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

by Laina Turner

  Brenda poked her head into my office, “Hey Presley; there’s some woman here asking for you. And she doesn’t seem too happy.”

  “Probably upset we don’t have a spring line in yet,” I muttered. Pain in the butt customers were part of the job and not my favorite, but that was retail. Though to be honest, the great customers more than made up for the bad ones.

  Brenda shook her head. “I don’t think that’s it,” and I saw she looked nervous.

  I looked at her. “Then what’s the problem?”

  “You’ll see,” she said and we both walked back out onto the floor.

  Standing by the cash wrap waiting for me was a tall, beautiful blond. Dark blue silk trench coat, Kate Spade bag, Loubatin heels. She had taste; I would give her that. But she didn’t have a very pleasant look on her face. In fact, she looked downright angry.

  “Hi, I’m Presley Thurman, the owner, what can I help you with.” Trying to go on the offensive by being super nice, which I suspected, wasn’t going to work on her. I did feel proud saying I was the owner. Though killing them with kindness was often a good tactic, and I, usually, tried even when I didn’t want to.

  “You can tell me why you have a murderer working at your store. Do you care so little about your customers, to put us in danger, society in danger?” The woman said dramatically, her voice shrill. I had been gone from Silk for so long that I didn’t know if this woman was a regular or not. And yes I did understand when I let Roxanne work here I was potentially going to run into this. I was a little surprised it hadn’t happened until now and after the first couple days had quit thinking about it.

  “I’m sorry, who are you?” I said, still trying to sound sweet and chipper.

  “Patricia Fielding,” she said with an air of importance, emphasizing each syllable. I didn’t recognize her name either.

  “And who are you referring to?” I asked, knowing since I only had one accused murderer on staff at the moment who it was, but wanted to hear her say it.

  “Roxanne Baxter. She killed Drew Conner and yet is still walking around free as a bird putting everyone around her in danger,” she said her voice rising to almost a shout.

  “First of all she’s innocent until proven guilty and the court system made the decision to let her walk around free, so clearly they don’t view her as a threat to society. Secondly, I don’t think we are in any danger here. If I thought we were I wouldn’t have her work here,” I said. Realizing I sounded a little defensive, because I knew in the back of my mind having an accused murderer on staff wasn’t probably the best for business. Something that I hadn’t really cared about until now. Admittedly that was somewhat stupid on my end.

  “But she killed my Drew. I just know she did.”

  Her Drew? Now that was interesting. “What do you mean your Drew?”

  “Drew Conner was my fiancé. And that bitch murdered him. Murdered him because she couldn’t have him and couldn’t just let go. If she had cared about Drew, she would have wanted him to be happy.”

  That statement took me by surprise. “You two were engaged?” was the best I could ask as so many thoughts were swirling around in my head, the first of which, why Roxanne hadn’t bothered to mention this. Though maybe she didn’t know, he was engaged.

  “Yes. We were to be married in the fall, and now she’s ruined my life,” she said, voice again rising and sounding on the verge of tears.

  Just then Roxanne walked through front door, and I found myself wishing we had a back entrance employees could come through or that Roxanne had better timing. This should be interesting and not necessarily in a good way. I was beginning to think Willie and Cooper were right. I was a magnet for such things.

  “What are you doing here, Patricia!” Roxanne said as soon as she saw her, confirming at least she knew who this woman was, Roxanne seemed very surprised to see her here, and I could tell none too happy. My hope that she had no idea Drew had a fiancé flew out the window, and a host of other questions popped in my head. Like why hadn’t she mentioned this.

  “Asking her why she has a murderer and a home-wrecker working for her,” Patricia said pointing to me and glaring at Roxanne.

  I started to get worried as both ladies had looks on their faces that told me they knew each other and didn’t like each other one little bit. That meant anything could happen, especially when emotions were running high. It would not be good for Silk to have a cat fight as we did have customers in this morning that seemed close to making a purchase. There were two ladies trying on things in the dressing room but who I could see out of the corner of my eye had poked their heads out the door to see what was going on. I couldn’t blame them; I would be doing the same thing. It’s not every day you could get a show while shopping and not even be charged for it.

  “I didn’t kill Drew!” Roxanne yelled, getting in Patricia’s face clearly not at all intimidated by her being here.

  “It had to be you. You would do anything so I couldn’t have him. I just can’t believe you would stoop to this level.”

  “He didn’t want you; he was using you. It was me he loved,” Roxanne said. “And I. Didn’t. Kill. Him!”

  The classic other woman. I couldn’t help myself from wondering what else Roxanne hadn’t told me about her relationship with Drew. Realizing that the things Roxanne wasn’t telling me continued to add up and not necessarily in a good way. Was she afraid I wouldn’t believe her innocence if I knew the truth? Would a cheating boyfriend be enough to drive Roxanne to murder.

  “Roxanne, you’re delusional. Admit what you’ve done. You killed him so no one else could have him.”

  “I did not,” she screamed and took another step toward Patricia looking like she was going to hit her, so I quickly stepped in between them. As enthralled as I was watching this unfold, I did not need in my place of business.

  “Stop it! I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but it's not going to happen here. Patricia you need to leave.”

  “Fine! You’re going to regret what you did, Roxanne. I’m going to make sure of it. I’ll make sure Rod doesn’t protect you anymore.” With that, she stormed out and slammed the door. I glanced over at the dressing rooms, and the two women quickly tucked their heads back in and pretended they hadn’t been listening. I sighed. Maybe they would buy something as repayment for their morning's entertainment. The last thing I needed was to have gossip spread about this latest event though I knew I was crazy to think these ladies weren’t already texting their friends. I would be doing the same thing.

  I led Roxanne to my office while asking a very worried looking Brenda to watch the front. She was probably afraid Patricia might come back. While she wasn’t a real go-getter as an employee, I did feel bad she had such tumultuous working conditions lately. I’m sure this wasn’t what she had envisioned when applying for a position at a clothing store. Normally, this job was much tamer.

  “What the hell was that all about,” I asked her once we were sitting down, and I had poured us both a cup of coffee. Though after I sat the cup down in front of her and realized, she was shaking I wondered if caffeine was a good idea. Though there was nothing in this store decaffeinated. I didn’t believe in decaf. Might as well drink water if you weren’t going to have caffeine.

  “Drew’s thing on the side,” she said much more calmly than I would have. It’s like I had just asked her what she wanted for lunch.

  “Ok, you need to explain this. Drew was cheating on you and you knew it?” I said, finding it hard to believe she knew and yet didn’t seem much to care. She obviously didn’t care for Patricia but right now she seemed very nonchalant about everything. I wasn’t a huge feminist or anything, but I sure believed in not letting men, or anyone for that matter, treat you poorly.

  “It’s a long complicated story.”

  I bet it was, but she was going to have to tell me. “Were they really engaged?” Surely that wasn’t true.

  She nodded.

  Or maybe it was. The personal liv
es of others were always such a hard thing to understand. Everyone had his or her quirks. I knew I shouldn’t judge Roxanne or the situation, but this seemed out of the realm of what I considered normal behavior even though I knew normal was relative.

  “I know what you’re thinking and I agree it’s a little odd. I didn’t say I liked the situation; it was just something that had to be done. Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do in order to get to something you do want. I considered it a sacrifice for my future, so did Drew. An investment of sorts.”

  “You have to explain it to me because I don’t understand why you would be ok with knowing Drew had a fiancé.” I felt bad saying it, but I had to be honest and let’s face it, it gave her a good motive for murder. This, much more than that email, made her look bad. No wonder she had been arrested. There was no way she could convince me the cops didn’t know about this.

  She sighed; I’m sure not relishing trying to explain it all to me. “Drew was working on a merger. Patricia’s father owns the company he wanted to merge with. He’s known Patricia forever, and he knew it would be advantageous to the deal to have a relationship with her. She’s always had a thing for him. Their parents have known each other for years, and so it was easy to get her to start dating him.”

  “So he was using Patricia?”

  “I know, it sounds horrible. I realize what you must think of Drew and me.”

  “And you were ok with this?” I said, not bothering to comment on what she had just said because I kind of did, and I saw no reason to be outright mean about it.

  “Well no. But I understood, and I didn’t have a choice. I wanted him to get the deal he wanted and if this was the only way then so be it. I didn’t want to lose him. Besides, he was doing this to set us up for the future.”

  “Did she know about it?”

  “Not at first. She found out about a week ago.” Realization dawned in her eyes. “Do you think she could have killed him? Oh my God, I didn’t even think of that because she really did love him, but I guess that would make it that much more likely she would be angry enough to kill him. Maybe she’s accusing me because she knows it was her and wants to throw off suspicion.”

  With this new information either one of them looked good for it, and I wouldn’t blame either of them for wanting to kill him. I also had a hard time believing the thought that maybe Patricia killed Drew had just now crossed Roxanne’s mind. This made Drew look like a louse, not the fine upstanding guy he had been portrayed as by both Roxanne and Rod and surely, as Drew’s best friend, Rod knew about this too. It seemed like hiding a fiancé wouldn’t be an easy thing to do. What did Rod have to gain by hiding it? Was he that loyal to Roxanne so was helping her keep a secret? Was he hiding it because he didn’t want her to look guilty or was he fooling himself?

  “Do you think she would be capable of that?’ I asked.

  “She was pretty angry when she found out. Drew came home with a cut on his cheek where she had thrown a lamp at him. But he shrugged it off and said she would calm down. He didn’t seem to think it was a big deal at all. He said he convinced her it was all a mistake, and he loved her and wouldn’t do it again. He said she forgave him and everything was fine. He told me the deal was almost finished and then he was going to let her down easy. Besides she was close to Drew’s mom so as much as I don’t like her, I’m not sure she would kill Drew, knowing what that would do to his mom.”

  “You don’t think she would tell her dad that Drew was two-timing her?” I asked. “And ruin the deal?”

  “Drew said he wasn’t worried. She loved him, and he had her wrapped around his finger. He said he could calm her down, and it would be fine. The way he would say those things made me feel like we were in it together. You know. Fooling her,” she said dreamily.

  It seemed twisted to me and made me wonder just a little bit about Roxanne’s mental state. Was she really that delusional? I couldn’t understand how she would be okay with this. How anyone could be OK with this. “What do you think she meant when she said she would see to it Rod wouldn’t protect you anymore?”

  “I don’t know. I mean Rod, and I are friends but there isn’t anything to protect me from. Except maybe myself,” she said and tried to chuckle but it fell flat. Neither of us was in a laughing mood.

  “Is the merger still moving forward even though Drew is dead?”

  “I’m not sure. I know that Rod was against it. He loved the company, said it was a part of them and didn’t want to lose it. Drew had a more pragmatic approach that business was about profit. He felt the time was right to capitalize on the market. He wasn’t emotionally invested in the business the way Rod was.”

  “If they weren’t in agreement about the sale of the business how were they going to do it?”

  “Drew had controlling interest and didn’t need Rod’s agreement to sell. That was a source of contention between the two of them. I think Rod was hurt, but Drew said he shouldn’t take it personally.”

  I thought maybe this was the root of some of the arguments David said he overheard. It would make sense. Money. Probably the most argued about topic worldwide and from what Roxanne was saying they both had a much different opinion of how their business should be handled.

  “Do you know if they argued over it? The merger?”

  “A few times I think. Drew got to the point where he didn’t want to discuss it anymore, but Rod wouldn’t stop bugging him. I know it was pushing Drew to his limit with Rod.”

  “So why didn’t you tell me about this? Is this another reason the police arrested you?” I had been hoping she would bring this up herself, but I wasn’t about to let it go. I felt she owed me an explanation.

  She was silent for a moment and finally nodded. “I know I should have told you but I didn’t want you to think less of me.”

  “Roxanne, when you asked for my help it was unfair that you would keep this information from me.”

  “I know, I know. I’m sorry. Please don’t stop helping me. I’m sorry Patricia came in here and that I’ve involved you in this, but I need you.”

  “Is there anything else you haven’t told me?” I asked, thinking this was her opportunity to come completely clean and to feel myself care and still wanting to help her.

  “No that was the only thing, I swear.”

  She still felt compelled to lie. I was disappointed but somehow not surprised. I just wish I knew why.

  I honestly didn’t know what to think now. The situation just got weirder and weirder, and I no longer was completely convinced Roxanne didn’t kill Drew.

  “Presley, you have a phone call on line one,” Brenda said, sticking her head through the doorway.

  “Thanks. Let me get this. Close the door on your way out,” I said to Roxanne, probably a little too abruptly but at this moment I didn’t really care. I was mad she kept lying to me. She walked out without saying a word, and I briefly wondered if she would leave. I almost hoped she did.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey Pres, its Willie.”

  “It’s about damn time!” I said, “I can’t believe you made me wait so long. I’ve been going crazy here.”

  “Sorry, I’ve been chasing down some leads and it took me longer than expected.”

  “How’s Rita?”

  “That’s one of the reasons I called. Have you talked to her?”

  “Not since the other day when you met us. Why?”

  “She was supposed to come to the station this morning, and she never showed up and she’s not at home or answering her phone.”

  “Did you check with Caren at the diner?”

  “Yup. No one there has seen her either.”

  “Do you think something bad has happened?”

  “I don’t know but that’s what I’m worried about. We had a patrol watching her, and they didn’t see anything either, so we aren’t sure how she slipped away.”

  “I found out who those guys were who came in looking for Roxanne,” I said.

&
nbsp; “The Mogilevich brothers. Vladimir and Alexsky.”

  “You know and didn’t tell me!” I was kind of mad he had been holding out on me.

  “It’s been crazy here. I stepped up surveillance on Silk once I found out but haven’t had a chance to call you and tell you.”

  “, I haven’t noticed anyone watching us.”

  “That’s the whole point. If you can’t spot them then neither can anyone else. How did you find out?”

  “Cooper told me the two main families fitting that description and I looked them up. Katy identified them from a picture I found online.”

  “Wow,” he chuckled. “Good work.”

  “And I found out Drew had a fiancé that wasn’t Roxanne. I’m finding there’s a lot she hasn’t told me.”

  “That’s why I told you to be careful.”

  “So you knew that too. Should I be worried about her? What else are you holding out?”

  “ Just be vigilant and don’t let on to Roxanne that you know any of this. Especially until we find Rita. If she contacts you, call me.”

  “OK,” I said but wasn’t reassured.

  “Just watch yourself, Pres.”

  “I will. Promise.”

  “I’ll call you once I know more.”

  When I got off the phone, I leaned back in my chair. This was getting crazier by the minute and for the first time I found myself worried about what I had got myself into when I agreed to help Roxanne.

  Chapter 16

  “You ready?” Katy asked as we were about to walk up to the front of the store and open the doors for our clearance extravaganza. At least, I hope it turned out to be an extravaganza. Silk needed a jump start. Not just from a financial aspect but having the store busy and full of people just shopping, even if they didn’t buy anything, would be nice. It would infuse some much-needed energy into the store.

  “As ready as ever,” I said, taking one last drink of coffee and grabbing my sweater off the back of the chair. I was wearing a simple red sheath dress, but it was sleeveless, so I had grabbed a silver sequined shrug to jazz it up a bit and to keep me warm. Hopefully, the front door would be opening so much with customers coming in that the store would be drafty. I found myself feeling nervous, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple people standing outside the front door waiting to get inside. Excitement coursed through me. Maybe this was going to be a success after all.