The in Death Collection Books 11-15 - J. D. Robb [186]
“Why wasn’t it right for him?”
“He was a big, beefy guy—gentleman—with a square-shaped head. Just a look about him that made me think he worked with his hands, like a trade. The DG was just too fussy elegant for him. But he was set on it. He put it on himself, seemed to know just how to fit it.”
“What kind of hair did he have? His hair, not the alternative.”
“Oh, he’s bald as a baby’s . . . He’s a natural scalp. Totally. Very healthy scalp, too. Good tone and polish to it. I don’t know why he’d cover it. He saw the Captain Stud on display and asked for that, too. It was a better look. Sort of made him look like a general, I thought, and when I said so he looked very pleased. Smiled. He has a really nice smile. He was very polite and courteous, too. He called me Miss Letta, and said please and thank you. You don’t get that sort of thing all the time in retail service.”
She paused a moment, frowned up at the ceiling. “Then he told me he wanted to buy some Youth. He laughed a little, because you know how that sounds—buy some youth—and I laughed a little and we went over to skin care. We’re trained to assist clients in all areas of our product line, to streamline their Paradise experience and all. I took him from department to department that way. With him telling me exactly what he wanted, and with him, very courteously again, turning off my suggestions for add-ons. We finished with the dietary product, and I said that he certainly didn’t need it. And he said that he was afraid he enjoyed his food a little too much. When he was done, he indicated that he would take the purchases rather than take advantage of our free messenger service, so I totaled and made him a carryout parcel. Then he handed over that huge wad of cash, and my eyes about fell out on my shoes.”
“It’s not usual for a client to pay cash?”
“Oh, we do a lot of cash transactions, but I’ve never personally done one over two thousand dollars, and this was more than four times that. I guess he saw I was goggling, because he smiled at me again and said that he preferred to pay as he went.”
“You spent a lot of time with him then.”
“More than an hour.”
“Tell me about his speech pattern. Did he have an accent?”
“Sort of. Not really anything I could place. He had a kind of high voice. Almost like a woman’s. But very nice, soft and well, cultured, I guess. Come to think of it, his voice fit the DG more than it fit him, if you know what I mean.”
“Did he mention his name, anything about where he lived, where he worked?”
“No. Early on, I tried to coax his name out by saying something like: I’d be happy to show you other styles, Mr. . . . But he just smiled and shook his head. So I called him “sir” the whole time. I suppose I thought he lived in New York because he took away rather than having sent or shipped, but I suppose he could have been from anywhere.”
“You said you thought you’d seen him in here before.”
“I’m pretty sure. Not long after I started working here, in the early part of the Christmas rush. Late October, maybe early November. At the skin counter again. He was wearing a coat and hat, but I really think it was the same man.”
“Did you wait on him?”
“No, it was Nina. But I remember, sure, I remember now because we bumped into each other behind the counter getting products for our clients and she said how this guy was buying the whole Artistry skin-care line—that’s who makes Youth. That’s a couple thousand, and a really good commission, so I took a peek thinking how I wished I’d snagged him instead of Nina.”
“But you hadn’t noticed him before or since.”
“No, ma’am.”
Eve took her through a few more questions, then asked to see Nina.
Nina’s memory wasn’t as keen as Letta’s. But when Eve moved from her to other clerks, she picked up just enough to be certain Yost dropped into Paradise once or twice a year.
“He’ll have other places, other cities,” she told Peabody when