Some Like It Haute: A Humorous Fashion Mystery (Style & Error Book 4) (28 page)
Read Some Like It Haute: A Humorous Fashion Mystery (Style & Error Book 4) Online
Authors: Diane Vallere
Tags: #Romance, #samantha kidd, #Literature & Fiction, #cat, #diane vallere, #General Humor, #Cozy, #New York, #humorous, #black cat, #amateur sleuth, #Mystery, #short story, #General, #love triangle, #Pennsylvania, #designer, #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #fashion, #Humor, #Thriller & Suspense, #Humor & Satire
“So Uncle Marius wouldn’t sell to him?”
“Apparently not.”
I looked across the street at the bird-poop-stained façade. “Then maybe I shouldn’t sell, either.”
“Don’t be stupid. What are you going to do—give up your job in Los Angeles and move to San Ladrón?” He stepped back and scanned my outfit, from boots to turtleneck. “No offense, but you don’t seem like the small-town type.”
“I probably don’t seem like the type to make a rash decision, either. Give me the night to think it over.”
Ken folded the letter into thirds along already-established creases and handed it to me. “Mr. McMichael has brought a lot of jobs to the city by the properties he’s developed. This would be no different. Consider that along with his offer. It’s not all about you, but it’s partially about you. That money might give you a chance to quit producing pageant dresses and do something real with your life.”
I had a choice. Defend my crappy job with the steady paycheck or admit that I wanted to do something more with my life. I did neither. Instead, I folded the paper in half again, and tucked it into the back pocket of my dusty jeans.
“The keys?” I asked.
Ken removed three keys from his full key ring and dropped them into my open palm. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Noon?”
“Sure,” I answered.
“Poly, just because your uncle got caught up in what the store meant to him doesn’t mean you have to get caught up in it, too. Do the sensible thing.” Ken turned away and unlocked his shiny black Lexus by remote. He drove away seconds after getting into it and left me standing on the sidewalk, staring after him.
I watched him drive away. Maybe Ken was right. Maybe the sensible thing was to sign away the store and go home. It had been ten years since I’d last been in San Ladrón, and it had changed a lot in that time. I looked up at the façade of Land of a Thousand Fabrics. To the right of it was an antiques store that specialized in Polynesian collectibles. To the left was another antiques store divided into cubicles of stuff left over from a hundred different garage sales. I didn’t remember either of those stores being there the last time I was here. I looked up and down the street, at a hardware store, a salon, and a gas station. The only thing I remembered from this vantage point was the traffic light at the intersection of San Ladrón and Bonita Avenue.
I walked down the block to the meter where I’d parked my own car, a semiautomatic yellow VW Bug from the early eighties. I’d bought it with the first thousand dollars I’d made at To The Nines. Even though Los Angeles was filled with people driving perfectly maintained luxury cars, I liked everything about the one I owned: the ecru leather interior, the chrome handles, the small round gearshift.
But at the moment, there was something new about my car, something I definitely didn’t like. The cluster of colored wires dangling from the steering column.
About the Author
After close to two decades working for a top luxury retailer, Diane Vallere traded fashion accessories for accessories to murder. Diane started her own detective agency at age ten and has maintained a passion for shoes, clues, and clothes ever since. Sign up for her newsletter for contests, free stories, and more
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Also by Diane Vallere
(Links for Kindle)
Style & Error Mysteries
Mad for Mod Mysteries
“Midnight Ice” Prequel Novella
With Vics You Get Eggroll
(coming April 2015)
Material Witness Mysteries
Crushed Velvet
(coming August 2015)
Costume Shop Mystery Series
(coming December 2015)
Table of Contents