Dirty Sexy Murder Read online

  Back Cover Copy

  Can Marina learn to have faith in her powers in time to save the people she loves?

  Marina's got it made with a new job giving Brazilian waxes in a fashionable salon in the big city of Sydney. Life seems to be looking up for her, that is, until she starts having visions, which come true. Her clients start dying, one by one. Then her roommate, James, becomes a suspect, and suddenly she must fight for the man she cares for. While she tries to harness her powers, people close to her begin to disappear. More victims of the serial killer? This time she can’t see, and in the midst of terror, Marina must save the lives of people she's come to love, but in a twist of fate, save herself.

  Explicit Sexual content.

  Highlight

  Marina flinched as Adele’s piercing scream ricocheted off the walls of the cubicle and into her brain. The colours in the room became intense, so that the pale yellow walls of her cubicle burned her eyes. A full-on migraine. She blinked and tried to focus. Already a strange aura, like a shimmering light, appeared around Adele’s face. Marina had experienced this only once before, when she’d had her vision. Perspiration broke out on Marina’s brow. She centered her gaze on Adele’s face praying the pain would go away. It didn’t. Instead, the yellow of the walls deepened to ochre. She gripped the massage bed to steady herself. Glancing at Adele, she saw that there was a trickle of blood seeping from her nostrils. “Are you okay?”

  “Sure. Why have you stopped?”

  Marina’s vision cleared. There was no blood on Adele’s face.

  “It’s fine to keep going. I can handle pain.” Adele bit her fingernail. “I’m sick of my boring life. I’m going to break out. This Brazilian is going to bring out the animal in me. This guy’s to die for.”

  Dirty Sexy Murder

  978-1-61650-122-8

  Copyright © 2010, Cathleen Ross

  Edited by Camila Londono

  Book design by Brian Hunter

  Cover Art by Renee Rocco

  First Lyrical Press, Inc. electronic publication: February, 2010

  Lyrical Press, Incorporated

  17 Ludlow Street

  Staten Island, New York 10312

  http://www.lyricalpress.com

  eBooks are not transferable. All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission.

  PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  Published in the United States of America by Lyrical Press, Incorporated

  Table of Contents

  Back Cover Copy

  Highlight

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

  About Cathleen Ross

  More From Lyrical Press

  Dedication

  To my darling husband Robert for all his love and inspiration. To my wonderful writing critique partner Kandy Shepherd and lastly to my beautiful friend, Lesley East for always being there.

  Chapter 1

  “Take your pants off and lie down,” Marina Henry told her client before turning to leave the room. She had to fight to suppress a laugh. No way did she think she’d get used to saying that, not after the small-town life she used to live.

  “You don’t need to leave,” her client, Adele, said. “I don’t care if you see me half naked. I just want that Brazilian. I read on the net that Gwyneth Paltrow reckons it changed her life.”

  Marina turned back to Adele, a brunette with a thick blond stripe in the front of her hair. Adele already had her jeans half off in the Darlinghurst Road beauty salon cubicle in Sydney, where Marina had recently started work as a waxer. She smiled. “You want me to leave a landing strip? That’s my most popular wax. I do hundreds of them.”

  Adele grinned back. “No wonder locals nickname this place Salon Clitty instead of Salon City.”

  Marina laughed. She handed Adele a paper G-string. “Pop this on and when you’re ready, park your tush down there.” She indicated to the treatment bed. “And legs in the air.”

  “Thanks.” Adele took the paper G-string.

  Marina turned a knob next to the light switch so the pulsing rhythm of Brazilian music filled the cubicle, quiet enough so that they could still talk, yet loud enough to muffle Adele’s screams.

  Marina walked over to her workbench. Adele was older than her, twenty-nine to her twenty-four, and seemed nice. It would be fun to help her take this big step. Chatting with clients was one of her favorite parts of the job.

  When she turned back Adele was lying half naked and totally unselfconscious on the treatment bed. “I’m going on a hot date, so I want to look perfect everywhere,” Adele said.

  “Perfect I can do.” Marina picked up the skin cleanser and prepped her client. Even though she still wasn’t used to asking them to drop their pants, it was amazing how fast seeing her clients butt-naked had become pretty normal. “How long have you known your guy?”

  “Two weeks. I met him through a dating website. I told him I’ve got a Brazilian so now I have to go through with this.”

  An image formed at the edge of Marina’s vision. She blinked with disbelief before warning bells went off in her head and she realized that she was about to have another premonition. She couldn’t believe this was happening again. She stopped breathing and scrunched her eyes shut. When she opened them again, the vision had gone. Marina let out a sigh. “You don’t think that’s a bit rushed?” she said, forcing herself to concentrate on the client. She picked up the talcum powder.

  “I have to make myself stand out. I’m turning thirty, Marina. I want a family. I can’t afford to waste time.” Adele looked downward. “Start trimming that hedge. I’m going to use every trick in the book to hook my new man.”

  Marina frosted Adele’s vulva and butt with powder to stop the wax sticking to the skin. “You need to be careful who visits Brazil.” When she touched Adele’s skin, her hands froze and a wave of nausea made her gag. She coughed into her hand to disguise it.

  Adele just shrugged.

  Was Adele always this reckless with men? She stared at her with concern.

  “So what about you? You seeing someone?” Adele asked.

  Marina shuddered. “No way! After what happened back home, I’d rather roll myself in molten wax, and run naked through the streets of Sydney.”

  “What went wrong?” Adele asked.

  Marina smeared a line of wax on the outside of Adele’s bikini line and tested it with her finger. Rip!

  “Owww!” Ad
ele flinched. She took a deep breath. “Your boss, what’s her name, Natalia, told me you ran your own salon back home in Blackheath. Why did you come here?”

  Marina spread another line of wax. Dealing with clients was a give-and-take situation. Maybe sharing her story would distract her client. This was going to hurt.

  “Come on. Tell me,” Adele urged.

  “I ran away. I had no idea how weird men could be.” Marina raised her eyebrows. “I guess my life’s a whole other ball of wax now.”

  “That’s it? That’s all?”

  Marina bit her lip. Adele was full of man problems and she wasn’t the only one. Maybe sharing her own problem would help Marina move on. “Okay, I call it the wedding domino disaster. First I caught my groom dressed in my wedding gown the same day I was due to walk down the aisle.”

  Adele caught her breath. “Don’t tell he had a wedding dress fetish.”

  Marina grimaced. “Lace actually.” Rip!

  “Owww!” Adele’s eyes bulged. “Hey! No one said this was going to hurt so much.” She took a deep breath. “So what did you do?”

  “I cancelled the wedding an hour before and then of course I had to tell my mother why. She had a minor stroke. She told her best friend so the whole town knew.”

  “You’re kidding me?”

  “That wasn’t the end of it. The final thing that happened was Tony’s parents told everyone I’d had a breakdown.”

  “And people believed them?”

  “Easier to believe that than the truth—that the groom wanted to dress up as the bride.”

  She smeared on the hot wax. Tested it with her fingers. When she found the lip formed by the wax, she pulled.

  Adele gave a short, sharp scream. “It hurts.” She shuddered.

  Marina started at the high-pitched sound. Her head started to throb and she touched her temples. Last time she’d developed a major headache, the horrible vision of her wedding disaster had accompanied the pain. The vision had come true in every detail. She hadn’t believed in psychic phenomena then, but that one experience had shaken her belief and now she dreaded it. Something was wrong with Adele. She could sense it. “You all right?” Marina asked.

  Adele nodded, though she had shredded the paper that lined the bed. Her knuckles were white, but she gave Marina a wan smile. “I hope my date lives up to his bio.”

  “What do you mean? Haven’t you met him?”

  “Only by email. He’s into Brazilians. In fact that’s why he said he contacted me. I think my online dating name, Barbie Brazilian, got his attention.”

  “That’s a bit out there to admit to a Brazilian online, especially when you didn’t have one.” Rip!

  Adele slapped her hand on the massage bench, the sound making a thwack.

  “Open your legs more,” Marina said. She smoothed the hot wax close to the delicate center and ripped.

  “Argh!”

  Marina flinched as Adele’s piercing scream ricocheted off the walls of the cubicle and into her brain. The colours in the room became intense, so that the pale yellow walls of her cubicle burned her eyes. A full-on migraine. She blinked and tried to focus. Already a strange aura, like a shimmering light, appeared around Adele’s face. Marina had experienced this only once before, when she’d had her vision. Perspiration broke out on Marina’s brow. She centered her gaze on Adele’s face praying the pain would go away. It didn’t. Instead, the yellow of the walls deepened to ochre. She gripped the massage bed to steady herself. Glancing at Adele, she saw that there was a trickle of blood seeping from her nostrils. “Are you okay?”

  “Sure. Why have you stopped?”

  Marina’s vision cleared. There was no blood on Adele’s face.

  “It’s fine to keep going. I can handle pain.” Adele bit her fingernail. “I’m sick of my boring life. I’m going to break out. This Brazilian is going to bring out the animal in me. This guy’s to die for. His bio said he’s interested in Salsa dancing like I am. If a guy can dance, you know he can...” Adele grinned at her.

  She shuddered with fear. “Adele, could online dating be dangerous?”

  “Dangerous? Nah... Why don’t you go online? How are you going to meet a man making pussies picture perfect?”

  “Maybe.” At the moment the last thing she felt like doing was dating. A wave of nausea hit. She swallowed, determined to be professional, to put her own needs aside and last out the appointment. Adele’s ‘Clitler’, a small moustache shape, needed the final tidy up. She spread a neat strip of wax on either side and mentally prepared herself for the inevitable scream. Rip!

  “Argh!”

  The scream swept over her. Shrill at first, then blunting to a gurgling sound like the last remnants of water going down a bath tub.

  Alarmed, she looked up to see how Adele was doing, but Marina’s vision had clouded. She froze. Adele’s face was contorted in agony. Her eyes bulged and she was turning blue. There was something around her neck. What was it? A rope? She lunged at Adele to save her.

  “Marina. Marina!”

  Her vision cleared. Adele was staring at her, her eyes were wide with alarm but she was fine.

  “Marina, are you okay? What’s going on? Your eyes went all glassy. Why have you got your hands on my shoulders?”

  Marina backed off. “I thought I’d really hurt you... Your scream...”

  Adele laughed. “I know I’m a baby, but I didn’t scream that time. Barely batted an eyelid. It’s starting to hurt less.”

  “But...but...” She’d heard Adele scream. She knew she had. Marina massaged her temples. Her head swirled. The pain and nausea intensified and she thought she was going to be sick. She felt confused. Disoriented. Her fingers strangely numb. “I don’t feel well. I have a bad headache.” She knew she sounded lame. “It’s affecting my sight.”

  “You poor thing. Do you have something to take for it?”

  Marina shook her head. “I’ve only had one migraine before. I’m done with the wax,” she said. Looking down she saw that her hands were shaking.

  “Great,” Adele said.

  Should she say something to Adele? What if she didn’t and something horrible happened to her?

  Adele smiled before flicking her blond streak behind her ear. She climbed off the bed and pulled on her panties and jeans. “I’ll see you in a few weeks. Wish me luck for tonight.”

  Marina clutched her arm.

  Adele backed away.

  Marina could see from Adele’s face that she thought her behavior was odd, but what if this vision came true? “Adele. Don’t go on that date.” She tightened her grip on Adele’s arm. “You don’t know this person.”

  “Cool it. I’ll be fine. There are plenty of people at Pier One.”

  “No! I really think you shouldn’t go.” Her voice was hoarse. She couldn’t get through to her. “I have a bad feeling about it.”

  “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” Adele prized her fingers off her arm.

  “Please Adele. Listen to me. Don’t go anywhere private with this man.”

  “Yes, Mum.” Adele laughed.

  When Adele left, Marina shivered, feeling frozen inside. Adele wouldn’t listen to her and she couldn’t make her. Peering at her schedule, she saw that Adele’s was the last appointment. Relieved that she could go, Marina gathered up her things. The cheerfulness of her flatmates, siblings Lizzie and James Worth, would be welcome because at the moment, she couldn’t get rid of the foreboding sense of danger.

  She’d seen Adele die.

  * * * *

  “Quick, Marina,” Lizzie called out. “James is looking up a dating site. It’s time you learned how it’s done.”

  Marina tucked her honeymoon-that-never-happened bathrobe around her body. She might as well get some use out of it seeing as she’d spent a fortune. The pale blue colour suited her fair complexion better than Tony’s. “What did you say, Lizzie?”

  When she entered the study of the three bedroom apartment on Glenmore Road, Paddington, Marina s
topped. “Sorry, James, I didn’t realize you were here, too. I’ll go put something else on.” James was drop-dead gorgeous and she felt self-conscious with him about.

  “Don’t worry,” Lizzie said. “This is your home now. We don’t care what you wear, do we, James?”

  James’s gaze flicked over her. “Looks fantastic from where I’m sitting.”

  “Jamie!” Lizzie said.

  “Don’t worry, Marina, I’ve never dated Lizzie’s friends and certainly not one that lives with us,” James said. “Don’t play where you lay.”

  Marina smiled, but a glimmer of disappointment pricked her heart. So her attraction to James was one-sided.

  “Come sit next to me.” James stood and pulled over another chair. “Don’t be shy. It can’t hurt to see how it all works.”

  “You’re in good hands,” Lizzie said before leaving the room.

  When Marina looked at James she saw more than just good hands. James was hot. He had cropped dark hair, startling green eyes, a long straight nose and a wide sensuous mouth. She hesitated before sitting down near Lizzie’s brother, scared she would become tongue-tied. “I don’t use computers much. I hope you’re patient,” she said.

  “Huh? Yeah. Patient. Sure.” He took a deep breath. “You smell nice.” He turned to look into her eyes.

  She stared back, for a long moment, aware that she was naked under her robe. “Thanks.” Heat crept into her cheeks. Maybe she should have put on more clothes. “How...how many internet dates have you had this month?” she asked to fill the silence.

  “One. She said she wanted a smart guy with a good job who liked spoiling a woman. She liked Italian food, red wine, Marvin Gaye, Lou Reed and sports cars. I thought it would be a good fit.”

  “And?”

  “Turns out the woman was married. She took one look at me and demanded sex.” He couldn’t disguise his disgust. “I don’t do married women.”

  James’s internet date knew a hunk when she saw one. Suppressing a smile, Marina shifted so that her thigh accidentally rubbed his. She quickly moved away, aware of James’ body heat penetrating her sheer wrap. The cologne he was wearing wasn’t bad either. Spicy. What was going on with her? She was usually shy with men. But that hadn’t got her anywhere, had it?