Stilettos & Scoundrels (22 page)

“What? Oh my God…with who?”

“That’s just it, I don’t know. I couldn’t see who the other person was and believe me I tried. The windows were too fogged up.”

Katy laughed. “Seriously? You couldn’t see anything? Are you sure it was Helen then? I can’t really see her doing that in plain view.”

“I am positive it was Helen, but you’re right, it does seem odd she would hook
up in public with someone here in Alkon. At the time, I didn’t think much more
about it other
than figuring what was good for the gander was good for the goose. But now it also ma
k
e
s
her somewhat of a suspect
in
her husband’s murder
,
don’t you think?”

“Did you tell
Cooper
?”

“Um, not exactly.”

“Please tell me you told Dirt.”

“Well, he was so mad at
Cooper
and I was mad at him for being mad at
Cooper
that, well, I sort of forgot.”

“You mean you forgot on purpose.”

I
just shrugged. No use denying what was true.

“Presley! They are going to kill you when they find out. And they will find out. You have to tell them.”

“This is what I was thinking, Katy.
” I leaned in closer.
If I can figure out who killed Senator Daniels first, then they will both be happy and there’s no need for them to know about what I saw and didn’t tell them. Think about it. This could be my big break. I’m smarter than they are. I can solve this thing.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard, Presley. At least tell Dirt. He’s a cop. What if this fling of Helen’s really does make her a true suspect, although I can’t see her killing someone, and you’re keeping valuable information from them that could help them solve this thing?”

“Well, thanks for your confidence in my abilities to solve this. I can always tell them later. Besides, if they’re good at their jobs they should be able to figure it out on their own. They don’t need my help.”

“Presley, of course you are smarter than they are
,
and I have no doubt you can solve this, but what if it’s dangerous? I mean, the Senator is already dead. Doesn’t that scare you? Besides, isn’t it a crime to withhold evidence?”

“Who’s to say that Helen’s extramarital activ
i
t
i
es constitute evidence
?
I can’t help
it if I have a bad memory,” I
said innocently. “Besides, now they’re probably busy
,
and I hate to bother them. They probably wouldn’t have time to return my phone call
s
even if I tried to contact them. I am sure they are busy trying to find the bad guy.”

“If you say so, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. They are going to be livid when the
y
find out. And they will find out.”

“So, how do you think we can find out who Helen was with in that car?”
I wanted
to change the subject so Katy would stop making
me
feel guilty about not telling Dirt and
Cooper. I wanted Katy to
focus on what was important.

Just then, from out of the corner of her eye
,
I
saw Dirt walk in.
Shit
. It was one thing to know something and just not say anything, but a very different scenario to be face-to-face
with him
and not tell
him about it
.
I
couldn’t very well claim
I
forgot again, when
I
just finished telling Katy everything. Dirt saw
us
and walked over.

“Don’t you say a thing,” I
whispered to Katy.

“What are you talking about?” She hadn’t seen Dirt come in yet.

“Just don’t
throw me under the bus,” I
warned.

“You two spend a lot of time in here,” Dirt said as he walked up. “Mind if I join you?”

“Sure,” Katy said waving her hands
towards
the space next to her
.
Dirt slid in
.
I
thought
that
maybe Katy should try to hook
up with Dirt. He was a much nicer guy than Chris
.

“You seem to be in a much better mood now,”
I
said to him. “How are things with the investigation? Catch the killer yet?”

“Not many leads. People in the Senator’s camp are
keeping their mouths closed
about the inner workings and aren’t saying much. To make it worse
,
a girl showed up claiming to be the Senator’s girlfriend. Luckily Helen wasn’t there at the time
,
but it’s not going to be long before it gets out.”

“What did she want?”
I
asked.

“I’m not sure. She was certainly putting on a good show of being distraught
,
and when I left
,
poor Tobey was trying to calm her down and presumably do damage control. She was a mess but gorgeous. Don’t know how the Senator pulled that in.”

“Dirt!” Katy leaned over and hit him.

“What,” Dirt replied pretending to ward off more blows. “She was hot. With all the shit going on
,
at least let me appreciate something
normal
.”

“You’re a pig,” Katy said playfully. She knew he was teasing.

“In all seriousness, I know someone has to know more than they are telling me, but sometimes it is a waiting game.”

Katy just looked at
me
.
The
people in the Senator’s camp weren’t the only ones not telling what they knew.

“I just stopped by here to grab a burger before heading back to the station,” he said, raking his hand through his hair.
I
felt a little bad about not telling him about Helen. He really looked stressed
,
and
I
hated not giving him information that might help
,
but
I
just
couldn’t bring my
self to do it.
I wasn’t just nervous that he would be mad, there was
something else
—a feeling I
couldn’t really explain.

“
Who is that?” Katy said and motioned over to a woman who had walked in
to
the restaurant
and made her way
up to the to
-
go counter. Definitely not from around here, she had long brown hair with caramel highlights, a high-end job according to Katy.
She was stunning in her
gorgeous navy wrap dress, possibly a real Diane Von Furstenberg,
and
camel
-
colored knee boots
.
“That’s Lisa Simmons,” Dirt said turning around to look. She’s a reporter from some paper in Washington. She must have flown out here within minutes of hearing of the Senator’s death. She was at the station hounding the FBI agents. I don’t envy them. She didn’t seem too interested in talking to a small town sheriff
,
which was just fine by me.”

I
started
to realize I
might have some competition on this story.
It hadn’t really occurred to me before now,
but
it
made perfect sense. Of course, there would be all kinds of re
porters all over this story. My
c
ompetitive streak kicked in. I
couldn’t let someone out
-scoop me. I
was going to have to be more focused and deliberate
about what course of action I
took on this.

“The
F
eds?” Katy asked.

“They showed up a few hours ago and pretty much took over. It’s to be expected with Tom being a Senator and all. But it’s still my town
,
and this needs to be solved for people’s peace of mind,” he said, slamming his fist on the table. “That’s something the FBI doesn’t care about
—
the people here in Alkon.”

Once I
heard
that
the Feds
had taken over, I
didn’t feel as bad
about keeping information to myself. I
didn’t know them, so
I didn’t
owe them anything
.
Besides, Dirt probably wouldn’t want to make it easier for them
—more of my
rationalization at its best.

“Dirt, you are not going to believe what Presley saw.” Katy said with a
sideways glance at her. I
look
ed at her incredulously. Had I
not just asked her five seconds
ago to not tell anyone? I
sent her a
stern shut
-up look.

“What did you see
,
Pres?” he a
sked tiredly. Something told me
that telling him now might not be the best timing. In fact, he was so tired and stressed, he would probably be complete
ly irrational and upset with me
about
not saying anything
about it this morning
.
It would probably be best if I
waited. Why get him all worked up over something that probably was nothing? Yes, not telling him was the
best option. It’s not as if I
wouldn’t
ever
tell him, just not now. I would wait until I
had more information to share.

“Mr. Si
mms painted his house pink,” I
blurted out. This was not going to work; he w
asn’t going to believe this. I
was going to kill Katy for openin
g her mouth. Katy kicked me
u
nder the table and looked at me
as if to say
“
tell him, you idiot.”
I
shot her back a
“
shut the hell up”
look.

Dirt lo
oked at me
funny.
H
e wondered why
we
felt this was big news.

Katy looked at
me
and
shook her head at the fact I
wasn’t coming clean.
I
just hoped he didn’t notice all the
big looks that Katy and I were exchanging
. Lucky for
me,
he was tired and
not paying attention. I
was sure
that
under normal circumstance
s we
would not be so lucky.
If he couldn’t catch on to us normally,
then he wasn’t a very good police officer.

“Oh that,” he said, waving his hand. “He did that after the Town Board denied his permit to put a totem pole in his front yard and made him take it down. Since they couldn’t tell him what color to paint his house, it was his way to get back
at the town
.”

“What was their problem with a totem pole
?
” Katy asked.

“Well, it wasn’t the totem pole they had the issue with per se. It was the naked women he wanted carved on the totem pole
that
the town fathers objected to. He is a bit of a dirty old man
by
normal town standards. I didn’t really see this issue.” Dirt laughed.
“
To each his own.
”

Katy and I
burst out laughing. Only in a small town. “Now I bet they wish they would have just let hi
m do it,” I
said. “I’d rather look at a totem pole of naked women than a Pepto Bismol pink house.”

Dirt chuckled. “I imagine they are.”

“Tell me something, Dirt. What is the deal between you and
Cooper
these days? You used to be friends
,
and now you act like you
can’t stand each other,” I asked. Dirt looked at me and, while I
could tell he didn’t want to talk about this, he knew
I
wasn’t going to quit bugging him until he told
me
. Sighing, he looked at
me
.
“I
t’s a long story, Pres...”

“So? I have time. I just don’t understand all this animosity. You used to be such good friends. I know you’re busy
,
so just give me the short version for now and satisfy my curiosity and I will leave you alone
about it
.”