Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 08 - Vows & Victims

by Laina Turner

  “That would be very nice of you girls.”

  “It’s the least we can do after you cooked this great meal, Mrs. Thurman,” Katy said.

  My parents went into the other room and Katy started helping me clean the rest of the dinner dishes off the table.

  “I thought for a minute you were going to tell her about Dirt,” Katy said.

  “No, she would insist on turning him over to the police, even if she one hundred percent believed him. I just wanted her opinion. I want to make sure we aren’t just being stupid and naïve by believing him.”

  “I know, but I think he’s being honest.”

  “Are you sure you’re not biased because he did this for you?” I teased.

  Katy blushed. “I feel so guilty about that. I don’t know why he would have done such a thing.”

  “Because he obviously loved you. Still does, by the look on his face last night. Why didn’t you tell me about you two?”

  “I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a fling, I guess. And if I’m truly honest, I was still in love with Chris and I think Dirt knew it. I seem to attract the wrong kind of men.”

  My phone buzzed on the counter and Katy, who was closest, looked at it.

  “It’s Tobey.”

  “Answer it,” I said, as I had kitchen gloves on and was rinsing off dishes.

  “Hey, Tobey. What’s up? Oh, really?” She looked at me. “Tobey says Helen and Simon just came into town.”

  “That didn’t take long.” It was actually quicker than I expected. Them rushing to get here less than twenty–four hours after I called Helen made it pretty clear to me they had something to hide.

  “You want us to what?” Katy said back into the phone. “OK, we’ll meet you there.”

  Hanging up and turning to me, she said, “Dirt told Chris to have us meet at the old Curly Cone. The one on the outskirts of town that folded when they put in the new Dairy Queen.”

  “What’s his plan?”

  “Tobey said Dirt was going to get them to meet us out there and get them to admit what they did.”

  “Does Dirt think Simon is just going to admit what he did? Just like that?” I asked thinking it was crazy. Simon and Helen would have too much at stake to just readily admit their involvement.

  “I guess. So, let’s finish cleaning up for your mom and head out there.”

  We quickly finished cleaning up and said goodbye to my parents, who were settled in watching some cooking show. I couldn’t watch those things, they just made me hungry, and I couldn’t cook any of that stuff. Too complicated for me. I was more of a boxed dinner kind of gal.

  I was a little apprehensive and just hoped Dirt knew what he was doing. After all, Simon hadn’t had a problem killing a senator, if Dirt was telling the truth. What would stop Simon from killing him? No one would miss an escaped convict, and I didn’t trust Simon or Helen. They had already shown the lengths they would go to in order to get what they wanted.

  “Presley, look in your rearview mirror. Does it look like someone is following us?”

  “I glanced and saw the same car following us that had been for the last couple miles.

  “It’s been behind us since Gleason Street, but that doesn’t mean anything, Katy. There are other businesses out this way and this is the main road in this direction.”

  “I just have a funny feeling,” she said and kept looking behind us. “I think that’s Jonathan Mills.

  I peered in the mirror again. “I think you’re right and who’s that in the passenger seat?” I looked closer. “Is that Trish Young?”

  “This doesn’t make sense. Why would they be together? They certainly didn’t seem all that friendly earlier today.”

  “No, it doesn’t make sense, but they clearly made up if they’re riding in the same car together. Let me take a little detour. See if they follow us.”

  I took the next left, and the car turned left behind me. I turned right on another road that also led to the Curly Cone, and the car still was following me.

  “Well, I don’t know the purpose but I really think they’re trailing us.”

  “Should we let them follow us all the way to the Curly Cone?” Katy asked.

  “We’re early so we might as well. I tried to get rid of them before Helen and Simon showed up. I’m not really afraid of them, but meeting somewhere we know there will be people might be a good idea,” I said.

  “Agreed.”

  We drove the last few miles and soon pulled into the Curly Cone, which had been closed the last three years. It was a little off the beaten path since the highway had been rerouted years ago, and Curly Cone had slowly lost business until the new Dairy Queen had opened, and that had been the final straw.

  I saw the Buick Le Sabre Dirt was driving but not Tobey’s obnoxious yellow car or Chris’s Toyota. But then we were thirty minutes early.

  I pulled to a stop and Jonathan pulled up right next to me. I saw another pair of headlights behind us that I assumed was Chris and Tobey arriving. They finally got close enough for me to confirm it was them, and they parked right behind me and Katy.

  We all got out of our cars at the same time and gathered at the front of mine. Dirt walked toward us from the shadows. He had obviously been waiting for us but decided to stay out of plain sight.

  “Who the hell are these people?” Dirt said angrily and I didn’t blame him. “And what are they doing here?”

  “This is Jonathan Mills and Trish Young, and why they were following us here is a good question,” I said looking at them.

  Trish looked at Jonathan while he looked at Katy and me. He seemed confused.

  Finally, Trish yelled at him. “You idiot, am I going to have to fix this mess, too? Now man up and take care of this!”

  Wow, what was her deal?

  Tentatively, Jonathan reached into his pocket. He looked really tense and flushed.

  “Are you OK, Jonathan? You don’t look so good,” I said.

  “I’m fine,” he said and pulled out a gun, pointing it at us.

  “What the hell are you doing, Jonathan?” I asked. I don’t know what I had expected, but it sure wasn’t this.

  Chapter 19

  You don’t understand! She said she loved me. She said she was going to give up this business and build a real estate empire with me,” Jonathan said, hand visibly shaking, as he held a gun on us. I wasn’t too worried he would shoot us on purpose, but as much as he was shaking, I was really afraid the gun would go off on accident. He didn’t look very comfortable holding a gun.

  “If it wasn’t for you, she would have still loved me!” Jonathan said, pointing the gun toward Chris. And we all looked in that direction.

  “Seriously, Chris,” Katy said in an absolute tone of disgust.

  “Katy, it’s not what you think. You just have to let me explain,” Chris cried.

  “Why would I believe anything you would tell me?”

  “I wasn’t sleeping with Bethany. I was just helping her with her business!” Chris said, his voice getting louder with each word.

  Silence fell over all of us. Me, for one, not knowing what to say.

  “What?” Jonathan said weakly, more to Trish than to Chris. “You told me Chris was the reason Bethany didn’t love me back,” he ended in a whine.

  “Did you …Jonathan, did you kill Bethany?” I asked.

  “She told me to,” he said, pointing to Trish, who looked more than a little uncomfortable.

  “Why?” I said to Trish. “And why in the hell would you listen?”

  “Because she was filth,” Trish spat out. “Put here by the devil to contaminate everyone around her with her sex and degradation.”

  “You told me she should be punished for how she treated me. Leaving me for him,” he said, meaning Chris.

  “We didn’t have a relationship,” Chris insisted, but no one was really listening to him. We were too focused on the drama unfolding in front of us.

  “Oh, quit whining. She was trash and evil
and a sinner. You did the community a favor!”

  “Trish, if you felt so strongly, then why didn’t you kill her yourself?” I asked.

  “Because thou shalt not kill,” she said to me like I was as stupid as they come. Twisted logic she had. Actual killing wasn’t OK, but tricking someone else into doing it wasn’t a problem.

  “Well, all the little kiddies are here,” a woman’s voice said behind us, and I turned to see Helen and Simon walking up.

  We had all been distracted, and no one had heard their car pull in or saw them walking up to us.

  “I’ll take that, thank you,” Simon said to Jonathan, taking his gun.

  Jonathan looked almost relieved to not have it in his hand anymore. Simon was almost surely packing a gun already and now he had two.

  “Nice of you to join us,” Dirt said with a smile, and I could tell he was glad they had arrived. I was sure Jonathan and Trish being here made things more difficult but nothing to be done about it now.

  “We couldn’t have you go around spreading lies about Simon. That’s just not right,” said Helen.

  “Can’t Simon speak for himself anymore, Helen?” Dirt said sarcastically, no doubt just to annoy her, which was fine with me.

  “Simon isn’t like you, Dirt. He understands the value of a good woman on his side. Not a little girl,” she said and looked at Katy. I could see Dirt bristling at her comment, but he was doing a good job at maintaining his control.

  “Let’s just cut the crap, Helen. I’m not going to spend the rest of my life in jail for a crime I didn’t commit,” he said in an even tone.

  “Isn’t it a little too late for that?” Helen said. “You’ve already gone down that road and no one’s going to believe you’re innocent now. People in jail tend to always claim to be innocent. Who believes them?”

  “How can you live with yourself, knowing that your boyfriend killed your husband?” Dirt asked.

  “I don’t really think about it.” She said. “Tom was a weak man. It was only because of my money and my connections he became senator anyway. He just outlived his usefulness.”

  “Simon, I know Helen’s a cold–hearted bitch, but I thought you wanted out of your father’s life of crime. Why would you go down the same path?” Dirt said.

  Simon shrugged. “Sometimes you have to take drastic measures and people get in the way. I don’t like it when people try and complicate things,” he said, walking over to Dirt with Jonathan’s gun casually in his hand. “I like life simple and complications annoy me. You know, Helen,” he added, glancing at her, “it’s a good thing these extra people are here. With his prints on this gun it won’t need to involve us at all.” He pointed to Jonathan, who gave a little whimper.

  “Well, I’ve had enough chitchat, so let’s just get this over with,” Helen said.

  “You can’t kill us all,” I said. “That would look more than a little suspicious, don’t you think?”

  “We didn’t plan on Dirt turning this into a party, but we can’t have any witnesses,” Helen said. “I don’t want to have to go through this again. Come on, Simon, deal with this!”

  The woman was delusional, I thought. Even more so than Trish, who didn’t really seem fazed by all this.

  “Simon, just answer me one thing,” I asked, trying to buy more time. “Why kill the senator? Why not let Helen just divorce him?”

  “It wasn’t about Helen. I wanted to make my dad think I was doing him a favor so he wouldn’t realize I was working to double–cross him. The senator was just collateral damage.”

  I couldn’t help but smile a little when I glanced at Helen after Simon said that. She didn’t look too happy, but she must have decided this wasn’t the place and time to discuss it because she didn’t say anything, which was unusual for her.

  I looked at Dirt, hoping this was all part of his plan. I just wanted him to do something.

  “Simon, just let everyone else go. I’m the one you want,” Dirt said.

  “Sorry, that just can’t happen,” Simon said slowly. “Helen’s right. Too many loose ends that we’ll only have to take care of later.”

  “Helen, don’t you feel the least bit guilty?” I said.

  “Guilty? No. Bored? Yes. Simon, please can’t we hurry this along. I want to get out of this Godforsaken town.”

  “You’re right, no sense in waiting any longer,” Simon said raising the gun, Jonathan’s gun, to Dirt’s temple.

  I heard a gun go off and closed my eyes, not wanting to open them for fear of seeing Dirt lying on the ground dead.

  “Son of a bitch!” I heard Simon yell. “That bitch shot me!”

  I opened my eyes to see Simon grabbing at his bicep where I could see blood seeping through his shirt and Trish standing there with a gun in her hand. What the hell? Why did she have a gun? Thank goodness she was a decent shot.

  “Everyone stay right where you are!” I heard another voice behind me. I wheeled around to see three cop cars and a black Escalade behind us. Officer Schultz and several other officers with drawn guns were standing there and Officer Schultz was the one speaking. I had never been so glad to see police officers and…Cooper. Oh my God, it was Cooper!

  “Get him, he’s running away!” Jonathan yelled, pointing to Simon who had reached the car he and Helen had arrived in and was getting in.

  Simon started the car and was backing out when more shots were fired by the police, blowing out the tires. Good try, Simon, I thought, but you’re not going anywhere.

  Chapter 20

  Are you OK, King?” Cooper said, rushing up to me.

  I gave him a huge hug. I was so happy to see him. “I’m fine.”

  He told me he’d be right back and went to check on everyone else.

  “Can you believe what just happened?” I said to Katy who was standing by me.

  “No, I feel like I’ve been dreaming and will be waking up at any minute. How do you feel about seeing Cooper?”

  “I’m so happy he’s here. Makes me feel much better.”

  The police came over to take our statements and we saw them talking to others as well, eventually putting Jonathan, Trish, Simon, and Helen in the back of cop cars and taking them off. Dirt was also taken to the station.

  Cooper walked back over.

  “What’s going to happen to Dirt?” I asked.

  “They have to take him back, but after what just happened, he should be able to have his sentence repealed. He may still have to serve time for the escape charge.”

  “So you think they’ll believe him?” I asked.

  Cooper pulled a small receiver from his pocket. “I had him wired. The cops heard the whole thing.”

  I looked at him with surprise. “You and Dirt had this planned?”

  “Yeah. I just had a hard time convincing the police. It wasn’t until they heard Helen and Simon pull up that they believed me.”

  “I’m glad you believed him and helped,” I said. “Will Helen and Simon finally get what they deserve?”

  He nodded. “I think the police finally have what they need, and for the murder of Bethany Granville, too.”

  “Let’s hope,” said Katy, shivering. “Though I would still like to know why Jonathan would leave her in my salon.”

  “Because he thought you were in on it, too, and wanted you and Chris to suffer for Chris taking Bethany away. Or so he thought,” Officer Schultz interjected as he walked up and overheard us.

  “He thought I was involved?” Katy exclaimed.

  Schultz nodded, “He’s tripping over himself trying to tell the story and we’re still piecing it together but it appears that Chris was assisting Bethany in getting the word out about her services for a small fee. For some reason Jonathan thought you and Chris were both helping her, and he left her body there in an attempt to ruin your business like Bethany ruined his. Cooper, we need to talk to you again before you leave.”

  Cooper nodded, “OK. Be right there.”

  “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
said Cooper to me.

  “Sure,” I said nervously. I handed my keys to Katy. “Here you have a seat in the car and turn the heater on.”

  When she started walking away, I turned back to Cooper and smiled brightly. “What’s up,” I said, trying to sound casual.

  He had an expression on his face I couldn’t really read, but it scared me. I was afraid of what he was about to say.

  “I’m leaving.”

  “Me?” I squeaked out.

  “I’m going overseas for six months.”

  “Why?” I asked, feeling my eyes fill with tears.

  “It’s a job. A good job. I just don’t want to turn it down.”

  “So what does this mean? For us?”

  He sighed. “Presley, this isn’t easy for me. But the fact is we seem to be in different places in our lives right now.”

  “But I…”

  He held his hand up. “I’m not mad. I understand. You’re not ready. I think we just need to have some time apart.”

  Finally, the tears spilled over and the look on his face was equally as miserable.

  “Presley, I’m sorry. This is just something I need to do right now.” He gave me a hug and kissed me softly on the lips. As he walked away, I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. Oh, please don’t let the best thing that had ever happened to me walk out of my life forever.

  If you loved this book, I know you’ll enjoy the rest of my novels. Scroll through the titles below, or check out my website at http://www.lainaturner.com. If you sign up for my mailing list you will receive a free book! Thank you for reading!

  Stilettos & Scoundrels FREE

  Presley tells her boss what he can do with her job in HR and embarks on a new career as a freelance journalist. What seems like a simple interview with a Senator turns to murder when the day after her interview the Senator turns up dead. Does the fact that Presley was one of the last people to see him alive make her a suspect? Her ex–boyfriend Cooper, who was in charge of the Senators security, might think so. Presley is determined to clear her name but can she do it and resist Cooper’s charms?