Beauty and the Thief Read online

  I just stared at her. “That’s it?”

  She didn’t blink, but after a moment, she did offer a small concession. “And I’ll speak with June, offer her a discount on her upcoming rent. To help ease her mind and show her we here at Oasis Ridge care about her.”

  It took everything I had to not roll my eyes.

  Anne shuffled the papers on her desk and cleared her throat. “Now,” she said. “We need to get down to business. You’ve already lost nearly an hour of work time, first by being late and then with being sucked into this….this whole affair with June.” She motioned to one of the empty chairs across from her. “Take a seat.”

  I did so reluctantly. Not just because I knew she was going to rattle off dozens of things she wanted me to do that day, things that didn’t fall under my umbrella of responsibility, but because I couldn’t help but remember the conversation I’d had with her the other day.

  About June’s business.

  The words she’d spoken were still crystal clear in my mind.

  She hadn’t minced words when she said that she didn’t approve of June selling products out of her apartment. Anne had questioned the legality of it, and had flat-out said that the only person running a business at Oasis Ridge should be her.

  My pulse ticked up a notch.

  Would Anne have broken into June’s home and destroyed her property just to put a stop to something she didn’t approve of? Was that why she was acting so ambivalent about what I’d just told her—because she was the one responsible?

  Or was her complete insensitivity to June’s situation the result of the impending corporate visit?

  I didn’t know.

  Because both explanations were equally plausible.

  Especially where Anne was concerned.

  FOUR

  “I can’t believe I’m dusting paintings,” Denise grumbled.

  I’d just grabbed a cup of coffee and was on my way back to my office. Denise blocked my way, armed with glass cleaner and a bucket of rags.

  I nodded sympathetically. “That will probably be me later.”

  Denise snorted. “You? You’re a director here. I’m just staff. Anne isn’t gonna have you cleaning squat.”

  “I already cleaned a refrigerator,” I told her.

  She arched her eyebrows. “You did?”

  “Yesterday. I helped Lola for an hour or so.”

  Denise sprayed the glass protecting a large ocean landscape painting and then rubbed it with her rag. “This is ridiculous,” she muttered. “Who is gonna care if the paintings are dusty? I’ll tell you who. No one.”

  I didn’t disagree with her.

  I was sure that corporate wanted to see a clean facility on their visit next week, but I didn’t think it needed to be sterile. If I were part of the visiting team, I would want to see a vibrant community with happy, engaged residents—even if that meant there was dusty art hanging on the walls and less than spotless refrigerator shelves.

  “What does she have you cleaning today?” Denise asked.

  “Nothing yet,” I admitted. “She wants me to plan activities for Wednesday’s visit.”

  Denise frowned. “Well, at least you get to keep doing the job you signed up for.”

  “Sort of.” I sipped my coffee. “Except she wants me to plan a day of fun-filled events that require no set-up, will result in minimal mess, and will appeal to all of the residents.” I rolled my eyes. “She might as well ask me to fly a hot air balloon to Mars.”

  Denise chuckled. “Yeah, good luck with that.” She moved to the next painting and gave it a generous misting of cleaner. “This might not be so bad, after all. Can’t exactly screw up cleaning a painting, now can I?”

  “Probably not. But if anyone could find fault with how you’re doing it, Anne would top the list.”

  Denise grinned. The afternoon sun streaming through the large windows in the Gathering Room glinted off her braces, momentarily blinding me.

  “How long are you doing this? Cleaning paintings?” I asked.

  “Until I’m done with this area or until it’s time to start getting ready for lunch. Whichever comes first, I guess.”

  I looked down the hallway. The walls were papered with artwork, and I had a feeling Denise would be polishing glass for a while. I felt a twinge of sympathy, along with a little bit of guilt. But then I remembered what Anne had tasked me with before I’d left her office just moments earlier.

  Despite the fact what Anne was asking me to do at least fell within the scope of my job description, I still wasn’t sure who had gotten the shorter end of the stick - me or Denise.

  My money was on me.

  I headed back toward my office, smiling at Aidan as he strolled through the front door. He was dressed in his scrubs, slate blue ones that matched his eyes, and he had a small shopping bag in one hand.

  “Get a little shopping done before your shift?” I asked.

  He glanced down at the bag he was holding. “Oh, this? It’s for June.”

  “For June?” I repeated.

  “Connie texted me earlier this morning.”

  Connie was another health aide at Oasis Ridge.

  “She did?”

  He nodded. “She mentioned that a bunch of June’s supplies were…damaged so I thought I’d bring her some stuff I had on hand at home.”

  He was doing his best to be tactful and cautious about what information he shared, which I appreciated. But I was more focused on something else.

  “You make face creams and lotions, too?”

  He chuckled. “No. But I have a bunch of essential oils so I thought I’d bring her some of my extras.”

  I cradled the mug of coffee in my hands. “You do?”

  “Plant biology major,” he reminded me. “I have a lot of stuff most normal people wouldn’t have in their homes.”

  Of course. That made perfect sense.

  “What exactly did Connie tell you?”

  He kept walking and I followed along next to him. “She didn’t have a lot of details to share,” he said, a little hesitantly. “Just something about most of her supplies being damaged. I guess June was pretty upset about it.” He looked to me, almost as if for confirmation. “What have you heard?”

  I could tell he was treading lightly, unsure what he should and shouldn’t share.

  “I didn’t hear, I saw,” I told him. “Right after it happened, I think.”

  He slowed his pace, eventually coming to a complete stop right in front of the staircase that led to the upstairs apartments. “What did you see?”

  “A mess,” I admitted. “Stuff broken, ingredients spilled out on the carpet.”

  Aidan shook his head. “How did it happen?”

  “I don’t know. But it looked like someone did it on purpose.”

  His eyes glinted as he processed that bit of information. “On purpose? Who do you think would do such a thing?”

  “You got me.”

  I glanced down at the carpet, avoiding his gaze. I didn’t know for certain who was responsible for breaking into June’s apartment, but I did know someone who wasn’t thrilled with what she had been doing there.

  “Sunny?”

  Reluctantly, I brought my gaze back to him.

  His brow furrowed. “What are you not telling me?”

  “Nothing, really,” I said.

  His expression made it clear just how skeptical he was of my statement.

  “Look, I’m not blaming anyone in particular but…” My voice trailed off. I looked left then right, making sure we were alone.

  I lowered my voice and leaned closer to him, getting a whiff of either lotion or cologne, a soft sandalwood scent that I breathed in a little greedily. “I told Anne about it and she didn’t seem to care.”

  Aidan frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “She didn’t want to call the police. Said she’d do an internal investigation first.”

  He thought about this for a minute. “That sounds about right,” he sa
id at last.

  “It does?”

  He nodded. “She doesn’t want any bad publicity, especially with the corporate visit coming up next week.”

  “But a resident’s home was broken into,” I said. I was feeling indignant for June. “And a lot of her personal belongings were destroyed.”

  “I know,” Aidan said, nodding. “But think about it. The last thing Anne wants—ever—is bad publicity for this place. If she can sweep it under the rug for the time being, especially with her bosses coming to town, she’ll do it.”

  I chewed on the inside of my cheek. I still wasn’t convinced that Anne’s reaction was due solely to the impending visit. “So you don’t think she might have been responsible?”

  Aidan let out a surprised chortle. “Anne? What reason would she have to break into a resident’s apartment?”

  I thought back to Anne’s words the other morning. “She didn’t like that June was running a business here.”

  “A business? She sells a few homemade creams. That’s hardly a business.”

  I wondered if Aidan had a true grasp on just how many products June was selling. I knew of at least five different kinds of creams she’d distributed to residents, and I knew she was selling other things, too.

  “Well, Anne thinks it is,” I said. “And she made it perfectly clear the other day that she thinks the only one who should be running a business here is her. Those were her exact words.”

  “Now that I believe.” Aidan smiled, but it faded almost as quickly as it had appeared. “You really think she might have had something to do with it?”

  I toed the carpet with my black ballet flat. “Honestly?” I sighed. “No, probably not. She’s not my favorite person by any stretch of the imagination but I don’t know that she’d stoop to doing something like that.”

  He eyed me. “You don’t sound convinced.”

  I knew I didn’t.

  Because I wasn’t.

  With Anne, more often than not it was her way or the highway. And if she was unhappy about something June was doing, I didn’t know what lengths she might go to in order to curb that behavior.

  Aidan held up the bag. “I want to get this stuff to June before my shift starts.”

  I started climbing the stairs. “I’ll come with you.”

  We found June in her apartment, sitting at her small kitchen table. Her door was slightly ajar, but Aidan knocked before pushing it open a little wider.

  Shock registered on his face as he surveyed the mess that greeted us. Her apartment looked exactly as it did just an hour earlier when I’d gone in with her and Denise to take stock of the damage.

  “How awful,” Aidan mumbled. His eyes were wide, his mouth agape. He stepped gingerly into the living room, avoiding the twisted plastic and broken glass that littered the floor.

  “Is someone coming to clean this up?” I asked June.

  Her fingers played with the lace tablecloth. “I don’t know,” she murmured. “Someone was supposed to come up and take a report.” She glanced at me with cloudy eyes. “Is that you?”

  I swallowed hard, trying to control the anger rising rapidly inside of me. “I was already here, remember? With Denise?”

  Her bottom lip trembled and she clutched the tablecloth a little tighter. “Oh, that’s right,” she said faintly. “Are you here to help clean up now?” She began to push herself into a standing position. “I suppose I could help.”

  “You’re not doing anything.” Aidan’s tone came out far harsher than he probably intended because June immediately shrank away from the sound of his voice.

  He gentled his approach. “You just sit right there, Miss June,” he said. “We’ll take care of this.”

  He abandoned the mess he’d been staring at and took a seat next to her at the table. He set the bag down on the shiny wood surface and pushed it toward her.

  “What’s this?” she asked.

  “Just a little gift.”

  “A gift?” Her look of confusion tugged at my heart. “But it’s not my birthday. At least I don’t think it is…”

  “Just open it,” Aidan suggested.

  June reached a shaky hand into the bag and pulled out a small amber vial. And another. And another. Before long, a dozen small glass bottles were lined up like soldiers on the kitchen table.

  “I thought these might come in handy,” Aidan said.

  June plucked a paper napkin from the holder on the table and dabbed at her watery eyes. “You didn’t need to do this.”

  “I have a lot of essential oils,” he said. “More than I can possibly use.”

  “Do you make creams and lotions, too?”

  I felt a small surge of satisfaction that she’d come to the same conclusion I had.

  He shook his head. “No. But I’m a plant biology major and I’ve been studying the properties of essential oils in one of my classes. I’m especially interested in their efficacy for treating illnesses.”

  Her brow wrinkled, and I had to wonder if she’d understood anything he’d just said. Even I wasn’t completely sure I knew what he was talking about.

  “That is very sweet of you,” June told him. Her eyes were still watery but she managed a smile.

  I was in full agreement. It was an especially nice thing for Aidan to do. And it didn’t surprise me in the least. Over the last few months, he’d proven himself to be the kind of guy who always looked out for others, and who always seemed to go the extra mile for people he cared about.

  It was obvious to me that he cared about June.

  Very much.

  “But I don’t know that I’ll be needing them,” June said.

  “What do you mean?” Aidan asked.

  “The oils are lovely. But I can’t replace everything else that was lost.” June gestured toward the mess in the living room. “The bottles and jars, the base lotions and oils. The teas. It’s a total loss. I don’t think there is a single thing I can save.”

  This wasn’t hard to believe, based on what I was seeing.

  “So you’re done making your products?” Disbelief threaded through Aidan’s voice.

  June’s lip quivered as she nodded. “I can’t afford what it will cost to replace everything.” She shuddered out a sigh. “I don’t even think I’ll be able to afford to live here now.”

  “What?” Aidan and I both said in unison.

  She picked up the napkin and dabbed at her eyes again. Her shoulders sagged and she seemed to age ten years in the scope of ten seconds. “I’m out of money,” she whispered.

  I lowered myself into one of the empty chairs. “I don’t understand.”

  “I’m broke.” Her voice sounded so feeble. “I was selling my beauty products and supplements to make extra money. It was the only thing that was allowing me to keep living here. And now…” She swallowed a couple of times, her dry lips smacking together. “Well, now it looks like the time has come for me to leave Oasis Ridge and find someplace new to live.”

  “What about insurance?” I asked. “Renter’s insurance?”

  “I don’t have any,” she said. “I couldn’t afford it.”

  I didn’t know what to say. Clearly Aidan didn’t either, because he was staring at me, a mix of frustration and hopelessness reflected in his eyes.

  I had so many questions for June.

  “I thought I’d found my golden ticket, you know?” she murmured. She rubbed the tablecloth between her fingers. “I guess I was wrong. There is no way I can restart this business. Not with everything that’s happened.”

  A shadow loomed in the doorway and a man cleared his throat.

  “So I guess you won’t be needing this stuff anymore?”

  FIVE

  Rudy, the VIPS delivery driver, was standing in June’s doorway, a dolly filled with boxes parked in front of him.

  Boxes for June’s now defunct business.

  June shook her head. “I’m afraid not.”

  Rudy frowned. “So I lugged all of this stuff up here for
nothing?”

  “I’m sorry.” June’s eyes filled with fresh tears. “Hopefully you can just return them all to the senders. I feel bad for—”

  I cut her off. “You have nothing to apologize for.” I directed an icy stare at the man in the dark blue uniform. “As you can probably see, we’re dealing with a bit of a situation here.”

  Rudy’s eyes swept the room, lingering on the tornado of boxes and broken glass and crushed plastic. “What happened?” he finally asked.

  “We don’t know,” I said curtly. “But June’s business is on hold. Temporarily,” I added.

  June shook her head but she didn’t refute what I’d just said.

  He scanned the mess again, saying nothing. I understood his reaction; it was a shocking thing to see, especially in a space that was so warm and cozy. June’s apartment was filled with soft, personal touches: plush pillows, framed pictures of family, well-loved books, a hand-hooked rug in front of the entertainment center. All of this served as a stark contrast to the pile of damaged goods strewn about the space.

  Rudy’s expression grew pensive. “This mean you won’t be needing any more deliveries?”

  June nodded and I quickly added, “For the time being.”

  I didn’t want her to make any rash decisions. Not now, when she was emotional and everything was still so fresh and raw. I knew she thought things were pretty hopeless, but I was determined to explore ways to keep her at Oasis Ridge…and to see what we could do to get her business back up and running again.

  “Wow.” Rudy could barely contain his excitement. “For real?” He ran a hand over his slicked back hair. “This is fantastic!”

  He practically kicked his heels as he spun the dolly around and wheeled it back into the hallway. He didn’t even bother saying goodbye.

  “I don’t know why you said temporarily,” June said to me. “I told you I’m done.”

  “We can talk about that later,” I said. “For now, as the representative from Oasis Ridge, I want to get started on cleanup in here.”

  Aidan nodded. “I just need to run downstairs and clock in, but I’ll help, too. We’ll get this place cleaned up in no time.” He got to his feet and hurried out the door. “Be right back,” he called from the hallway.