Stilettos & Scoundrels (44 page)

“Not that I am happy you were stupid, but I was thinking about what you told me on the phone about what Simon said. Do you really think he was telling the truth when he said he didn’t kill the Senator?”

“You know what? I do for some reason. I am convinced he’s involved in this mess in some way, but I honestly don’t think he’s covering up the fact he murdered the Senator. What I don’t understand though is what he meant by his reference to Katy’s boyfriend, or why he was with Helen last night. The boyfriend reference would mean Chris
did it,
wouldn’t it
?
I’m not sure he’s technically her boyfriend
,
but she isn’t seeing anyone else that would fit the bill. What could Chris possibly have to do with this? I asked Katy and she has no idea. I told her to ask him, but I’m not so sure she will. Do you think maybe because Tobey
is
his brother
that
he’s somehow involved? It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Why wouldn’t she ask him?”
Dirt asked.

“She seemed uncomfortable about the entire thing and tried to blow it off. Maybe you should ask him. You’re friends, so if he does know something he would probably tell you. Wouldn’t he?”

“Normally I would think so, but Chris hasn’t been acting himself lately. I thought it was stress at work, because he mentioned hating his job. Maybe there’s more to it? Listen, Pres, I have a favor I need to ask.”

“What?”

“I need you to ask
Cooper
what he knows about Simon Atkins’ background.”

“Why do you need me? Don’t you have access to that kind of information? You’re a cop, and besides, I told you I don’t think he’s the killer.
And n
either does Tobey.”

“I still can’t rule him out, and I agree with you he seems likely to have some involvement in this. Nothing really points to him except a feeling and him bothering you in the parking lot. And yes, I normally have access to that information. But with the FBI involved, it’s different. They have been completely clear they want us locals to stay out of it. The less they know about what I’m doing
,
the better. They will just take over
any
information
I give them
and not share what they know
with us
.
”

“Shouldn’t you go to
Cooper
yourself? If you want something from him, maybe you should talk and work things out.” This seemed like the perfect way to get them talking again.

“Presley, I can’t do that,” Dirt said
.
He looked at me for a moment before looking away. I had no idea what happened. Cooper certainly wasn’t going to tell me
.

“Why not? If you want to use him for information, it seems like you could talk to him about the other issues. That only seems fair.”

“Presley, I need to solve this case, preferably before the FBI does, and I don’t have time to worry about anything else. And truthfully, I don’t know whether or not we can ever be friends again. Some things are just best left alone.”

“That’s just stupid
,
Dirt, but I’ll ask him. He just wants to solve this
,
so I’m sure he can put your differences aside and tell you what he knows. Just promise me you’ll talk to Chris about what Simon sai
d. That’s a fair trade-off.” I
was hoping to make Dirt feel a little guilty.
It was p
robably not the nicest thing to do when he was already under so much stress
, but I
just wanted them to quit being so stupid about this
, and to f
orgive and forget for
G
od
’s
sakes.

“I will and I’ll also make a run by the hotel where Simon is staying and make sure he understands it’s in his best interest
s
to stay away from you.”

“Thanks, Dir
t. I’ll call you later,” I
leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “You’ll solve this. I know you will.”

“Thanks
,
Pres. And
,
hey
,
you can’t leave until you go talk to the FBI. You promised me you would do this two days ago and they keeping bugging me. They’re going to start getting pissed.”

I groaned. I
didn’t wa
nt to talk to them. Not that I
had anything to hide but it was intimidating. “Fine. I will do it right now. But I look like crap.”

“I don’t think the FBI cares what you look like.”
“ What
if there’s a cute one?” I
teased.

Dirt just shook his head. “I’ll talk to you later
.
P
lease
, Pres,
try to stay out of trouble.”

My
conversation with the FBI was painless. They asked the same questions Dirt and
Cooper had already asked and I
gave them the same answers. There w
eren’t
even any cute agents
,
so the
entire thing was a waste of my
time.

Next on my
list was a visit to
Cooper
’s.
I
wasn’t looking forward to
it
after last night’s d
ead cell phone battery game. I
assumed he wouldn’t be too happy with
me, but I
was going to have to face him eventually and
I
would just have to get over it. He was stil
l staying at the hotel where I had my
interview
, so I
headed over there. Gosh, that seemed
like
so long ago
since he had surprised me at the interview. I
tried calling him while waiting for Dirt but got his voicemail.
I
guessed he was either still pissed from last night or busy, and
I didn’t think much about it. I
didn’t leave him a message about what
happened with Simon because I
di
dn’t want to freak him out. I
thought it would be better to te
ll him in person. However, as I got closer to the hotel, I
wondered about the merit of coming here since this was where Simon was staying
too. I
hoped he wasn’t here. Maybe
Simon
was still at the ER getting his arm looked at,
I laughed to my
self. Not very nice, but hell, he deserved it. And
it
was kind of funny, since there was no permanent harm done.

I
asked at the front desk what room
Cooper
was in, which
,
of course
,
they wouldn’t give out.
A
fter a call to his room,
though,
the front desk clerk wa
s granted permission to send me
up
and she gave me
the oh-so-secret room number. At least
Cooper
wasn’
t telling them to get rid of me. He must not be too mad. I
smiled at the thought of being able to see him again.
I couldn’t wait until this whole mess was over with so I could explore my feelings for him.

Stepping
off on the fifteenth floor, my
mind wandered off the topic of the case at hand.
Visiting Cooper
in
a hotel brought a whole slew of
non-business-related
thoughts to mind.
In those daydreams, he wasn’t mad at all. I
was sure it wouldn’t be too hard to get him to forget about that.

I
turned the corner in the hallway and saw
Cooper
standing outside his door, leaning against the door jam
b
, talking to a beautiful brunette
. She
was tall, about five foot nine, slender, well dresse
d and well put together. I
watched as she put a hand on
Cooper
’s arm
, and it looked from my
angle that she was thanking him for something. At least that is what her body language suggested. She
started walking towards me
to the elevator
,
and as she passed
, she nodded hi. I
nodded back and turned slightly to watch h
er continue to the elevator. I
turned back to
Cooper and saw that
he was smiling, so
I
guessed he wasn’t mad, or maybe
whatever he’d been doing with
that girl put the smile on his face
. I blushed with envy at the thought
. He looked so good. He probably started the day out with a crisp
-
looking suit and tie
but by now, even though it wasn’t even lunchtime, he had ditched the jacket and loosened his tie
, a
s if he meant to take it off and then forgot. He had on charcoal grey dress pants, which fit in all the right places, and a blue and grey pinstripe dress shirt. He should have taken his socks off too
, since
they were burgundy. He must have been in a hurry this
morning when getting ready. I
could overlook mismatched socks because he was also sporting a five o’clock shadow, even though it was barley ten a
.
m
. He looked
good enough to eat
, m
a
king me wish I
had gone home t
o change before coming here. I
was s
till wearing the ratty jeans I
threw on this morning to go get coffee. At least the t-shirt and hoodie were
reasonably clean, but again I
regretted not having at least some better shoes on. Not th
at he would notice the shoes I
wore, no guys ever
did, but it would have made me
feel better.

“I’m glad you stopped by
,
King,”
Cooper
said warmly
, leaning in to give me
a hug.

Me too
, I
thought
,
d
rinking in his scent and loving the way his warm body felt on
mine
.

“Who was that?”

“That,” he said exaggeratedly, “was Tori DeMarco.
Beautiful, isn’t she?”

“I guess if you like that type.”

“Oh, and what type is that?
”

“Beautiful to look at, but not much for conversation.”

“I would love to disagree with you, but you have her pegged.”

“And she
would be…?
”

“She would be the Senator
’
s something extra on the side. Or rather she was until just recently.”

“They broke up?”

“Not by their choice
,
but Helen put her foot down with Tom. Said the affairs had to stop. However I wasn’t ever convinced it
had
stopped completely and her showing up her
e
kind of confirms that.”

“Did you know about her
?
”

“Yes
.
”
H
e shrugged. “But after Helen gave the ultimatum
,
he didn’t ask for my assistance for anything
about
her.”

“What did you used to do exactly? Do you also
run an escort service?” I
was joking of course, but on a certain level
, I
hoped he hadn’t been a contributing helper to the Senator’s extramarital affairs.

“Ha! You’re funny. No, it wasn’t like that. He just needed me to do a background check for security reasons
,
and
I was responsible for getting
her safely home a few times.”

“Why would you help him cheat on his wife?”

“It’s not my place to judge, Presley. Anyways I’m sure that’s not why you stopped by. So
,
come sit down and tell me what’s happened since you hung up on me last.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that.
My battery went dead.
”

“Right
,
”
h
e said dryly.

I
walked in and took a seat on the loveseat. It was your pretty typical hard, lumpy hotel sofa. The furnishings were nice, same rich hues as in the lobby, but not as opulent as the lobby.