Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 09 - Romance & Revenge

by Laina Turner

  “Would you?” I asked with a smile. “I know I need to call him and just have a conversation to clarify everything instead of wondering. We just seem to have issues connecting.”

  “Yes, you do need to have that conversation, but I understand it’s hard when you’re not sure if you want to hear what’s going to be said. Wondering is just as bad though. It seems like a no-win situation, but confronting issues head on is important. Just rip the Band-Aid off.”

  “I know. You’re right. I just need to do it,” I smiled.

  “And you never know, maybe there’s an explanation for his behavior.”

  “Now you sound like Katy.”

  “Maybe that’s because we’re right. Listen, I get where you’re coming from and hopefully we can still be pals while you sort this out. Friends is better than nothing. I still want you to come New Year’s Eve. That is if you want to,” he said.

  “Miss a party at The James? Are you nuts? I’ve already bought a dress! Besides Jared would kill me if I told him we couldn’t go now.”

  “A dress? Then that’s settled. In all seriousness, if there’s anything I can do. I want to help.”

  “You invited my friends and me to one of the best parties in Chicago, you’ve done your job. Though there is something I wanted your opinion on.”

  “Shoot.”

  “I told you about the drama at Jared’s work the other day. Well, one of the account reps admitted to sending the designs to competitors, so we figured out that problem. However, she said she never logged into the back end of the server, so that means someone has been logging into their system and not wanting anyone else to know. I don’t even know where to start with that. I just thought all along they were connected.”

  “You lost me. What do you mean logging into the back end of the system?” he said with a very confused look on his face.

  I frowned and thought for a second, realizing I hadn’t told him that part of the story.

  “I’m sorry, Willie. I guess I have more to fill you in on.” I proceeded to tell him the parts of the story I hadn’t yet. “Now what you’re saying makes more sense.”

  “Yeah, having the right information is helpful,” he said with a smile. “Money,” he said.

  “What?”

  “Follow the money.”

  “I don’t understand what you mean?”

  “In my experience I have found crimes usually fall in two categories. Crimes of opportunity or crimes of passion. This doesn’t fall into the passion category so I would place my bet on opportunity, which would probably be money in this case since it’s a business. Figure out what financial gain someone might have or be searching for.”

  I thought about that for a minute and he had a point. People did crazy things for money. Only I had no idea where to start. I was right back at square one once finding out Sally wasn’t involved. I didn’t suspect anyone who worked there. Though I hadn’t suspected Sally until the last minute either. How could one small business have these issues at one time? This scared me about taking on the challenge of Silk. These issues didn’t even have to do with the basic running of the business issues.

  “I don’t think they’ve had money issues. But then Jared is just an employee so he probably isn’t privy to everything, regardless of how close they all are. I can ask the managing partner though. Do you think it could be related to Becky’s murder?”

  “It could. Like you’ve said, a small business having all these issues is a lot. I’ve been on other cases so I don’t know where the investigation is on Becky’s murder to tell you for certain.”

  “The money, huh?”

  “If it were me, I would start there. You might find out information that will lead you in the right direction.”

  “Thanks, Willie, I will.”

  “Have you decided what decision you’re going to make about Silk?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Leaning any particular way?”

  I paused for a second because saying this out loud seemed a little scary. “I think I’m leaning toward doing it.”

  Willie’s face broke out in a smile. “I think that’s great, Presley. Listen, I want to hear more about this tomorrow but duty calls. Pick you guys up at eight? For the party.”

  “You don’t have to pick us up. That’s out of your way.”

  “I’d like to. There’s a free valet at the event and all arriving together would be fun. Plus, then you can indulge in the fine champagne they are sure to have there and not have to worry about getting home.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that twice. Eight it is.”

  “Willie stood up and gave me a friendly kiss on the top of my head. “Call ya later.”

  “OK.” I smiled and couldn’t help but wonder if I could like him, for more than just a friend if things in my life were different. He had all the qualities I would want in a guy. He was smart, thoughtful, gainfully employed, and good looking. Plus, he was fun to be around. He made me laugh, which was super important. It was just hard to even think that way about someone else with this Cooper stuff hanging over my head.

  I pulled out my phone to call him again. I really needed to deal with it and put it behind me. I might not be ready to date now if things with Cooper were really over, but I couldn’t put my life on hold forever. Punching in the familiar numbers, I just hoped a girl didn’t answer again. I didn’t think I could take that punch in the gut.

  “Hello, you have reached Cooper Sand of Sands …” I hung up. Dammit. Voicemail, and I didn’t care to leave yet another message. He would see the missed call anyway.

  I wanted to jump up and down with frustration and throw my phone across the coffee shop. Why was it so hard to take care of something that just required a quick phone call? Was he just going to keep avoiding me until I stopped calling?

  I guess we just weren’t meant to connect. I sighed. Or he was planning on never talking to me again. Though like Katy had said, Cooper wasn’t that kind of guy. He addressed issues head on and was genuinely nice, which made it all the more strange he hadn’t contacted me. Maybe something weird was going on and I should be patient and give him the benefit of the doubt. Patience just was not one of my virtues.

  I forced my mind to shift gears and I wondered if John was in the office. I knew he had decided to stay closed until after the New Year, even after finding out what Sally did, but maybe he was there, catching up on stuff. I headed over there, figuring it wouldn’t be much out of my day if he wasn’t there or maybe I would get lucky and I could ask him about the money thing. Maybe Willie was right, he was a detective so it made sense.

  Taking a cab, because it was freezing out, I arrived at Sleeping Bear to see lights on, so I was hopeful John was up there.

  The door was locked so I knocked and a few seconds later I saw John peek his head out of the conference room and when he saw me, he came to the door and let me in.

  “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”

  “I just had coffee with a friend of mine, who happens to be a detective, and he said something that made me want to talk to you.”

  “Well, come on in.”

  We walked to the conference room and sat down.

  “What did you want to talk to me about?”

  “Willie, my detective friend, said follow the money. If you’re suspicious of why someone would be logging in to the back end of the server, take a look at what financial motives there could be. I hope it was OK I talked about this with him,” I said, realizing that maybe he wouldn’t be happy I had done so.

  “No, no that’s fine. I’ll do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of things.”

  “We haven’t experienced any money issues, that I’m aware of anyway. We have an accounting firm handling all that and surely they would notice any irregularities.”

  “But you still have no idea who could be accessing things?”

  “No idea and I’ve been thinking about it nonstop. Since Sally said it wasn’t her and I believe her, I don’
t know what it could be. We don’t have any other problems that I know of. That means if something is going on, I’m not aware of it. Which is even worse.”

  This was a good opening for me to tell him about Glenda. I had been holding off until I had more concrete information, but maybe he knew something that could be helpful.

  “There is one more thing, John,” I said and he looked at me waiting for me to continue. “It seemed like Glenda had some altercations with Becky and you said her husband was diabetic and Becky was killed by an insulin overdose. Do you know of any reason Glenda would have a problem with Becky?”

  “You think Glenda might have killed her?” he said and looked horrified.

  “Not really. I don’t have any clear indication of who could have killed her. I’m just trying to cross her off the list. She just keeps popping up.”

  “Presley, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me but there is no way Glenda had anything to do with hurting Becky. Glenda was the most loyal person, to my dad, to this company, for thirty years. She’s the one who trained Becky. Now Glenda might not have been the sweetest person, but she would never do anything to hurt Sleeping Bear Designs.”

  His voice got louder as he talked and I could tell he was mad which is why I hadn’t wanted to bring it up. Especially after finding out about Sally. I wouldn’t want to believe it either if I were him.

  “Well, I didn’t mean to take up your time. I was just in the area and wanted to let you know what he said. I thought it might make more sense to you.”

  “I’m glad you stopped by. Like I said before, I’m very appreciative of your help and this does give me another direction to try. I didn’t mean to snap at you about Glenda. Man, I just want it to be business as usual.”

  “I can imagine. Have a good day.”

  “You too, Presley.”

  I arrived to an empty house. Katy and Jared had texted they were going out shoe shopping. They had said they would wait for me, but strangely enough, I wasn’t in the mood. Very unusual for me. I was always up for shoe shopping. On the way home I had been thinking about John’s protesting about Glenda and it just made me think more and more that maybe she was the link. After all, she had access to the money. I sat down at my computer and opened it up. Typing in Glenda’s name in the search bar along with Chicago and then Florida. Nothing. I don’t know what I expected. Hopefully to find some nefarious act she had committed. Well it was a long shot.

  I should probably do something productive while I had this time alone without interruptions. Like plan my next blog post or something but Cooper was weighing too heavily on my mind and I didn’t feel like doing anything. Today I was in the same funk Jared had been in. Just no motivation. I couldn’t believe Cooper was staying at the W. Or why he was even in Chicago this time of year. His home base was San Diego. I was pretty sure it was work related but still. Why hadn’t he told me he was coming? I hadn’t been able to get a hold of him on his cell but maybe I could call the W and get him in his room. Hotel phones didn’t usually have caller ID, so he couldn’t see it was me and ignore the call if that’s what he was doing.

  I looked up the number and dialed the front desk.

  “Cooper Sands, please,” I said when someone picked up.

  “Just one moment, please,” and a second later the phone started ringing.

  ”Hello?” he answered.

  “Cooper,” I said, a smile coming to my face at hearing his voice in spite of what had been happening. I loved the sound of his voice; it made me melt.

  “Presley,” he replied and it sounded like he was happy to hear from me.

  “I’ve been trying to reach you.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just that …”

  “Cooper, who is that? Is it room service?” I heard a woman’s voice in the background. My heart dropped and I felt sick. No wonder he hadn’t contacted me. He was in Chicago with a woman. I felt so stupid for not even thinking that might be a reason. I guess even after everything I had still hoped things would end up being OK.

  “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t be bothering you,” I choked out, wondering why on earth I thought calling his hotel room was a good idea. I should have at least anticipated something like this happening.

  “Presley wait, I can explain.”

  “No, it’s OK. You don’t need to. I understand. I understand perfectly. Take care, Cooper,” I said and hung up.

  While I couldn’t believe he hadn’t had the decency to tell me he was dating someone else, he clearly was over me, over us. He had a girl staying in his room. How stupid was I to think he was just busy and that’s why he hadn’t called back. I started crying, glad I was home alone. I was still sitting in the kitchen in the dark with my phone on the counter when Jared and Katy came home. I hadn’t moved since getting off the phone with Cooper. They walked in and Jared flipped on the light.

  “Why are you sitting in the dark?” he asked and then saw my face. “Oh my God, honey, what’s wrong?”

  “What happened?” Katy said, looking concerned.

  I started crying again. “I called his hotel room and he had a girl there,” I said in hiccupping spurts.

  “Oh no! Presley, I’m so sorry,” Katy said, not even having to ask who he was.

  “It’s over, it’s really over,” I said, not wanting to believe it, but it was true. “I just don’t understand why he didn’t at least tell me. I thought I meant more than that.”

  Katy came over and hugged me. “I know this is so hard.”

  “I mean I knew it probably was over, but I guess nothing really prepares you for that final shock of knowing for certain. But now I know and I need to deal with it,” I said and grabbed a tissue to blow my nose, trying to act stronger than I felt.

  Jared went to the cupboard and pulled out a wineglass and poured a glass of wine. Pushing it in front of me, he said, “Here, this will make you feel better.”

  “It’s not even noon,” I weakly protested, but accepted the glass anyways.

  “So what. Now drink up.”

  As I was taking a sip of the sweet moscato, which was helping me calm down a little, I heard my phone buzz. For a brief second I got my hopes up thinking it might be Cooper calling back, but then Jared gave my phone a sideways glance and said, “What’s John doing calling you?”

  My eyebrows raised and I shrugged as I answered it.

  “Hello, John.”

  “Presley, you’re not going to believe this. I just got off the phone with our accountant and he said he was planning on calling me after the holidays about some double billing that he uncovered. He was double-checking a few things, which is why he hadn’t called yet. He wanted to make sure the error wasn’t on his end before bringing this to my attention.”

  “So what are you saying?” I asked.

  “I think someone might be messing with our finances. Just like you mentioned.”

  “Oh wow, really? That’s horrible.”

  “He said it seems like there have been some invoices to long-standing clients being directed back to a different account than our normal one. So certain payments are going to someone else not us. So basically someone is embezzling money.”

  “Can he find out what bank it’s going to or whose account?”

  “He’s looking into that right now. So once I find out, I will let you know.”

  “Thanks, John, for keeping me in the loop.”

  I hesitated asking him if he thought Glenda could be involved but he saved me the trouble.

  “I still don’t think Glenda had anything to do with Becky’s death or with embezzling, Presley, but someone has been stealing from us.”

  “The accountant said its small amounts of money, but it could add up to a lot over time. Tell Jared hi for me, will you?”

  “I sure will.” I hung up and turned to Jared. “John says hi.”

  Jared looked thoroughly confused. “Why was he calling you?”

  “To tell me the accountant found some shady things. I stopped by
the office after coffee with Willie, because when I told Willie the situation, he said we should follow the money. I guess John decided that was a good idea and called the accountant to follow it and clearly found some irregularities.”

  “This is just all too crazy. First Sally, now this,” said Jared. “You just don’t know who you can trust these days.”

  “No you don’t,” I said. “I have a feeling that Becky’s murder and Glenda both have something to do with this. I just am not sure what and John is convinced Glenda is not involved in any of it.”

  “I kind of agree with him. Besides, I have some information that might be useful. That new guy I told you I thought was kind of shifty. Well come to find out he is in a mountain of debt. Maybe he’s been stealing from the company?”

  “How did you find this out?”

  “Phil called when we were shopping. He heard it from a mutual friend who said got the information from a reliable source.”

  Katy and I just looked at him.

  “You know how convoluted that sounds?” I asked.

  “It’s something,” he said defensively. “You never know.”

  Chapter 21

  “Dammit, my hair isn’t wanting to straighten. I knew I should have made a hair appointment,” I said, frustrated with my flatiron. “If only it were possible to take your hair off, style it, and then put it back on. It would make it so much easier.”

  “That’s called a wig and most people find them hot and itchy. Besides, I told you already I would do your hair. After all, it’s what I do for a living. At least for a little while longer. Plus, I want to,” Katy said.

  “You’ve got to get yourself ready. You don’t need to try and do my hair, too.”

  “I’m ready. So shut up and sit down,” she ordered.

  I looked over at Katy, not believing at all she had already gotten dressed with hair and makeup done for the party, when I wasn’t even close to being ready, but I was wrong.

  “Wow, Katy. You look fantastic!” And she did. Her twenty-five-dollar find from H&M in the form of a short silver metallic cocktail dress, paired with sexy silver heels and chandelier earrings made her look like a knockout. She had her hair swept up in a messy bun and had stuck an ornate silver hairpin in the bun to sparkle it up. “Did you find that in my jewelry box?” I asked, because it looked familiar.