Polished Off by Lila Dare

the pageant thing for a few years. And we were both unlucky in love.”
    “How so? I thought she was married.”
    “Oh, Kevin’s her second husband. Her first marriage only lasted a year. Mine imploded after nine months.”
    “Mine was over after a year,” I offered, “although we dragged it out for another three before the divorce.”
    She turned to give me a commiserating smile. “Men. You can’t live with ’em and you can’t shoot ’em.”
    The sounds of toilets flushing and locker doors banging, plus the whirring of an industrial fan someone had dragged in to cool the changing room, took over as we lapsed into silence. I desperately wanted to ask Renata if she knew of anyone who hated Audrey or might have a motive to kill her (other than Stella or Darryl), but I couldn’t think how to do it. I wished Mom were here; people naturally divulged everything to her. I think it had something to do with her calm, nonjudgmental air, or maybe the fact that she looked so darn motherly and wise. Maybe I should get glasses like hers. I decided to take the plunge.
    “Who do you think did it?”
    “One of her boyfriends, maybe,” Renata offered immediately. “Or Kevin. Or it could be someone she trampled on her way to the top. Like Jodi. Jodi used to be in charge of this pageant until Audrey came along. Now she’s playing second fiddle. Well, she was until Audrey died.”
    “I thought you said you were friends,” I said, too astonished by the flood of vitriol to be tactful. I misted her now smooth hair with hairspray.
    “I said we knew each other well,” she corrected, rising from the chair in one elegant motion. “Audrey didn’t ‘do’ friends. You were either the competition or someone who could help her. There was no in between. Thanks.” She pressed a tip into my hand and glided from the room. I looked at the bill—a dollar.
    Jodi Keen appeared just then to give the girls some lastminute instructions and I left the locker room, sneaking a look at Jodi as I passed her. I saw her with new eyes in the light of Renata’s revelations. And the news that Audrey might have been involved with several men cheered me. It expanded the suspect pool beyond Stella and Darryl. I wondered if Renata would open up to the police. A moment’s thought told me that of course she would; the woman was dying to trash Audrey Faye to whoever would listen. I wanted to share my discoveries with Stella, but she wasn’t around. I wandered out of the yacht club to find a place to watch the swimsuit competition. The crowd had swelled and it seemed like half of St. Elizabeth had turned out to watch the contestants parade in their swimsuits. Wishing I’d had the forethought to bring a folding chair, I was looking for a place to watch from when I heard a voice.
    “Grace! Over here!” I looked around and spied my best friend, Vonda Jamison, waving from the deck of her sailboat, Wind Thief .
    I waved in return and slipped through the crowd to the dock. The scents of diesel fuel and brine floated up from the water as I stepped onto the deck, setting the small craft rocking. Vonda rose to hug me, blowing her platinum bangs out of her eyes with a huff of air. “I need a cut,” she greeted me.
    “Maybe this evening, if you bribe me with a glass of wine,” I said, returning her hug. She wore a bikini top with a pair of Bermuda shorts and her bare skin was sticky with sunblock. “This is a good idea.” I gestured to the boat. “We’ll have a great view from here.” The contestants were scheduled to sashay from the yacht club down the boardwalk to the gazebo where the judges would score them. They’d pass right by the dock. Glancing around, I noticed that other boat owners had the same idea; most of the nearby decks sported folding chairs and several people.
    “Where are Ricky and RJ? No interest in beauty pageants?” Ricky was Vonda’s former husband and her partner in the B&B they’d bought together ten years ago. They’d been