Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 01 - Stilettos & Scoundrels

by Laina Turner

  “Was there something you wanted, Presley?” Tobey finally butted in and asked. “We are very busy right now.”

  I had been prepared to ask Tobey about what he knew regarding the information in the clippings I found in Cooper’s room about the luncheon in Vegas. I knew it was a long shot, but I thought it might gain me something. I wasn’t really sure I wanted to divulge this information in front of Helen until I really knew what my game plan was. Something wasn’t right about this situation. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I also didn’t want to talk to Helen in front of Tobey. However, it seemed it was going to be increasingly difficult to get them apart if they were now going to be working together. I would have to think of another plan. I was smart, so surely I could figure it out.

  “You know what, Tobey, it wasn’t that important. Actually, I can’t even remember what it was about. I will let you two get back to your important work,”

  Tobey didn’t believe me for one minute and his smug expression showed it.

  “You guys have fun. Maybe I will catch up with you later.”

  ******

  “She’s getting to be a real pain in the ass,” Helen said, looking at Tobey as he sighed and leaned against the desk.

  “You’re the one who started it by meeting with her in the first place. Helen, I think we should rethink this whole thing. I’m just not sure it is a good idea.”

  “Tobey you need to stop being such a wuss and realize you have to take risks to get what you want in life.”

  “That worked so well for Tom now, didn’t it?” Tobey said sarcastically.

  “He was a weak man. Got sidetracked by women and money.”

  “But Helen…”

  “Shut up, Tobey. We’re doing this my way.”

  Chapter 19“Katy, calm down! I can’t understand you.” She was crying hysterically. I couldn’t understand a word she was saying. All I could make out was something about Chris and Helen, and that she’d be there in a minute. I planned on spending a quiet evening at my parent’s home because all the excitement earlier today had worn me out, and to be honest, I had no idea what to do or where to go next. Trevor was breathing down my neck for the article, and I wasn’t sure how to write it exactly—especially the way he wanted it with the murder angle, because I didn’t have anything from that angle. Plus, I was mad at Cooper and still had no clue about the situation with him, Dirt and Simon, or about who killed the Senator for that matter. I wanted to help Helen and get to the bottom of this replacing Tom thing, but wasn’t sure how to do that either. All I wanted to do was to curl up with some coffee and a good book in front of the fire.

  My parents had gone into the city with some friends to see a play. They were staying the night in my apartment, so they didn’t have to drive back late at night. They had tried to cancel their trip because they didn’t feel comfortable leaving me alone because of the recent threat. Dirt still didn’t have any leads, and my mother was very worried about me, but I had finally convinced them to go by saying that I would have Dirt, or one of his guys, drive by and check on me and the house. I was looking forward to having the house to myself. These last few days had been crazy. I wanted to decompress and think things over. Maybe something new would come to me if I could just relax my mind. Plus, I needed to think about the feelings I seemed to have for Cooper. However, what kind of friend would I be if I weren’t there for a friend in need? I told Katy to come on over.

  I heard a car pull into the driveway, pushed aside the curtains on the window above the couch where I was sitting, and saw it was Katy. I got to the door as Katy reached it from the outside. She was still crying uncontrollably as I led her back into the living room and got her to sit down.

  “Katy, calm down. Can I get you anything? Water? Ice cream? A knife to stab the insensitive jackass with?” Even if she hadn’t said what Chris had done, tears of this magnitude could only be about something significant and were usually related to the opposite sex. What was it about guys that women allowed them to have this power over their emotions?

  Katy smiled in spite of herself and started to calm down a little. I handed her some tissues. “Presley, you are not going to believe this.”

  “What? Tell me.” Katy started crying harder and I let her get it out. “Don’t cry. It can’t be that bad.”

  “Chris is sleeping with another woman,” she replied.

  Disappointing? Yes. What a jerk. Surprising? No. Katy already told me that the last few weeks he had seemed less interested. Unfortunately, with men, that usually meant someone else. With Chris, that was already a proven M.O. I knew that from personal experience. No wonder Katy was upset. From what she told me the other day, she really liked him. Even though I thought Chris was a jerk, I felt bad for Katy. No one deserved to be screwed over, and you couldn’t help whom you had feelings for.

  “I’m so sorry, Sweetie. Let me get the ice cream out. I think my mom has some Cherry Garcia. We can pig out and think of creative ways to maim him. Or would you rather have some chocolate cake? It’s with fudge butter cream frosting. There are a couple pieces left.”

  “You will definitely need some ice cream after I tell you this next part,” she said bitterly.

  “What?”

  “Guess who he is sleeping with!”

  “I would have no idea, Katy. I haven’t been around here long enough to know who it could possibly be. I don’t know…the blonde waitress at the diner? You know the one with the big boobs?” I tried to be funny, lighten the mood, and make Katy laugh, but she wasn’t in the mood to play twenty questions.

  Katy shook her head. “You’d never guess in a million years.”

  “Well?” I looked at her expectantly.

  “None other than…” she paused for dramatic effect. Oh, please! I thought, but as a good friend, I wasn’t going to push her. If this made her feel better, then who was I to take that from her? A little melodrama never hurt anyone, and to be honest, it did sometimes make things more fun, brought levity to the situation.

  “…Helen Daniels.” She started sobbing again.

  I opened my mouth and closed it, no sound coming out. I was speechless. So that must have been who Helen was making out with the other night. Wow. I never would have figured that one out in a million years. I was in total shock.

  “Okay, okay,” I said, sitting back down on the couch. “Back up. Start from the beginning. How did this even come up?” I had to hear the whole story. This was going to be a doozey. Katy started to talk, but I interrupted, “Wait! Let me get the ice cream.”

  After getting settled with our goodies, I motioned for Katy to continue.

  “I couldn’t take his indifference anymore,” she said, licking her spoon. “We were supposed to get together tonight, and once again, he tried to blow me off. So, I went to his work, waited for him to get out, and confronted him. I was pissed he kept canceling and doubly pissed that I went out and bought this new outfit and spent hours getting ready just to make him want me.”

  I could feel that pain. You hated to waste a good outfit. Once you put a new outfit on, some of the magic went away instantly. Kind of like when you drove a new car off the lot and it instantly depreciated, so if you tried to return it five hours later, you would lose money. Well, that’s pretty much how it worked with a new outfit. After the first time, it’s still cool and you looked good, but that special feeling was just not there.

  “I asked him flat out who he was sleeping with,” Katy continued. “The minute I asked, I could see it in his eyes that he was screwing someone else. Until that point, I thought maybe I was wrong and that he was really busy at work, like he said.”

  “And he told you he was sleeping with Helen? Just like that?”

  “No, at first he didn’t want to tell me,” Katy replied. “I kept asking him over and over who it was. Who it was he liked better than me. I have to admit I was starting to get majorly upset, but he wouldn’t say anything. I think that’s what made it even worse. God, I feel so foolish to have
liked him so much. Why was I so stupid? Why don’t I ever learn?” She started crying again, beating herself up over her perceived stupidity for liking Chris.

  “You’re not the foolish one, Katy, he is. We all can have bad judgments when it comes to liking guys. I like to think it’s because it makes the next guy seem so great.” I was trying to be nice and patient, but I wanted to find out how she finally got him to tell her about Helen. “So, did he just finally admit it was Helen? I mean, what exactly did he say? It might be important, Katy,” I asked, trying to prod her along.

  “No, I just started guessing names and for some reason I thought of Helen—more out of fun than anything else. I never in a million years would have ever thought it would be her. I think I would’ve been less surprised had it been Betty or one of our friends’ mothers or something. But Helen? As soon as I said her name, I knew it. I could see it in his eyes. Plus, Chris can’t lie worth a damn.”

  I was still shocked by this news. My mind kept whirling. This changed everything. Or maybe it didn’t. I was still too shocked to think. Why would a woman like Helen want a small-town guy like Chris? Not that anything was wrong with Chris: he was pretty cute. But seriously, Helen, there were plenty of other guys out there, and you had to go and steal Katy’s? What was she thinking? He wasn’t even close to her age.

  “Did he give you any details?”

  “I asked him how long it had been going on. I felt I had a right to know,” Katy said, jutting her chin out defiantly.

  “What did he say?”

  “Chris said he had been ‘seeing her,’ that’s how he put it, off and on over the last two years. I just can’t believe I fell for him again, and again this whole time he was seeing her. What could he possibly see in that old bag? I know she is beautiful, but she is at least twenty years older than he is. Do you think it’s the money? Although it’s not like she’s been giving him any. Or at least he hasn’t been spending any more than he usually would. And for two years? How did this stay such a secret? God, I’m such an idiot.”

  “Did he say why?”

  “No. He didn’t, and I’m not even sure I want to know at this point.”

  “What a rat bastard,” I said, rubbing my friend’s back. “Good riddance to him.” I wondered how they met. Through Tobey? “I certainly hope you are done with him once and for all.” Why would someone like Helen Daniels carry on an affair with someone like Chris? No offense to Chris, but did she really like him?

  “Should we tell Dirt? Or Cooper?” Katy asked.

  “Why? They don’t care who Chris is sleeping with. Although maybe Dirt would throw him in jail for you,” I joked, trying to make her feel better. “I saw him look at you the other night in the diner. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to find he likes you.”

  “He does not.” But this brought a smile to her face.

  “You didn’t see him. You never notice the way he acts around you?”

  “I always thought he was a dork. Then I grew up,” she smiled. “Anyway, that was eons ago.”

  “Hey, he’s single, so who knows?” I thought maybe Katy was right, and we should tell Cooper or Dirt. If nothing else, we could kick his ass for hurting Katy. I knew we would do it, but part of me didn’t want to tell them, at least not Cooper with the way he’d been acting. And I was still pissed at Dirt, though he didn’t know it yet, for the way he treated Cooper, based on what I saw in those clippings. I didn’t know what I should do or what to think. This was so complicated. I was sure Helen having an affair would at least be a source of interest for them, for a variety of reasons. We sat in silence, the kind old friends can have comfortably, and enjoyed our ice cream, both thinking about what she had just said. Then my parents’ phone rang. I jumped up to answer it. My parents hadn’t yet subscribed to the high-tech functions of caller ID, so I had no idea who it might be. Probably one of their friends. I could take a message and then go back to eating my ice cream.

  “Hello.”

  “Stop poking your nose in where it doesn’t belong, Sweetie, or you’re liable to lose it,” said a voice I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t scrambled with some box thingy like in the movies, but instead, sounded rather like someone was trying to do a bad impression of a gangster or kidnapper. This person had watched too many movies. Either way, I had no idea who it was. And what was with the nose thing? Did people really still say that? It made the guy much less threatening. Whoever it was clearly was an amateur.

  “Who is this?” I demanded. Did I think they were going to tell me? Not really, but I was trying the tough girl act. I felt I could get rather good at this. Being bitchy was second nature.

  “Don’t worry about who this is, Sweetness. Just keep in mind that we know who you are and where you live. You should just go back to the city in the morning and everything will be just fine. We don’t want to hurt a pretty little thing like you, but please be assured that we will if you don’t heed our warning.” I stood there with the phone in my hand when the caller hung up, just staring at it, dumbfounded. I was more shocked than scared since the caller didn’t seem like a professional Mobster. But my nervousness grew when I realized what had just happened. Something bad was going on here.

  “Please be assured…” Who used that kind of language. Who? I put the phone back on its cradle and headed for the kitchen for a glass of water.

  Katy followed, wondering who I had been talking to. I debated whether to tell her. I didn’t want to make Katy nervous, but, hey, maybe this would take her mind off Chris. Plus, I was starting to get a little freaked out.

  I told Katy, “I don’t know who it was.”

  “Then what’s with that strange look on your face?”

  “I think I’ve just been threatened.” I poured myself a glass of water and walked back to where I left my ice cream. I needed fortification to process this. I hoped there was more in the freezer. One pint was not going to be enough to handle all of this. I might have to start in on the chocolate cake or the wine. I placed the glass beside my bowl of ice cream on a nearby table, plopped down on the couch, and crossed my legs, tucking in my feet, which were encased in my pink fuzzy princess slippers. Katy followed me. I could see that Katy was a little on edge. This had put Chris out of her mind, but I wasn’t sure this was a great alternative.

  “What do you mean threatened?” Katy demanded, hands on her hips, standing over me on the couch.

  “Someone doesn’t want me snooping around this murder, and they pretty much said that if I kept at it, something bad would happen.” I shivered involuntarily, pretty sure it was from the call, not the ice cream.

  “That’s it! We need to call Dirt,” Katy said and grabbed her purse to dig her cell phone out.

  “Wait a minute,” I protested, but Katy had already dialed. “I got his voicemail and don’t really want to leave this in a message,” she said, pacing around the room.

  Just as Katy hung up, my cell rang. I was almost afraid to look at it. What if these goons had somehow gotten my cell number? What if they had called and gotten my mother? That would not have been good. I looked and it was Cooper. For once, I was glad he was checking up on me.

  “I’m so glad you called,” I said urgently into the phone.

  “Why? What happened?”

  “What makes you assume something happened? Maybe nothing happened. Couldn’t I just be happy to hear from you?”

  “I would love for you to be happy to hear from me for no reason, but it seems that every time I call, you are pissed at me for checking up on you. So obviously, something happened to make you glad I am checking up on you. What happened?” He said with exaggerated patience.

  Oh, she thought. He has a point. “Someone called the house and threatened me. I think.” Saying it this time, I started to get even more freaked out. I wanted to be tough, especially in front of Cooper, but I hadn’t planned on getting into all this and wasn’t equipped for this conversation. I could joke all I wanted, but this was some serious shit. I started to cry. Shit. Damn. I hated
doing this. I was a horrible crier; I got all red and blotchy and become a snot factory. I wasn’t one of those cute criers who, once they got the sympathy they needed, could return to normal.

  “Pres, don’t cry. What do you mean ‘you think?’ Did you recognize the voice?”

  Don’t cry! As if I could turn it off any time I wanted. For the love of Pete! Didn’t men realize that crying was an emotion? It wasn’t a shirt one could take on or off at will.

  “It won’t be fine until we catch the killer,” I snapped. “And no, I have no idea who it could have been. They tried to mask the voice. I couldn’t tell at all who it might be.” I realized I wasn’t as upset anymore. Getting mad solved that problem, thanks to Cooper. Guess he was good for something. I bet he was good for many things and I would be interested in seeing all of his hidden talents. If only all this crap wasn’t going on.

  “Listen, just hang tight. I’ll be right over,” he said and hung up.

  “Cooper’s on his way over,” I said to Katy.

  “Good, you need to tell him everything.”

  “Okay.” I leaned back on the couch pillows. Wait a minute. He said he would be right over. How did he know where I was? He had called me on my cell. I could be anywhere. My eyes narrowed, and the tears stopped flowing. That son-of-a-bitch! He’d been spying on me even more than I thought. My anger at this new revelation completely overcame my fear about the phone call. I was indignant. He could have at least told me he was spying on my every move. What the hell? Did he have a GPS locater on my car or something?

  I jumped up and grabbed my shoes. I wasn’t normally a big fan of going out in public in my pajamas, but desperate times called for desperate measures. I did draw the line at wearing my slippers in public so I put my shoes on. Grabbing my keys, I said to Katy, “C’mon, we need to get out of here before Cooper gets here.” Katy just stared at me.

  “What are you talking about, Presley? We need to wait for Cooper, and we need to tell him everything.”

  “Hell no. He’s been keeping tabs on me, and I don’t appreciate it. He needs to learn that he can’t do this to me.”