Stilettos & Scoundrels (57 page)

Walking in the front door,
Cooper motioned for me
to be quiet as he drew his gun.
It was dark with only the faint light from the setting sun allowing for any visibility. It took a few seconds for our eyes to adjust before we could even make out any of our surroundings.
It made
me
a little uneasy
watching Cooper handle a gun. I’
d never seen a gun like that up close
.
I
didn’t even realize he carried one
,
thoug
h it made sense, and it made me
look at
Cooper
in a whole new light. He was actually even sexier, if that was even possible.

Cooper and I
heard voices in t
he back of the warehouse as we
got close
r
.
As we got closer to the voices, a glow emanated from a room down the hall. It was nice to be able to see, but the light also made us a little bit more visible. We
listened intently, trying to make out what
was being said
. There seemed to be at least three people talking.
I
immediately
recognized Helen Daniels and Simon talking.
We
knew Chris was in there
,
but he wasn’t currently saying anything
and
the other voice wasn’t his.
I
didn’t recognize it, but
I
assumed it belonged to Garrison Palazzo.

Cooper heard the voices too and it confirmed some of his suspicions. He wished Presley would have stayed in the car. He had a bad feeling about this.

Cooper and I crept
around the corner,
and
the people
doing the
talking
came
into view.
Everyone stood in a semi-circle. Simon stood facing an older man who Cooper and I knew to be Garrison Palazzo.
Simon and his dad were arguing,
and
both
were armed with guns
. Chris
and Bobby stood
next to Helen,
and none of them were
saying much of anything
. They just
look
ed
scared
.
Couldn’t blame them there. Now that
I
was closer to the action,
I
almost wish
ed I
had stayed behind. There wer
e too many guns out there for me, but I
was in it for the long haul now
and I sure wasn’t going to admit that I was scared at this point
.

As
we
inched
closer,
we
could start to make out what the
others
were saying.

“You got your money, Garrison. Leave her out of it,” Simon
yelled
.
I
assumed he was referring to Helen, which seemed odd.
What did Simon care about Helen?

“Simon, we can’t leave any loose ends. They need to be silenced. Permanently,” Garrison Palazzo said with a menacing tone, pointing his gun at both Helen and Chris. “Son, you were supposed to have taken care of this already.”

“Looks like father and son aren’t exactly on the same page
.
I told you
Bobby was involved somehow,” I
whispered to
Cooper, elbowing him in the ribs. He gave me
a
stern
look and
pressed
his finger to his
lips in an effort to silence me—n
ot an easy task.

“What about him?” Simon said, pointing to Bobby. “What’s to say he won’t talk?”

“Hey man, you have my word. I just wanted to repay my debt and be left alone. I didn’t see anything,” Bobby said in response.

Thanks, Simon
, I
thought to my
self.
Glad you wanted that question answered too
. “Trust me, Simon. He’s no threat. He knows
that
if he says anything
,
the police will get an anonymous tip
telling them
that he killed our friend
,
the Senator.”

“What?” Simon and I both exclaimed. However, I
must have been louder
than I thought
, because everyone
had
heard
and turned toward me
.
Cooper clamped his hand over my
mouth
,
but it was a fraction too late
. There was no denying that
this time my
mouth
had landed me
in
big
trouble.

“Damn it, Presley,” Cooper whispered in frustration. He knew he should have forced me to stay in the car, even if he’d had to tie me up to make it possible. He pushed me away from him back toward the warehouse door, but we
couldn’t back up fa
st enough when Garrison saw us
.

“Well, well, well. What have we here? It seems like we have some company
—the pretty lady
and her boyfriend the security professional. What a joke,” Garrison said
, laughing
.

S
imon had his gun trained on us
and waved it, motioning for us to come out of our
hiding place to join the others. He motioned for
Cooper
to toss down his gun, which he did.

Cooper
began
clenching and
un-clenching his fists. I
was scared and felt horrible
that I had just put us in a bad predicament. I
could only hope
that
Dirt would get there soon or
that they
c
ould find some way to talk our
way out of this.

Garrison shifted
to get
a good view of all of
us
. Without taking his eyes off
the group,
he
continued
talking to Simon
.

“I said we don’t have to worry about him talking
, Simon
.
He did the job
you
were supposed to do. His debt with me is clear.” Cooper and I weren’t the only ones who were surprised to learn that Bobby had killed Senator Daniels
. Simon
had clearly not
been expecting this
news, and
Chris
stared
at Helen
in
complete shock
. Helen, though, was
her normal, in
-
control self
and
in a killer Donna Karan suit
with
Prada handbag. Even at gunpoint,
the
woman looked put-together.

I broke the stunned silence.
It’s not as if thi
ngs could get any worse, and I
really want
ed
some clarification here.

“Wait a minute. I’m confused here. I thought Chris killed the Senator
?
”

“You
bitch!” We all turned our
heads to see Chris confronting Helen. H
is
face was white and his body
was
shaking with anger.

“You told me
that
you
killed
Tom
,” he yelled at her. “I’ve been trying to cover for you and putting myself in danger for nothing?”

“Get a grip, Chris. I never said I killed anybody. You assumed I did
.
I just didn’t
correct you
,” Helen said
curtly
.
This boy had been a fun diversion from her boring daily life, but he was starting to be a bore.
“Not my fault you were too stupid to figure out the truth. Besides, I needed you. You played right into the situation perfectly.”

I could see the hurt in
Chris’ eyes
.
It was clear
that he had true feelings for
Helen.
I
was confused about why he was with Katy last night
then
,
and I regretted that I
hadn’t the chance to ask Katy before Tobey show
ed
up
at the coffee house. I sighed. T
here was time enough l
ater to figure that out, if we
got out of there alive.

“You used me,” Chris said, still angry, but also a bit sad.
He knew he was stupid to have thought someone like Helen would really love him, but sometimes she could be so nice.

“Sorry
.
” Helen shrugged. “I didn’t make you fall in love with me.”

Although
Chris looked devastated
, I
had a hard time feeling sorry for him.
What comes around goes around.
He treated Katy like crap
,
and he was getting what he deserved.

“I don’t believe for a minute that Bobby killed him, and Simon didn’t kill him. Obviously, Helen and Chris didn’t kill h
im either. So, who did?” I
asked. This was getting ridiculous. For a moment, this entire situation seemed comical
:
guns pointing at people, people fighting over being in love, or rather,
not
in love. For a split second, everyone was silent.

“I killed him,” Dirt said, stepping
out
from the shadows with his gun trained on Tobey
,
who
stepped in front of him. I
wondered how long he had been listening to this exchange.

“Thanks
,
Cooper
for leaving me those voicemails
to
let me know where you would be. It really made my job easier getting all
of
you in the same place.”

“You son-of-a-bitch,”
Cooper
said, taking a step forward.
He had been hoping he was wrong about Dirt. Despite their differences, Cooper wouldn’t have thought him capable of murder, and for what?

“Now, now. I would think twice before stepping any closer
,
Koop
.
” Dirt pointed his gun at him. That made three guns pointed in various directions
:
Simon, Garrison, and now Dirt.
But who was counting?

“Dirt, what is this about?”
I
questioned. “Why would you kill the Senator?”

Dirt turned to me, fuming.
He was livid about the situation playing out like this. When he got involved with Garrison Palazzo, he hadn’t any idea it would turn to murder and now to this.
“Presley, I’m so sorry you had to get involved. I would have preferred you never came out here. You were always a good friend to me. Now you’re going to have to die with your boyfriend here.”

“Dirt
,
let her go. She won’t say anything,”
Cooper
said quietly.

“Shut up! I’ve worked too hard! I deserve this
,
and I’m not letting you fuck it up
—
not any of you,” Dirt said.

“Dirt, why?”
I asked again. I couldn’t believe it. I
coul
dn’t comprehend Dirt killing me
or
Tom Daniels and wanted to know what had pushed him to these lengths
.

“Because being a cop doesn’t pay shit. I got tired of working hard for nothing. Something
she
wouldn’t understan
d,
” he said, pointing to Helen
,
who
had the nerve to
look bored
by
the whole
scene,
“
or the Senator. He thought he was such a big shot that he could gamble away millions without a care in the world.”

“But
,
Dirt
—
murder? Is it really worth it? You’re not this kind of person.” It looked like Dirt was conspiring with Garrison and Simon.

“You don’t know what kind of person I am, Presley,” he sneered. “So just shut up. All of you shut up and get on the floor. Simon, you toss your gun over to Garrison.”

Wait a minute. Why would Dirt want Simon to get rid of his gun?
My
head was starting to hurt from all of this. “Are you working for him?”
I
said incredulously
, tilting my head towards
Garrison.