Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 05 - Gems & Gunshots (6 page)

“Do you know what it is they have on him? What he is being blackmailed for?”

“No. That’s one of the things he won’t tell me. It’s so frustrating. He says he doesn’t want me involved any more than necessary, and no matter how much I yell and complain, he won’t say a word. Just tells me he’s handling it.”

“Do you know if Cooper is close to finding who is doing this to you guys?”

“I’m not sure. Again, no one is telling me anything. Cooper has surveillance on the house and taps on our phones, but other than that, you know as much as I do. It’s so frustrating,” she said, slapping her hand on the table for emphasis.

“I’m so sorry, Amelia. I can’t imagine what you are going through. If there’s anything I can do.”

“I know how you can help me,” she said, eyes perking up at whatever thought she was having. “You need to find out from Cooper what’s going on for me. Surely between the two of us we can figure this out.”

Of course she would ask the one thing that would be the most difficult. “Amelia, I don’t know how much help I can be in that area. I told you that Cooper doesn’t like to talk about his clients.”

“You just have to get him to tell you. Maybe if he knows it’s coming from me, at my request, he’ll be more forthcoming.”

“He might,” I said hesitantly, thinking that if Greg wasn’t telling her, surely Cooper knew that and wouldn’t go against Greg’s wishes..

“Just promise me you’ll try?” she said with a note of desperation in her voice.

“I will see what I can do.” After thinking about it for a second, I realized maybe this would work to my advantage. I could work on persuading Cooper to tell me what was going on, for Amelia’s benefit, and as a bonus I’d learn more about the case. “Do you think it could be related to the break in?” I asked her.

“It’s probably worth thinking about. Since you were a witness to the robbery it would make perfect sense for you to be the one to investigate the whole picture,” she said almost excited, like she’d just come up with a great idea.

“I’m not a detective, Amelia. Neither the cops, nor Cooper, will want me interfering.” Especially Cooper, I thought.

“Details,” she said waving away my concerns. “You were there and I’ve asked you to look into things. Since I’m half owner of that company it should be sufficient. Greg just can’t know.”

“What she was asking was no easy feat, but I was up for the challenge. Not to mention it fed right into my obsessive need to solve the Gemstones murder puzzle. Amelia wanting me to be involved would help my case a little with Cooper. At least he couldn’t accuse me of sticking my nose where it didn’t belong since Amelia asked me to help.

“Okay, I’ll try, but no promises. Now, tell me, where else should I be shopping?”

Chapter 7

W
hile I didn’t get all the answers I wanted from Amelia, since she didn’t really know anything, I did find out a lot about how the business ran and that she didn’t think they had any enemies. That conflicted with what Jill said she’d heard, so maybe Amelia didn’t want those things to come out or maybe she really didn’t know about Greg’s philandering ways. I was hoping that with all she did tell me, Cooper would be willing to divulge a few more details, but, knowing him, it probably wouldn’t matter.

I was meeting Cooper for dinner at a seafood restaurant down by the water, not too far from where I had met Amelia. I didn’t feel like going home, so thought I would wander around. There were many small shops, and I loved finding unique things like Amelia’s ring I had admired. She told me which shops were must–sees. Maybe I could discover some great finds for the boutique where I worked.

The time flew as I wandered in and out of shop after shop looking at everything from paintings to jewelry to clothes to unusual knickknacks. I picked up more than a few business cards of shops and artisans I would definitely be calling on once I got back to Chicago. There were many unique pieces I had found that I knew the clientele back home would eat up. Especially once they found out they were one of a kind pieces. There was nothing my rich clients liked more than wearing something that no one else would be able to have.

I finally made my way back down to the end of the street the restaurant was on and since I was early, I thought it would be nice to sit at the bar, relax, and enjoy a glass of wine while I waited for Cooper. I walked in and let my eyes adjust to the dim interior of the bar and then walked up to the counter. I was reaching over for a drink menu when someone came up behind me and goosed me. “What the hell!” I spun around ready to slap whatever idiot had just done that.

There behind me stood Cooper, laughing so hard he had tears rolling down his face. I put my hands on my hips and pretended to be mad. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Copping a feel and having fun scaring you apparently,” he said, still laughing.

“You’re not funny,” I said trying to be stern but I was happy to see him.

“I think I am. You walked in just as I pulled up and I followed you in here. I saw my chance and had to take it. I couldn’t resist.”

“Yeah, well, now you owe me a drink.”

“It’s totally worth it.” He smiled. “Listen, go and grab us a table outside where we can enjoy the weather, and I’ll get us a couple drinks. We can relax for a few before we head to the dining room to eat. I made reservations for six and it’s only five thirty, so we have plenty of time.”

“Now, that is a great suggestion.” I left Cooper ordering our drinks and headed out to the patio. I found a table with a decent view of the sailboats moored in the harbor. It was about seventy degrees with a slight breeze coming off the water. It just couldn’t get better than this. I was really in love with this place. Amelia was right—it was amazing.

“Don’t fall asleep on me now.” Cooper snuck up again and caught me with my eyes shut.

“Don’t worry, I’m not sleeping; just enjoying the beautiful weather.” He handed me a glass of wine. “What did you get me?”

“Riesling. I think you’ll like it.”

I took a sip and smiled. “Yum. So how was your day?”

“Typical. How was yours?”

I stuck my tongue out at him playfully because I always asked about his day and he rarely would tell me anything besides typical. That was “typical” of him. “It was great actually. I didn’t get any writing done, but I had a good time getting to know Amelia and then I spent the afternoon browsing all the shops.”

“For someone who spent the afternoon shopping you don’t have any bags with you. That’s unusual.”

“I left them at the last store I was at. The lady working there was most helpful, in fact, in every store I went into the people were as nice as could be. They’re are open until ten tonight and she said if I didn’t make it by then I could always pick them up tomorrow.”

“Are you going to tell me about your coffee date with Amelia? I assume it went well since I didn’t get a nasty phone call from Greg saying that you pissed–off his wife,” Cooper said, only half teasing. He knew that sometimes my nosiness got the best of me and I couldn’t help what came out if my mouth.

“Now stop, that only happened once. Besides, I told you I really like Amelia, I think we’re going to be good friends. The coffee was excellent as was the conversation. She did tell me about someone trying to blackmail Greg.”

“Really? She told you that?” Cooper shook his head. “See, this is why I keep so many things to myself. This can’t get out, Presley. Don’t go talking about the blackmailing to anyone else, and I will be telling Amelia the same thing. This kind of gossip can jeopardize our situation..”

“And what exactly
is
that? The situation, I mean. Amelia said all Greg had told her was that he was being blackmailed and it was different from the other times. Which, incidentally, I thought odd. She completely acted like blackmail wasn’t out of the norm.”

“Unfortunately, for the rich it isn’t too far from the norm, though usually its someone they know and it’s more petty stuff. Not on this scale.”

“Which this time it isn’t? Petty, I mean?” I pushed.

“Presley, I’m not going to talk about it.”

“I know, and while I don’t always agree, I can respect that. But this situation is different.” I usually wasn’t one to give up easily in any case, and I did have Amelia’s blessing.

“How is it different from all the other times you’ve tried to wheedle information out of me?”

“Because Amelia asked for my help. Doesn’t that count? She is a partner in the business.”

Cooper sat up a little straighter. “What do you mean,
she asked for your help
?”

“Well, she said Greg wasn’t telling her anything and asked me to do her the favor of getting the information from you as to what was going on.”

“I don’t believe this!” Cooper said, and I could tell he was annoyed.

“Why? She’s his wife and business partner. She has a right to know. Especially if you think her life is in danger.”

“She said that?”

“What?” I asked, not sure what part of what I had said he was referring to.

“That her life was in danger.”

“Yes. She said that the reason Greg even told her about the blackmail was because he thought she might be at risk and that you had some of your surveillance guys stationed at their house. What’s going on that she doesn’t know? She has that right, doesn’t she?”

Cooper sighed. “I told Greg that he needed to tell her everything, but he didn’t want her to worry. Now, she’s dragging you into things, which isn’t at all helpful.”

“Hey. I resent that. It’s not like I’m going to interfere with what you’re doing.”

“Not on purpose, but somehow you always manage to be in the thick of things. What am I going to do with you?”

“I am going to ignore that comment right now so I can ask you what is going on that Greg doesn’t want Amelia to know?”

“Okay, I’ll tell you, but do not say anything to Amelia. I need to have Greg tell her.”

“Fine, but she’s going to keep asking me, so you’d better have him do it soon.”

Cooper just shook his head. “A few months ago Greg ran into some cash flow problems. He had made some investments that didn’t pan out the way he thought they would and got himself overextended. He didn’t want to worry Amelia, and she is his business partner, so to raise funds through a bank would have required her signature, meaning she would have found out. Instead, he made the poor decision to borrow money from an untraditional source.”

“You mean like a loan shark,” I interrupted.

“Basically, yes. He borrowed money from some people who charge a high interest rate for short–term loans when you can’t, or don’t want to, do it the old fashioned way. From a bank.”

“So what? Did he not pay them back or something?”

“No, he paid them back, and the guy he borrowed the money from isn’t who we think is behind the blackmail.”

“I don’t follow?”

The guy he borrowed money from, Ganuchi, claims to not be behind this and I believe him.”

“If he’s a crook, then it’s not that big of a stretch to think he could be lying to you.”

“Nah. Ganuchi isn’t the type to lie and blackmail isn’t his thing either. He’s a businessman and he acts like one, even if he does operate in a shady area. I did some digging, and everyone I talked to who’d worked with him had nothing but good things to say.”

“So Greg doesn’t want Amelia to know that he borrowed money from a loan shark because of cash flow problems. I get that. But how does this relate to the blackmail?”

“Ganuchi told us that a few of his clients have had similar issues in the past. He loans someone money, they pay in full, and then someone tries to shake them down. He has been quietly looking into this as well, because as you can imagine it’s not good for his business.”

“Do you even have any ideas who it could be?” I asked.

“I have a couple suspicions, but so far nothing concrete.”

“Amelia said that Greg told her the blackmailers threatened that if he didn’t come up with the money they would hurt someone close to him. Do you think she’s in danger?”

“She could be, which is why I ordered the surveillance. You can never be too careful.”

“When is Greg supposed to have the money?”

“In two days.”

“Does he have it?”

Cooper shook his head. “They’re asking for three million dollars. He doesn’t have those kind of assets, especially liquid ones. From what Ganuchi says, this is the most the blackmailers have ever asked for, so we’re worried this is escalating.”

“What are you going to do?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out right now. That’s why interference from you and Amelia just makes it that much more difficult. Two more people I have to worry about.”

“Speaking of difficult. You know what I did find odd about my conversation with Amelia?”

“What’s that?”

“She doesn’t know Greg cheats on her.”

“Maybe he doesn’t. You ever think of that? Not all guys are jerks, Presley. I mean, look at me. I’m a pretty awesome guy,” he said, teasing me.

“You’re one of a kind, my dear. Haley’s cousin Jill told me Greg had constant affairs with the sales girls at Gemstone’s Unlimited.”

“Well, maybe Haley’s cousin is wrong. You can’t believe everything you hear. Hold that thought,” Cooper said to me holding up his finger on one hand and digging in his pocket with the other. He pulled out his cell phone. “Hello?” he said and then listened for a minute to whoever was on the other end of the line. “Can you hold on a second?” He put his hand over the phone. “I’m sorry, Pres. I have to take this. It will just be a second, I promise.”

I nodded in agreement. I understood that his work was a priority. Not that he didn’t make me a priority, but if he said he had to take a call then it meant it was important. I respected that. I reached for my purse and pulled out all the business cards I had amassed this afternoon and took a pen to make some notes on what Cooper told me before I forgot.

Chapter 8

H
ere.” Haley said giving me a large Styrofoam to–go cup of coffee.

“For me? Thanks.” I smiled in appreciation.

“It’s a nonfat, sugar free vanilla latte. Just like you like. I thought you might need one.”