Free Die Smiling by Linda Ladd Page A

rampant manner down her cheeks. Actually, wasn’t even smudged. Waterproof, I guess.
    â€œAnd that’s highly unusual around this kind of circuit, too,” she continued, all muffled and weepy. “It’s really cutthroat and intense, you know, every girl for herself. But Hilde made friends, and they all seemed to like her, respect her for her hard work, you know, and everything. And she did work hard, really hard. She’s getting older now…”
    Brianna remembered that Hilde wasn’t getting older now and wouldn’t ever get older again, and began to weep in earnest. While she recovered, I took my little notepad out of my handbag and wrote down the pertinent details of her remarks, but I was pretty sure that Bri was looking at all this and her sister through a pair of very rose-tinted glasses. I couldn’t imagine the other contestants being quite so jolly about usually losing to Hilde Swensen. It didn’t fit the stereotypical, bitchy beauty contestant profile entrenched in my mind, but maybe I was wrong about the beauties and bitches of the world. On the other hand, I’d never been within three hundred yards of a beauty pageant, made sure of it, in fact, so what did I know? That, however, and unfortunately, was about to change.
    â€œDid she have any enemies that you know of? People who were jealous of her? Anybody who threatened her or accosted her verbally? I understand that sometimes happens to beautiful women. Other women don’t give them a chance, you know, just decide to hate them at first sight?” Yeah, me, for instance, I plead guilty, ’fraid so.
    Brianna nodded as if she knew exactly what I was talking about, as if it happened to her every day, and it probably did. My first impression when I’d seen her was that she was a haughty mannequin type with missing posters nailed up on bulletin boards concerning the frontal lobes of her brain. It turned out I was wrong about her, too, and me, a trained detective, at that. I guess it’s true what they say about not judging a book, and all that rot.
    Brianna said, “No, not that I’m aware of. She got some guys now and then who wanted to go out with her, date her and stuff like that, but she usually didn’t go in for men who liked her just because she was cute and won a bunch of titles. You know, men who dated her so they’d have a trophy on their arm when they went into restaurants or clubs. If she got any hint that’s what they were after, she’d drop them.”
    â€œDoes she have a boyfriend right now that you know about? Somebody steady?”
    â€œWell, kind of, I guess. Back in Florida. From when she lived at South Beach. His name is Carlos Vasquez. He owns this fancy gym down there, and he’s a personal trainer, too. It’s well known, a spa, where lots of celebrities go, you know, people like Gianni Versace. He was a regular there before that guy shot him.”
    I dug out the photo I’d found at Hilde’s condo. “Is this him?”
    Brianna took it. She nodded. “Yes, that’s Carlos. I looks like it might’ve been taken a couple of months ago. He’s sort of a camera buff.”
    â€œWhat’s the name of Carlos’s spa?”
    â€œThe Ocean Club.”
    â€œDid she live with this man?”
    â€œShe moved into his beach house for a while, but he ended up getting too possessive, so she moved out last Christmas. Actually, it was New Year’s Eve. I remember because that’s the day I met Bud.”
    Brianna smiled tearfully at Bud, and he smiled back, but when his eyes met mine, I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. “Was this Carlos guy ever violent with her, you know, slap her around, push her, yell at her?”
    â€œI was pretty sure a couple of times that he might’ve slapped her around some and I know he used to yell at her, but Hilde said he didn’t, that she never would’ve stood for