Stilettos & Scoundrels (19 page)

“She is about as well as expected, Mr. Thurman.”

My
dad, the nice guy.
What I had recently seen Helen doing in that car made me a little less sympathetic.
Helen Daniels
was not
s
uch a
nice person.
I
was sure
that
if
my
dad knew
that Helen
was doing God-knows-what in a car on Main Street, he might not be so worried about her. Then again, he probably would.
I
mentally
scolded my
self for being so catty. The woman had just lost her husband. No matter what Helen was doing, or who, last night
,
I
should try to be a little more compassionate. “What happened? Who found him? When did it happen?”

“May I come in?”
Cooper
asked
my
dad, completely ignoring
me
, which pissed
me
off.
Who the hell did he think he was? Good looks aren’t everything, mister, when you act like an ass!
I
quickly forgot what a great guy
I
thought he was last night.

Cooper
walked into
the
living room
,
and as
I
followed him,
I
again
found my
self looking at his ass.
I
couldn’t help
my
self.
As
we
all sat down,
Cooper
explained what had happened to Senator Daniels.
“After your interview with the Senator, he went back to Helen’s family’s mansion, where he and Helen usually stay when they are
in town
. He had been splitting time between the house and hotel this trip so he could be closer to his staff
to
prepar
e
for an upcoming bill. He
had
stayed in for the evening
to
work with his advisor, Alex Bailey, and earlier in the day
,
he
had
cancelled all of his appointments. At least all but one.” At this,
Cooper
just glared at
me
. “Helen was out for the night at the Women’s League dinner. She returned when Alex was leaving
and she and Alex
spoke for a minute
. When
she went to bed
,
the Senator
was
still in his study working, which wasn’t unusual. She said this was around midnight.
The Senator
told her he would be up to bed shortly. The next anyone saw of him was at four in the morning, when Maria, the housekeeper, saw the light on in his study and went in to see if he wanted coffee. She found him slumped over his desk and got Helen, who immediately called me.”

“Why you? Shouldn’t the police be involved in this?”

“The police have been called and are on their way,” he said tightly. “The Senator was on my watch when he was found
,
so it makes it my responsibility.” As he talked
,
he glared at
me
.
My comment was a bit insensitive I suppose,
but it just came out.

“Who do you think could have killed him?”

“Presley will be happy to help in any way she can,”
Clark Thurman
interrupted.
He
was surprised
that I was
giving
Cooper
a hard time.
He
always wanted everyone to get along and usually didn’t see why people couldn’t. Living with
my
mother made
being a peacemaker
a full
-
time job for him.
Just then
, Sue came down the stairs. She was dressed and looked like a million bucks.

I turned to see my mother and felt a twinge of envy.
Why didn’t she have that skill?
She
hadn’t much more time
than me
to get ready, but she didn’t look like she just rolled out of bed.
Damn her.

“Good morning
, sweetheart,” my
dad said
, reaching f
or her hand as
Sue
walked in the room. “I am afraid I have some bad news. Tom Daniels has been found murdered.”

“Here?
” my
mother gasped
, “In Alkon?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so,” my
dad replied. “Honey, this is
Cooper
,
Cooper
Sands
. He
is
head of the Senator’s security. He stopped by to ask Presley a few questions.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said to
Cooper
. Then she tu
rned to me
, hands on hips and asked, “Why is he here asking you questions? How did you get yourself mixed up in this? What have you been doing?”

“Mrs. Thurman,”
Cooper
interjected, “Presley was one of the last people to see the Senator yesterday during their interview. We’re just covering all bases.”

“Well then, I guess that makes sense. I just can’t believe we had a murder here in our small town. I better call Helen and see what we can do for her. Oh
,
and I need to call the ladies from the
L
eague and start the communication tree
—
the other ladies will want to help too. I’ll make you all some coffee,” she said, walk
ing
into the kitchen. The best way she knew how to handle a crisis was to take action and cook something.

As
Cooper
continued talking,
I
let my mind wander
over yesterday’s eve
nts. A lot had happened, but I
still couldn’t imagine who would have done this.
People don’t get killed for being womanizing creeps, do they?
Especially in a small town like Alkon.
Surely, that Peter character wasn’t here in Alkon. That phone call was tense, but it sure didn’t seem life threatening. But who knows?

“So
,
who do you think is responsible for this?”
I
asked again.
“How did it happen?”

“Presley, can you think of anything that may have been out of the ordinary when you were with the Senator yesterday?”
Cooper
asked, again ignoring
my
question and asking a question of his own.

I racked my
brain
,
going over yesterday’s conversation with the Senator. “When I arrived
,
he told me to take a seat while he finished a phone conversation
.
I could hear him in his office arguing with some
one
named Peter
,
but I already told you that last night.”

“I know. You sure there was nothing else?”
Cooper
asked.

“I just heard the tail end of the conversation. He said something to the effect of, ‘I’ll get you your money. Don’t I always?’ Then I think he hung up on him.
A
couple of seconds later
,
he told me he was ready for
the
interview. I didn’t really hear much. Who is Peter anyway?”

Cooper
took notes. Then he looked up and asked, “Where were you when this conversation took place?”

“I told you. I was sitting just outside his office, but he had the door open and I could hear ev
erything pretty clearly.” As I
told this to
Cooper
for the second time, there was another knock at the front door. What a popular place this was at six o’clock in the morning
—
a re
gular Grand Central Station. My
mother got the door this time
, and I
could hear Dirt and someone else at the door.
This should be interesting.
After the tension last ni
ght at La Casa, I
wondered what would happen
when
Dirt saw
that Cooper
was already here asking questions he really didn’t have much right to ask
, i
n th
e eyes of the police anyway. I
assumed
that
even under good circumstances the police
didn’t
have a lot of pa
tience for private security. I
quickly found that to be true as
my
mother came back into the room, followed by Dirt and someone named Officer Schultz.

“I’ll bring you all back some coffee. It
will be ready in a minute,” my
mother said.

As Dirt walked in,
Cooper
stood up
,
bracing for the fight he knew was probably going to happen.
He knew Dirt would be pissed that he was even here; under the best of circumstances, it would still be a territorial thing. Under the current tense circumstances, it could be interesting. Cooper always enjoyed a challenge and interacting with Dirt these days was always a challenge. Cooper hoped it wouldn’t get too out of hand because he knew Mrs. Thurman would be pissed if they busted up their furniture.

“What are you doing here?” Dirt asked
Cooper
angrily.

“Same thing as you, I suppose. Trying to see who might have had
the
motive to kill Senator Daniels.”
Cooper
wasn’t about to let Dirt engage him in an argument.

“What right do you think you have? This is a police matter. The last thing I need is you in here screwing it up.”

“I have just as much right to find the killer as you do. I worked for him, so I know a lot more about him than you do. We should be working this together.”

“Yeah, you worked for him. Doesn’t seem like you did too good of a job
protecting him
, now does it
?
Considering he’s dead.”

I
cringed
. Ouch
, that had to hurt.
I
couldn’t believe Dirt actually said that
—
what an ass.
I
spied the throbbing vein in Cooper’s forehead and saw that, despite his best efforts, he was
starting to lose control
of his temper
.

“Exactly. I am responsible for someone getting through security and this happening. Even more reason for me to find the killer. I owe it to Helen.”

Dirt was relentless.
“This is none of your concern
,
Cooper
. I suggest you get out of my way before you screw
this
investigation up too. Do you really want to be responsible for letting the killer get away?”

Cooper
blanched at this remark. Dirt really hit home.
Cooper
just glared at Dirt.
There was so much he wanted to say, but he knew it was better right now to keep his mouth shut.

“Do I need to have you escorted out
,
or are you going to do the sensible thing and leave?” Dirt asked and Officer Schultz took a step forward.

If the situation wasn’t so tense
,
it would be comical
, a
lmost like an old Mexican standoff from the old time westerns
that
I used to watch with my
dad.
Cooper
just looked at Dirt again and grabbed his coat.
R
etreating
, for now,
would be the best thing to do. It was obvious
that
Dirt wasn’t going to budge
,
and technically
,
Dirt had the advantage.
Cooper
couldn’t argue with that.

“Stay away from this investigation,
Cooper
,” Dirt
said
to him.

“Not a chance, Dirt.”
Cooper
nod
ded
at
my dad and I
before stalking
toward
the
door
. “I’m not finished with this
,
”
Cooper added, walking out of the house and closing the door behind him.