Stilettos & Scoundrels (33 page)

“But does anyone stick out in your mind as having enough of a grudge to commit murder? There’s quite a distance between thinking someone is an asshole and murder
er
.”

I
was hoping Helen might be willing
to share information to help me
figure this out. But it didn’t look that way.
“There is a lot about him that you don’t know. No one knows. If it got out, it would be a scandal
,
and I am not going to allow him to create a scandal now after he is dead. I worked too hard to prevent it while he was alive.”

“Helen, he’s dead. How can a scandal hurt him?”
I
wasn’t quite sure why Helen would care at this point.

“Who cares about him? I’m the one who would suffer. I will not have my name dragged through the mud. I’ve suffered enough because of him.”

Silly me, thinking she was worried about him
,
I
thought. “Helen, it’s going to come out eventually. You are not going to be able to keep whatever it is you’re worried about a secret forever. Maybe, if you tell me, I can help you keep it quiet.”
I
didn’t quite know how
I
would accomplish that, but hey, it sounded good, so
I
would just worry about that little detail later.
I
knew it wasn’t the most ethical viewpoint, but who cared about ethics when there was a killer to find? Wasn’t it all about the shades of grey? At least
,
that’s what
I
practiced in
my
old life in human resources. So what if it was a little self-serving
?
It was all
for
the greater good and that made
those shades-of-grey tactics
worthwhile.

I
could see Helen was wavering.
My
best guess was
that
she wanted to tell someone
. S
he couldn’t be happy keeping it all to herself, and
I
wanted that someone to be
me
. “C’mon, Helen,”
I
cajoled. “It will make you feel better to talk about it.”

“He had us over a million dollars in debt, that bastard,” she choked out. “These last couple of years
,
he got hooked on gambling. He started going to Vegas several times a year while I thought he was at political summits or whatever. I guess I didn’t really pay that close attention. He lost heavily and owed some people
—
the kind you don’t want to owe money to. He finally had to tell me because the bank was about to foreclose on our D.C. house. The house here in Alkon would have been next. My family would have killed me. We just had it passed down to us
,
and he
had
mortgaged it without my know
ledge
. He swore to me that he was done after this last time. I believed him
;
I really thought he wanted to change
so I
took money out of the family trust to pay his debts. I thought we could put our life back on track. Boy was
I
stupid. I still can’t believe I fell for his lies!” She put her face in her hands and sobbed.

“What happened?”

“It was all a big joke. He was still making trips to Vegas, just hiding it better. Like most gambling addicts, he kept thinking
that
each time it would be different
and that h
e would hit it big if he just kept trying
, t
hat his luck was about to change any minute. All that really happened was he got more heavily in debt to the people in Vegas. Not just in money, but to make a bad situation worse, they started to let his loans slide in return for favors of political influence. He did it at first
,
but it started to get more and more out of control. It got where he couldn’t do what they were asking
,
and they started putting a lot of pressure on him. He eventually came to me and came clean. He said he couldn’t continue to go through with it. They kept asking for more and more, asking for things that made him feel very uncomfortable. Imagine
,
him having a conscience.”
She scoffed.

I
was thinking the same thing. Whatever they wanted him to do must have been pretty bad.

“When he said he wasn’t going to do their dirty work anymore, they said the loans had to be paid back immediately. They swore they would kill him if he didn’t pay up by Friday. We didn’t know what to do
,
and we had nowhere to turn. I don’t have that kind of money in the trust fund
,
and I couldn’t tell the family.”

Sunday was the day he was murdered, a few days after this conversation.
I
started to get excited
. It was
morbid,
I kno
w, but
I
was finally getting some useful information. This detective stuff was fun. Alth
ough, like when fishing with my dad when I
was little
, it was fun only when I
caught something.

“Who are these people, Helen? Do you think they went through on their threats?”

Helen glared at
me
. “Who do you think they are, Presley? They’re people you don’t mess with.”

When
I thought of Vegas, I
thought of Bugsy Siegel and Al Capone. John Gotti was in jail and seemed to be the last of the true gangsters. It was hard to believe Senator Daniels
had been
tangled up with the likes of those men. It seem
ed
surreal, something you only heard about in the movies. Could the Senator
have
been mixed up with those kinds of people and gotten himself killed? Did that really happen in everyday life? It was hard for
me
to imagine
,
and
I didn’t view my
self as that naïve.

“Why haven’t you gone to the police with this, Helen? They should know
.
I
n fact
,
they should have known at the beginning of all this. People can’t threaten you and get away with it. They would have a better idea of where to look if you gave them this information.”

“I told you, Presley. I’m not going to drag the Daniels name through the mud.”

“You don’t think that these men will still want their money?”
I
still had a har
d time wrapping my
mind around the fact the Senator was killed by the Mob.

“Of course they will still want their money. They don’t care
that
Tom is dead. There is still a debt in their minds. And I’m planning on giving the money to them, if I can find a way to come up with it,” she said, fighting back anger and tears. She was gaining some control over her emotions,
I
thought, by being angry, which was good,
I
always preferred angry people to upse
t people. Crying people made me
feel uncomfortable.
I
just never knew what to say
to them
.

“I want to pay them off so they will leave me alone and I can get on with my life. It’s only money,” she continued.

“Was this what you and Tobey were arguing about the other night at the Coffee Café?”

Helen
was surprised at this comment.
She had been so engrossed in her conversation with Tobey that night she hadn’t even noticed who might be around to overhear them. Helen hoped Presley hadn’t actually heard anything. That wouldn’t be good.
“You saw that?”

“Yes, it looked like you were very angry with Tobey.”

“Well, that had nothing to do with Tom. Something else altogether.”

I
looked at Helen questioningly, waiting to hear what it was they were arguing about. Helen just stared at
me
.
I
thought
that
if
I
just stared back
at Helen
long enoug
h, she would give in and tell me about it
. This was an old human resources tactic. When interviewing, have many long pauses. The interviewee felt compelled to keep talking to
avoid
uncomfortable silence, and it was amazing what they would tell you just to not have uncomfortable silence.

“Fine. I’ll tell you,” Helen said, rolling her eyes.

Sure enough, it worked every time. People just didn’t like quiet.
I
had never failed with this in my corporate days. I
was amused
that
Helen wasn’t too upset to act put
out over my line of questioning. I
knew Helen wanted to tell someone.

“
Tobey’s
been having an affair that was starting to affect his future. I like Tobey and don’t want to see that happen.”

“Wait a minute. I thought Tobey was gay.”

Helen rolled her eyes again. “That doesn’t mean he can’t have a fling. He is having an affair with Bobby Johnson. And that boy is nothing but trouble. I was trying to persuade Tobey to stay away from him.”
Helen hoped this would satisfy Presley’s curiosity. It was true, just not the main topic of their conversation.

“Oh
.
”
I
was speechless.
I
hadn’t thought about it from that angle. Not that Tobey having an affair with Bobby was a big deal, after all,
I
already heard Tobey was gay
,
and the more
I
thought of it
,
the less of a surprise
it seemed to be
. However, the fact Bobby was having an affair with Tobey was a surprise.
I
wouldn’t have guessed anything like that in a million years. No wonder his marriage didn’t last.
I
assumed most wives frowned on that behavior.
I
wondered if Ruth knew about this little piece of information
.
I laughed to my
self.
I
somehow didn’t think it was a piece of news Bobby shared with dear ol
d
mom. Ruth had just tried to fi
x me
up with Bobby, so she probably didn’t know. Or
she
was in serious denial.
I was sure my
mother di
dn’t know either. Wait until I told my
mother about this! She would be so excited to have such a good scoop before her friends. This didn’t have anything to do with the murder, at least directly, but it was great gossip. Yet
, it was
hard to believe. Even with all his issues,
I
had always thought of Bobby as a ladies’ man.

Just then, I
noticed a black Cadillac, one of those big boxy types, slow down as it drove by. Helen noticed it too and became visibly shaken.

“Helen
!
”
I
snapped to get her attention. “Who was that?”

“Simon Atkins.”

“The guy
who
works for
Cooper
and
who was
on security detail for the Senator?
What does he have to do with anything? Why did his driving by make you so nervous?”

“I’m not positive, but I
suspect
he has ties to the men Tom owed,” Helen said nervously.

“You’re kidding me! But he worked for the Senator, indirectly at least.”

“So? What does that matter? Maybe he was working for them to spy on Tom.”

“Helen, seriously? He works for
Cooper
. Don’t you think
Cooper
would know if Simon wasn’t on the level?”

Helen shrugged. “I’m sure those people are good at hiding that sort of thing. They seem to have their ways.”

“Helen, you should go to
Cooper
and tell him.”

“I told you I don’t want the police to know. That will make things even worse.”

“
Cooper
’s not the police. Frankly, the police,
and
specifically Dirt, do
n't
like him much.”
But Cooper would still probably feel compelled to tell Dirt.
“But
because he
feels partially responsible for the Senator’s death,
Cooper
might be able to help you.
Cooper
was in charge of Tom’s safety and he cares
about what happened
. Don’t you think he has the right to know?”