Bad Boy Secrets (10 page)

             
“There’s no easy way to see this, ma’am, but Rowena Blakely was found dead outside her hotel room this morning.”

             
Cass waited for the world to tilt under her.  She kept expecting this deep and profound grief to hit her, but it simply wasn’t there.  “Was it an overdose?”

             
“We’ll have to wait for official confirmation, but it appears to be foul play.  Murder, Miss Blakely... and given the nature of your relationship with your mother, we have some questions to ask you,” the sheriff replied, his voice sounding stiff and official. 

             
“This is preposterous!  Cass has been here with us all morning!” Evie protested. 

             
“As far as we can tell, Rowena Blakely died sometime last night.”

             
“It’s all right, Evie.  You and your mother keep shopping.  We’ll get this whole thing straightened out in no time,” Cass said, gathering her purse and keys.  Reed took the keys from her shaking hands. 

             
“I’ll drive you,” he said. 

             
“Actually, Reed.  That’s not a very good idea.  Seeing as how you and Cass are one another’s alibis, it’s probably best if she rides with me.”

             
Reed turned toward the sheriff then, his jaw tight and his voice angry, “We are not under arrest.  We are cooperating with you in every way.  You have just informed Cass that her mother is dead in about the most callous fashion I can imagine, and I’ll be damned before I let you get her alone so you can browbeat her into some trumped up confession.”

             
“I’ll drive you,” Evie said.  “I’m not buying a wedding dress without my best friend and maid of honor with me anyway.  This is more important.”

             
“Absolutely,” Margaret agreed, and even Reed did a double take.  “I’m calling Phillip, Sheriff Messer.  Don’t think that he, or I, have forgotten how you botched things with Trevor and that Evie very nearly paid the price for it... You will not win any elections off this witch hunt.”

             
They exited the shop en masse, with Cass and Evie walking towards her small, compact.  “What the hell has gotten into your mother?”

             
Evie shrugged, “She’s been this way since she found out I was pregnant.  I’ll stay pregnant forever if she keeps this up.” 

             
Once they were inside the car, Evie buckled herself up and then said, “Now, I’m not judging you.  If you need me to cover for you I will, legitimately or not.”

             
Cass rolled her eyes heavenward.  “Look, Rowena was an opportunistic bitch, but I didn’t kill her.  If she was murdered last night, I don’t need any alibi other than Reed.  Any one of my neighbors could probably verify how much noise we were making!”

             
“Really?”

             
“My god, Jackson has turned you into a total perv!  He came over and helped me fix the steps to the deck, and then he cut down some tree limbs that were growing into the lines.”

             
“So you didn’t have sex with him last night?”

             
“Of course I did!  But I don’t think my neighbors heard that... not last night anyway.”

             
The conversation continued in that vein as they drove toward the sheriff’s office.  Cass knew that Evie was intentionally keeping it light.  “I’m not going to fall apart, Evie. Rowena and I didn’t have that much of a connection.  Honestly, I’m okay.”

             
“She was your mother.”

             
“She was the woman who gave birth to me... Rose was my mother, maybe not a great one, but a hell of a lot better than Rowena ever would have been.”

             
Evie pulled the car into a parking space in front of the office.  Cass stopped her as she reached for the door handle.  “You are not going inside with me.  I can handle this.  And I might remind you that I have a lawyer.”

             
“If you need me, I’m just a phone call away.”

             
Cass opened the door and climbed out, hiking up the steps to the glass door.  With a steadying breath, she pushed it open and stepped inside.  Reed and the sheriff were already there.  A deputy ushered Cass down a narrow hallway to what she could only describe as an interrogation room.  The scarred metal table and folding chairs were straight out of an episode of Law & Order.  The concrete walls covered in institutional gray paint were not exactly inviting. 

             
“Miss Blakely, if you’d take a seat please.”

             
Cass eyed the chair dubiously, “I’ll stand if you don’t mind.  I’m rather fond of this dress and that chair looks none too clean... Also, Sheriff, you’ve known me since I was a toddler, and never before in my life have you called me ‘Miss’.  Now isn’t the time to start.”

             
He sighed heavily and settled into the chair on the opposite side of the table.  “I have to ask, Cass, did you do it?  Did you kill Rowena?”

             
“I have seen my mother one time since she came back to town, Sheriff, and that was three weeks ago when she first showed up.  She asked to stay at my house and I refused.  We argued and she left.”

             
“There are eyewitness reports of two raised female voices last night at approximately nine in the evening.  Where were you?”

             
“I was at my home.  Reed was with me.”

             
“Your boss?” he asked. 

             
“He’s more than my boss, as I’m sure you’ve both guessed and been informed.  Reed came to my house.  I cooked dinner.  He helped me with some things that needed to be done with the back deck and the back yard, and then he spent the night.”

             
“What time did he go to sleep?  It’s possible for you to slip out without waking him.”

             
Cass rolled her eyes heavenward and then just bit the bullet.  “If I’d slipped out anywhere near nine o’clock, I’m sure he would have noticed.  He was paying rather particular attention to me at that time, and if you can’t figure out what exactly that means, sheriff, I am not going to explain it to you.”

             
The man blushed furiously, his sagging cheeks turning beet red.  “I’m gonna go talk to Reed, Cass.  And if your stories don’t mesh, or if they mesh just a little too perfectly, we may have problems.”

             
“Can I have a towel to sit on please?  I have a feeling I’ll be here a while.”

             
He glanced at the chair, which looked to be coated with a good half inch of dust and then gave her a brief nod before heading out the door. 

ONLY a few doors down the hall, Reed was in the uncomfortable position normally occupied by his clients.  He was developing a sense of empathy he had never expected to.  When the door opened and the sheriff entered, he rose.  “I want to know exactly what evidence you have to warrant questioning Cass!”

             
“I have no evidence.  I have hearsay and speculation, Counselor.  I know that Cass and her mother don’t get along, and I know that everytime Rowena has shown up in this town, she’s brought that girl nothing but trouble.  If anyone had reason to want her dead, it is Cass.  Now it’s my turn to ask questions.  What time did you go to her house last night?”

             
“I got there around six.  We ate dinner and then I fixed the steps on her back deck.”

             
“What else did you do?”

             
“I cut down some tree limbs before they grew into the power lines.”

             
“Do you do this for every secretary you’ve ever had?”

             
Reed clenched his fists at his side.  “Cass works in my office, but that is not the entirety of our relationship.”

             
“So what time did you leave her house?”

             
“This morning.  I woke up this morning just as Cass was leaving.  She’d left a note about dress shopping with Evie and then I went to the office.”

             
“Is it possible Cass left the house last night while you slept?”

             
Reed sighed.  “No, it isn’t.  If she’d gotten out of bed, I would have known.”

             
The sheriff tossed the papers on the desk, disgusted.  “Why did you go to Rowena Blakely’s hotel this morning, Reed?  Don’t even think of bullshitting me.”

             
Reed cursed softly.  “Cass does not know about this and if possible, I’d prefer she not.  Rowena did enough evil shit to her already.”

             
“Fine.  If I can keep it quiet, I will, but it damn well better be good.”

             
“When I went into the office this morning, someone had delivered an unmarked envelope.  It contained pictures of Cass and of me in compromising positions.”

             
“Why would that be an issue?  Neither of you are married.  You can both do whoever and whatever the hell you want!”

             
“These were very compromising pictures, Sheriff and no I don’t intend to give you any more information about them than that... The real issue is that Rowena had previously tried to blackmail by revealing the name of Cass’ father...  Parker Remington.”

             
“And here I thought you was covering for her, and it’s shaking up to be the other way around.”

             
“I didn’t kill Rowena, sheriff.  If I had, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” he said calmly.  “I’m smart enough to cover my tracks.”

             
“Do not leave town.  Either one of you.  Get that girl a damn good lawyer, preferably one that she isn’t boning.  Just cause I believe you doesn’t mean other people in this town will.”

             
Reed let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.  “Thank you, sheriff.”

             
“I’ve got some advice for you son... you tell that girl everything and you tell her quick.  Women have a way of finding out things and you never see it coming.  If you don’t tell her the truth, it will bite you in the ass.”

             
Reed was still processing the sage advice the sheriff had given him as he headed out the door.  He walked down the hall to the other interrogation room.  In a station the size of Gresham County’s there weren’t many options.  Opening the door, he saw Cass sitting at the table, her legs crossed primly, looking completely out of place.  “We’re going home.”

             
With a raised eyebrow, she asked, “Is that the sheriff’s decision or yours?”

             
“Both.”

             
“Do I have to identify the body?”

             
Jesus, Reed thought.  It hadn’t even occurred to him.  “They can finger print her and run it against her arrest records.”

             
“They don’t have--”

             
Reed stopped her.  It wasn’t something that he wanted her to even consider.  “Cass, you don’t want to see her yet.  Trust me.”

             
“Fine, but I do need to make the arrangements... I don’t have my car here.  Evie picked me up this morning.  When she dropped me off here, I just wasn’t even thinking.  I’ve never planned a funeral before.”

             
He realized in that moment that she was on the verge of falling apart.  Rowena might have been an opportunistic bitch, but she had been Cass’ mother.  Walking towards her, he pulled her into his arms.  “If you want me to take care of it, I will.  If not, I’ll go with you when you do.”

             
Cass didn’t know where the tears were coming from.  It was such a sudden thing.  She knew, logically, that they were pointless.  The hardened part of her heart even acknowledged that Rowena wasn’t worth them.  Still, there was enough of that needy child still inside her to recognize that there would be no more second or fourteenth chances to make things right.  The last words ever spoken between them would be the harsh ones.  “I think I just want to go home...  Would it make me a bad person to put it off until tomorrow?”

             
“No, that doesn’t make you a bad person.  I’ll stop by the office and grab my things and then we’ll go to your house.”

             
They left the sheriff’s office together.  Reed ushered Cass to his car.  Pulling up in front of the office, he left it running while he ran upstairs and grabbed his things.  He tossed the envelope full of pictures into his briefcase and grabbed his laptop, knowing that he would need to reschedule things for the next few days.  When he returned to the car, Cass was staring intently out the window.