Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 01 - Stilettos & Scoundrels Read online

  Finally, I saw the car. I swore to God that it was farther away than where we had left it. I jumped in huffing, puffing, and hoping no one was following me. I laid back in my seat, turned my head to the left, and noticed the keys were still in the ignition. Cooper must have left them in case I wanted to listen to the radio or something. I thought for a minute. No, I couldn’t. He would kill me. But he was going to kill me anyway for not staying in the car, once he got back. So what did I have to lose? He would get over it. I slid across the seat into the driver’s side, turned the key, gunned the engine, and took off, shooting dirt and gravel everywhere. The tires caught the blacktop with a screech—Dukes of Hazzard, watch out—and I took off down the road.

  It took a few miles before I was sure no one was following me and my breathing returned to normal. All that excitement and I didn’t really have anything to show for it.

  My heart rate was finally starting to slow, and I was feeling back to normal. I was ready to turn back onto Main Street when, in my side view mirror, I saw a black Hummer behind me, the full-sized one, not the H2. It was definitely not the typical car for this area, so it piqued my interest.

  I looked in my rearview mirror and was startled to see that the Hummer’s driver had sped up and was closing the distance between his car and mine. “That bastard is right up my ass.” I could not see through the SUV’s tinted glass to identify the driver. “What the fuck?” I muttered as I accelerated, only to witness the larger vehicle gain speed behind me. I flipped off the annoying driver, my middle finger thrust angrily out my window. I was slightly regretful for showing road rage, but after the experience I just had, my patience was gone. Jackass should know better than to tailgate someone. That’s how accidents happened.

  The Hummer was still tailgating dangerously close behind, and I began to think that maybe flipping him off hadn’t been the best course of action to take. I got the distinct impression that this wasn’t a random event. The person in that car was definitely following me. I turned left on Autumn Street to see if the Hummer followed me, and it did. As soon as I looked back to the road, I realized my mistake: Autumn Street was a dead end. What should I do now? Years ago, there was a cut-through at the end of Autumn Street to the next street over. At one time, there had been a house on the lot, but the house was torn down long ago and what had been two driveways coming in for each side of the house had created a semi-passable cut-through. I figured it was worth the chance.

  I made a hard right and floored it. This shit is bumpy, I thought as my head hit the car’s ceiling a few times. The Hummer hadn’t been expecting me to turn so sharply and took a second to follow me. This gave me a slight advantage, but one that wouldn’t last long since the Hummer was far better equipped to go off-road than Cooper’s SUV. I just prayed there wasn’t anything in this tall grass for me to run over. The last thing I needed was a flat tire. After one final bump that almost sent me airborne, I was through to the other street. I gunned it so I could make it through the traffic light at the end of the street. I made it, but the Hummer stopped; the driver must have decided they wouldn’t lose me and didn’t want to break the law to run that light.

  I needed to put some distance between us, but didn’t want to go home and have them follow me there. I decided to go to Brian’s. I figured he owed me anyway and his place wasn’t that far away. Plus, I could pull into his garage and hide the car.

  I turned down another side street, taking an indirect way to Brian’s in case the Hummer caught back up to me. Pulling into Brian’s driveway, I kept going right into the shop. Brian looked up from the engine he was working on, startled. He walked over to me, wiping his hands on a rag.

  “What the hell, Pres? Why are you pulling into the garage? I’m trying to work here.”

  “Shut up, Brian, and shut the door!” I jumped out of the car and looked toward the road to see if I could get a glimpse of the black Hummer. I didn’t see anything as Brian closed the door. I was probably safe. Whew! I leaned against the car as my knees felt weak. I wasn’t used to being chased through town and began to realize this investigation might be more dangerous than I originally thought. Maybe Cooper was right.

  “Presley, tell me what the hell is going on! You barge in here, scream at me to shut the door, and you are trembling and are as white as a sheet!” Brian said.

  “A black Hummer tried to run me off the road. Luckily, they got stopped at a red light, and I was able to lose them, I think. This was the closest place I could think of to hide myself and the car. Besides, you owe me. Is Barbara here?”

  Brian at least had the decency to look a little sheepish at this. “She’s visiting her mother in southern Illinois.” I looked at him questioningly. “Everything is fine between us,” he continued. “Her sister is having a baby and she went down to help out. Thanks for not saying anything the other night,” he added.

  “It’s nothing, Brian. She seems like a great girl, so I don’t know why you were willing to screw that up.”

  “I don’t know, Pres. I guess I just thought…”

  I held up my hand to stop him from saying any more. “You know what, Brian? Let’s just drop it. Just be smart and don’t do it again.”

  “Thanks, Pres.” I knew I needed to tell Cooper and Dirt about the latest development, but I also needed to wait here long enough to make sure the mystery car was gone. As I began to think about my next move, a plan began to formulate in my head.

  Chapter 22

  Driving back home from Brian’s, I listened to my voicemail. There were two more messages from Trevor. The first was just wanting to know how long it really took to write an article that was only supposed to be about twenty-five hundred words. The second, also from Trevor, was much the same content, just not nearly as nice, mainly because I had been ignoring him. Good thing we were friends. I needed to figure out what to tell him and to call him back. Rick also had called and I just hit delete without listening to what he had to say. There was a message from my friend Jared who had been out of town when I left and wanted to know what the hell was going on. Jared was one of my best friends. I really needed to call him. He would help me figure out what to say to Trevor. Plus, I wanted to tell him about Cooper, and there were several messages from Cooper too. He wasn’t happy I had taken his car. I had left it at Brian’s and had Brian take me back to my car , and then he picked up Cooper. Brian had called me later to say that maybe I should keep away from Cooper for a while. At least I got him his car back. I felt my stomach rumble from hunger. I looked at the clock on my car radio and saw that it was almost five o’clock. Time had gotten away from me.

  I pulled into the La Casa parking lot. I had done some conniving earlier in the day and was meeting Dirt and Cooper here. But that had taken place before I had taken Cooper’s car, so hopefully he would still show. Neither man knew the other would also be showing up. I thought I might as well pick up some cheesy garlic fries while I was here. My parents were still in the city, and I couldn’t count on my mother’s cooking tonight. Since my diet went out the window the minute I got into town, I thought I might as well enjoy myself. I was already due for a lot of gym time when I got back.

  I turned and saw Katy and Chris in the parking lot, getting out of Chris’s red Impala. I had been trying to track down Katy all day and was disappointed she was with Chris. What was she thinking? Would that girl never learn? As I parked, I noticed Cooper getting out of his car and walking up to them. This should be interesting. He gave me what had to be the dirtiest look anyone had ever given me. I was glad he had other things to worry about right now.

  Chris and Katy were walking up to the door of the diner.

  “Chris! Wait up, man,” Cooper yelled out.

  Katy looked up, but Chris pretended to ignore him. I saw him say something sharply to Katy, and she recoiled a little. I was livid at the way Chris felt he could walk all over my friend, but was even angrier with Katy for allowing it to happen.

  “Chris!” Cooper shouted again. Chris must
have decided he couldn’t escape and stopped. I left my car and walked up to stand next to Cooper. Getting closer to Chris, I could see he was already on the defensive.

  “What the fuck do you want?” Chris demanded hotly. He looked ready for a fight. If he was worried we might now know about his affair with Helen that seemed a rather stupid way to play it.

  “Listen, man, I need to talk to you. But maybe you’d rather not do it in front of her,” Cooper said, nodding in Katy’s direction.

  “You can ask me whatever you want right here. We don’t have any secrets,” Chris replied. I gave him a dirty look, and he at least had the decency to blush a little. Until the other night, he’d had secrets.

  “Fine, have it your way. What’s this about you and Helen Daniels?” Cooper said.

  “I was sleeping with her. So what?”

  “You didn’t feel that you should have told me about this? It doesn’t make you look good, man.”

  “Why would anyone care if I was screwing Helen? It’s not anyone’s business but ours.”

  I turned to Katy as this exchange happened. Katy looked to be on the verge of tears. This angered me, but I kept quiet.

  “Normally you would be right, but, Chris, there’s been a murder here and the Senator wasn’t some regular person. The police and the FBI are all over this, and there is a ton of interest from the media. You and Helen hiding this does not look good. That Lisa Simmons from D.C. is going to get wind of this at some point, and it’s going to be bad for you and really bad for Helen.”

  “That’s bullshit,” Chris said, but he wavered a little. Something was bothering him. I wondered if he was in love with Helen, and it wasn’t just for the sex. But then why was he still with Katy? I looked at Cooper and our eyes met. I could tell he also thought Chris knew something he wasn’t saying in front of Katy.

  “I don’t know why you guys are bugging me. You know I didn’t kill the Senator and neither did Helen, for that matter. She might have been sleeping around on Tom, but she’s not a killer. She is a good person.”

  At that, Katy couldn’t hold back the tears. Chris glanced at her and finally showed some remorse. I felt bad for her and couldn’t wait to talk to her later.

  “Chris, you need to tell Dirt about this. Avoiding this issue won’t make it go away. It will just make it worse.”

  “I know.” Chris looked depressed, like he was wondering how he got himself into this mess. “C’mon, Katy, I don’t feel much like eating right now.” Katy just looked at me, shrugged in an embarrassed way, and followed Chris back to his car.

  “Call me later, Katy,” I said to Katy’s back.

  “He knows more than he’s letting on, Cooper,” I said quietly.

  “I know and it worries me. It can’t just be the affair with Helen. I’m afraid he might be involved in something bigger.”

  “Look who’s here,” Cooper said, looking at the parking lot entrance. It was Dirt’s county-issue Tahoe. I began to get a little nervous. This had seemed like such a good idea at the time, but now I wasn’t so sure how this would work out. Dirt stepped out of the truck and walked angrily over to Cooper and I.

  “What is going on, Pres? What is he doing here?”

  “You two need to grow up and work as a team,” I said to both of them angrily. “The past is long gone. Move on.”

  After talking to Cooper at lunch and seeing how much this bothered him, I was determined to get to the bottom of things. Even though there were still so many secrets, I thought if they could set aside their differences, just for now, it might lead to something they could work out later.

  Now they were both staring at me and looking angry. It was making me a little uncomfortable. They were smart guys, so I knew they immediately figured out that I had engineered the whole thing to get them together. They looked madder at me than at each other. That was a good start, wasn’t it?

  “So where did this Hummer start following you, Pres?” Dirt asks.

  “Oh, no you don’t. If either of you want any information from me, and believe me I have plenty, then I suggest you start talking to each other,” I said with as much authority as I could muster. I had gotten them together on a pretense, but could blackmail with the best of them. Either they worked this out, or they would get nothing from me.

  “Presley, stop the games. We need to figure out who was following you,” Cooper said,

  “My lips are sealed,” I said primly. “You might think this is none of my business, but I care about both of you. This…this…whatever this is needs to stop.”

  “You know what? We can talk about all this later. It’s more important we find out who is bothering Presley,” Cooper said to Dirt. Dirt nodded in agreement.

  Cooper and Dirt were smart enough to realize they needed to put their differences aside for now and work together on this to find the Senator’s killer. Dirt was all but shut out from the FBI, and Cooper didn’t have any actual authority. It made them a good team, even if it was temporary.

  I waited throughout dinner for the right moment to fill Dirt in about seeing Bobby with Garrison Palazzo. They had already grilled me about the Hummer incident while we ate. At this point, I felt it was important to get all facts on the table.

  “I know that people were always trying to get the Senator to take up their cause, so he could influence certain bills that were going to pass through the Senate. Maybe the Palazzo family wanted to use his influence,” Cooper said as we hashed out theories. He was still pissed at her about taking his car and had his own idea of how she would have to make it up to him. That thought is all that kept him from throttling her.

  “I bet Tobey knows something he’s not saying,” I offered up. “Did you guys know about Helen trying to take over Tom’s seat in the Senate?” I personally thought there was still something ironic about Bobby also having been into trouble in Vegas, but that had been ignored. Neither of them thought Bobby had anything to do with the Senator. So I had just given up on that for now. “So, where do we go from here?” I asked.

  Cooper and Dirt just looked at me.

  “What?”

  “Pres, it’s time you left this to us. Someone threw a rock through your parents’ window. You had someone call your house and threaten you. Someone chased you earlier with a car, for God’s sakes. You need to just stay out of it.”

  “I agree with Cooper,” Dirt said. “Enough is enough. We can’t be worried about you being in danger.”

  I was fuming. “You’re not my guardians. I am a big girl and I have helped you both. You can’t shut me out now.”

  “Yes, we can,” Cooper said. Dirt nodded in agreement.

  “That’s not acceptable. You either include me, or I will call Lisa Simmons and tell her everything I know.”

  “Pres!”

  “I will, Cooper. I refuse to be left out, and if I have to resort to blackmail, I will.” Of course, I would not actually do that, but I hoped they would be worried enough to not keep trying to push me aside on this.

  “Cooper, I think she means business.”

  “Fine! But you need to promise us you will do what we say and not go off on your own. It is too dangerous,” Cooper said giving me a stern look.

  “Okay,” I said with my fingers crossed behind my back. I knew to stop when I was ahead.

  We left the restaurant (me full of garlic cheesy fries), with a plan. Cooper and Dirt were going to follow up with Simon and Chris, respectively, and I was going to try to talk to Helen and Katy. I was to see if I could find out anything on what Chris might be hiding. We all felt that somehow he was tied into this mess, which was hard to figure out since no one thought he was gambling.

  “Call me, Pres, after you talk to Helen,” Cooper said.

  My heart skipped a beat, partly because of the way Cooper was looking at me and…well…partly because of the way Cooper was looking at me. He was mad and sexy. It might be worth getting yelled at just to watch him. “I will.”

  Chapter 23The next morning, Katy and I
met at the knock-off Starbucks out at the strip mall. It wasn’t as sunny and bright as the day before. Looking like rain, the sky was that dull grey that made you want to curl up on the couch with a blanket and hot soup. Katy didn’t want to meet at Betty’s for some reason, and my thighs didn’t need to meet there either. I had to stop with the muffins and the cheesy fries, and with my mother’s cooking. Katy had called last night and asked me to meet her for coffee so that she could explain the whole Chris situation. I was glad because I had questions to ask Katy, and it seemed like my friend was ready to open up about the situation. Suddenly a small yellow car flew into the lot, fishtailing to a stop six feet in front of us.

  “What the hell is wrong with that driver?” I asked Katy, trying to dodge flying gravel.

  “I don’t…. that’s Tobey’s car.”

  As she said this, Tobey stepped out of the car, disheveled and frantic. Something was definitely wrong.

  “It’s about time I found you, Presley. I’ve been looking all over town for you. Where is Cooper?” Tobey asked breathlessly.

  “Why? What’s wrong?”

  “I think Chris is in danger. You and Cooper have to help him,” Tobey pleaded.

  “Tobey, calm down. Why is Chris in danger?”

  “Listen, we have to get Cooper. I don’t have time to tell this story twice.”

  As Tobey continued talking, I dialed my cell phone. The look on Tobey’s face left no room for doubt. Something was really, really wrong. Cooper had planned to meet me later after he and Dirt talked to the Feds about what they knew. Last I heard, they hadn’t been able to get a hold of Simon or Chris and they had decided that as much as they might not want FBI interference, it would be a good idea to share information, and they shouldn’t wait any longer. After all, we all had the same goal—to catch a killer.

  “He’s probably still at the police station,” I said to Tobey while it rang.