Page 92 of Sunset Beach
Neesa’s laugh was a throaty bray. “Nah, girl. This here is a wig.” She lifted the bangs away from her forehead, just enough to reveal that her own hair was snugged against her scalp with a tight nylon skullcap.
“Oh wow. I wish I could pull off something like that. My hair is so boring.”
Neesa grabbed a strand of Drue’s long dark hair and examined it critically. “You got nice hair. Good texture. You could definitely go lighter. But don’t be trying none of that stuff out of a box. I could totally take you all the way blond.”
“Are you a hairdresser?”
The bartender was back, looking hopeful. “Get you ladies something else?”
“I’ll have another,” Drue said, seizing the opportunity. “And you can bring my friend here whatever she’s drinking.”
“Ooh. Thanks,” Neesa said. “I’mma change it up and just have a Kahlúa and coffee.”
She watched the bartender as he worked at the back bar. “He’s so fine,” she said, a little too loudly. “I do like a white boy with a good ass. How ’bout you?”
Drue almost choked on her club soda. “Same,” she said finally. “So, did you say you’re a hairdresser?”
“Cosmetology student,” Neesa said. “I been doing hair since I was twelve. Soon as I get my license, I’m gonna open my own salon. Hair, nails, eyelashes, all of it. How ’bout you?”
Drue made a face. “I work for my dad. Nothing very exciting. What’d you do before you started cosmetology school?”
“You know. Whatever. I was working at a dry cleaner’s, but me and the owner didn’t see eye to eye. Before that, I worked at a hotel, out at Sunset Beach.”
“I live at the beach,” Drue said. “Which hotel?”
“Gulf Vista. You know the place?”
“It’s right down the street from my place,” Drue said. She’d been waiting for this moment, hoping for an opening. “Hey, isn’t that where that girl was killed a couple years ago?”
Neesa toyed with a tiny gold cross that hung from a thin chain around her neck. “Mmm-hmm. That was my friend. Jazmin. Real sad.”
“I’m so sorry,” Drue said. “I lost my best friend in April.”
Not exactly a lie. Her mother really was her best friend.
“Ooh. I’m sorry. What happened to her?” Neesa asked.
“Hit-and-run accident,” Drue lied. “She died on the way to the hospital.”
“That’s terrible,” Neesa said indignantly. “Did they ever catch the guy?”
Drue shook her head sadly, silently begging her mother’s forgiveness.
“No. Did they ever find out who killed your friend?”
Neesa stared down into her drink. “No. It was probably some freak. You get a lot of freaks staying in hotels, you know.”
“What kind of work did you do at the hotel?” Drue asked.
“I was a housekeeper. Jazmin was too. That’s how we met. I miss thatgirl, you know? I mean, we fussed at each other sometimes, but ain’t nobody could stay mad with that girl for long. Jaz, she had a way about her. Always laughing and cutting up.”
“She sounds like she was fun,” Drue said.
“Mmm-hmm.” Neesa tossed back half of her drink, leaving faint traces of the creamy Kahlúa on her vividly painted lips, which she dabbed with her fingertip. “You know, I was working that night.”
“The night she was killed?” Drue tried to sound uninterested, but wasn’t sure she could pull it off.
“We always took our dinner breaks together, if we could. We met up that night, I guess it was around seven. So hot that night. September, you know? Neither of us felt like eating, so we just got a couple of Dr Peppers from the Coke machine and sat around talking, until it was time to get back to work.”
