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

hooked pinkies, and then I held out my finger to Amy.
    Her brows knit in confusion, and she raised three fingers. "Scout's honor."
    "All right. Gia, today when you brought me the tea at Lucy's station, you put the cup in front of the Barbicide jar. That's when I noticed that the Barbicide level was below the tops of the combs. But they should have been submerged because I'd just topped off all the jars that morning."
    "So?" She hooked a left onto Craggy Hill Road where the Smugglers' Tavern was located.
    "So, I think Bertha Braun gave Margaret a fatal dose of Barbicide, not blue hair dye."
    Gia swerved onto the shoulder, and Amy screamed, wrapping her arms around me from behind.
    I peeled Amy off of me and glared at Gia as she eased the Ferrari back onto the road. "You have to learn to control your emotions behind the wheel."
    "Who's emotional?" She reached down to the floor of the car. "My Chicken Fillet fell out."
    "You've got Chick-fil-A?" Amy asked, her face brightening. "Can I have a bite? I'm starving."
    I rolled my eyes. "Chicken Fillets are breast enhancers."
    She looked down at her A-cups. "If I'd known that, I would've started eating Chick-fil-A years go."
    "You're so literal," Gia exclaimed. "'Chicken Fillets' is the brand name of silicone bra inserts." She retrieved a floppy, flesh-colored disk from the floorboard and handed it to Amy. "Here, this is a Chicken Fillet."
    "It looks delicious," Amy said.
    I cradled my forehead in my hand. "You know, Gia, maybe those things would stay in better if you wore your bra on the inside of your shirt."
    "This is too nice a bra to hide under my clothes," she said, pointing to the silver sequined lace. "Besides, it doesn't matter where you wear your bra, as long as you have one on."
    I gritted my teeth. "Forget the bra. Can we get back to the Barbicide?"
    "Sure," Amy said. "I found a government study on a hairstylist who drank some and turned as blue as—"
    "Let's get something straight," I interrupted. "The next person who makes a blue analogy about Margaret Appleby is going to turn as blue as she did, courtesy of my fists."
    Amy frowned. "I hope you're not serious, because you just made a blue analogy."
    I turned and gave her a half-lidded stare.
    She cleared her throat. "Anyway, it turns out that Barbicide is an extremely powerful disinfectant. It's not just a fungicide and a viricide, like it says on the bottle. It's also a germicide and a pseudomonacide."
    "What does that mean in regular English?" Gia asked.
    Amy blinked. "The same thing it means in scientific English."
    I sighed. "And what is that?"
    "It kills virtually everything, even the AIDS virus, which is why it's also used in hospitals. And it's durable too. It's the only product of its kind that holds its color after use."
    "Margaret would've attested to that," Gia said with a nod in my direction.
    I held up my fist, and she turned her eyes back to the road. "Go on, Amy."
    She looked at my hand and swallowed. "After ingesting as little as fifty milliliters of Barbicide, acute severe methemoglobinemia occurs within thirty minutes. It's a blood disorder that prevents red blood cells from releasing oxygen to tissues."
    "But does this acute severe whatever cause the skin and fingernails to turn blue?" I asked.
    "That, and it makes blood turn chocolate brown."
    Gia gasped. "Like a blue M&M!"
    I leaned across the console and punched her in the arm.
    "Careful, cug ! I'm trying to drive up a hill, here."
    "'Trying' is definitely the word for it," I said, rubbing my knuckles. "What else, Amy?"
    She crossed her arms to protect her biceps. "If not treated quickly, the nervous system goes into shock, and then the person lapses into a coma and dies."
    "How do you treat it?" I asked.
    "With Methylene blue."
    "More blue?" Gia exclaimed as she parked behind a line of cars along the side of the road. "Is that really a good idea?"
    I silenced her with a look, although I had the same question. "Did you happen to find out how much