Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 08 - Vows & Victims (8 page)

“Hi, I’m Presley Thurman and this is my friend, Tobey Stone. Sorry to drop in like this, but we had a few questions to ask you about Bethany Granville. You used to work with her at Clermont City Realty.”

Celeste frowned and shook her head. “I’m not sure …”

I decided to interrupt her before she could try and lie and say she didn’t know Bethany, which would then make it more difficult for us to get the truth. “You worked with her and someone named Rachel Andrews. Then Bethany moved to Alkon to work with another real estate agent, I’m assuming after you were arrested. I’m sure you’ve heard that Bethany was murdered? That’s what we care about.”

Her eyes got wide. “Bethany was murdered?”

“Yes. Last night.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t have anything to say about Bethany. We weren’t very close. Now, I have to get ready for work and don’t have time to talk,” she said in a rush and started closing the door in our faces. I put my hand up to the door to stop it and she looked at me as if she couldn’t believe I would try to stop her from closing her door.

“Listen! I don’t have anything to say and I really need to go.” This time, she closed it hard. I was thinking it was good thing I hadn’t stuck my foot in the door. I probably would have broken a few toes with the way she slammed it.

I tried knocking again and the dogs went crazy, but she didn’t come back to the door again, even to try and get rid of us. Nor did I hear her yelling at the dogs, so maybe she had some sound proof room because that’s the only way I would have been able to tolerate all that yapping.

“I don’t think she’s coming back,” Tobey said to me after about the fifth time I knocked.

“Yeah. I don’t think she is either. Well, at least we know she must have something to hide or else she wouldn’t have literally slammed the door in our faces when we mentioned Bethany,” I said as we walked down the sidewalk back to the car.

“It doesn’t help us any though.”

“No, but we can try the other people, and we can always come back here and try again if we have to. I can be very persistent. So where are we headed to next? Rachel Andrews?”

“No, I mapped them all out geographically. Jeff West is next.”

We made the short drive to our next stop, which was a modest house in a subdivision, definitely a few steps down from the house we had just left. Not bad by any means. More what I would consider normal, not opulent like Celeste’s.

We pulled up in front of the house we were looking for and I had a bad feeling it was empty. The lawn was overgrown and the lack of curtains on the windows made it pretty easy to see the house was in fact empty, or at least had no furniture in the living room.

I opened the car door to get out.

“What are you doing?” Tobey asked.

“Going up to knock on the door. You coming?”

“Umm, it’s obviously vacant. They must have moved and this was their last address.”

“They?”

“Jeff West, his wife, and three children.”

“Well, let’s knock anyway. Just in case.”

As expected, no one answered the door and peering through the side windows confirmed that the house was bare and had been vacated fairly recently, as there wasn’t that film of dust that you would expect after a month or so of no cleaning.

“Hey! What are you two doing?” a voice yelled, startling both of us.

We turned around to see an older woman, probably mid–seventies, a grandmotherly type. Though the scowl on her face was anything but grandmotherly.

“You’re trespassing! Now get before I call the police,” she said, holding a baseball bat and not looking at all afraid to use it. The sight of her might have almost been comical, but I didn’t dare laugh for fear I would be hit by the bat. She looked like she meant business.

Tough old broad. She clearly wasn’t the type to take any crap from anyone and I also bet she was the type who knew everything that was going on here in the subdivision.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but we weren’t trespassing. I mean, technically we were, but we aren’t intentionally. We were looking for Jeff West.”

She peered at us suspiciously. I put my best smile on and held out my hand.

“I’m Presley Thurman and this is Tobey Stone. Do you know where Jeff and his family went?”

“Jeff and his family didn’t go anywhere. And why do you want to know?”

This was one time I didn’t really want to tell the truth. I wasn’t sure how to tell her we were trying to investigate a sex ring and a murder, but I couldn’t rack my brain for a plausible excuse.

“We are just here to follow up on a potential business matter we had discussed with him a while back,” Tobey said, jumping in to my rescue.

I just looked at him. That seemed like a ridiculous excuse, but it was very vague so maybe she would fall for it.

The look on her face told me that was a negative.

“Listen …? I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“That’s because I didn’t give it. It’s Edna. Edna Wilson.”

“Edna,” I said, again smiling brightly, trying to be my most charming self. “We mean no harm to Jeff or his family. We just need to talk to him. It’s to help a friend of ours.” I thought maybe this would appeal more to her. That we were trying to help someone. She might think we were nice people and be willing to talk.

She seemed to soften a little. “Jeff and his family didn’t go anywhere. His wife, Donna, and the kids went to her mother’s and Jeff went somewhere else. I don’t know where exactly, I just know it wasn’t with Donna. And I don’t know why, so don’t ask!”

I looked at Tobey and knew we were both thinking the same thing, that Jeff’s wife had left him after his arrest for allegedly soliciting a prostitute.

“And you don’t know where he went?”

“Nope, and wouldn’t tell you even if I did know.”

“Thank you, Edna.”

“Harrumph. Just get out of here and stop peeking in people’s windows. It’s creepy. Didn’t your mother raise you with manners?”

I couldn’t help but smile. She was quite a hoot and little did she know I mortified my mother on a regular basis.

“And young man, if you’re going to make up stories, you need to work on that. You’re a horrible liar.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tobey said contritely.

Tobey and I turned back to the car. I was trying not to laugh, and he looked at me and said, “Shut up. You certainly weren’t coming up with anything better.”

“I know. I’m just laughing at how she called you on it.”

We got in the car and immediately drove away because Edna was still staring at us from her front porch. I didn’t want her coming after us again with her bat.

Tobey pulled out of the subdivision and drove down the street about a half mile where he pulled into a McDonald’s.

“I’m hungry,” he said.

“Hey, I’ll never refuse fries.”

Enjoying the hot, crisp, salty McDonald’s fries I knew I shouldn’t be eating but were too good to pass up, I asked Tobey, “What do you think happened to Jeff West and his family?”

“You’re guess is as good as mine.”

“That his wife left him? That has to be it. How fun to have had Edna for a neighbor,” I said, changing the subject.

“She reminds me of my Grandmother Sally on my dad’s side. Don’t take shit from no one. Sassy as hell.”

I wiped the salt and grease from my fingers and threw away my trash. “Are we off to the third person now?”

He nodded. “Hopefully the third try will be more successful.”

“Tobey, I know Chris is your brother and you’ll always be on his side, but do you really think he’s changed?” I asked as we were driving to Rachel’s, which was about twenty miles away. “You think he won’t hurt Katy anymore?”

“He’s my brother, but I know he hasn’t always made the best decisions, and Katy has often been the recipient of the fall out of those bad decisions. To answer your question, yes, I do. He really loves Katy.”

“Hmm. I want to believe that, for Katy’s sake.”

“I think he’s finally realized how lucky he is to have Katy stand by him, and I don’t think he’ll take the chance of losing that. I think after the whole Helen thing he learned his lesson.”

“I hope so. I don’t want Katy hurt.”

“Me, either. She’s good for Chris. Crap!”

“What?”

“We were talking and I wasn’t paying attention to the GPS and I just passed the road we needed to turn on. I just need to turn around,” Tobey said. He pulled off to the side of the road, and once he made sure there were no cars coming, made a U–turn to head back in the direction we had just come. Within about a quarter mile, he turned right and then right again into a condominium development.

“If indeed Rachel and Celeste were escorts, Celeste clearly made more money,” I joked. “This is nice but still not on the level of the mini mansion Celeste was living in.”

Once again, we slowed down and peered at house, or rather condo, numbers until we found the one we were looking for. We found it and parked.

Tobey turned to me. “I sure hope we are more successful this time.”

I agreed with him and for the third time today walked up the front sidewalk to a stranger’s house.

I barely knocked on the door when it swung open and another cookie cutter beautiful girl stood in front of us. Except that this one was a brunette instead of a blonde.

“You must be here to talk about Bethany. I was wondering when you would get here.”

Tobey and I just looked at each other. I was completely taken aback. Why would she be expecting us?

Rachel laughed. “Celeste called me and I just assumed if you found her, I would also be on your list. Come in.”

We hesitated.

“Come in, I promise I’m not luring you into your death or something nefarious,” she teased.

We both laughed, tension subsiding, and we walked into her house. Very tastefully and beautifully decorated. Classy and not ostentatious.

“Have a seat.” She motioned to the dining table in the corner of the kitchen. “Can I offer you some coffee or coke or water? I have wine if you’re ready for that.”

“Coffee would be great,” I said, while Tobey told her he was fine and didn’t need anything.

“Girl after my own heart. I can drink coffee all day long,” she said, setting a cup in front of me with a small bowl of assorted creamers on the table.

“Wow, just like a restaurant. I get choices.”

“I love the flavored creamers and I like to keep a few different flavors on hand depending on what mood I’m in for the day.”

A few minutes later and we were all seated around the table.

“I heard about Bethany’s murder and I can say I’m not surprised.”

“Really?” I said, thinking that was quite a bold statement.

“She made quite a few enemies.”

“In real estate?” I asked.

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Come on. You wouldn’t be here talking to me if you weren’t trying to see if the rumors were true about Bethany running an escort service.”

I liked this girl. She was blunt and to the point and seemed honest.

“OK. Then we’ll get right to it, but first, why are you so willing to talk to us? Celeste couldn’t slam the door in our faces fast enough.”

“Celeste is a bit uptight. Me, I don’t have anything to hide. I’m not ashamed of anything I’ve done, and unlike a lot of people, I didn’t dislike Bethany. Sure, she wasn’t the easiest to get along with, but I certainly didn’t hate her like some. She helped me in a lot of ways and I appreciated it.”

“Why did people not like her?” I asked.

“If you asked them, I‘m sure they would come up with many different reasons, but in my opinion, it all comes down to jealousy. She was smart, beautiful, and had an amazing business mind. People were just simply jealous.”

“If you were running an escort service, then how were the charges dropped?” Tobey asked.

“They couldn’t prove it and, unfortunately for them, Bethany knew a lot of the secrets of important players in town. She didn’t tell me this, but I would assume she used her knowledge as leverage to get the charges dropped. I’m also assuming that’s why she moved out of Clermont to Alkon.”

“So she did close down operations?” I asked.

“Yes and no. I mean she withdrew from it when she moved, but it didn’t shut down entirely, if you know what I mean.”

I did and that helped explain why Celeste had such a nice house, if my assumptions were correct.

“Who would have wanted her dead? I understand jealousy and all that, but murder is quite a step to take because you’re jealous of someone.”

“Try the wives.”

“What?” I said, confused.

“The wives. After the arrests and so much of this being public, there were a lot of unhappy wives gunning for Bethany. Something I never understood. Why when a guy steps out on his wife is it the other woman’s fault? Women can be dumb sometimes.”

“But Bethany wasn’t arrested.”

“No, but everyone knew she was behind things. Again, she had a lot of dirt on people, which is probably what saved her from being arrested. She never confirmed, but I think the police chief was one of her clients. In fact, she had a lot of connections in law enforcement, if you know what I mean. I think she had a client in your sheriff’s office. That guy who murdered that senator. I forget his name.”

My eyes grew wide. “Dirt? I mean Derek?”

“That’s it, Derek. I never knew him. I only know Bethany was very surprised by the news he had been arrested for murder. She said he just didn’t really seem the type. I think she kind of liked him, as more than just a client.”

“Did you hear he escaped from jail?” I said.

Her eyebrows rose. “No. You don’t think he—”

“Oh, no,” I interrupted. “She was killed the day before he escaped.”

“Do you have the names of the wives you think had the biggest grudges against Bethany?” Tobey asked, his notepad out. I was somewhat surprised by his old–fashioned approach, assuming these days it seemed more normal to pull out an iPad or something. Though, as much as I loved my electronics, nothing beat colored pens at times.

Rachel sat there in thought before speaking. “Two women who probably stand out in my mind as the most vocal are Diane Abbot and Trish Young.”

Tobey wrote those names and I was glad. I hadn’t thought of bringing anything to write on.