Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 01 - Stilettos & Scoundrels Page 27

  “Are you sure? I mean, don’t you find that odd?”

  “Yes and yes. I don’t know why Dirt’s acting like that.”

  I didn’t really want him to know how much I had snooped, but I couldn’t continue to lie to him.

  He just stared at me.

  “Is there more about this Dirt and Simon thing that you aren’t telling me? After all, isn’t the main goal here to catch a killer?”

  He seemed to think about this for a minute, not saying anything. I kept quiet because I didn’t want to push him. I wanted him to tell me the whole truth.

  “I already told you that Simon Atkins is Simon Palazzo, son of Garrison Palazzo.” Cooper was getting exasperated with me.

  “Right, the guy who owns the Blue Royale Casino, among others.”

  “One and the same,” Cooper said slowly, looking surprised that I knew this information.

  I thought this might be the opportune time to mention what I found on the Internet.

  “I am assuming that is who the Senator must have owed money to. Simon must have taken this job to keep an eye on him,” Cooper continued.

  For a second, we both sat there staring at each other. I knew he was still trying to decide if it just happened to be one of those random things, me knowing who owned the Blue Royale Casino in Las Vegas, or if there was something I knew that I wasn’t letting on. I wondered if I should tell him I Googled him, and more importantly, I wondered if I should tell him what I found out with my Google search.

  A few more minutes went by with the two of us just sitting there, staring at each other, when I finally worked up the nerve to ask him about what I found out.

  “Cooper, will you promise not to get mad if I tell you something?”

  “That’s a loaded question, Presley. I can’t promise to act a certain way if I don’t know what you are asking.”

  “Then promise you will try not to get mad.”

  “What is it, Pres?”

  “Well, I Googled you the other day and a lot of things came up.”

  He just looked at me expectantly, “And?”

  “And, well, I saw an article from nine months ago with a picture showing you sitting with the Senator and Helen, but you said you just started working for him six months ago.”

  “Presley, I can…”

  I held up my hand to stop him. I wanted to get this all out.

  “There’s more, Cooper. I went back even further and found something mentioning Dirt being accused of gambling in the military, and about you being charged with murder along with some other guys. What the hell is all that and why didn’t you say anything?” I was torn between wanting to cover my eyes and pretend this conversation wasn’t happening, and wanting the truth about what had happened and what was happening now.

  “Presley, I really wish you wouldn’t have been so nosey. I know this looks bad, but there is good reason for all of it.” Cooper rubbed his temples and sighed.

  “Well, I wouldn’t have been nosey, if I didn’t feel you were hiding things from me all the time,” I shot back defensively. While part of me did feel a little guilty about looking into his past, he could have prevented it by being less secretive, or by not having anything to be secretive about in the first place. The notion that maybe his past was none of my business also briefly entered my mind, but I just as quickly pushed it away.

  “This is very complicated, Pres, and I just have to ask that you trust me. I can explain everything. I promise. Just not right now.”

  “We’re not leaving here until you tell me.”

  “I just need you to believe me when I say I didn’t kill anyone then or now, if that crossed your mind.”

  “Don’t get all dramatic, Cooper.” I turned my head to smile at the approaching waitress, who sat our drinks and breadsticks down on the table. I turned back to Cooper. “I know you didn’t kill anyone then or now. I trust you, I really do, though I’m not sure Helen Daniels does. I just don’t know why you can’t trust me.”

  As I said the words, I realized I really did trust him. Even with no idea what he had been doing for the last ten years, I knew in my heart he was a good person.

  “What are you getting at with the Helen Daniels comment?”

  “When I saw her the other day in the warehouse, she mentioned that you had ties to the Mob and might not be someone who could be trusted. Not that I believed her. I just thought it strange she would say that. But, then I saw all those other things you have kept from me, and well, this all seems more and more complicated.”

  “What a bitch!” Cooper angrily spat out. “Sorry, Pres, it’s just that who the hell does she think she is, judging anyone else?”

  “Cooper, don’t let it get to you, but why do you think she said that? I mean she has to have a reason to feel that way.”

  “She knows I know people in Vegas from when we were there and from the Senator’s gambling issue. She also knows about the murder charge. It’s not something I hide from potential clients, not in the field I’m in. Though it seems to give me more street cred than anything else. I’m sure she has just made up something in her head to explain it all and now she believes it.”

  “Were you working for them nine months ago in Vegas, rather than just six months ago like you told me?”

  “No. It’s where we first met. They had inquired about my services, and we had a meeting. We all happened to be in Vegas at the same time, so they asked me to come along and we finalized the details after.”

  “What about the murder indictment?”

  “Geez, Pres. Can’t you just leave it alone?”

  “I’m sorry, Cooper. I just want to get it all out and on the table.”

  “I was working security for someone who was trying to get out of his Mob ties. People were after him and there was a confrontation. It was all self defense, which is why the charges were dropped.”

  “See? Was that so hard? That is nothing you need to hide from me.”

  He sat there looking into my eyes, his gaze never wavering. It dawned on me that he really did care what I thought. It made me want to throw my arms around him and hold on for dear life. I could see from the torment on his face that the possibility of having to tell me about all this had been affecting him deeply for some time. I hated to see him troubled. I wanted to take all that pain away.

  “It doesn’t matter what I think, Cooper,” I said again, reaching out to grasp his hand and meet his gaze. “But if you really want to know, I don’t think you did anything wrong. I know what kind of person you are, or at least I think I do, and I know what you are and aren’t capable of. The truth needs to come out though, Coop.”

  “I know it does, Presley.” He paused to take a breath. “And there is something I need you to do for me.”

  Chapter 21We talked all through lunch, and I asked him why he took Lisa Simmons to Betty’s. He claimed that she kept following him everywhere, and I was inclined to believe him. I mean, who could blame her. Cooper wanted me to ask my mother what she might know about Bobby and his gambling problem. I made sure he knew he would really owe me for that one. Cooper finally agreed that there might be a relationship between the two men with gambling problems and the Senator’s death. I wasn’t looking forward to having that conversation with my mother, but I was willing to take one for the team. I tried to talk Cooper into talking to my mother himself, but he wouldn’t have any part of it. He said she was too scary, and he would rather take on the Mob barehanded. I couldn’t argue with that logic.

  “What are you going to be doing while I am braving the lion’s den, Cooper?” I asked.

  “I need to head over to Helen’s.”

  “What!” I yelled, giving him a small shove. “Were you going to keep that from me? I thought we had an understanding?”

  Cooper knew that he was getting her riled up and he loved it. There was something in her eyes when they were on fire with anger that just made her all the more attractive to him. “I wasn’t purposely trying to keep it from you, Presley.
I am just going to take care of this with Helen while you go talk to your mom. Not a big deal.” He chuckled to himself because he knew she’d think it was a very big deal.

  “I’m going with you,” I said stubbornly.

  “Ummm…no, you’re not.”

  “If you want me to talk to my mother for you, then I will be going to Helen’s with you.”

  “Okay, fine,” Cooper said like he was giving in, but secretly, he was pleased. He wouldn’t mind spending some more time with her, even if it was under this circumstance.

  Cooper and I headed up Main Street to Davis Street. Helen lived on the opposite side of town from Mama Risotto’s, so we had to go through town. At this time of day, there wasn’t much traffic, so it wasn’t bad. Hell, there wasn’t traffic at any time during the day. Streets here were so unlike city streets where driving or walking could be like dodging bullets in a war zone. Cooper turned down Davis Street and had to go down about another mile. The Daniels’ house was a mansion, the biggest house in town and probably in all surrounding areas too.

  While Cooper was driving, I checked myself in the mirror. I had taken great pains to blow out my hair so that it would look shiny and straight for lunch with Cooper, and it still looked fabulous. Adding a touch more Red Popsicle lip gloss and some powder to cover the shiny spots made me look pretty darn good, if I did say so myself. It wouldn’t do to go see Helen without looking my absolute best, especially considering the way I had looked the last few times I ran into her.

  Cooper could see her out of the corner of his eye and was appreciating the view, although he already thought she looked great. Women. Why they always needed to put all the junk on their faces he would never know. They usually looked so much better without it. “You look fine, Pres.”

  “I’m not sure Helen will approve of my outfit. Not exactly her conservative style.” My outfit had been planned more around driving Cooper a little crazy, rather than on visiting Helen, so it was more sexy than usual. Oh well, nothing I could do about it now. At least I had some killer shoes on—in many ways. These heels were killing me! However, for graphite, snakeskin four-inch heels, I could live with a little—okay, a lot—of discomfort.

  “Well, I wouldn’t worry much about what Helen thinks because you, my dear, will be staying in the car.”

  “No, I’m…”

  Cooper cut me off. There was only so much he was going to let me push my way into. “The deal is you stay in the car. Or I take you back to your car right now.”

  I could see by the set of Cooper’s jaw that he wasn’t going to change his mind, so I thought I would just have to try a different angle. I just sat in my seat and tried to decide my next move.

  Cooper looked over at her and thought her pouting was cute, though he was a little suspicious that she had given up so easily. What is going on in that pretty little head of hers? He watched her look away from the rearview mirror and followed her gaze over to Helen’s house peeking through the trees: a beautiful white colonial with navy blue shutters. The whitewashed porch wrapped around the entire house, which had to be about five thousand square feet.

  “I can’t imagine living in a house like that,” I said. I couldn’t imagine anyone needing all this space. It looked like something you might find at Martha’s Vineyard. It had been so long since I traveled this way, I had forgotten how big it was. I was in awe. The house was amazing. It had been in the Davis Family, Helen’s maiden name and hence the street’s name, for years, so it was an older home. There were three sections where the roof peaked up, sort of like turrets in a castle and all the rooms on the upper level had step-out balconies. Still studying the house, I didn’t notice Cooper had come to a stop until I saw that we were right behind a parked car. Who the hell is parked here in the bushes instead of parking up by the house? I laughed, realizing it was Chris’ car. Hot damn! He was here visiting Helen, and they didn’t want anyone to know, judging by the way his car was out here rather than in the driveway. I would find this even funnier if Chris hadn’t just broken Katy’s heart. I just wished I had a camera. This would be great to capture on film because who would believe it.

  Cooper had pulled up behind Chris’ car and parked in the next somewhat-secluded spot. I asked, “Are you sure we should park so close to Chris’ car?”

  “It’ll be fine. If he’s here to see Helen, there’s no way he’s going to leave before I do.” Cooper opened the door to get out of the car. He shut the door and leaned through the open window, sliding his shades to the end of his nose. “Don’t go anywhere, Pres.”

  “Wouldn’t think of it.”

  “Right.”

  I watched Cooper’s back as he walked away from the car, around the hedge, and presumably up the driveway. I couldn’t see that far. Damn hedge. I pulled a nail file out of my purse, but after a few seconds, I tossed it back in my purse. I was so frustrated that Cooper was up getting who knows what kind of information while I was stuck in the car. It was so unfair. Forget this. I wasn’t staying put. I tiptoed up the driveway and cut across the yard the first chance I got. The yard was heavily tree-lined, so I wasn’t really worried about anyone from the house seeing me. Plus, I doubted Helen and Chris were sitting in the parlor looking out the window. I knew Helen had a few servants, but I hoped they were too busy to notice me crossing the lawn. So far, so good, I thought, making my way up to the house. Until I saw the police tape. Crap. I had forgotten for a moment that this was the scene of a crime and that there were sure to be police and FBI keeping an eye on the place. Undeterred by a tiny obstacle like that, I continued around the back until I was close enough to look in the windows. I slowly lifted my head up and peered in the window, then quickly lowered myself back down because it was the kitchen. It must be the gathering place for the staff. At least I knew where most of the staff were right now.

  The next set of windows showed a view into the Senator’s study. It was one of those masculine-looking rooms, with golf paraphernalia and lots of dark wood, and tons of that yellow crime scene tape and white powder all over the place. I bet Helen isn’t too happy with this mess. Next was a sitting room, which I always saw as a waste of space. Who really used those rooms anymore? Then there was another room that was empty. Hmm. Maybe they sold the furniture from that room to pay the gambling debts. I laughed to myself. This was getting boring, and my heels kept sinking into the flowerbed’s dirt. I was probably ruining my shoes. I guessed I wouldn’t make a good private investigator if it required a lot of this tedious stuff. Thank goodness, I only had one more window to go.

  Stepping around the corner of the house, having almost made my way completely around, I was stopped by the police tape, but I could hear voices. Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t give up too early. I took the chance to peek in the window because I couldn’t really make out what I was hearing. I could tell one was Helen and I thought the other was Tobey, and then, of course, I heard Cooper. Poking my head up far enough to see, I confirmed I was right. I didn’t see Chris, so Tobey must have been using Chris’ car. They were all arguing, but I couldn’t really make out what they were saying. The thick window glass muffled the sound too well. Based on body language alone though, I could tell that both Tobey and Cooper seemed to be mad at Helen. What for? I tried leaning in a little closer to listen.

  “Helen, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me exactly who Tom was in debt to,” Cooper said exasperatedly.

  “Helen,” Tobey implored. “Listen to Cooper. He’s right you know.”

  “I’ve told you a hundred times. You can’t help me. I’m not taking any risks. I just want this to be done with and the only way to do that is to pay them off. To do what they want.”

  I still couldn’t hear what was being said, but I could tell that Cooper wasn’t happy. Neither was Tobey.

  “Helen, there is no guarantee that when you do pay them off they will leave you alone. You’re just asking for trouble by not letting me or the police help you. Not to mention that when the police find out, and you’
re a fool if you think they won’t find out, you could be in a lot of trouble,” Cooper said.

  “At least tell Cooper what Simon told you. That man is hiding something,” Tobey said.

  “Please, Tobey. Simon is harmless,” Helen said dismissively.

  “What about Simon, Helen. Is he involved?” Cooper asked.

  “I told you Cooper, Simon isn’t a problem.”

  As Helen started to continue, My foot slipped on the mulch and, thunk, my head hit the window and I fell to the ground. I could hear noises above me and could only assume they were running to the window to see what had made the noise. I thought it prudent to hightail it out of there.

  I ran down the length of the house until I felt it was safe to cut across the lawn and back down the driveway. All of a sudden I heard, in heavily accented English, “Hey you! Stop! You’re on private property!” Shit! I forgot about all the people in the kitchen, which of course happened to be where I chose to cut across the lawn. I ran even faster, which still wasn’t very fast in these heels. I sure as hell wasn’t going to stop. The voice kept yelling after me, but they sounded further and further away, so I assumed he wasn’t running after me. Good thing, since I was out of shape and running slower each step. I should be fine as long as no one recognized me, and I had no reason to think that any of the house staff would have any idea who I was.

  How far away was the damn car? It seemed to be taking me forever to reach it. Then my heel caught in a hole and I went sprawling. Umph! Ow! That hurt. I wanted to lay there and wait for the pain to go away, but I could still hear voices. Someone was coming to check out the intruder. I picked myself up and began running to the car again.

  I deserve a margarita after this, I said to myself, as I noticed there was a big hole in my pants. My favorite pair of black Ann Taylor trousers, ruined. I took my shoes off so they wouldn’t get any more ruined from running across the lawn and in the mulch. Maybe I should write to Steve Madden and tell him his shoes were not made to withstand cross-country running. In the back of my mind, I knew I should be more worried about what Cooper was going to say to, or rather yell at, me when he got back to the car. It was obvious I hadn’t stayed in the car.