Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 01 - Stilettos & Scoundrels

by Laina Turner

  “I don’t know what makes you think they will listen to me, Helen.”

  “I’m sure you can figure something out. Plus, you owe me.”

  “How do you figure?” Sheesh, this lady was a piece of work.

  “I don’t have time to go into all that,” she said, waving her hand as if to dismiss my question. “Anyway, keep them off my back until Friday. After that, this will be over and I’m out of here. Then you can do whatever the hell you want.” She threw her still-smoldering cigarette on the ground and walked away.

  “Helen….”

  “Bye, Presley. Don’t forget our agreement.” She waved to me with one of those frou-frou insincere waves, and left me wondering when I ever agreed to anything and what the hell was going on with Cooper.

  Chapter 14Helen left and I sure as hell wasn’t sticking around in this creepy place. With Helen confirming the gambling angle, I felt I was making progress. For some reason, my gut kept telling me that Simon Atkins, one of Cooper’s guys and the son of Garrison Palazzo, was somehow involved. There was just something about him that didn’t seem quite right. Helen’s refusal to try and contact Palazzo when she and Tom had known him was making it all the more strange.

  I only met the man once, but it was weird how I kept running into him everywhere—at Betty’s, at the store, and now here. Weird. Maybe I was biased because he was an ass the first time I met him and now held a grudge, but, hey, I really didn’t have much else to go on. The easy way to find out about him would be to ask Cooper. After all, Simon worked for him and surely he had thorough background checks on all of his employees. It did pose a small problem, however. First of all, I didn’t want Cooper to know I was still investigating. Maybe he really believed me before when I told him I would share information. Ha! Like he would be that naïve, but I didn’t want to press my luck. More importantly, if I saw Cooper I knew I would feel compelled to ask him about what the Internet search had revealed and what Helen meant by her comments. That was driving me crazy. Even though, for the most part, I felt sure he was innocent of any of those criminal charges, there was always the chance I was wrong and I didn’t want to face that possibility. I wanted a little more time to think about things and about how to best approach the situation.

  So, who else might have information about Simon?

  Suddenly, I thought of the perfect person. Okay, maybe not perfect, because that would be Cooper, but someone who would hopefully know something about Simon’s background. As the Senator’s assistant, Tobey would have to know something, wouldn’t he? As the Senator’s right-hand man, he would probably have in-depth knowledge about the people who spent time around the Senator. Wouldn’t he have been the person to hire Cooper’s firm in the first place or have at least handled some of the details? Maybe he knew about the people who work for Cooper. I thought it seemed logical. Besides, the other positive in going to Tobey was that I could ask him about Bobby.

  If I remembered right, Tobey had a place in the apartment complex off Pinehurst. I looked behind me to see if there were any cars. It was all clear, so I made an illegal U-turn. My philosophy on illegal U-turns was pretty much the same as it was on speeding. If the cops weren’t around, then it wasn’t illegal.

  I saw Tobey’s yellow Mercedes in the parking lot as I pulled into his complex. Such a nice car and it really suits him. Pulling into a parking spot and turning the car off, I thought the easy part was over because I wasn’t exactly sure which apartment he lived in and it was pretty late to just start knocking on doors. Interrupting dinner wouldn’t gain me any friends. Then it came to me: I could look at the mailboxes.

  Ever impressed with my intelligence, I began to wonder what ever happened to small and cozy apartment complexes, and after a fruitless fifteen minutes of checking boxes, I felt frustrated. I still hadn’t found his. It seemed like there were a million buildings. When I pulled into the parking lot, I hadn’t realized they had built an entirely new section in the back. So, what I believed would be an easily achievable task was becoming much more difficult than originally planned. About to take a break and go get some coffee to fortify myself, I hit the jackpot: Apartment 218, Tobey Stone. Eureka! I could talk to him and then go get coffee.

  I pressed the door buzzer to the building and waited, tapping my toe impatiently. How freaking big was his apartment that it took so long to answer the buzzer? After all the walking around I did to find his stupid apartment, I wanted to sit down. My flip-flops were killing my feet. I pressed the buzzer again and finally heard the click of the security door. It’s about time, I thought. When I stepped off the elevator on the second floor, Tobey was standing in his doorway. By the look on his face, I had a feeling he was expecting someone else to walk off the elevator. Quickly, that look was gone and replaced with a wide smile. Impressive. He was getting good at this political stuff. Too bad for him I was observant. A less astute person might not have caught that.

  “Hi, Presley. I wasn’t expecting you.”

  Obviously, that was the understatement of the year. Just as brightly and just as fake, I replied, “I was in the neighborhood and thought I would stop by. I had a couple of questions I thought you could help me out with.” For instance, who are you really expecting that you don’t want me to see?

  “Sure.” Tobey stood in the doorway. It looked like he didn’t want to invite me in. In my opinion, that meant he definitely didn’t want me to see who he was expecting. Little did he know that two could play at that game.

  “Can I come in for a minute?” I asked sweetly. I could see he didn’t want me to, but he didn’t know how to say no. Resigned, he opened the door wider and stepped back, motioning me inside.

  Stealing a glance around the apartment, all I could think of was that he had better taste in home decorating than I did and must make a hell of a lot more money than me. But his apartment here in Alkon probably cost half of what I paid a month for my condo in the city, which I could tell already was a lot smaller than Tobey’s place. There was something to be said for living in a small town.

  “Your apartment is beautiful, Tobey.” I was sincere about that. His apartment was beautiful—something straight from a Pottery Barn catalog.

  “Thanks, have a seat.” He seemed distracted as he motioned for me to sit down on his cream leather chaise. As I sank down into its fluffiness, I thought I might never be able to get back up. Hell, I may never want to get up. I struggled to sit up straight and put the thought that this was the most comfortable couch I had ever sat on out of my head. I couldn’t forget why I came here in the first place.

  Tobey looked at me expectantly. I could tell he was anxious to get this over with and me out of his apartment. He must have something to hide or he wouldn’t be so uptight that I stopped by. He was also freshly showered, still-damp hair a telltale sign, and was dressed in casual, but nice clothes—not the kind you put on if you were just going to hang out on the couch for the night. That’s what I would do. In fact, I wasn’t far from it now. Damn Helen and her drama waking me up from my nap and making me rush out in sweats and flip-flops. I was a little offended he wasn’t offering me anything. He certainly wasn’t being a good host.

  “What do you know about Simon Atkins?” I asked bluntly. No reason to draw it out since Tobey seemed to not want me there anyway. Tobey seemed taken a little off guard.

  “Why?” What was she up to?

  “Because someone is trying to shake Helen down for the money Tom owed. And don’t you think there is something, well, odd about him?” Helen swore me to secrecy, but since she said Tobey was the only other one who knew the Senator’s gambling secrets, I figured she wouldn’t mind. Besides, with her attitude earlier, I didn’t really care if she minded. There was no way I could even begin to help her without giving up some of what she told me.

  “I’ve been thinking that maybe he could be connected to the Senator’s murder. Maybe there is something in his background…” I trailed off.

  Tobey gave me a puzzled look. At least that w
as how he hoped he looked. Why couldn’t she just leave it alone already? This woman was making his job so much more difficult. What was Helen thinking talking to her? That woman was going to be the death of him. And to think he used to think the Senator was a pain in the ass.

  “It depends on what you mean by ‘odd,’ Pres. A lot of those security types seem off to me. Carrying guns and knowing fifty ways to kill a man with your bare hands seems like odd behavior to me.” Tobey chuckled. It seemed a little forced, but I thought probably because he wanted me to leave.

  “True,” I nodded. “But I mean odder than just that. There’s just something about him that…I can’t really explain it, it’s more of a feeling. Plus, he was a real jerk when I came to interview the Senator. Not wanting to even let me in to see him for a second.” I didn’t plan to share how Simon drove past us and how it made Helen nervous. I thought that might be sharing too much, so I tried to be vague, though it seemed all I did was make Tobey think I was crazy.

  “Presley, I think that’s his job. He’s supposed to be aware of what’s going on and that day he was following Cooper’s orders because of some threat or something. I don’t see anything sinister in it,” Tobey chastised.

  I didn’t know what else to say. Tobey didn’t seem to think twice about Simon. I was hesitant to bring Bobby up. Even though Helen didn’t want to give any validity to my thoughts about him, I thought maybe there was a connection. Even if there wasn’t, I just wanted to know. Should I ask Tobey and pretend I didn’t know he and Bobby were involved?

  Before I could say anything, Tobey stood up as if to push me out the door. “Listen, Pres, it’s been a long day, and I’ve really got to get some sleep. Did you have anything else?”

  Sleep, my ass! He just wanted me gone. People didn’t light candles and make dinner, which I could smell cooking in the kitchen, right before bed. However, I didn’t have the energy to call him on it.

  “Ok, but you will let me know if you hear anything, won’t you?”

  “Sure,” Tobey said, all but pushing me out the door. He closed the door behind her and leaned against it. What a close call that was. He looked at his watch. He had just enough time to call Chris. He wasn’t going to like this at all.

  Chapter 15That was a waste of time, I thought, sitting in my car. Well, it was except for getting to see what great taste Tobey had in interior design, which made me feel bad about my own efforts. My apartment didn’t look nearly that good. After leaving Tobey’s apartment, I sat in my car for the next ten minutes trying to decide my next step. Tobey didn’t have any useful information about Simon, and I believed he told me what he knew, which was nothing. I was bummed I didn’t get to see who he was expecting, although I was pretty confident he was waiting on Bobby. Who else would he have over and want to keep such a secret? Unless he was seeing someone else, and well, that was another issue altogether. When I was about to give up and go home, my cell phone rang. Looking at the display, I saw it was Cooper. According to the screen, it was the fourth time he had called in the last hour. I had left my phone in the car while at Tobey’s. All these phone calls gave me the feeling that he knew I wasn’t holding to our agreement from last night. However, I could always hope he had called so many times because he missed me and wanted to ask me out or at least wanted to kiss me again. My stomach got a few butterflies with that thought but they were quickly replaced by a feeling of annoyance. Why did he feel the need to check up on me? And damn it, why did I like it?

  I debated whether or not to answer it. If I didn’t, he would keep calling back, so I might as well answer. Plus, I really wanted to talk to him, but he didn’t need to know that. I sighed. Why was life so complicated?

  “Hello,” I said cautiously, wanting to keep any and all enthusiasm out of my voice.

  “Presley! It’s about damn time you answered your phone,” Cooper said.

  I listened, rolling my eyes. Even though he couldn’t see my response, it made me feel better. “Presley!”

  “I’m here, I’m here. Keep your shorts on.” Or not, I giggled. A thought of Cooper naked in front of me was definitely a good vision and one that made me feel warm and tingly.

  “Where are you and what’s so funny?” Cooper demanded.

  Delicious thoughts of a naked Cooper were quickly pushed aside, replaced by thoughts of strangling him. I disliked his tone and didn’t like feeling like he was monitoring me. These back and forth feelings were exhausting.

  “What’s it to you?” Not going to make this easy for him. At least I could get some satisfaction from that. I could hear him breathe heavily into the phone, as if to calm himself, before speaking again. I rather liked knowing I was getting under his skin. At least I was affecting him in some way. Better than nothing, right?

  “King, I’m just concerned.” Cooper was a lot more concerned than he wanted to be about Presley. This was not the sort of complication he needed right now.

  Like hell. I snorted. “Fine, I’m in the parking lot of Tobey Stone’s apartment building. Does that make you happy?” Let him get mad. Like I cared.

  “What are you doing there?”

  “I stopped here on my way home from meeting Helen at Gardner’s warehouse,” I said and braced myself for his response. That was sure to get him going.

  “What?” He yelled so loudly that I had to move the phone away from my ear. “What the hell were you doing there? What were you thinking? I thought I told you to leave well enough alone! Do you think meeting Helen in places far away from the beaten path is leaving this alone?” he asked.

  I ignored him. “What would you say if I told you I saw Bobby Johnson having lunch here in Alkon with Garrison Palazzo?”

  “I would say that’s somewhat hard to believe, but let’s get back to the Helen issue. Why did you meet her? What did she want?”

  “Unbelievable huh? I will have you know that I saw that happen with my own two eyes.”

  “What!”

  “But you don’t consider my information to be good, so I won’t bother you with the details.”

  “Fill me in now!” he barked. “I want to know what Helen had to say and where you saw Garrison Palazzo. How’d you even know it was him? And why were you at Tobey’s? This is not staying out of things.”

  “Not with that attitude. Besides, I don’t know why this surprises you. Did you really think I was going to sit quietly by? You’re not as smart as I thought, Cooper.”

  “Pres…” he warned.

  I was just getting ready to give Cooper another piece of my mind when I heard him talking to someone in the background. “Cooper, who are you talking to?”

  “Just a sec, Pres.”

  It sounded like he was covering the phone with his hand to muffle the sound of whoever he was with, and I couldn’t understand anything he was saying. But I could tell it was a woman’s voice. It was definitely a girl. Jerk.

  “Ok, I’m back. Presley you need to tell me what you know.”

  “Who are you with, Cooper?”

  Cooper sighed. “Lisa Simmons.”

  “What! You told me not to talk to her. So what are you doing with her?” I was pissed. More pissed than I thought I should be.

  “Listen, she just stopped by.”

  “I’m going to let you go.”

  “Wait, Presley! You need to listen to me, and if I think you shouldn’t be involved, promise me you will back off?”

  “Maybe.”

  Cooper figured this was as good as he was going to get from her, so decided to drop it. For now. “Now, answer my questions. Please?”

  “I saw Garrison out at the new strip mall, eating Chinese food.”

  “And…”

  “Not much happened. They ate, they talked. Bobby came out and Garrison Palazzo left. I asked Bobby about it, and he wouldn’t tell me much, but I think he was hiding something.”

  “What gave you that impression?”

  “He said that he had to help that Palazzo guy because he owed him. He wouldn’t tell me e
xactly what he was doing for him, but he acted nervous, and I just think there is something going on there. Bobby got in trouble gambling, so who knows what else he is into.”

  “Presley, you need to stop asking questions. When you find this stuff out, just come to me and I will handle it.”

  “No, Cooper. This is a team effort remember. Do you want the answers to your other questions or not?”

  “No. You don’t know what you are doing. Leave this stuff to me. I…”

  I snapped my phone shut and quickly turned it off. Now Cooper’s calls would go right to voicemail. I could later claim the battery died. Oops, should have brought my car charger. I threw my phone in my purse and started the car. I was calling it a night. I wanted to go home and stuff myself with some of the chocolate cake I knew my mother made for dinner. That would definitely be worth listening to my mother complain about me not being home hours ago with the stuff I picked up. Wait a minute… Jackpot! Yes! I knew that if I waited long enough I would see Tobey’s guest. What’s that saying: “Good things come to those who wait?” I watched Bobby Johnson stroll up the walkway to Tobey’s building. I couldn’t tell what apartment he went into, but I doubted he was visiting anyone else this time of night. That would be quite the coincidence. Part of me wanted to go back to Tobey’s and surprise him and Bobby. If he would even open the door, that is. I decided against it. For one, I was sure they didn’t murder the Senator, and I might as well give them some privacy. Eventually this would be out and everyone would be gossiping about them soon enough. And for another thing, the thought of chocolate cake was much more enticing than solving a mystery at this moment. Besides, I needed to figure out how to deal with Cooper. I knew he wouldn’t be happy about me hanging up on him, and he was pissed off to begin with.