Tangled Roots

by Angela Henry

• ISBN13: 9780373830688
• ISBN10: 0373830688
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-05-01
• Publisher: Kimani Press

Summary

FOR KENDRA CLAYTON life is good-for about five minutes. Then her sweetie, lawyer Carl Brumfield, leaves town to help out his sister in Cleveland. Her soon-to-be-married best friend picks out a hideous bridesmaid's dress for her to wear (a sequined Smurf-b

Excerpts

I always thought that I was the type of woman who wouldn't let a little gray hair bother her. I'm usually the first one to notice when a celebrity's face looks a little younger and tighter than before. I'm usually the first one to smirk and roll my eyes when a person won't admit how old they are. So you'd have thought I'd be unfazed upon seeingmyfirst gray hair--wrong. Instead, I sprinted to the phone with a quickness that would have made Flo Jo proud and made an appointment for some color. Bruce Robins, my hairdresser--or stylist, as he likes to be called--convinced me that highlights would be much better. Well, whatever it takes. Funny how things change when it's you and not someone else. But when I arrived at the shop that Saturday morning, there were police cars and an ambulance blocking my entrance to the parking lot. I parked down the street and walked back to join the small knot of people that had formed across the street.I remembered seeing in the shop from time to time, though I didn't know her name. "Who is it?" asked another woman I'd never seen before. No one seemed to know anything more than the fact that someone had died at the shop, aka B & S Hair Design and Nail Sculpture. It wasn't until later that morning when I'd gone over to Estelle's, my uncle's restaurant where I hostess parttime, that I got the lowdown from Gwen Robins, my uncle's girlfriend for the past eight years. Gwen is a statuesque five ten and she wears wigs to suit her many moods. She's also the aunt of Bruce Robins, owner of B & S Hair Design and Nail Sculpture. Today she was wearing a short blond number that made her look like a female impersonator, though I wasn't about to risk my life by telling her this. Besides, she looked like she already had the weight of the world on her shoulders. "You heard about Inez Rollins, didn't you?" I shook my head, not fathoming that Inez was connected in any way to the death at the shop. I almost fell over. "I was at the shop this morning to get a haircut. I knew someone had died but I had no idea it was murder. What happened?" "All I know is she was the last one at the shop last night.taking out the trash." Gwen shook her head sadly. I understood just how she felt; it was such a horrible shame. "Was it a robbery?" "Girl, who knows? Bruce found her about seven-thirty this morning when he went to open up. I've never seen him so upset. He really liked Inez." A lot of men had really liked Inez. Besides being beautiful, she'd been a nice person. If she'd been a bitch it would have been easy not to be envious of her effortless charm and model looks. I guess I had no reason to be envious now. Inez had worked at the shop for about six months. She specialized in braids: intricate, unique designs that almost made me give up my short no-nonsense do and start sporting some. But it had been economy and not fashion that had led me to my current style. Braids are beautiful but they can cost an arm and a leg, especially when you had someone as talented as Inez doing them. "She was shot in the face, poor baby. I just don't know how anyone could do such a thing," Gwen said. "I talked to Bruce about ten minutes ago. He said he's closing the shop 'til Tuesday. He had to notify Inez's father." I only hoped that it had been quick and she hadn't known what hit her. I'd been on the opposite end of a gun myself quite recently and didn't have to imagine how scared she would have been. I was just now beginning to sleep through the night. I sat down at a table near the hostess station and Gwen brought me a cup of coffee. I put four heaping tablespoons of sugar in it and a good measure of cream. Gwen laughed. "There you go again, ruining a perfectly good cup of coffee. By the time you get done loading it down with sugar and cream, it ain't coffee no more." "Hush, I'm not like you. You drink it strong enough to put hair on your che