Stilettos & Scoundrels

by Laina Turner

  Chapter 13

  “Hello?”

  “Presley! I need to talk to you right away.” It was Helen Daniels, hysterical. I could hardly understand her.

  “What is it, Helen? What’s wrong?” I had fallen asleep after getting home exhausted by all the information I was trying to process, but the sound of fear in Helen’s voice quickly woke me up.

  “Just meet me at Gardner’s old warehouse in thirty minutes. If you’re not there, I won’t be able to wait. It’s not safe. You have to hurry.”

  “Helen, calm down. Safe from whom? Why all the drama? Helen...Helen?” She’d hung up. I glanced at my watch. Crap! I’d never make it there in thirty minutes. All I could hope for was that Dirt and his deputies were out investigating the senator’s murder rather than trying to keep the streets safe from speeders.

  I ran out of the house, past my mother still working in her garden.

  “Presley, where are you going?

  “I’ll be back in a bit.”

  “For dinner?”

  “I don't know.” I said.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’ll explain later. Just eat without me if I’m not back.”

  “Pres!”

  “Bye, Mother.”

  I pushed seventy in a forty–five mile an hour zone, my Kia humming, just hoping to get there on time. I was surprised my car could go that fast. In Chicago, the traffic was so bad you didn’t have a chance to speed much. My phone rang again, but I didn’t look at it. I needed to concentrate on my driving. Gardner’s warehouse, located about twenty miles outside of town, used to be a production plant for some automotive part. The plant closed years before, when I still lived here.

  I pulled in the parking lot, gravel flying, hoping Helen was still here. The clock on my dash said it had been thirty–three minutes since she called me. Not too bad. I just hoped she hadn’t left. I pocketed my keys, not wanting to weigh myself down with my purse, and jogged around to the front entrance. I had on flip–flops, not the best jogging shoes, but I was so startled when Helen called I just ran out of the house without paying attention to what I had on. This was a big place and I huffed trying to catch my breath.

  Helen hadn’t specified exactly where to meet her, so I assumed she might be at the front entrance. She wasn’t waiting outside for me, so I tried the front door or what I presumed was the front door. It was unlocked, which I thought strange for an abandoned building, and made me a little nervous. Though, had it been locked, I could have crawled through one of the many broken windows. Anyone who wanted could easily get in. I carefully stepped inside the building and the darkness engulfed me. The broken windows let in only a little bit of light. It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust. The place smelled dank and musty, and I could hear the scurrying of what were probably little furry rodents. I shuddered involuntarily and didn’t want to think about what type of creepy crawlies were in this building, especially with me in flip–flops.

  “Helen,” I called softly. No answer. Where the hell was she? I tiptoed in an effort to be quiet, going a little further into the building. But I still couldn’t see very well, so tiptoeing wouldn’t do me any good if there were anything in my way. I would be sure to trip over it. All of a sudden, I felt a hand on my arm. I jumped about ten feet and started to scream.

  “Shh, Presley. It’s just me,” Helen said. “Do you think you could be a little quieter?”

  “Then don’t ask me to come to an abandoned building and grab me when I’m not expecting it. You could have been anyone or anything,” I said. “I am not a big fan of the creepy things I’m sure are in this building.”

  As my eyes adjusted to the near darkness, I took a look at Helen and grew concerned. She was one of those women who always looked impeccable, but her dark brown hair, usually in a knot at the nape of her neck, was disheveled and loose. I could tell she had been crying, from her smudged make–up. She wasn’t her normal well put together self.

  “So what is going on, Helen? Why all the cloak–and–dagger stuff? Why did we have to meet here, of all places?” I asked, looking around and waving my arms. “Should we even be here? The place looks about ready to fall down. I’m sure the owners wouldn’t be too happy if we fell through the floor or something. This building is a liability.”

  “It’s the only place I could go where I could easily see if I were being followed. Besides, we own the building. Or rather, I do now,” Helen said, giving a little laugh.

  “Why would anyone be following you?” I took a step forward; concerned she might be in danger. It seemed so surreal.

  Helen tried to keep herself from crying again. “They called my house, Presley. They called my house and demanded money. They said if I didn’t pay up, I would regret it. I knew they would want their money, but I thought I would have some more time. I can’t get my hands on that kind of money right now. It’s going to take time.” Helen burst into tears.

  I waited for a few uncomfortable moments for the tears to subside. To help Helen, I needed her to calm down and tell me everything she knew. Plus, I had a few questions of my own. “Do you know who it was that called you, Helen? Who did the senator owe money to?”

  “I don’t know specifically who the caller was or who Tom owed. I didn’t recognize any voices and they didn’t tell me their names. I don’t think they believed me when I said I didn’t know who they were. Tom tried to hide as much as he could from me about this aspect of his life, I told you that already, and when I forced the issue, he told me as little as possible. Usually, just enough to get me to shut up. To be honest, it got to where I didn’t even ask much because I didn’t care.”

  “Who else knew about the senator’s gambling problem?”

  “The only people who know about this, besides the people he owed the money to, are me and Tobey. As the Senator’s assistant, Tobey was privy to a lot more information than I thought he should have been,” Helen explained. “Tom said he would find out anyway, and that we could trust him. So far that’s proven to be true. I don’t think Tobey is involved. Other than that, there is no way Tom would have told anyone else. He might have been a gambler, but he wasn’t stupid. At least not that stupid.”

  “What about Garrison Palazzo.”

  Helen looked up sharply. “What about him?”

  “I saw the clippings of you at the Businesswomen’s luncheon in Vegas. Are you friends? Maybe he knows who Tom owed.”

  “Hardly. He wouldn’t be any help.”

  “Couldn’t hurt to ask, could it?”

  “Trust me. It wouldn’t be of any help.”

  “But maybe it would be. You don’t know until you ask. You obviously know him, Helen. He might have some information.” I could tell Helen was on the edge I just wasn’t exactly sure why. “Could Tom have been seeing someone in whom he might have confided?” I felt a little uncomfortable asking her this question, but it was common knowledge that he was a bit of a womanizer. This was a small town so Helen probably knew his girlfriend had shown up.

  “You mean that tramp who showed up pretending to be his girlfriend? She wouldn’t know anything.”

  “How do you know for sure?”

  “Because, he might have liked those sweet young things he kept screwing around with, but he liked his politics even more and was careful about what he said.”

  “What exactly did the caller say, Helen? Did you recognize any speech patterns or anything?” I said, changing tactics. Helen looked at me strangely, as if maybe she thought I watched too many crime shows. She would be right, I happened to be a huge fan of Law & Order, although after Jerry Orbach had left the show, it wasn’t what it used to be.

  Helen pulled out a compact to survey the damage from crying and put on powder and fresh lipstick, which pretty much made her look perfect again. “All they said was that they consider Tom’s debt my debt. I had until Friday at 4 p.m. to get them the money, and that they would be back in touch with a time and place to meet to transfer the money.”

&nb
sp; “How much money are you talking, Helen?”

  “Four million dollars.”

  “Four million...you’ve got to be freaking kidding me!” How could someone get himself that far in the hole?

  “Helen, you have to tell the police. I can call Dirt and have him meet us out here. This is too much for you to handle alone.” I pulled out my cell and started to dial.

  “No!” Helen shouted. “They said no police. They told me things about my routine so I would know they’ve been watching me. I don’t want to handle it alone that’s why I came to you. It’s not like I can tell my friends what’s going on. I’m afraid to even go around town because I just know they are out there watching. Oh, Presley, I don’t know what to do.” She started crying again.

  I have no idea what to do either, I thought.

  “Helen, you can’t just pay them. I mean, how do you know they will go away after that? They could keep coming back for more and more.”

  “Why would they do that? I’m sure if I pay them this will go away. They just want their money. Isn’t that the honor among thieves or something? Why would they keep after me?”

  Or something, was right. Helen seemed to think this was no big deal. She was nuts if she thought it would be that simple. Even if she paid them, surely they would know how much it was worth to her to keep things quiet, and nothing would prevent them from asking her for more and more money. The threat of exposure would always be there. I wasn’t an expert on blackmail, but it’s what made sense to me. I had to convince her to at least let Dirt know. He would know how to help, and I was sure he would keep it from the FBI since he wasn’t thrilled with us being in the middle of this to begin with. Crap. I realized I hadn’t made it to the station to talk to the FBI yet. Dirt was going to be pissed.

  “But what if they don’t, Helen? They are the bad guys. Do you think people who threaten you with death if you don’t pay them have any scruples?” I pleaded with her. “You have to go to the police. Dirt can help you and we can trust him. I promise. Or at least let’s tell Cooper. He’s not the police and he can help. He knew Tom, and even though he didn’t know about this, he can help us.”

  “No one can help me, and telling Cooper would be bringing on more trouble than I need,” Helen said furiously.

  “Why?”

  “Cooper has ties to those guys too, Presley. How do you think he came to work for us in the first place?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “And you’d better not tell anyone either.” Helen ignored me and kept right on talking. “My life is at stake here, so don’t screw this up for me. I don’t know what I was thinking to tell you anyway.”

  Me either, I thought. Helen seemed more like her normal cold, calculated self. Yay for me, I thought sarcastically. What the hell did she mean with that comment about Cooper? I had to get to the bottom of that. All this was making my head hurt. Almost made me miss my boring HR job.

  What Helen said got me thinking about many things. The murderer had to have insider information. If Helen could be believed, and I didn’t see why she would lie, Tom’s gambling problem was something only she and Tobey were aware of. It didn’t fit. There had to be others who knew, even if Helen didn’t think they knew. There didn’t seem to be anything else that would put the senator in a position where people would want to murder him. I didn’t see what Tobey could possibly have to gain, and neither did Helen. There had to be someone on the staff who knew more than Helen thought. Wasn’t there always an inside connection? Besides, the senator was killed late at night. Someone had to have access to the house, and be pretty confident no one would be around when Daniels was working late or not wonder what he or she was doing.

  Helen took out a cigarette to light up. That threw me off-track for a minute; this wasn’t the public side one usually saw of Helen. She noticed me staring at her.

  “Filthy habit, I know, but it’s times like these that I can’t stop.” She inhaled noisily. “It makes me feel so much better.”

  “Anyway, according to the rumor mill, Bobby also has a gambling problem.”

  “Presley, that has nothing to do with anything,” Helen said. “Bobby and whatever issues he might have are not connected in any way to Tom. Don’t be stupid.”

  “Then what do you want from me?” I was exasperated that all she could do was speculate.

  “I need you to get your little friends to stay away from this, to leave me alone until I can get this matter taken care of.”

  “I assume you mean Dirt?”

  “And Cooper. The last thing I need stressing me out in this whole mess is interference from those two. They are both determined to find out who killed Tom,” she said, examining her nails on one hand, holding a cigarette in the other. “I know who killed Tom; it was these bad guys, and prosecuting them won’t bring him back. Guys like this don’t get caught. I just want to make them go away so they don’t kill me too, and I can’t do that with those two sniffing around.”

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

  “I’m sure you can figure something out. 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.