Killer Nail: Cozy Mystery Short Story

By S. Y. Robins

When Emma opens her own salon at last, she's beyond thrilled. It's taken four years of saving and planning to get here, and she even managed to leave her old salon on good terms with her former boss, Gina. Wishing her luck, Gina has even promised to tell all of Emma's clients that she has her own salon now. With the grand opening only two days away, Emma is on top of the world. Until someone is murdered right in front of her apartment, that is. The woman is a tourist with zero connections in town, and there's no reason at all that anyone should have killed her…unless you count the fact that she looks remarkably like Emma. Emma tries to brush it off as a coincidence, but deep down she knows the truth: someone hired a killer to take her out, and another person paid the price. Driven by guilt, Emma decides that she's not going to rest until she learns the truth. But every time she turns around, it seems that there's another body. And when she finally figures out the truth, it just might be too late to save her...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lovy Books Ltd
• Release date: Aug 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223103783

Book preview

1

One second, tea’s ready.

The kettle whistled, and Emma craned to hold the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she turned off the stove and poured the tea. The aroma of cinnamon rose through the kitchen and she smiled, leaning over the steam and inhaling. Fall had just slid from a hint of chill into bracingly crisp weather and Emma was celebrating with flannel pajamas and tea. If only her apartment had a fireplace…

Okay, I’m back. She settled onto the couch, tea in one hand and phone in the other.

All cozy? Rob’s voice sounded like he was smiling.

Yeah. Finally relaxing. Emma curled her feet up under herself and smiled. I’m sorry you’re still working.

It’s just for a few nights. He paused. Are you okay? Should I come over? I can leave if I need to.

No, no. You stay. Emma managed a tired smile. I’ll probably be asleep soon, anyway. But you should still come over. We can have breakfast together.

That sounds wonderful. I’ll bring the pancake mix.

I have the best boyfriend.

He laughed, that sexy laugh that always made her toes curl, and Emma felt her face split into a grin. She’d fallen for Rob the first time she’d seen him, tagging along at the bar and looking out of place as he nursed a beer. When he’d asked her if she wanted to get out of there, only to take her strolling along the city streets under a crisp winter sky, staring at the stars…she’d been pretty sure she was already in love. Two years later, she still felt like the luckiest woman alive every day. Rob might be an absolutely terrible cook with a penchant for bad puns, but he was her terrible cook with a penchant for bad puns.

So tell me how it went with Gina, he said finally.

Oh, you know…awkward as hell. Today had been Emma’s last day at Totally Nails. In the three weeks since she had announced her resignation to start her own salon, she had not seen her boss, Gina, even once. It had taken all of those three weeks for her mother and Rob to persuade her to ask Gina for a meeting so that Emma could ask for her client list to go with her to the new salon.

Well, what did she say? Rob had been Emma’s staunchest proponent when she first floated the idea of opening her own nail salon, and for two years he had helped her research real estate and business laws. With Perfection opening next week, he was beginning to stress out just as much as Emma was.

She said it was okay. Emma hunched her shoulders. She gave me the list. She wasn’t, uh…very happy about it.

Well, I would think not. One of her best artists is leaving.

Rob…

You know you were the best one there.

That’s not why she was upset. Even to Emma, it felt uncomfortably