Accessories & Alibis (The Presley Thurman Mystery Series Book 10)

by Laina Turner

  She walked up to where we were standing. “Can I go home,” she said sniffling.

  “Of course, you can, uh…I’m sorry I forgot your name,” I said apologetically.

  “Debbie. Debbie Vera.”

  “Are you going to be ok?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” she sniffed again. “I just can’t believe anyone would think that Roxanne could kill anyone. Much less Drew. How could this happen?”

  “Who’s Drew?”

  “Her boyfriend. You will help her won’t you?” she said.

  “Me?”

  She nodded. “She knows you solved the murder of the previous owner. That’s why she asked for your help when they took her out of here. She admires you. She knows you can prove she’s innocent. She was always talking about how you avenged Solange’s death. That was her name right?”

  I nodded, wondering why it had been a topic of conversation among the employees. It was a little flattering and a lot strange.

  “Debbie that was just a fluke, I didn’t avenge anything. Roxanne needs to get a lawyer and if she is innocent they will prove that.”

  “She IS innocent!” Debbie said, looking angry that I would even question it. “I know Roxanne. She couldn’t have done this.”

  “I didn’t mean to imply she wasn’t. I just meant …” I trailed off feeling bad for what had just come out of my mouth and not sure what to say to fix it.

  “Go home and relax, Debbie,” It will all work out you’ll see,” Katy said, stepping in thankfully. She always knew the right thing to say.

  “Don’t I feel like a meanie,” I said to Katy after Debbie walked out. “Thanks for helping the situation.”

  “She took you off guard. You don’t know these girls so of course you wouldn’t realize your reputation precedes you.”

  “My reputation?” I looked at her like she was nuts.

  “You know as a crime fighter,” she teased, trying to lighten the mood. I’m sure.

  “Me and Batman, you know it. Let’s find the schedule and see what it looks like for the rest of the week. I’m sure with Roxanne unavailable until further notice we may have some holes and who knows if these girls will show back up after today. I’m not sure I would in their shoes. We probably need to hire if we don’t want to end up working every day, open to close by ourselves.”

  We found the schedule among a pile of papers that looked like packing lists and the store copy of credit card receipts. Organization was clearly not Roxanne’s strong suit. We were looking over the schedule that was chicken scratch on notebook paper, trying to decide what to do when the other employee and Officer Castillo walked out of the back room.

  “Brenda,” I tentatively asked and she nodded. Score, I guessed right. Though there were only three employees and one of them already had a face with a name, so my odds had been good. It was more process of elimination than my remembering. I sent her home as well with her assurances she would be in the next day. She didn’t seem half as upset as Debbie had been, so she either didn’t care about Roxanne as much or just wasn’t as easily rattled. It was almost closing time by this point, my stomach rumbling, as we hadn’t stopped for lunch. While Officer Castillo had been in the back room we had only had a couple customers, none of which bought anything. As I remembered, Tuesdays weren’t all that busy. It was Wednesday and Thursday that were the big days with shoppers in to find something new and awesome to wear before their big weekend plans. However, there was no way the store would be presentable, to my standards, by tomorrow. I almost hoped it wasn’t busy. Fewer people to see it in this condition.

  “Sorry about the intrusion, ma’am,” Officer Castillo said. “And I appreciate the use of your back room so I could get some preliminary information from your employees.”

  “Call me Presley and don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault,” I said, taking Katy’s advice and trying to take this all in stride and act like this was any other day.

  “Hi, I’m Katy,” Katy spoke up since she hadn’t officially introduced herself earlier.

  “Nice to meet you as well.”

  “Is there anything we should be worried about? You know with Roxanne being arrested, and all. Did she really murder someone,” I asked again.

  “Allegedly,” he said again, must be his standard line and to not accuse someone unfairly. The whole innocent before proven guilty mantra.

  “I guess I want to make sure if she gets out on bail we don’t need to worry about the safety of anyone here.”

  He shook his head. “It’s unlikely she will get bail. At least it’s not something that happens very often in cases like this. So I wouldn’t worry about it.”

  “So you think she murdered this Drew guy?”

  “I said…”

  “Allegedly, I know,” I smiled. “Hey, do you know Willie Landon?” I asked, changing subjects.

  He looked surprised. Maybe thought it odd I knew a Chicago detective? Maybe it was, but to me it was no odder than my employee just getting arrested.

  “Yeah. He would normally be working a case in this area, but he just got promoted to lieutenant.”

  “Lieutenant, that’s great. If you see him tell him, Presley said congrats!”

  “I will. Again, sorry for the disruption today.”

  “What a nice guy,” Katy said.

  “He was,” I said and then stayed silent for a few moments thinking. Katy knowing me all too well finally spoke up.

  “You’re wondering if Roxanne killed her boyfriend aren’t you?”

  “Why would you say that,” I said but she had caught me. That was what I was thinking about. I couldn’t help it. It had me curious.

  “Because I know you and I know you can’t resist a good puzzle or challenge or whatever you want to call it when you involve yourself in such things.”

  “What if she didn’t kill him? Is it fair she should be in jail? And she did ask for my help.”

  “Presley, you don’t even know her to have any idea if it’s true or not. You should follow what you told Debbie and let her get a lawyer to handle that. We have a store to run. There’s too much work to be done here to try and take on a pet project.”

  We did, but I couldn’t help but think that Roxanne did sound innocent. What if she was being framed?

  We worked in silence, just cleaning the fixtures and mirrors and such. The place was filthy.

  I was lost in thought when Katy nudged me.

  “Hey Pres.” I looked up from what I was doing at the back of the store. She nodded her head toward the door where I saw another policeman walk in.

  “For the love of Pete. What do they want now,” I said, wishing we had already closed, so I didn’t have to deal with it, and walked up to the front.

  “Can I help you?” I asked, noticing the guy had on a Sheriff uniform not a Chicago City police uniform. That seemed odd.

  He didn’t say anything but handed me an envelope instead.

  “What’s this?” I asked.

  “You have three weeks to respond,” the Sheriff said. ”Sign here.”

  I assumed he was a deputy rather than the actual Sheriff, but it’s not like it mattered.

  “What is it?” I asked again, and he just nodded and walked out.

  “What is it,” Katy asked as I opened the envelope.

  “I don’t know yet. Just a second,” I said and unfolded the paper. All the blood drained from my face. I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

  “Is something wrong?” Katy asked, clearly noticing I was not OK.

  “Um, you could say that. It says I owe over a hundred fifty thousand in back taxes, and if this bill isn’t paid in three weeks, they will shut us down.”

  “There’s got to be a mistake. Surely this is something James is responsible for, not you,” Katy said.

  “I sure hope so. I need to make some calls.”

  Chapter 3

  “Listen to this,” I said to Katy and Jared. We were in the kitchen in the condo I shared with Jared, getting ready
for a celebratory dinner. Initially, we had planned on going out with friends, but after the craziness that was today, I hadn’t been in the mood. Jared had graciously offered to cook so we could have a low-key night at home that is exactly what I needed.

  Jared had moved with me in a while ago for financial reasons and had proven to be as great of a roommate as he was one of my best friends. He was also an amazing cook, which I was not, a huge benefit to having him as a roommate. He was cooking for us ladies while we sat with our wine and favorite Sartori cheese, to snack on while we waited and watched him. I was surfing the web looking for information on Roxanne. It didn’t get much better than this.

  “We’re listening,” he said, speaking for him and Katy as he stirred the sauce he was making for our spaghetti. Homemade from his grandma’s recipe cause that how he rolled. Not out of the jar. He said sauce out of the jar was for heathens. I thought Ragu tasted fine, but his homemade with fresh basil and garlic was to die for. I had once featured it on my food blog, and it had received a ton of compliments.

  “Roxanne Baxter was arrested today on suspicion of the murder of her boyfriend Drew Conner. Police were called to the apartment they shared after Drew failed to show up for work yesterday, and neighbors reported hearing an argument the night before. Initial findings show that the victim was beaten to death,” I finished.

  “Sounded pretty cut and dried. A domestic dispute gone wrong,” said Jared.

  “I don’t know. Do you really see a female beating a man to death?”

  “What don’t you know about? Why are you defending her?” Katy asked. “I agree with Jared. Unfortunately, these things happen. Not everyone has good conflict resolution skills or restraint. There were many times I was mad enough to kill Chris, but refrained simply because I didn’t want to end up in jail.”

  Chris was Katy’s ex-boyfriend. Ex-fiancé, to be exact. They had been on and off for many years, and he had not always treated her very well. I, for one, was glad to see him go.

  “I know but maybe she is telling the truth and someone is trying to frame her?”

  This drew looks from both of them and not very nice looks either. I knew they both thought I was sometimes too nosy and got involved in things I really shouldn’t. They were honest friends and had told me that before. But hey, we all had our flaws.

  “Listen, Presley. We don’t have time for you to get involved in someone else’s drama. We have a failing business to save. Especially with what you found out today. Besides what would Cooper say?” Katy asked.

  “Cooper’s in New York. He doesn’t need to know.” Cooper was my boyfriend. We had recently got back together after a long break and then as luck would have it before we had a chance to spend any real time together, he had to jet off to New York to take care of a client. We had lost touch over the years and had reconnected a while back when we were both in our hometown of Alkon. His job had been to provide security for Senator Daniels, and I was visiting my parents. Well, someone else had their own plan for the senator who turned up dead and in the pursuit of trying to find out who that person was, we realized we liked each other. While most of the time we had a great relationship he didn’t like it so much when I nosed my way into others peoples business, as he put it. Especially his clients, as had happened on occasion by accident. But at least this time I was safe from that. Roxanne was in no way connected to any of Cooper’s clients.

  “I agree with Katy,” said Jared. “Concentrate on Silk and don’t forget you still have to write your food blog. You already have a lot on your plate without going off on another project for someone you don’t even know.”

  “She’s my employee,” I said indignantly. “Doesn’t that mean something?”

  “Presley,” Katy said with a sigh. “She’s been your employee for less than twenty-four hours. It’s not like you have this long-standing loyalty to her. Now if I were accused of murdering my boyfriend that would be a different story. I would expect you to run to my defense and save me!”

  “Are you talking about me? Should I be worried?” Katy’s tall, dark, and handsome boyfriend Derrick “Dirt” walked into the kitchen, smiling at Katy. They looked perfect together in my opinion. It had taken a long time for them to get to this point, but it had been worth it.

  “Wow, that smells awesome, Jared,” he said walking over to Katy and giving her a kiss. I liked to see how happy Katy was, in no small part because of Dirt. He treated her the way she deserved to be treated.

  “How was the first day as a new business owner?” he said to me.

  “That’s what we were just talking about. One of Presley’s employees was arrested for murder all of about fifteen minutes after we walked through the doors. Needless to say, Presley thinks it’s her duty to prove this girl is innocent.” Katy said. “You would know this if you checked your voice mail,” she teased him.

  “Sorry. I always forget.” He said to Katy and then turned to me.

  “How do you get yourself into these things. It’s like you have a magnet for trouble.”

  “It’s not my fault these things tend to find me. Maybe they find me because I’m supposed to do something with them.”

  “I understand, Presley, but you don’t even know her. Her dad could be the best criminal lawyer in Chicago for all you know, and she doesn’t even need your help,” said Katy. “For once don’t get involved.”

  “Then why did she ask for my help? She wouldn’t have if she didn’t need it,” I shot back. That was what was bugging me. How could I not at least try to find out more information about what had happened when her last words before being hauled away were to ask for my help? How could I ignore someone who directly asked me? ”Anyways, I Googled her and just a couple articles from Silk events and a charity event she attended with Drew came up beside the murder thing. If her dad was this big criminal lawyer, it would probably say so.”

  “Well then,” Katy laughed.

  “I don’t know why you are all being such haters on Roxanne,” I muttered good-naturedly because I understood where they were coming from even if I didn’t agree with it.

  “Now Drew, on the other hand, is a different story,” I said, moving on to him. Heading down the rabbit hole that often happened while surfing the web.

  “Really? What’s the scoop on him?” Katy asked.

  “His dad is a high profile businessman. Some big wig whose company makes computer parts of some kind. The family is worth millions. His mom does the charity circuit, that whole thing. They seem to be on the higher end of Chicago society. The kind of women we need to shop at Silk.”

  “We probably rubbed elbows with them at the James for our New Years party,” said Jared.

  “Maybe. They’re the type that would have come to that party. I would imagine that they are well connected, which doesn’t bode well for Roxanne. All the more reason to help her. People with money have a lot more advantages with the legal system than us normal folk.”

  “You do have a good point,” said Dirt.

  “See!” I said to the others.

  “Don’t encourage her, Dirt,” Katy scolded.

  “Hey, I’m just saying that as someone who has had their run-ins with the law, on both sides, money never hurts. It’s not right, but it’s the truth.”

  Dirt, someone else who I’d known since childhood, had been a sheriff in our hometown, until he was accused and convicted of murdering Senator Daniels. The same senator Cooper’s company had been hired to protect. We had all been shocked. Until Dirt came clean and said, he hadn’t killed the senator and only said he did, but he lied to protect Katy. Not one of his most well thought out plans as he was still dealing with those legal issues, but it was romantic.

  “Presley, I know you’re going to get involved, no matter what we say, just make sure to know what you’re getting yourself into,” Katy said.

  “It can’t be any worse than what I’ve gotten myself into with Silk.”

  “Exactly my point, Presley. Getting Silk back where it need
s to be is already going to be like two full-time jobs. You don’t need to be distracted,” said Katy. I think she kept repeating herself on the off chance I might listen, but she was right. I was hooked. I wanted to find out if Roxanne was innocent and helped her.

  “Enough talk. Time to eat,” Jared said.

  After we started gorging ourselves on pasta and garlic bread, Jared finally mentioned the elephant in the room.

  “Are you going to fill us in on this tax thing?”

  When I had asked him to call and cancel our original reservations and call our friends to tell them the party would be postponed, I had told him about Roxanne and that a tax issue had cropped up too. I just didn't want to talk about it until I had wine and food. Clearly he felt I had enough of both by this point, and he wanted to know what was going on.

  “Well,” I said, taking a drink to wash down the big bite of spaghetti I had just taken. “I was served by the Sheriff’s office today that I have three weeks to come up with over a hundred thousand to pay back taxes, or they will close down Silk.”

  “A hundred thousand dollars?” Jared said.

  “No, pesos,” I said sarcastically. “Yes dollars. One hundred, fifty thousand, twenty-six dollars and ninety-one cents to be exact. I could probably come up with the twenty-six, ninety-one, but that’s about it.”

  “Isn’t that something that James is responsible for?” Dirt asked.

  “Let’s hope. I emailed Jim and Gary to let them know and see what is going on. If I owe that money, I’m done. There’s no way I can come up with that in three weeks.”

  “Don’t worry about that until you know exactly what you’re face with,” said Jared. “Now, who’s ready for dessert?”

  Even though, the daunting obstacles I was facing with Silk stressed me out, I could never turn down dessert. It always made me feel better. At least temporarily.