Stilettos & Scoundrels (55 page)

“I bet Tobey
knows something he’s not saying
,”
I
offered up.
“
Did you
guys
know about Helen trying to take over Tom’s seat
in the Senate?”
I
personally thought there was still something ironic about Bobby also having been into trouble in Vegas, but that had been ignored. Neither of them thought Bobby had anything to do with the Senator.
So I had just given up on that for now.
“So
,
where do we go from here?”
I
asked.

Cooper
and Dirt just looked at
me
.

“What?”

“Pres, it’s time you left this to us.
Someone threw a rock through your parents’ window.
You had someone call your house and threaten you. Someone chased you earlier with a car
,
for
G
od
’s
sakes. You need to just stay out of it.”

“I agree with
Cooper
,” Dirt said. “Enough is enough. We can’t be worried about you being in danger.
”

I
was fuming. “You’re not my guardians. I am a big girl and I have helped you both. You can’t shut me out now.”

“Yes
,
we can,”
Cooper
said
.
Dirt nodded in agreement.

“That’s not acceptable. You either include me
,
or I will call Lisa Simmons and tell her everything I know.”

“Pres!”

“I will
,
Cooper
. I refuse to be left out
,
and if I have to resort to blackmail
,
I will.” Of course
,
I
would not actually do that, but
I
hoped they would be worried enough to not keep trying to push
me
aside on this.

“
Cooper
, I think she means business.”

“Fine! But you need to promise us you will do what we say and not go off on your own. It is too dangerous,”
Cooper said giving me
a stern look.

“Ok
ay
,”
I said with my
fingers crossed behind
my
back.
I
knew to stop when
I was
ahead.

We
left the restaurant
(me
full of garlic cheesy fries
)
, with a plan.
Cooper
and Dirt were going to follow up with Simon and Chris, respectively
,
and
I
was going to try to talk to Helen and Katy.
I
was to see if
I
could find out anything on what Chris might be hiding.
We
all felt
that somehow he was tied into this mess, which was hard to figure out since no one thought he was gambling.

“Call me
,
P
res, after you talk to Helen,”
Cooper
said.

My heart skipped a beat, partly because of the way Cooper was looking at me and…well…partly because of the way Cooper was looking at me. He was mad and sexy. It might be worth getting yelled at just to watch him.
“I will.”

The next morning, Katy
and I
met at the knock-off Starbucks out at the strip mall. It wasn’t as sunny and bright as the day before. Looking like rain
,
the sky
was that dull grey that made you want to curl up on the couch with a blanket and hot soup. Katy didn’t want to meet at Betty’s for some reason
,
and
my
thighs didn’t need to meet there either.
I
had to stop with the muffins and the cheesy fries
,
and with
my
mother’s cooking. Katy
had
called last night and asked
me
to meet her for coffee so
that
she could explain the whole Chris situation.
I
was glad because
I
had questions to ask Katy
,
and it seemed like
my friend was ready to open up about the situation
. Suddenly a small yellow car flew into the lot, fishtailing to a stop six feet in front of
us
.

“What the hell is wrong with that driver?”
I
asked Katy, trying to dodge flying gravel.

“I don’t…. that’s Tobey’s car.”

As she said this, Tobey stepped out of the car, disheveled and frantic. Something was definitely wrong.

“It’s about time I found you, Presley. I’ve been looking all over town for you. Where is
Cooper
?” Tobey asked breathlessly.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“I think Chris is in danger. You and
Cooper
have to help him,” Tobey pleaded.

“Tobey, calm down. Why is Chris in danger?”

“Listen, we have to get
Cooper
. I don’t have time to tell this story twice.”

As Tobey continued talking,
I
dialed
my
cell phone.
The look on Tobey’s face left no room for doubt. Something
was really, really wrong.
Cooper
had planned to meet me
later after
he
and Dirt ta
lked to the Feds about what they knew. Last I
heard
,
they hadn’t been able to get ahold of Simon or Chris and
they had
decided
that
as much as they might not want FBI interference, it would be
a
good idea
to
share information
,
and they shouldn’t
wait any longer. After all, we
all had the same goal
—
to catch a killer.

“He’s probably s
till at the police station,” I
said to
Tobey while it rang
.

“Hello.”

“
Cooper
, where are you?”
I
said urgently.

“I’m pulling out of the police station parking lot right now. Are you
okay?” he demanded, sensing my
mood.

“I’m fine,” I
assured him. “But I think Chris might be in danger. Tobey is here and
is having a full-blown meltdown. He
says he has to talk to you. Meet us at Betty’
s
. We can be there in ten minutes.” The police station was on the other side of town, so if they met at Betty’s, it was in the middle and would be faster.

“I’m on my way out. What’s going on, Pres?”

“Just meet us there.” I
looked a
t Katy and Tobey. “Get in,” I
said
to both of them, jumping in my
Kia
and putting
the key in the ignition. As I
pulled out into traffic to head across town
, I
tried again to
get Tobey to tell me
what was going on. Chris
had to be
involved in this mess somehow.
We
had been
right all along. But why was he in danger?

“Tobey, you’ve got to t
ell me what’s going on,” I
said, speeding the few miles to meet
Cooper
.

“Just hurry up and get there
,
and I promise I will tell you everything,” Tobey yelled.

“Calm down, Tobey,” Katy said, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze. “It can’t be that bad.”

“Yes
,
it is. We are running out of time,” he said, glancing at his watch. “It may be too late already.”

“We
’ll be there in two seconds,” I
said, turning the corner, which
led
right to the
parking lot of Betty’s. As I turned in, I
saw
Cooper
was already there. H
e must have been flying. As we
pulled in, he was stepping out of his car.
I
came to a stop right nex
t to him and he reached for my
door. Tobey and Katy jumped out as
Cooper
started to speak.

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” he asked while looking
intently at me
.
We
all looked expectantly at Tobey.

He looked back at
us,
gathering his thoughts. Finally, after what seemed an eternity
,
he started speaking.
“I’m afraid for Chris. I think he got himself in big trouble
!
He’s in way over his head
,
and I think his life may be in danger,” Tobey forced out in a rush of words.

“Tobey, slow down. What is Chris mixed up with?”
Cooper
quickly changed from being concerned about
me
to focus
ing
on what Tobey had to say.
I
admired how calm he was in a crisis.
I
guessed that
was
what made him good at his job.

Tobey took a deep breath and started to speak again. “Chris is mixed up with some bad people
,
and it’s all my fault. You have to help him
!
”

“How is it your fault?”
I
asked Tobey.

“He was blackmailing the Senator
.
”

The three of us stared at Tobey in shocked silence.
We
thought Chris was involved somehow
,
but this wasn’t exactly what they expected.

Cooper was the first to break the stunned silence.
“Why, Tobey?
What did he have to gain?”

This was what
we
hadn’t been able to figure out when
we
thought Chris might be a likely suspect. What was in it for Chris? What was his motivation? It couldn’t just be because of Helen.

“He didn’t have anything to gain.” Tobey
’s
voice caught in his throat
. “He was doing it for me. When the Senator found out
I was gay
, he was going to fire me. I had counted on this job getting me noticed and
on
to the next level.
Being in politics is all I’ve ever wanted.
I was angry
that he’d fire me after all I had done for him,
and
I
went to Chris. Chris knew about the Senator’s gambling problem and threatened to expose him unless he kept me on the payroll and helped further my career.”

I
still wasn’t sure how this put Chris in danger and started to ask Tobey
about it, but out of the corner of my
eye
, I
saw
Cooper
shake his head
, motioning me to be quiet. We
waited for Tobey to continue.

“Bobby had witnessed Tom
losing big
in Vegas. Bobby mentioned it to me
,
and I told Chris, who thought it would be just the information
we needed
to shut Tom up,” Tobey said hoarsely.
“But then Tom was murdered, and things have been spinning out of control.
Chris called me about an hour ago to tell me
that
he and Helen were meeting someone out at the old warehouse and
that
this would be settled once and for all.”

Cooper
and
I
looked at each other. What in the world did Helen have to do with this and why was she with Chris
, b
esides the obvious sex part
? I
looked at
Cooper
and could tell he was thinking the same thing.
Cooper
spoke first.

“Tobey,” he said gently. “Why would Chris be with Helen?”

“She’s known about the blackmailing all along. She is the one who encouraged Chris
to do it
. She knew that Tom would cave
. He didn’t want to
blemish his career and
she
thought
s
he could use it as leverage,” Tobey said bitterly. “If it wasn’t for her, I don’t think Chris would have gotten this involved.”