Free divorced divas 02 - crimped to death by tonya kappes Page A

out on them.”
    I clenched my teeth together. They were already hurting.
    “Oh don’t worry.” Carol smiled. “He’s been in a great mood the last couple of days. You will be fine.”
    “Do you mean he’s been in a good mood since?” I ran my finger along my neck.
    Slowly she nodded.
    “Good morning, Holly.” Dr. Russell appeared at the waiting room door. “Are you ready?” he asked. His rubbery lips sat below his beaklike nose on his thin long face. His scraggly brows dipped. “Holly?”
    “Um. . .” I hesitated. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” I stood up and walked through the door.
    The stinky smell of the office almost made me faint. The seventies orange wall-to-wall carpet was in desperate need of an overhaul. The wallpaper had the fuzzy textured look, but most of the fuzzy had long been rubbed off.
    “How is your shop?” he asked and pointed for me to sit.
    “Great. I have been doing a lot of brides since Margaret’s wedding.” That was probably the last time I had seen Dr. Russell. He and his wife had sat in the corner the entire night.
    I was right. The old dental chair was there. I sat down. He took the old blue plastic, paper bib combination and used the silver clips to hold it in place around my neck.
    He snapped on latex gloves and ran his finger from each hand down the other for a snug fit.
    I took several deep breaths to try to help slow down my racing heart. I kept my eyes ahead. The air from the pleather cushion of the rolling dental chair swooshed as he sat down on it. The wheels squeaked across the floor as he got closer.
    “That’s great. My wife had mentioned she wanted to try that Wine and Bead class or something like that.” He flipped the big spotlight above my head on and pulled it over top of me. He lowered my chair.
    “She should. Tell her to come on by for a free class.” Nervously I opened my mouth as his fingers came closer.
    Patsy Russell had to be a good fifteen years younger than Dr. Russell. She was a born and bred southern woman through and through. She never left her house without her pearls: the strand draped down her neck, wrapped around her wrist and stuck in her ears. She was always dressed like she was going to the Kentucky Derby. A one-piece, one-color dress, heels to match and a hat to complete the outfits.
    Once I had overheard her say that she was a doctor’s wife and she would rather be caught dead than in sweatpants. I just so happened to be wearing sweatpants that day.
    “How has your business been?” I asked, not thinking that a killer’s hands could be in my mouth.
    “It’s picking up,” he said. His stale coffee breath nearly knocked me out. “Since Dr. Frisk was found violently killed.” He shook his head. His grey eyes were busy looking around my mouth as he took his fingers and spread my lips away from my gums in all sorts of directions.
    “I ‘eard ‘bout ‘hat.” My speech slurred as I tried to talk back to him.
    “It’s a shame too.” His fingers left my mouth and he picked a tool from the small platter just to his left. “Just a few days ago we were at the Barn Dance Committee meeting and he had some great ideas, but they couldn’t be implemented this year since the Barn Dance is coming up. He didn’t understand that and said he would put it together.”
    “Like what?” I asked before he put that scraping tool in my mouth.
    “He wanted to bring a famous country band to play, but the cost was just too much for the financial committee to come up with.” The tool scraped up and down my teeth. He used the suction tool to suck up my saliva. “When I told him it wasn’t in the budget, he went crazy. He said that he was coming into some extra money and would be more than happy to pay for it. When I asked him when he was going to get the money, he said something about after he won some court case.” Dr. Russell shook his head. “If some client was suing him, it could take years to get that money. It wasn’t a gamble I was