According to my friend, Dr. Windom only made the switch to electronic medical records after the incident with Bertha. So the patient's file was the old-school paper version, and someone had clearly used Wite-Out to delete Darvocet from her list of drug allergies."
    My eyes widened in surprise.
    "Unfortunately," she continued, "nothing ever came of it. That sort of thing is hard to prove."
    "Did anyone ever find out why Bertha did it?"
    "This is where it gets good," Donna replied, giving my arm a shove. "It was the old green-eyed monster. Bertha had found out that the woman was flirting with a man she'd been seeing."
    My heart started pounding so hard that I could barely breathe. All I could spit out was, "Who?"
    She shrugged. "Some older gentleman who passed away a few years back. But does it matter?"
    No, it didn't. Because I already knew everything I needed to know.
    Bertha Braun had worked in healthcare for a long time, so she would have known about the toxicity of Barbicide. More importantly, she had a history of poisoning her romantic rivals.

CHAPTER SIX
     
    Gia skidded the Ferrari to a stop in front of Amy's gingerbread-style house at five o'clock on the dot and laid on the horn. "Looks like something straight out of friggin' 'Hansel and Gretel.'"
    "I know," I said, regretting my decision to cave in to Gia's request to drive. "Every time I come here, I halfway expect a witch to come out."
    "Yeah. Or Amy. Why's she coming to this shindig, anyway?"
    "The Save the Lighthouse Committee required businesses to buy an entire table for the fundraiser, so she's filling one of our extra seats."
    "Gotcha." Gia honked again and then looked through the windshield at the sky. "I still can't believe how early it gets dark here."
    "Well, it's a good thing that the streetlight is reflecting off your glitter lip appliqués—otherwise we wouldn't be able to see."
    "Silver is understated," she protested in a defensive tone. "I mean, it's not like I'm wearing red or anything."
    "Yeah, because red lips are so shocking," I said. "But thank you for taking your pirate eye patch off to drive."
    "Sure. But I'm putting it back on when we get to the Smugglers' Tavern. It goes with the theme."
    There was a knock on the passenger window.
    I jumped when I saw Amy, not because she'd startled me but because the puffy sleeves on her homemade yellow prom dress had. As I got out of the car, she whistled like a sailor on shore leave.
    "You look like a modern-day Princess Aurora in that pink cocktail dress."
    "Thanks, Amy." I searched for an appropriate compliment and came up with, "And you look like the original Snow White."
    She giggled like a tickled tween and climbed into the tiny backseat, revealing what looked like white pilgrim shoes.
    Or maybe Hester Prynne . I got back into the Ferrari and slammed the door. "Can you drive a little slower now that we have a guest?"
    Amy leaned in from the backseat. "Would you? Anything over thirty miles per hour makes me carsick."
    "Fine," Gia grumbled as she pulled away from the curb at a crawl. "But next time, you two princesses are taking a horse and carriage."
    I looked at Amy through the rearview mirror. "Did you find out anything about Barbicide?"
    "Barbicide?" Gia echoed. "Why would you ask her about that?"
    "Actually," Amy began, "I'd like to know that too."
    "I might as well tell you both." I looked from Gia to Amy. "But what I'm about to say doesn't leave this car, okay?"
    "Pinky swear," Gia said, holding out the little finger on her right hand.
    We