A Parfait Murder by Wendy Lyn Watson Page A

yes, false eyelashes, no. Highlights, yes, perms, relaxers, and all-over color, no.” She leaned forward. “Weird thing was Kristen was an alum of the glitz pageant circuit. Anything goes in the glitz pageants—fake hair, false eyelashes, airbrushing away freckles, flippers, you name it.”
    “Flippers?”
    “Partial dentures to hide missing baby teeth.”
    “Oh.” Of course. Why didn’t I think of that? “But why is that weird?”
    “Well, the good Lord only knows what kind of smoke and mirrors Kristen used to win her crowns. Some of the rodeo pageant girls are, uh, a little plain . . . to put it delicately. Why would she want to deny them the chance to look their best?”
    I didn’t know Dani Carberry well at all, but I’d seen her a time or two. She wasn’t even a tiny bit plain. “Dani’s a gorgeous girl. What kind of artifice could she possibly want that wouldn’t be allowed in the rules?”
    Cookie’s eyes narrowed and she pursed her lips. “Only one thing I can think of.”
    “The wig?”
    She crooked an eyebrow in response.
    “But Kristen never said that was the problem, right? I mean, she never told you that Dani’s wig would disqualify her?”
    Cookie shook her head, her starched curls dancing around her delicate chin. “No. In fact, the rules don’t specifically say wigs are illegal. But hair weaves are definitely not allowed, and wigs aren’t on the list of acceptable enhancements. And, honestly, Dani’s such a wonderful girl. What else could it have been?”
    “Maybe Dani got into trouble recently? Something she managed to keep quiet.”
    Cookie tipped her head back and gave me a smug look. “I surely don’t think so. I’ll have you know that Eloise Carberry and I are very close. We’re both on the board of the League of Methodist Ladies. As soon as Kristen called the meeting, I contacted Eloise. She was as shocked as I was at the allegation Dani had done something improper.”
    And there was no way Dani could have done anything wrong without her mother knowing about it.
    Ha.

chapter 9
    I shoved a tissue-wrapped bouquet of miniature sunflowers in Finn’s face. “Why didn’t you tell me Dani Carberry has cancer?”
    “What?” He took the flowers and stood aside to let me into his foyer. He led me back to the kitchen, where he’d been setting out sandwich fixings for our supper, and put the flowers in a cobalt glass pitcher. A basket of potato chips and two sweating glasses of iced tea were already laid out on the dining table.
    “You heard me, Finn,” I said, leaning against the counter to watch him cook. “I found out today that Mike’s daughter has cancer. You work with the guy. Surely the topic came up at some point.”
    Finn paused in the act of peeling the foil from a container of leftover barbecue. Everyone and his uncle were doing dress rehearsals for the fair’s big BBQ cook-off, so the whole town was on an all-barbecue diet for the week. At Erma’s Fry by Night, they even had a brisket quiche on the specials board.
    “He mentioned she had a little cancer, but it was no big deal.”
    I smacked my forehead with my palm. “No big deal? Cancer, Finn. Cancer’s always a big deal.”
    He sighed. “It didn’t sound like a big deal. Mike mentioned last spring, before you and I started dating, that Dani had a little skin cancer removed from her shoulder. Dani was mad because her prom dress was backless and Mike wouldn’t let her wait until after the dance to have the procedure, so she had a Band-Aid showing in her prom pictures. And Mike was mad because he found out Eloise had been letting Dani go to a tanning salon. And Eloise was mad because, between you and me, I think Eloise is always mad.”
    “That’s it? He just mentioned it once? Didn’t you ask how she was doing?”
    He popped the container of pulled pork in the microwave and started it reheating. “Never thought of it again. We live in Texas, Tally. No stinkin’ ozone layer is going to protect us from