by Laina Turner
Willie had a stoic look on his face. That was his cop face, as I liked to call it. I’d seen it before when I’d first met him and found him intimidating before I got to know him. That and his full sleeve tattoos could give a first impression that wasn’t necessarily accurate. “Go head back to your office and I’ll be there in a minute. I want to finish talking to Officer Thomas.”
“OK.” I did as he asked. It seemed like forever until he came to talk to me, and I immediately pounced on him for information. “What is going on? Do they suspect me of poisoning her? Or someone else here? Is that why they’re here?”
“Officially? Not yet. But that’s the next logical step.” He said it so matter of fact. As if it was no big deal.
It kind of made me want to punch him.
“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one facing jail time. Silk was just starting to make money and now this. Oh God, and I sound like a horrible person. Susan Milford has it much worse. How is she? Do you know?”
Willie rolled his eyes and chuckled at me. “Calm down. You’re not going to jail. Susan’s in critical condition. It was an insulin overdose.”
“She gave herself too much insulin? I thought those injectors came in regulated doses?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Do you have a medical degree I don’t know about?”
“Grey’s Anatomy.”
He shook his head and continued, “No. That’s why they’re looking at this as a crime. She is still unconscious, so they’re waiting for her to wake up. Hopefully when she does they can get more information, but she has no recorded history of diabetes or ever needing insulin; not that they’ve been able to find yet anyway. And usually you don’t accidently take a drug you don’t need. Especially, while out shopping.”
“You mean they think someone targeted her while here at Silk?” Was someone trying to hurt Susan?
“Since I know you didn’t do it, my guess is Silk was just collateral damage. Whoever wanted to harm her just happened to do it here. Or just before here. I’m not sure how long it was in her system and maybe it was self-induced. They’re waiting for more tests to come back.”
“So, what are these guys looking for?” I waved my hand in the direction of the sales floor.
“Any evidence that will give more of an indication as to what happened. It’s just routine. Don’t even worry about it. It will be fine.”
“This is so not fine. Nothing about this is fine.”
“Why don’t you give me your keys and I’ll lock up? Go home. Change. Pour a glass of wine and I’ll come over when they’re done and fill you in.”
“You don’t have to do that.” I hesitated, not wanting to take advantage.
“I know. I’m offering. Now go.”
I gathered my things and took the store key off my key ring and gave it to him. “The alarm code is twenty-four seventeen. Thanks, Willie. I’ll see you in a bit,” I gave him a quick hug and he walked me out. I could feel Officer Thomas’s eyes on my back as I left.
It was a short drive home. Less traffic than normal because it was after rush hour, which I was grateful for. I didn’t have the patience to deal with crazy drivers. The minute I got home I put on my yoga pants and poured some wine. I sat down on the couch and suddenly felt exhausted. What a day. Vacation seemed a distant memory.
My phone buzzed and I looked down to see a text from Cooper. He said he would be working late and not to wait up. I shot back a quick text telling him not to work too hard with a kissy face emoji. I didn’t want to tell him about what had happened via text and, if he had stuff to handle at work telling him would cause him to rush home. I didn’t want that either. It’s not like he could do anything. No need to stress him out until I had all the facts. Or at least we were face to face. It’s what I’d been telling myself all day. I knew he’d be livid if I didn’t tell him right away, but I’d face that later.
I was so exhausted; I didn’t want to argue.
I just sat on the couch and waited for Willie. I wasn’t even in the mood for mindless TV so I just scrolled through Facebook with too many things running through my mind. Was one of my customers a killer or was this really an accident?
Chapter 3
A knock on the door woke me up. That must be Willie, my foggy brain thought. I’d dozed off on the couch while waiting and I looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. Man, they’d been in Silk a long time, which didn’t ease my anxiety any. What had taken them so long?
I opened the door and let him in, rubbing my eyes trying to wake myself up a little.
“Did you even look through the peephole to see who it was?” He scowled.
“No. I knew it was you. Beer? Cooper picked up some local IPA you might like, or would you rather have coffee?”
“Beer would be great.”
I got his beer and brewed myself a cup of decaf, pouring in a healthy dollop of hazelnut creamer and just a drop of Baileys and we sat down at the kitchen table. “So, what’s the verdict?” I asked, unsure if I wanted to know.
“They didn’t find anything, so you’re cleared to operate as usual tomorrow.”
Relief washed over me, but I sensed a hesitation. “Is there a but in there?”
He nodded. “It’s not a big deal. The detective assigned to the case wants to talk to you. I said you’d stop in the precinct tomorrow morning.”
“Are you kidding me? I don’t have time for that! Do they think I’m a suspect?” I couldn’t decide if I was angry or freaked out.
“He has to consider you a suspect until they rule you out. It’s just the way it goes. You know that. But really, it’s not anything to worry about. It’s just a formality.”
“Fine. I’ll go,” I said, crossing my arms on my chest and glaring at him.
“It was either that or he comes back to Silk to talk to you. I didn’t figure you wanted that.”
I sighed. “No, you’re right. They have to do their job. I get it. They really think this is attempted murder? That someone intentionally gave Susan drugs to harm her?”
Willie hesitated again.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“It’s no longer attempted murder. Susan Milford died.”
I sat there in silence, letting it sink in. Poor Susan Milford. I felt bad for her and her family, but why did someone decide she needed to be murdered in my store? Again, a selfish thought. Stop it, Presley, I told myself.
“This is now an open murder investigation so it’s an even bigger priority. They need to rule you out as a suspect, which they will do tomorrow after talking to you. They also need to talk to your other employees who were there today. “
“Of course. I get it. Molly and I were the only ones there. Will they be talking to the customers who were there too?”
He nodded.
I heard the door open. It must be Cooper coming home from work. I tensed, knowing he was not going to be happy once he walked in here and found out I’d kept this from him.
“I’m in here,” I called out.
“You’re up late. Were you waiting for me?” he said, walking in the kitchen. He saw Willie, then looked at me and his expression changed from happy to concerned. “What happened?”
“You didn’t tell him?” Willie asked, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head.
“It’s not something you want to put into text.” I tried to justify even though I knew neither of them would buy it.
“What happened?” he said again, a little more firmly. Yup, there was anger mixed in with the concern, but he wouldn’t say anything until Willie left so I was safe from a lecture for a bit.
“Grab a beer and I’ll tell you.”
“That’s my cue to leave. I’ll see myself out. Call me tomorrow, Pres.”
“OK. Thanks for everything.”
“Of course. Oh, and here’s your key.” He put the key on the island, tossed his empty beer bottle in the recycling bin and headed out as Cooper took a seat across from me and glared. He hated when I kept things
from him, but geez it had only been a few hours and I wasn’t hiding it. I just hadn’t had a chance to tell him.
I took a deep breath and told him what had happened. When I finished talking, he just sat there. “Aren’t you going to yell at me for not telling you?”
“Like that would do any good. You never listen.”
I shrugged. He had a point. But I always had the right intention. In my opinion anyways. “How was your day?”
His eyebrows raised. “Trying to change the subject?”
“I told you all there is to tell until there’s more information to share, which I will, then. I want to know about you.”
Chapter 4
Even though this wasn’t the first time I’d had to visit the local precinct it never got any easier. I couldn’t help it. It put me on edge. I got worried I was going to get in trouble for something. What, I don’t know because I hadn’t done anything wrong any of the times I had to come here. It’s just how being here made me feel. I had a healthy respect for law enforcement.
Willie sent me a text earlier and said he’d meet me at the front of the building so he could take me back to the detective handling the case and introduce me. He reassured me I had nothing to worry about and rationally I knew I didn’t. I hadn’t killed that woman, but it’s not like innocent people never went to jail.
I was already amped up on little sleep and too much caffeine. Cooper and I stayed up talking until late. More about him than what had happened at Silk, which was fine by me. Except I hated to see how stressed out he was. His business was growing so quickly, and he was pulled way too thin trying to handle everything himself. He did business all over the world, which required him to be available at odd hours to talk to people in different time zones. It made his workdays erratic and long. It was hard to have a life that way. He told me he was toying with the idea of hiring a right hand, but wasn’t sure. I’d told him he needed to stop being a control freak and hire someone already. Before he drove himself into the ground. Not to mention he couldn’t keep expanding his business the way he wanted without help. He was at a crossroads and he knew it.
Selfishly, I wanted him to hire someone because he worked and traveled so much I never saw him but it was for his own good as well. He couldn’t keep going at this pace.
I saw Willie waiting for me and it snapped me out of thinking about Cooper to getting anxious about the conversation to come.
“I brought you a latte. Though it might make you less nervous.” He handed me the coffee when I reached him.
“Thanks.” I didn’t need more caffeine, but when had I ever let that stop me? I followed him into the building and down the hall. “Who is the detective in charge of the case?” I asked, curious.
“Well, you’re in luck. It’s someone you know.”
He couldn’t see the puzzled look on my face since I was walking behind him, but I didn’t know who he could be talking about. I didn’t know anyone but him. Then it dawned on me. Maybe I did need more caffeine to wake up my brain cells?
“You? You caught this case?”
“Not exactly. But I traded for it after I cleared it with my boss.”
“What? You can trade cases like baseball cards or a peanut butter sandwich?”
He laughed. “Sort of like that.”
“Then why do we even need to talk?”
“Because I have to get your formal statement. I still have to follow procedure. Even if I’m pretty sure you didn’t do it.”
“Since you brought me a latte, I guess I can spare the time,” I joked.
“Have a seat,” he said as I followed him into a small conference room.
“We aren’t going to your office?”
“My office is a mess. Much more comfortable talking in here. Trust me.”
Willie spent about an hour asking me questions, but the time passed quickly because I wasn’t on edge as I would have been with a different detective. I knew he wasn’t trying to trap me into a false confession. OK, maybe I watched too many Law & Order episodes or maybe I was just paranoid. I was grateful it was just Willie I was talking to.
“That about does it, I think.” He slid one of his cards across the table.
I looked at him and furrowed my brow. “I have your number in my phone. I don’t need a card.”
“It’s not for you, it’s for Molly. She needs to contact me so I can talk to her sooner rather than later. The quicker we can get this wrapped up, the better for you because I can move my investigation elsewhere.”
“OK. Anything else?”
“Just try not to let any more customers die in your store. It’s bad for business and causes me more work.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not funny.”
His eyes twinkled. “I’ll call you if I find out anything new.”
“Sounds good. I can see myself out,” I said and gave him a hug.
It didn’t even bother me when I walked out into the sunshine and smothering heat. I felt so good to be out of that building I didn’t care I was already starting to sweat. How anyone could stand to work in that depressing building all day was beyond me. It was just so grey and institutional feeling, though it was a police station so probably wasn’t designed to be cheerful. However, I felt bad for the poor people who had to work there.
I headed to Silk, worried about what I might find. Or rather not find. I’d been so happy yesterday to walk in and see customers and sales happening. I was afraid I’d walk into the opposite today and that it wouldn’t get any better, leading Silk into a slow death and me into the poor house. Actually, it wouldn’t have to be that slow to hurt Silk financially. The business had been doing better, but it’s not like I had millions in the bank. It wouldn’t take much to put us back into the red like when I’d first bought the place. And gossip traveled fast. I’m sure all my regular customers would already know what had happened here.
Twenty minutes later, I walked in. It was as I feared. Not a single customer. A stark contrast from yesterday. Molly saw me and gave a rueful grin. She knew what ran through my mind. I’d complained about it at length yesterday. And again when I’d talked to her this morning and told her Susan was dead.
“Let me go set my stuff down and I’ll come back up.”
Molly nodded and I dropped my bag off in the office and met her back out on the sales floor, forcing a smile on my face for her sake as to not let on exactly how worried I was. I didn’t want to freak her out more than she already was and have her looking for another job.
“Has it been dead all morning?” I cringed at my choice of words.
“Yeah, but we’ve only been open a couple hours.”
I sighed. “I’m not surprised.”
“No, but give it a couple days and it will be back to normal. People have a short attention span and they’ll be on to something else in a few news cycles.”
“News cycles?” My eyes widened.
Molly looked stricken. “You didn’t see?”
“Um, no.”
“Last night it was on the eleven o’clock news.”
She watched the news? Who watched the news at six and eleven anymore? Besides the fact that it was always depressing, you could find out anything via social media without waiting.
“Cooper and I were talking and I didn’t see the news. Though I’m not sorry I somehow missed it. I would have never fallen asleep had I known. But what did they say?”
“It was nothing really. Just a blip.”
Of course, I didn’t believe that for a second. The way I knew media liked to blow things out of proportion. But I wasn’t in the mood to make myself feel any worse about the situation, so I decided not to ask any more questions.
“What should we do?” I thought out loud. I didn’t think waiting to see what might happen—if my customers didn’t come back—was the right move. Even if it was, I couldn’t sit here and do nothing. I needed to take action. Stay busy. Keep my mind off what had happened.
“Well, you mentioned before you left for vacati
on about having an end of summer blow out sale. Maybe we do that now and create something customers won’t want to miss out on. Something so awesome they can’t afford to miss it, even if they’re a little creeped out about what happened here.”
Vacation. That sure seems like a million years ago. “I think that’s a great idea.”
“Why don’t you start pulling together the items you’re OK with marking down and I’ll go back and compose an email blast to send out.”
“Perfect, Molly. Do you think we can pull it together by the weekend?” It was a little early to clear out summer but without customers, there wouldn’t be a fall.
“Sure we can.”
“Oh, before I forget, the police need to get your statement.”
On her way to the back room, she slowly turned around to face me. “Didn’t we do that yesterday?” she said, and I could tell the idea of it made her nervous as she was visibly shaking.
“Yes, but the detective on the case just needs a more detailed, formal statement. It’s fine. No reason to worry. The detective is a friend of mine. He knows we didn’t kill Susan.”
She didn’t look at all reassured.
“Really, Molly, it’s going to be fine. I’ll get you his contact information and you can set up a time. It needs to be as soon as you can, so we can put this behind us. In fact, his card is in my purse on the desk. Just go get it and call him now. You can even go now if he has time. I can handle things here myself.”
“OK,” she said, but still didn’t sound convinced. Once she met Willie, she’d be fine. He had a way of putting people at ease. As long as you weren’t the criminal.
I started to pull items to mark down when Molly’s voice came across the intercom. “Hey, Pres! Cooper’s on the phone.”
I walked over to the phone, where I saw the light for line one flashing as I pressed the button and picked up the receiver. Molly walked by toward the front door with her purse. She waved bye to me and I assumed she was heading to the police station.
“Hey, you.”
“How’s it going today. You OK?”