Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 09 - Romance & Revenge (5 page)

Chapter 5

“I have Glenda’s contact info,” Jared said, walking into the kitchen as I was pushing the button to brew my third cup of coffee. I hadn’t slept well last night
;  tossing and turning. It was proving to be hard to wake up today.

“Already? That was fast.”

“I sent a couple emails last night hoping someone would still be in contact with her and everyone must be as bored as me without work because I had several responses in my inbox this morning and two that had the contact information. I was a little surprised since no one has mentioned her. Here, I wrote the info down for you and also emailed it,” he said and handed me a pink sticky note.

I looked at the clock. It was just after eight. “I’ll wait until nine and then give her a call. What are you up to today?”

“Nothing. I was hoping we would make progress on this mess that is my work life right now.”

“Let’s hope Glenda has something for us then.”

We sat and drank our coffee, Katy soon joined us, and we made small talk about nothing, the way good friends can, until it was time to call Glenda. 

“Maybe you should call her
, Jared. After all you’re the one who worked with her,” I said.

“No thanks. She didn’t like me.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“Honestly, I don’t think she lik
ed anyone. Except John’s dad.”

“OK. Well here goes.” I dialed the Glenda number and after all that build up was disappointed when I just got voicemail. I left her a message and when I sat the phone down I grabbed my laptop.

“I’m going to email her, too. In case she’s like me and doesn’t check her voicemail very often,” I said to them.

“You mean never,” Katy said.

I shrugged. “What can I say? I hate voicemail.”

“What should we do while waiting for her to call back?” Jared asked.

“Let’s try to talk to some more of your co-workers. See if they know of any reason why Becky would have been arguing with Glenda.”

Jared snapped his fingers, “I know exactly
who we should talk to. Becky’s work husband.”

“And who’s that?” I asked.

“Jeff. He works as a general assistant. He was an intern last year and then we kept him on. He just helps out whenever he’s needed. She really took him under her wing.”

“Call him then and set something up. I’m going to jump in the shower.”

Forty-five minutes later we were headed down the street to meet Jeff and I was trying to contain my annoyance at Jared.

“You could have made the m
eeting a little later. My hair is going to freeze and break off and when it does its all your fault.”

“I told you to wear a hat and besides I told you he had plans. It was either now or tomorrow, so I voted for now!”

“You know hats make my head itch!”

“You guys stop! You’re killing me,” said Katy laughing. “Your hair won’t freeze in the few minutes
it takes us to get to Starbucks and even if it did, it won’t break off. I can see if from here.”

“Fine, but Jared’s buying my coffee,” I grumbled.

We walked in and Jared introduced Katy and I to Jeff before going to get our coffees.

“Thank you for meeting us,” I said.

“Jared said you wanted to help find Becky’s killer and I’m willing to help any way I can. She was one of my best friends. I can’t believe she’s gone,” he said, his voice cracking.

I first asked him all the same general questions I had asked Peter
and Sally and got basically the same answers. This girl had no known enemies, was as sweet as pie, a friend to all. While I understood random people were killed every day for no good reason, I didn’t think that was the case here. I didn’t have any concrete evidence to think that, it just was a gut feeling. And I had learned that more often than not, your gut was right.

“What about Glenda,” I finally asked.

“What about her?” he said.

“What kind of relationship did Becky have with her?”

“I wouldn’t say they had a relationship exactly. I mean, we were all co-workers but I wouldn’t exactly call it a relationship.”

“What do you mean exactly, Jeff?”

He paused for a minute and took a drink of his coffee. “Glenda was very standoffish. She never participated in any office activities and was reluctant to help anyone, or so that’s how she came across.
She acted like to interact with anyone besides John, Sr. was beneath her. Even Becky who was the person to take work off her plate. Glenda always made Becky feel like she was more of a hindrance than a help. I know Becky didn’t like her and Becky liked everyone.”

“Did
Glenda not like Becky?” I asked Jeff and also looked at Jared, since they both had worked for her.

“I don’t think it was a matter of liking or disliking.  I think that’s just who Glenda was. Don’t you agree,” he said, looking at Jared.

Jared nodded. “I don’t think Glenda liked anyone but John, Sr.”

“Do you have any idea why she would have argued with Becky on the phone?” I asked.

Jeff looked puzzled. “Not at all. I had no idea they were still in contact. Becky said Glenda’s last day of work was her happiest.”

“Becky’s boyfriend Peter told me the night before Becky died she was on the phone arguing with Glenda but Becky wouldn’t tell him why.”

“That’s not surprising,” Jeff snorted. 

When I look at him puzzled, because I didn’t understand where that was coming from he continued talking.

“Peter was an asshole, excuse my language ladies, and I kept telling Becky she needed to kick him to the curb.”

“Really?” I said surprised. “He seemed pretty upset when I talked to him yesterday.”

“Of course he would be upset. His gravy train just died.”

Clearly, there was no love lost between Jeff and Peter.

“She was supporting him?”

“Let me guess, when you met him yesterday it was at a bar?”

“Yeah, the Stargate.”

“That would be where he spends most of his time. Drinking at the bar.”

“He doesn’t have a job?”

“He did when they first met and actually at first seemed to be a decent guy.  However, he lost his job a while back and has used Becky since. She’s so sweet she wanted to help him get back on his feet.
She said he just needed someone to believe in him. She couldn’t see he was taking advantage. Though I think she might have been getting close. I know they had been fighting a lot lately and Becky said she had mentioned maybe they should take a break while he focused on himself. Of course she was doing it from a good place and he said she was being selfish. She felt bad and dropped it.”

“When was this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe a day or two before she died.”

So maybe Peter wasn’t the heartbroken guy he seemed. Or maybe he was heartbroken over the wrong things? Like losing Becky’s money.
“At least we can be more certain Peter didn’t kill her if he was depending on her for support,” I said.

“True,” Jeff said.
“I definitely didn’t like the guy but you’re right, he wouldn’t have killed her. He had more to gain with her alive.”

“Back to Glenda. You have no idea why they might have been arguing?”

“None at all. I’m sorry. I really wish I could help.”

****

“I feel like we are just running around in circles on all these issues,” Jared said as we were eating lunch at the house after getting home from talking to Jeff, who hadn’t had any more information or ideas on the design leaks, either.

“I know it’s discouraging but eventually we will get just the right piece of information and it will all make sense.
We need to find out why Glenda and Becky were angry.”

Chapter 6

“This is a great little place,” said Katy. Willie had brought us to a new sushi spot that had recently opened not too far from my house and one I had been wanting to try after reading some amazing reviews. And the reviewers were right: the food was excellent. I was tempted to order another spicy salmon roll but didn’t want to look like a pig and I wasn’t even hungry. I just wanted more because it tasted so good. Being full never stopped me from eating.

“
Willie, last time we talked you had a girlfriend, didn’t you?” I asked, wondering if my memory was correct and, of course, wanting to get the story. Not that I was interested in that way. Just making conversation. Willie was very handsome. Tall, strong, looked really good in his jeans and, the little I knew of him, had a good personality. When I had first met him he’d seemed an atypical detective. If I had to pick the star he mostly resembled, I would have chosen Wentworth Miller (I really hated seeing Prison Break go off the air.) Girls would be crazy not to snap him up. Willie didn’t disappoint tonight, in a black dress shirt, sleeves rolled up a little so you could see his tattoos which gave him a bit of a bad boy vibe that clearly contrasted with his cop job. Faded jeans, and some cool-looking shoes, dress shoes, black, but distressed-looking. I was surprised, actually. Men were usually so shafted when it came to shoes. They didn’t have the great choices us women had. They pretty much had tennis shoes, or black or brown dress shoes. Not much else. I felt sorry for guys in this area.

Katy kept
glancing in my direction as if to say, look how cute this guy is. And she was right. It was just hard putting Cooper out of my mind. I wasn’t ready to do that yet.

“Why
, Presley, is that your way of asking me if I’m available?” he teased, and looked happy that I was asking.

“I would hope you wouldn’t be taking two girls out on the town if you had a gir
lfriend waiting at home for you,” I teased back, and hoped he wasn’t getting the wrong idea.

“You’re safe. No girlfriend
. The last one ended a while ago.”

“
Sorry to hear that, but I’m not sure that makes us safe, Willie. Might be just the opposite,” Katy said, flirting with him. I had been so worried about her after the whole Chris debacle and how hurt I knew she’d been. It was good seeing her having fun and being back to her old self and even though she was with Dirt, there was nothing wrong with harmless flirting.

“So
, Presley, tell me what you’ve been doing with yourself, since I know you don’t work at Silk anymore.”

“A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Right now I’m writing a food blog for a small online magazine.”

“I like technology, but it seems so difficult to connect with people on the Internet.
Me, I still prefer the old-fashioned phone. Actually, talking to people.”

“Tell that to all the people who use online dating,” I joked.

“True,” he said. “So you write a food blog. That sounds interesting.”

“Especially sinc
e Presley is probably the worst cook I know. It’s really unbelievable she hasn’t been fired yet,” Katy said, teasing me.

Of course
she was right. I had talents, but cooking wasn’t one of them.

“Funny!”
I said to Katy “Don’t air all my dirty laundry. I’m not that bad.” I didn’t do the best job of following recipes. I felt they were more guidelines than absolutes so often my food didn’t turn out exactly as it should. But really how much difference could a quarter teaspoon actually make? Though since writing this blog I had discovered it mattered quite a bit.

“You’ve got my interest. How does someone who doesn’t cook write a food blog? Not that I know anything about blogs, but it does seem like you would need to know what you are talking about, to write about it.”

I stuck my tongue out at
Katy, who just laughed at me, and then I turned to answer Willie. “I actually think my lack of knowledge and ability in this area is what makes it popular with readers. I try and stick to simple for all the non-cooks out there and once every couple weeks I get a more complicated recipe from my mom. The blend works well. So many food blogs out there are actually by people who are good cooks and the recipes are fantastic when made by actual cooks. Yet us non-cooks could never make them because we have no idea even what half the ingredients are. Mine are simple for the non-Martha Stewarts. For those who want to move a step up from mac & cheese, but a baby step.”

“I can see that and would assume there are more of those basic cooks than
Martha’s out there,” he said. “It sound like a good concept.”

“What about you? Still detecting?”
I said, turning it around on him.

“Yep.
Never a shortage of murders and mayhem in Chicago. Speaking of which, did you know James was in trouble with the law again?”

I didn’t, but
it wasn’t surprising he was in trouble legally. He was the type who liked to skate the edge of what was right and wrong.

“No! What happened?”

“It’s been all over the news” He smiled. “How could you miss it?”

“Unless it’s in People I don’t much care. The local news is depressing,” I
said. “It’s all negative stuff out there.”

“
Ahh,” he said with a smirk. “It’s not that high profile to hit the cover of People, but he’s in some hot water. Allegedly, he has been embezzling from his own company.”

“How do you steal from your own company?” asked Katy. “Isn’t it his?”

“Yes and no. He’s the majority stockholder, but he has investors. His company hasn’t been doing so hot, tough economic times for a lot of businesses, and he raised some funds and brought more investors into his company for shares of stock. He then used those funds for things other than the purposes he had raised the money for. Which isn’t exactly making his investors happy because they aren’t seeing a return for their money and feel like they invested under false pretenses.”

“That’s not good,” I said.
“But not really surprising either.”

“Could he go to jail for
that?” Katy asked.

“Absolutely,” said Willie.
“It’s considered fraud.”

“I haven’t talked to him in a long time, Willie. Is that why you asked us to come out? You were hoping for some dirt on James?”
I teased.

He made a face. “No! It’s just a coincidence. This case landed in my lap
a few weeks ago because of my previous involvement with him. I shouldn’t even be talking about it with you so what is said at this table stays at this table. Got it?” he said sternly, looking at both of us before laughing. “Seeing you was random and for that I am happy. It was like you had dropped off the face of the earth. Speaking of happy, you grilled me about my love life. So what about yours?”

I felt a pit in my stomach and could see Katy looking at me
, whether with sympathy or pity I couldn’t tell, but either way she knew this was going to be a hard question for me.

“
No love life at the moment,” I said, not liking at all how that sounded and hoping it sounded like I got something caught in my throat. I certainly didn’t want Willie asking me any more questions about my love life. It was too hard to talk about.

I had a feeling he could sense my discomfort
, though, because he paused as if he was carefully thinking about his next sentence. Being a detective, he was more observant than the average guy.

“Then I hope you will do this again with me sometime.
You, too, Katy, if you’re still in town. I mean, what man wouldn’t want to take two beautiful women out on the town?”

“Thank you, Willie. That’s very sweet,” Katy said. I still had my mind on
Cooper and appreciated how he changed the subject.

“Do you have proof he did it, or is
it an alleged thing?” I said, going back to the James issue.

“Who, James?”

I nodded as I had my mouth full of spinach and artichoke dip, which was as good as the sushi though an odd thing to have on the menu at a sushi bar.

“
It’s still at the investigation stage. There isn’t concrete proof yet, but so far the evidence points to guilt. Why?”

“He’s tried to call me a couple times in the last
few weeks. He didn’t leave a message either time and I haven’t bothered to call him back.”

Willie looked surprised. “Does he do that often? Call you
, I mean?”

I shrugged. “Every once in a while.
Always to ask me to come back to manage Silk. He has a hard time keeping people. I assumed that’s why he was calling this time, which is why I hadn’t called him back yet. I have no desire to work for him again and it’s easier to avoid him than to tell him no for the millionth time.”

“Could you do me a favor and call him back? Just to make sure that’s what he wants.
Call me curious.”

“Sure. I can do that tomorrow.”

“And then you can let me know and it will give me another excuse to talk to you,” he said grinning.

“You don’t need an excuse
.” I smiled.

“Good!” he said and gave me a look that under other circumstances would have made me happy
, I think Katy was right, he was interested. Right now my emotions were too all over the place to appreciate it.