Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 02 - Necklaces & Nooses (10 page)

“Seriously Anna, I can’t believe you are trying to break into his Facebook account. If you don’t trust him, then you shouldn’t be with him.” I had finally been let into my condo after the crime techs had finished, and Anna had offered to help me clean. At least this time I knew what to expect. It was a big sacrifice for her, as she didn’t like cleaning anymore than I did, and I thoroughly appreciated her help. But she took pity on me since all I seemed to be doing lately was cleaning up messes. After we had finished to my satisfaction and opened a bottle of muscato to relax, she sat on the couch with my laptop.

“I want to trust him, but I can’t. It seems like when I do, something else happens.”

“Then I repeat…why are you with him?” She ignored me as she kept trying to figure out his password. I knew she was doing it on purpose. She didn’t want to answer me, because she knew I had a point. “What makes you think you can figure out his password? It’s not like you’re some computer hack.”

“Puhlease. Guys are simple when it comes to passwords. I know what a couple of his are, and I’m sure that I can figure it out. I just need a few more minutes and some luck that it doesn’t lock me out.”

“This is stupid, Anna.”

“Why?”

“Because you are wasting time on someone who—”

“I’m in,” she said, pushing herself away from the desk like she had just done something monumental, though in her eyes she had. I just hated to think about what she would find. She stood up, walked over to the muscato bottle, and refilled her glass. Leaning against the counter, she took a sip.

“Really, wow, I didn’t think you had it in you. Guess if the marketing thing doesn’t work, you have a good backup career for untrusting girlfriends everywhere.”

“Funny, but probably true. It could be a good side business.”

“So, may I ask what you are hoping to find? If he’s cheating, do you really want the dirty details?”

“Uh, yeah, I would rather know than wonder. You know this makes me think of something. You should try to see what dirt you can find on James. You said he’s a jerk at times. Maybe he did kill her for the money.”

“You think I should hack into his Facebook account? You think that he has been posting he murdered his soon to be ex wife? I hardly think he’s going to be talking about that on Facebook.”

“No, I don’t mean hack into Facebook. How would you ever do that? You wouldn’t even know where to start with figuring out the password. That’s the trick. Knowing where to start—and when you know someone well, like I do Jeff, it’s easy.”

“Then what are you suggesting I do?” I had no idea where Anna was going with this. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“You know where he works, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Then we should wait outside his work and follow him. See what he does. Maybe he has a secret lover, and he killed Solange to get her money and have his lover, too. We could always Google him. You can find anything on Google.”

“I’m not sure you can solve murders on Google, Anna.”

Anna was really getting dramatic about this. James was a jerk, but a killer? I still didn’t feel in my gut that James killed her. It just didn’t seem right. I had no proof, just a feeling, and that was the problem. No one cared about a feeling, in the legal realm that is, it needed to be concrete. I realized this, but it still didn’t change how I felt.

“You really think following him is the answer?” I said.

“It couldn’t hurt. I mean, you said yourself there was no love lost between them, and her parents didn’t even seem to want him to be a part of the funeral.”

“I think that’s what the police should be doing.”

“Presley, do you really want to just wait on the police?”

“That is their job, you know.”

“That bastard!”

“Who, Jeff?”

“Yes. I knew it. When a guy says they are just friends you can never believe him.”

“Maybe Jeff, but don’t classify all guys like that. What did he do?” I walked over to where Anna was at my computer on the couch and sat down so I could see what she was looking at.

“Read this!” Anna said. “This Sarah chick says she wants to get to know him better and is willing to try a long distance thing. I guess she lives in Iowa. How the hell did he meet a girl from Iowa?”

“Maybe she is just coming on to him?” I didn’t really like how Jeff treated Anna, but I didn’t want her hurt either. I was hoping to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Oh no, this is his response.” She clicked on the message to open it and started reading. “I would like to get to know you better by talking to you.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything besides friends.”

“Except he doesn’t mention anywhere in this email thread that he has a girlfriend, and she obviously is thinking he doesn’t or else she doesn’t care. Take this away from me. I just can’t stand to read anymore.”

I took the laptop from her, logged off, and shut it down. Setting it on the floor, I turned to Anna and refilled her wineglass. I could tell she was upset, and I had seen time and time again how much he hurt her. But I could also understand you weren’t done with a relationship until you were really done, and emotions weren’t always something you could force yourself to stop feeling. Even when intellectually you knew you should.

“Do you want to talk?” I said.

“Why, so you can just say I told you so again? I know I’m stupid.”

“Not stupid, Anna. I hate seeing you hurt like this all the time, which is why I say you need to kick him to the curb. But I also know what it’s like to love someone and hope they will change. While maybe not the smartest thing to do, when you look at the situation rationally you can’t help how you feel, and emotions don’t always make sense. Hell, they hardly ever make sense.”

“I need to realize he will never change, at least not with me. But, Presley, I know he loves me.”

“He does love you.” I actually had no doubts that he did love her. He just wasn’t ready to settle down and took her for granted. That was clear by his actions. Before Cooper, I was much more judgmental of Jeff, but I now had a better understanding of how difficult love was.

“Did Willie find out who broke into your condo?” Anna said attempting to change the subject.

“No. It’s disappointing, but whoever did it didn’t leave prints, and none of the doormen remember anyone who wasn’t a tenant. They found a door at the service area that had a busted lock. The maintenance guy said it wasn’t like that a week ago, so Willie is assuming that somehow someone cased the joint and found that was a weak spot.”

“That’s just weird they didn’t take anything.”

“No kidding. They obviously were looking for something. But neither Willie nor I have any idea what. I don’t have anything of value. Any criminal worth their salt should have noticed that right away.”

“Maybe that’s why they trashed the place. They were angry that you didn’t have anything for them.”

“It just doesn’t make sense. There are many people in my building that have a lot more than I do. Willie thinks whoever it was felt I had something they wanted, specifically. I think that Peter guy is involved somehow.”

“What does Willie think of him?”

“That there’s not enough proof to say.”

One thing that really had me confused was that I didn’t understand at all what the faux German guy, Peter, wanted so badly with accessories from Silk. It didn’t make sense. After seeing him at the funeral, I had told Willie he had to be involved in this somehow. These were way too many coincidences. But Willie didn’t completely agree with me that the connection was necessarily bad. He hadn’t been able to find anything concrete connecting Peter with anyone from a sinister standpoint. Obviously Peter knew someone in the family or he wouldn’t keep showing up, but Willie said he couldn’t just assume it was for a bad reason without proof.

I told him that sometimes the connection wasn’t obvious, and he didn’t really like that. He had the audacity to say I shouldn’t be worrying myself about the investigation so much. We got into our first minor spat, if you could even call it that, about my involvement, and I basically told him he should have not asked my opinion if he didn’t want it. He muttered something under his breath I chose to ignore, and we hung up.

I didn’t think he was really angry, just annoyed. I seemed to have that effect, first with Cooper and now Willie. I had sat there since getting off the phone trying to figure out what the possible link could be. Willie had said this guy had a record for petty crime. James was a lawyer, so maybe that was a connection. Although James’s firm handled mostly white collar crime not smash and grab—Willie’s term not mine—it was plausible. Criminals and criminal lawyers seemed to run in the same circles. Or it could be completely unrelated, and I could be totally off base, and Willie right. Somehow I doubted it.

“And you don’t agree?” Anna asked.

“Not really. I think it has to mean something that he keeps popping up all over.”

“Is there anything you can do about it? You know, to convince him.”

“I had thought about one thing I could do that might give me some more insight, but then I would have to admit I was taking an active part, well, sort of active, in an investigation. I would once again have to listen to someone complain about what I was doing, but it might be worth it.”

“Are you talking about Cooper? You want to call and ask him for help?”

“Well, I thought about it.”

“Do it. What have you got to lose?”

She was right. What was the worst that could happen? So I got yelled at. I looked at my phone, trying to decide if I should dial. What the hell, I had already been chastised once today. What was once more? I dialed.

“And to what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?”

“Is that sarcasm?” I teased.

“No. I’m really glad you called.”

“You might not be when you hear why I’m calling.”

“I might have guessed. You need something.”

“Don’t be like that, Cooper. I don’t just call when I need something.”

“Every time you call me you need something. So what am I supposed to think?”

I knew he was somewhat joking, and I admit it did look bad. “Cooper, I do like to talk to you when I don’t need something. I’ve just been busy. And I just happen this time to be able to talk to you right now and ask you a favor. I’m multitasking, being efficient.”

“Okay, ask.”

“First promise you won’t get mad.”

“How come I can pretty much assume when you say that it’s because I’m going to get mad. People never say that unless they expect the other person to get mad. Just spill it, and I promise to try not to get mad. What are you involved in?”

“I need you to run a background check for me.”

“Is this to do with your boss’s murder? The investigation you just told me a couple days ago that you weren’t involved in?”

“I wasn’t then, now I am, sort of. I didn’t call you to give me a hard time. Can you help me or not?”

“Don’t be so touchy. You know I’ll help you. I just hate to see you put yourself in danger.”

“I’m not putting myself in danger. Don’t worry. Geesh, all you men are the same. All I want is some information to help Willie.”

“Willie?”

“Detective Landon, the detective investigating the murder.”

“Why can’t he get the information?”

“Because he doesn’t believe me that this guy might be a viable suspect. I thought if I could get him some more information, then he would believe me and investigate further. There has to be a connection to James somehow. I just know it.”

“James?”

“Solange’s husband, soon to be ex. He’s a lawyer.”

“Why does there have to be a connection?”

“Because I think so.”

“So you’re telling me that you want me to get you information that will help you become more involved?”

“Cooper!”

“Okay, fine. Give me what you know on both of them.”

I was relieved that he finally quit giving me the third degree, and I gave him what I knew. He promised to look into it and call me back as soon as he had some information.

Anna had been texting and then left when I was on the phone with Cooper. I called her to see what was going on and why she left, but I got her voicemail. I assumed she was with Jeff giving him hell after what she found on his Facebook. I settled into the couch and channel surfed while waiting for Cooper to call back. I finally settled on HGTV. I am neither handy nor a crafty person, so I truly enjoyed watching these shows. It was like magic. How these people came up with these ideas I had no idea.

I was watching 
Kitchen Impossible
where these talented designers and construction people made old outdated kitchens cool, funky, and spacious. That episode they were making a sink out of concrete. I thought it would look like a sidewalk, but once they finished it off and glazed it, it was the coolest thing. Very industrial looking, which isn’t normally my style, but it looked so good with the neutral colors of the rest of the kitchen. Some day when I won the lottery or ran into the
Kitchen Impossible
  people at the local Home Depot—which would never happen because I didn’t go to Home Depot—I might be able to redo my kitchen. It was the only room I hadn’t touched yet since I’m not a big kitchen fan. Cooking fans’ kitchens I’m fine with, especially if they come equipped with a chef and dishwasher.