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  SUSPECT IN HIGH HEELS

  High Heels Mysteries book #10

  by

  GEMMA HALLIDAY

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  Copyright © 2019 by Gemma Halliday

  http://www.gemmahalliday.com

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Dedicated to my mom, who would never be caught dead in culottes and is the most fashionable woman I know.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

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  SNEAK PEEK

  CHAPTER ONE

  "If I can get 1,000 bucks for this fertility goddess, I'm taking one heck of a Vegas vacation, baby."

  I turned to look at the six-inch green statue in Mrs. Rosenblatt's pudgy hands. It had a bulbous nose, a protruding belly, and a goofy grin on its face that made it look like it'd just downed a double shot of tequila on an empty stomach. If Elmer Fudd was your idea of sexy, this statue had it goin' on.

  "If you get a thousand bucks for that, I'm a monkey's aunt," my mom answered, laughing heartily as she voiced my sentiments exactly.

  We'd been standing in line for the Antiques Extravaganza for the last two hours, and my mom and her best friend were getting a little slaphappy. Me? I was regretting my decision to wear my new Michael Kors pumps. Even though the slim three-inch silver heels were absolutely gorgeous, I would've killed for a chair right about then.

  "You just wait, Betty," Mrs. Rosenblatt said, wagging a fingertip—painted bright fuchsia and studded with rhinestones—at my mom. "I know this thing is authentic and worth cash. My fourth husband, Lenny, brought this back with him from a tour of Africa in 1965."

  Mrs. Rosenblatt had been married a total of five times, burying one husband at Forest Lawn Memorial and burying the other four in divorce court. She currently worked as a part-time psychic on the Venice boardwalk—telling fortunes, reading palms, and cleaning dirty auras, and had a collection of muumuus in every color of the rainbow. Eccentric was her middle name.

  "I don't know if things from the '60s are actually considered antiques," my mom said. Probably because she predated the era herself.

  But Mrs. Rosenblatt waved her off, her underarms continuing to jiggle long after the rest of her had stopped moving. "Nonsense. This thing here is the real deal. I tell you, the week after Lenny brought it home, my niece came over for brisket, saw this sucker, and—bam!—she was pregnant with triplets."

  I took a small step away from the green statue. Not that I didn't love children. But with my own set of twins, I think I was pretty set in the fertility department.

  "What do you think, Maddie?" Mom said, turning to me. "Do you think it's old enough to be considered an antique?"

  What I was thinking at the moment was that it was a mistake to have tagged along with these two.

  When Mom had first giddily told me that she had secured tickets to the Antiques Extravaganza and insisted that I come along with her, I'd been a bit wary but open-minded. Sure, antiquing felt more like something for the AARP set with time on their hands than a busy mom of two running her own shoe design business, but I had seen the show on TV, and it was kinda fun to guess the values of the kitschy goods people brought in from Grandma's attic. And I did have a pair of vintage Chanel two-toned pumps. I wasn't sure that they were worth much as far as the dollar amount went, but it would be interesting to see if the appraisers could give me an idea of their history.

  As our tickets had told us, we'd been limited to bringing along just one antique, and Mrs. Rosenblatt had, obviously, chosen her fertility goddess. I had my pumps, and Mom had gone with an antique hatpin decorated in a diamond and ruby floral design that she said had been handed down through the generations of women in her family for the last hundred and fifty years. She'd been keeping it in a safety deposit box since I was twelve and swore that it was "priceless." I warned her that bringing it to the antique show was going to put a price on it.

  I shifted from foot to foot as our line moved up by one person. I had a bad feeling the price I was going to be paying for wearing my Michael Kors was blisters the size of silver dollars by the end of the day.

  "Look over there!" Mrs. Rosenblatt said.

  I glanced in the direction that her fuchsia fingers indicated.

  To our right a young woman in a sleek black jumpsuit with gold hoop earrings and a stylish updo sat with the host of the Antiques Extravaganza, chatting animatedly over a blue vase with intricately painted cherry blossoms on the side.

  "That looks like a celebrity. Where do I know her from?" Mom asked, squinting beneath her powder blue eye shadow—which perfectly matched her baby blue mock turtleneck and pale denim skort. Yes, skort. While I loved my mother with all my heart, no amount of prodding on my part had been able to bring her fashion sense out of the 1980s. I guess I had to give her some credit—it was hard to find a skort for sale these days, so she got points for creative shopping.

  "That is a celebrity," Mrs. R said, nodding. "Is it Charlize Theron?"

  "I think it is," I responded, honestly as surprised as they were. This didn't really seem like a Hollywood A-lister event.

  Beside her, several camera flashes went off as antiquers in the Asian Arts line took photos with their phones. I even spied a blonde woman in a T-shirt that read L.A. Informer across the back, indicating she was from one of the local tabloids, popping off a couple of shots.

  "Didn't I tell you that antique was the new chic?" Mrs. R said, puffing her chest out triumphantly.

  I took a quick glance around at the other antiquing patrons. Sensible shoes, cozy cardigans, and pleated-front slacks seemed to be the predominant look of choice. I wasn't sure if chic would be the word I'd use to describe the antiquers, but I had to admit that the celeb sighting did add a bit of cool factor to the outing.

  We moved up a step closer, and I peered around my two companions to see just how many more patrons were ahead of us. We were standing in the Jewelry & Accessories line, which seemed to be one of the more popular ones today. I looked longingly over at the Sports Memorabilia line, noting that only three people stood there, a
nd wished I'd brought my husband's baseball card collection instead of my vintage heels.

  "If this line moves any slower, we'll be traveling backwards," Mom huffed, shifting her massive purse to the other shoulder. Like a Boy Scout, she believed in being prepared. I was pretty sure her bag held a first aid kit, emergency change of clothes, and possibly even an actual Boy Scout.

  "Peter's line always moves slowly," the woman behind us said.

  I turned to find a slim lady holding a shopping bag. Her dark brown hair was cut in a severe bob, and her eyes peered at me from behind a pair of large glasses that magnified them to twice their size. She was petite and kind of cute in a quirky way.

  "Peter?" Mom asked.

  The woman nodded, her glasses slipping down her nose just a bit. "Peter Carrington. The appraiser from Carrington and Cash." She nodded toward the front of the line where a man with dyed black hair in a tweed jacket was pointing out the finer characteristics of a silver brooch to the lucky antiquer at the front of the line. "He's the absolute best. So thorough."

  "You've been to the Antiques Extravaganza before?" my mom asked.

  She nodded again. "I always try to get tickets when they're in town. Of course, Peter's local, so it's a treat when he's here."

  "What did you bring to get appraised?" Mrs. Rosenblatt asked, peering into the shopping bag.

  The woman's eyes lit up behind her magnified lenses, and she reached her hand into the bag. "Clowns," she said gleefully.

  I felt myself jump as her hand emerged with a porcelain clown in a harlequin outfit. The face was contorted into a creepy smile that looked like a cross between the Joker and Chucky.

  "That's…unique," Mom said, clearing her throat.

  "Thanks." The woman lovingly cradled the creepy doll in her arms. "He's a Burdorf. From Germany."

  "Shouldn't you be over in the Toys and Dolls line?" Mrs. Rosenblatt asked.

  "Oh no!" Clown Lady shook her head vehemently, her bob whipping back and forth. "This is not a toy. You see the buttons?" She pointed to the items in question down the front of the doll's outfit. "Silver and sapphires. Mr. Bubbles and I can't wait for Peter to see them." She did a big toothy grin that perfectly matched the creepy one on her non-doll.

  I mentally shivered. Clowns and I had a history, and it wasn't a pretty one.

  Mrs. Rosenblatt squinted down at the little guy. "He looks a lot like my third husband, Alf." She shook her head. "Only Alf was chubbier. He had a glandular problem."

  "Would you like to see another one?" Clown Lady asked, her eyes shining. "I brought a few more friends."

  Oh boy. This was going to be a really long line.

  An hour and several more antique brooches, pendants, and handbags later, we finally found ourselves one away from the appraiser. I bounced on my toes as I waited for the woman in front of us to get the rundown on the nineteenth-century gold chain she'd inherited from her great-aunt.

  "Well, look at you, Maddie. You look like you're getting excited," Mom said with a knowing glance in my direction.

  Actually, I kinda had to pee, but I smiled and nodded at my mother anyway. Who was I to spoil her fun?

  A woman wearing a headset and carrying a clipboard interrupted us. "Mr. Carrington will see you now," she told Mom, ushering the three of us forward.

  Unlike what I'd seen on television, the majority of the appraisals happening at the Antiques Extravaganza were not camera worthy. Peter Carrington sat on a folding chair behind a small table covered in a tablecloth in the show's signature bright blue color. No cameras were currently in residence near him. However, the woman with the headset and clipboard was hovering nearby. While we'd been standing in line, I'd watched Carrington signal to her a couple of times when he apparently thought an antique was a particularly interesting item. The item's owner had then quickly been ushered into a back room, presumably where they were made more "camera ready" and waited for a filmed segment away from the crowded convention center floor.

  I could feel Mom practically vibrating with anticipation, hoping she might be one of the lucky few with the ticket into the back rooms.

  "It's so nice to meet you, Mr. Carrington," Mom gushed, sticking her hand out toward the man in tweed seated behind the table.

  "Charmed." He gave Mom a wan smile and a limp squeeze of her fingers in return. Honestly, he looked bored to tears. However, I could only imagine how many yard sale treasures he'd already appraised. "What have you brought for me today?"

  Mom dug her hand into her gargantu-purse and pulled out her lovingly wrapped hatpin. She'd tucked it in tissue, wrapped it in bubble wrap, and stuck it inside a Tyvek envelope. As she peeled back the layers on her gem, she regaled Carrington with the history of the item.

  "This was my great-grandmother's grandmother's grandmother's special silver hatpin."

  Carrington's ruddy complexion wrinkled as he tried to do the mental math on exactly what generation the piece had come from. Finally, he must've given up, because he said, "That would put it around the time of…"

  "1892."

  I stifled a laugh. Mom apparently wasn't so big on math herself.

  "Uh—" Carrington held up a hand to interrupt.

  But Mom was on a roll. "It's been handed down from generation to generation of women in the family ever since then. The legend is that her husband gave it to her on their wedding day as a gift. It had been given to him as a gift for his service in the military in the Crimean War. The rubies and diamonds that you see in the floral design actually once belonged to Josephine Bonaparte."

  I could see Carrington's bushy eyebrows moving farther and farther toward his receding hairline as Mom's story continued.

  "That would be Napoleon's bride," Mrs. Rosenblatt jumped in to clarify.

  Carrington shot her a look. "I'm aware of who Josephine Bonaparte is."

  "It's a very special piece," my mom finished, finally peeling back the last layer of tissue paper and setting the hatpin down on the table in front of the appraiser.

  I had to admit, it was gorgeous. The silver showed some minor signs of aging, but it still gleamed under the bright convention center lights. The rubies and diamonds sparkled in the floral design at the head of the pin, and the long stick extended at least 8 inches, ending in a sharp point that looked deadly enough that I wanted it nowhere near my head.

  Carrington picked it up, squinting down at the gems. He turned it over, carefully examining the back and tracing his finger over the worn signature mark of the silversmith who'd created it. Mom held her breath, leaning in closely. I could see her hopefully eyeing the production assistant out of the corner of her eye.

  But Carrington didn't call her over. Instead, he set the pin down with a plop on the table in front of him. "It's a reproduction."

  Mom sucked in a breath of air on a gasp, her hands going to her chest. "What?"

  "What you have here is a cheap modern reproduction of a Regency era pin. These were mass-produced in the 1920s," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

  "Impossible!" Mom said, her voice going high. "This priceless hatpin has been in my family for several generations. There is no way it was made in the 1920s. Why, my great-great-grandmother wore this on her wedding day in 1901!" Mom shook her head at the man, her cheeks going bright red.

  Carrington tilted his head down and looked up at Mom through his sparse eyelashes. "Do you have photographic evidence of this?"

  "I…I…"

  Carrington smirked. "I didn't think so."

  He pushed the hatpin across the table toward Mom, who picked it up and squinted at it, as if trying to see what Carrington was seeing.

  "I'm sorry, but this priceless family heirloom," he said, the word coming out on a sneer, "is worthless."

  Mom sucked in another gasp.

  "Even the gems are fake," he added as a final insult.

  "Listen, you," Mom said, placing both hands on the table and leaning her face just inches from Carrington's. "Are you calling my great-great-grandmother's
grandmother's grandmother a liar?"

  Carrington blinked, some of the smug being replaced by fear as he took in the set line of Mom's jaw and her angry slits of eyes. I could see him glancing around to find his production assistant now. "What I'm saying, ma'am, is that what you have brought me is costume jewelry easily picked up at a garage sale for under $10."

  "Why, you little—"

  Mom didn't finish that thought. Instead, I watched in horror as she slid her purse off her shoulder, lifted it high above her head, and swung toward Carrington.

  "No!" I shouted, diving for Mom.

  "Look out!" the clown lady behind us screamed at Carrington.

  "Eep!" Carrington squeaked out, ducking as Mom's bag of tricks sailed just inches over his head.

  I grabbed Mom's right arm, and Mrs. Rosenblatt grabbed the left, the two of us just barely able to restrain her from going for another swing as she began throwing curses in Carrington's direction.

  "You fraud! You phony! You wouldn't know an antique hatpin if it stuck you in the backside!" she yelled.

  I could see production assistants turning toward the commotion, starting to run our direction. In fact, everyone within earshot had turned to see what the screaming was about, including Charlize Theron and the paparazzi photographing her.

  That was our cue to leave.

  "Let's get her out of here," I mumbled to Mrs. Rosenblatt.

  Between the two of us we managed to drag Mom away from Carrington, but not before she had a chance to insult Carrington, his mother, and a goat. By the time we'd dragged her to the bank of chairs along the far wall, the string of curses was making me blush.

  "How dare he!" Mom said, letting out a long breath and shaking her head to reposition her feathered bangs.

  "Look, let's just calm down for a few minutes," I said, looking over my shoulder for security. We'd be lucky if we weren't thrown out.

  "That guy had some nerve." Mrs. Rosenblatt nodded in agreement." I like to give him a piece of my mind."