Stilettos & Scoundrels

by Laina Turner

  Chapter 7

  Bang, bang, bang.

  What the hell? What was that racket waking me out of a sound sleep? I’d been out late last night smoothing things over with Brian. Then, I spent all night tossing and turning because I couldn’t stop thinking about seeing Helen. It felt like I had just gone to bed, and I did not want to get up. As I tried to use a pillow to drown out the sounds from below, I heard my dad walking toward the front door.

  “Hold your horses,” he yelled at the door as the banging continued incessantly. After a pause, I heard him open the door. I could make out the voice of Cooper Sands, but couldn’t tell what he was saying.

  Cooper? I sat up in bed, confused. Why was Cooper banging on my parent’s door at six o’clock in the morning? I thought as I looked at the clock. No wonder I felt like I’d just gone to bed—I’d only had three hours of sleep. My dad yelled up the stairs.

  “Presley, come down here, please!”

  “In a minute,” I yelled back, scrambling to throw on some decent clothes. If Cooper looked half as cute as he did yesterday, me looking like I was still half–asleep would not work. I was not one of those glamour girls who could wake up looking properly sleep–tousled and sexy. No sir, not me. I woke up looking like I just went five rounds with Mike Tyson, and that was on a good day. Not after five hours of sleep.

  I didn’t have a lot of time, so I threw my shoulder–length hair into a ponytail and decided to forgo the make–up. I would be fooling no one if I showed up downstairs in make–up. Only women on TV woke with a full face of make-up. My jeans from last night and a pink Save the Boobies T–shirt to promote breast cancer awareness completed my look. It wasn’t much of a look, but for God sake, it was six in the morning. It’s hard to look good that early.

  As I ran down the stairs, thoughts kept running through my head, and no matter how I tried, I still couldn’t figure out why Cooper was here. We’d had a nice time last night, but not enough for him to come courting this early in the morning. Surely, this wasn’t a social call. When I got to the door and saw Cooper, my heart stopped for a minute. Damn, he was good-looking even this early. He set off the butterflies in my stomach. The more I kept running into him, the more attractive he seemed to be getting. Or maybe my lack of sleep was just clouding my judgment and the ability to control my hormones.

  As my gaze traveled upward, I was quickly jolted into the present by the hard look on Cooper’s face. Confused, I quickly replayed the evening in my mind. I hadn’t done anything between last night and this morning to piss him off. At least I didn’t think I had.

  “Why are you here?” I snapped, on the defensive without quite knowing why. Just the look on his face took away any good mood I had at seeing him.

  Ignoring my tone, Cooper said calmly, “Senator Daniels was found dead this morning. You were the last person he met with yesterday, so I need to ask you a few questions.”

  “Oh my God!” My hand flew up to my mouth, my heart racing. I didn’t know what I expected him to say, but that sure wasn’t it.

  My dad, standing there with me, also looked stunned. He said, “Oh, Cooper, what a loss. How is Helen?”

  “She is about as well as expected, Mr. Thurman.”

  My dad, the nice guy. What I had recently seen Helen doing in that car made me a little less sympathetic. Helen Daniels was not such a nice person. I was sure that if my dad knew that Helen was doing God knows what in a car on Main Street, he might not be so worried about her. Then again, he probably would. I mentally scolded myself for being so catty. The woman had just lost her husband. No matter what Helen was doing—or should I say who she was doing—I should try to be a little more compassionate. “What happened? When? Who found him?”

  “May I come in?” Cooper asked my dad, ignoring me.

  As we all sat down in the living room, he explained. “After your interview with the senator, he went back to Helen’s family’s mansion. He had been splitting time between the house and hotel this trip so he could be closer to his staff. He had stayed in for the evening to work with his advisor, Alex Bailey, and earlier in the day, he had cancelled all of his appointments and said he didn’t want to be bothered.” At this, Cooper just glared at me. “Helen was out for the night at the Women’s League dinner. She returned when Alex was leaving, and she and Alex spoke for a minute. When she went to bed, the senator was still in his study working, which wasn’t unusual. She said this was around midnight. He’d told her he would be up to bed shortly. The next anyone saw of him was at four in the morning, when Maria, the housekeeper, saw the light on in his study and went in to see if he wanted coffee. She found him slumped over his desk and got Helen, who immediately called me.”

  “Why you? Shouldn’t the police be involved in this?”

  “The police are on their way,” he said tightly. “The senator was on my watch when he was murdered, so it makes it my responsibility.” As he talked, he glared at me. My comment was a bit insensitive, I suppose, but even still he seemed madder than I would have thought since it was logical.

  “Who do you think could have killed him?”

  “Presley will be happy to help in any way she can,” my dad interrupted, apparently surprised and seeming none too happy that I was giving Cooper a hard time. Just then, Mom came down the stairs. She was dressed and looked like a million bucks.

  I turned to see her and felt a twinge of envy. Why didn’t I have that skill? She hadn’t much more time than I did to get ready, but she didn’t look like she’d just rolled out of bed. Damn her.

  “Good morning, sweetheart,” my dad said, reaching for her hand as she walked in the room. “I am afraid I have some bad news. Someone murdered Tom Daniels.”

  My mother gasped. “Here? In Alkon?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid so,” my dad replied. “Honey, this is Cooper, Cooper Sands. He is the head of the senator’s security. He stopped by to ask Presley a few questions.”

  “Nice to meet you,” she said to Cooper. Then she turned to me, hands on hips and asked, “Why is he here asking you questions? How did you get yourself mixed up in this? What have you been doing?”

  “Mrs. Thurman,” Cooper interjected, “Presley was one of the last people to see the senator yesterday during their interview. We’re just covering all bases.”

  “Well, then I guess that makes sense. I can’t believe we had a murder here in our small town. I better call Helen and see what we can do for her. Oh, and I need to call the ladies from the League and start the communication tree—the other ladies will want to help too. I’ll make you all some coffee.” She walked into the kitchen. The best way my mother knew how to handle a crisis was to take action and cook something.

  As Cooper continued talking, I let my mind wander over yesterday’s events. A lot had happened, but I still couldn’t imagine who would have done this. People didn’t get killed for being womanizing creeps, did they? Especially in a small town like Alkon.

  “So, who do you think is responsible for this?” I asked again. “How did it happen?”

  “Presley, can you think of anything that may have been out of the ordinary when you were with the senator yesterday?” Cooper asked, again ignoring my question and asking a question of his own.

  I racked my brain, going over yesterday’s conversation with the Senator. “When I arrived, he told me to take a seat while he finished a phone conversation. I could hear him in his office arguing with someone named Peter, but I already told you that last night.”

  “You sure there was nothing else?” Cooper asked.

  “I just heard the tail end of the conversation. He said something to the effect of, ‘I’ll get you your money. Don’t I always?’ Then I think he hung up on him. A couple of seconds later, he came out, and we started talking. I didn’t hear much. Who is Peter anyway?”

  Cooper took notes. Then he looked up and asked, “Where were you when this conversation took place?”

  “I told you. I was sitting just outside his office, but he had the
door open, and I could hear everything pretty clearly.” As I told this to Cooper for the second time, there was another knock at the front door. What a popular place this was at six o’clock in the morning—a regular Grand Central Station.

  My mother got the door this time, and I could hear Dirt and someone else. This should be interesting. After the tension last night at La Casa, I wondered what would happen when Dirt saw that Cooper was already here asking questions. I quickly found out as my mother came back into the room, followed by Dirt and someone named Officer Schultz.

  “I’ll bring you all some coffee,” she said. “It will be ready in a minute.”

  As Dirt walked in, Cooper stood up, and I could see he was bracing for an argument.

  “What are you doing here?” Dirt asked Cooper angrily.

  “Same thing as you, I suppose. Trying to see who might have had the motive to kill Senator Daniels.”

  “This is a police matter. The last thing I need is you in here screwing it up.”

  “I have just as much right to find the killer as you do. I worked for him, so I know a lot more about him than you do. We should be working this together.”

  “Yeah, you worked for him. Doesn’t seem like you did too good of a job protecting him, now does it? Considering he’s dead.”

  I cringed. Ouch, that had to hurt. I couldn’t believe Dirt said that—what an ass. I spied the throbbing vein in Cooper’s forehead and saw that, despite his best efforts, he was starting to lose control of his temper.

  “Exactly. I am responsible. Even more reason for me to find the killer. I owe it to Helen.”

  Dirt was relentless. “This is none of your concern, Cooper. I suggest you get out of my way before you screw this investigation up too. Do you want to be responsible for letting the killer getaway?”

  Cooper blanched at this remark. Dirt had hit home. Cooper just glared at him. It was obvious there was so much he wanted to say but didn’t. Good choice, Cooper, I thought.

  “Do I need to have you escorted out, or are you going to do the sensible thing and leave?” Dirt asked, and Officer Schultz took a step forward.

  If the situation weren’t so tense, it would have been comical, almost like a Mexican standoff from the old time westerns that I used to watch with my dad. Cooper just looked at Dirt again and grabbed his coat, retreating, for now. It was obvious that Dirt wasn’t going to budge, and technically, Dirt had the advantage. Cooper couldn’t argue with that.

  “Stay away from this investigation, Cooper,” Dirt said to him.

  “Not a chance, Dirt.” Cooper nodded at my dad and me before striding toward the door. “I’m not finished with this,” he added, walking out of the house and closing the door behind him.

  “What’s your deal, Dirt? You both have the same goal here. In fact, he was close to the senator. I’m sure he could have valuable information for you. Why wouldn’t you want his help?”

  “He has no business interfering in a police investigation, Presley, and he could be a suspect.”

  “Don’t you think you were a bit over the top?”

  “I don’t have time for this, Presley. You don’t know what you’re talking about, and I didn’t come here for a friendly chat. I need to interview you about the murder of Senator Daniels. You ready?”

  “Dirt, I don’t know what you expect me to tell you. I told you everything that happened at La Casa last night.”

  “Well, we need to go over it again, officially. Last night I might have missed something. So start from the beginning and tell me what happened when you got there.”

  I sighed and, as I started to retell the events, realized this was going to be a long day.

  After what seemed like a never–ending litany of questions, in which Dirt asked the same thing in fifty different ways, I was exhausted. He and Officer Schultz finally left after my mother made them breakfast. I bet they would never pull her over for speeding. They couldn’t get enough of her cinnamon rolls.

  When everyone had gone, my parents and I tried to relax in the living room with our coffee. The puppy, who we named Baxter, followed me in there and curled up at my feet. Who would have thought talking would be so exhausting? The phone that had been ringing off the hook most of the morning, finally subsided a little. I leaned back into the couch, closing my eyes and only half paying attention to my parents’ conversation.

  “I just can’t believe this would happen to him, Clark. Things like that aren’t supposed to happen out here. Do you think there’s a killer on the loose?”

  “Sue, it’s an isolated incident, and I don’t think us regular folk have anything to worry about.”

  “Well, I won’t feel the same about you being out late. By the way, where did you go last night when you left Bill’s? I called Geanie at nine, and she said you left.”

  “I knew you were at your club meeting, so I just went to Randy’s for a while. I got home shortly after eleven, and you were already asleep.”

  This exchange brought me awake. I saw Dad drive by Brian’s after 1 a.m., so he couldn’t have been at Randy’s. Even if he had, the time was wrong, and last I knew, Randy lived on the other side of town, which wouldn’t explain what he was doing on Main Street.

  “I know. I was exhausted. I didn’t even hear you come in, but I thought I was still awake at eleven.”

  “No, darling, you were sleeping like a log when I got home.”

  I was confused. Why would Dad lie? At least I now knew he hadn’t seen me when he drove by, or he wouldn’t be trying to fib about the time.

  “Does Randy still live by the Collin’s farm?” I asked.

  “He sure does. That house has been in their family for years.”

  He was lying. But why? What was he up to?