Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 05 - Gems & Gunshots (16 page)
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Authors: Laina Turner
Tags: #Mystery: Cozy - San Diego
I watched as things heated up between Greg and Amelia. It looked to me as if thirty years of pent up emotion was bubbling up inside Amelia just waiting to come out and now it finally had its chance. All the years Greg had been unfaithful with various women she had probably pretended to ignore, all the while she feelings of resentment must have been building up inside her.
“Oh, it’s our money? What about all the money you have hidden in a bank account in the Virgin Islands? Isn’t that our money, too?”
I heard Amelia take in a sharp breath. “You know about that?”
“Of course I know about it. You really think you were going to be able to hide the fact you’ve been taking money out of our joint account and funneling it into your secret account with out me finding out?”
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” Amelia asked incredulously.
“I was waiting for the right time, and I guess that time is now. Though, I should also tell you that the account no longer has our money in it,” he said smugly.
“What are you talking about, Greg? What did you do?” Amelia asked eyes narrowed and a mean look on her face.
“Not only did I know where you had a secret account but I also figured out how to access it. As of this morning, that account is at a zero balance. Well, actually I left ten dollars in it. You know, just to be nice.”
“You bastard,” Amelia went to lunge at him, and Cooper stepped in and stopped her. Greg let out a laugh and stepped back just out of her reach, wincing from his wound.
“Oh, Amelia. You didn’t really think you would get away with it, did you?”
“After all I have put up with over the years. I deserve that money. I deserve the money you were supposed to bring me tonight. I have given everything to you. That was my chance to start fresh.”
“You can start fresh all right, just without my money. I guess now is as good a time to tell you, I want a divorce,” Greg said in a cavalier tone.
I didn’t condone what Amelia had done, but I couldn’t blame her for wanting to take him for all he was worth. He was such a jerk. I turned my focus on Amelia and saw a look on her face that scared me even more than before. She steadied her hand that was holding the gun and I could see her close one eye and take careful aim. She was going to make this one count.
“Amelia, no!” I screamed and rushed her, all one hundred and thirty pounds or so of me knocking her off her feet, and the gun went flying. It hit the ground and spun across the room and I saw Nate make a grab for it, but his dad got to it first. Cooper rushed over to me. “Are you all right?”
I shook my head yes. I couldn’t speak because when I crashed into Amelia I knocked the wind out of myself and was trying to get some breaths. He grabbed Amelia with one hand and pulled out his cell with the other.
A few seconds later, the police came in and took Amelia, Nate, and Alan away. Alan of course was whining that it wasn’t his fault, and Nate kept looking at his dad, probably waiting for him to make this all right, which Mr. Ganuchi didn’t seem inclined to do.
I was sitting in a chair, finally getting my breath back when Mr. Ganuchi walked over. “Please accept my humblest apology for the way my son treated you.” He shook his head. “That’s not the way he was raised and I’m appalled that he was part of something like this.”
“It’s not your fault. Though I don’t really understand how he or Alan were involved.”
At that moment Cooper walked over from where he had been talking to the police and overheard what I had said. “I can clear that up,” he said. “Amelia had discovered that Greg was planning on leaving her for Nicole and taking their money. She knew Nicole’s family owned the insurance company and tried to talk to Nicole’s dad but ended up with Alan instead. Amelia told Alan what his sister was up to, getting ready to run off with a married man, in hopes he would stop her. He said he would for a fee. Amelia told Alan they could blackmail Greg and she would split the money with him. She said if they took Greg’s money he wouldn’t be able to run off with Nicole. Meanwhile, Kendra thought he was going to run off with her and she would have the money she wanted to start over. Alan agreed and that’s when he brought Nate in. He knew about Nate’s father and thought Nate would know what to do in this type of situation.”
“Okay, so the three of them conspired to blackmail Greg. But who killed Nicole at the robbery. How does that factor in?” I asked.
“Amelia thought Greg would be more inclined to pay if he knew they meant business. She sent in Nate and another guy in to kill Nicole and make it look like a robbery gone wrong. Greg had received a note that the blackmailers were responsible for killing Nicole, but he hadn’t told me until we were on the way here and he obviously didn’t realize Amelia was behind the killing until just a few minutes ago.”
“Why didn’t he tell you?”
“The note said if he told anyone he would be next and he believed it.”
“Wow, and to think I thought she was a woman scorned.”
“She was, but she was also a woman out for revenge. Let’s get you home,” Cooper said putting his arm around me.
“You know that saying,
hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
…”
“Remind me never to scorn you.” He laughed, kissing me softly.
*****
Thank you for taking the time to read this book and I hope you enjoyed it. I encourage you to read about the rest of my books below or head to my website at http://www.lainaturner.com.
Books by Laina Turner
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Presley tells her boss what he can do with her job in HR and embarks on a new career as a freelance journalist. What seems like a simple interview with a Senator turns to murder when the day after her interview the Senator turns up dead. Does the fact that Presley was one of the last people to see him alive make her a suspect? Her ex-boyfriend Cooper, who was in charge of the Senators security, might think so. Presley is determined to clear her name but can she do it and resist Cooper’s charms?
A FREE download available on Kindle, Nook, iTunes, Smashwords, and Kobo and you can purchase the paperback on Create Space or audio book on Audible or iTunes.
When Presley’s boss is found hanging she thinks its suicide until the police discover its homicide. Who would want to kill a boutique owner? Presley’s not sure but she’s determined to find out. The cute detective assigned to the case makes it all the more exciting.
Available on Kindle, Kindle UK, Kobo, Smashwords, Nook, and iTunes and as an audio book on Audible.
Presley went to Vegas to watch her friend Anna get married and the event turned into solving the mystery of her brother’s girlfriend disappearance. But Ashley wasn’t exactly the schoolteacher she appeared to be. Who was she and was she kidnapped?
Available on Kindle, Nook, iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords and as an audio book on Audible.
And the holiday short…
Mistletoe & Murder
In this holiday short story, Presley goes home for Christmas expecting it to be a relaxing holiday until her old boyfriend, Brian, asks for her help finding out who has been stealing from him and it turns from theft to murder. Why would anyone want to kill Tommy and what was he hiding?
Available on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords and iTunes and purchase the audio book on iTunes or Audible.
Presley heads to San Diego to hang out with Cooper and enjoy the great west coast weather. She didn’t expect that while hanging out at the local coffee shop she would be a witness to a robbery and murder at Gemstone’s Unlimited. Much to Cooper’s dismay Presley feels compelled to investigate. She discovers that not only was the storeowner a womanizer but also was filing false insurance claims for diamonds that weren’t really stolen. Was that why he was being blackmailed? Was that why someone robbed his store? Presley’s determined to find out!
Available on Smashwords, Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iTunes.
Get the first 5
Presley Books
PLUS the short story
A Day in the Life of Trixie Pristine
in the
Presley Thurman
boxed set.
Available on Smashwords, Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iTunes.
Presley wins a bet and thinks she finally is going to get a chance to work with Cooper and show her she’s got the potential to be a good security detail for his company. She is miffed when she finds out her first assignment is to protect a bunch of self absorbed beauty queens at a Texas pageant. It soon becomes a more interesting gig than she thought, much to her delight and Cooper’s dismay, when one of the beauty queens turns up dead and the fierce competition leave the door wide open to suspects.
Available on Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, Kobo and as an audio book on iTunes and Audible.
A trip to an all-inclusive resort in Cabo San Lucas. No work and all play was all that was on her mind until well renowned Mexican soap opera star, Lucia Vegas, turned up dead in the hotel pool. Accident it was not and Presley couldn’t help but wonder what had happened. Then she met reporter, Belinda, who told her the theory that Lucia was just one of a string of murders targeting young actresses. Vacation or not, Presley had to find the murderer!
Available on Kindle, Kobo, Smashwords and Nook.
Back in Alkon for her best friends wedding, Presley shaded her eyes with her hands and leaned against the front window to eliminate glare so she could see in better. She looked around and could see Katy had replaced the tile colors with a softer blue, which gave the salon a much lighter feel than it had before. As she looked around she saw a mannequin sitting, or rather slumped over in one of the hair styling chairs. Why would Katy have a mannequin in there? Or was it a mannequin? She squinted to see better and almost wished She hadn’t. Holy crap, that was most certainly not a mannequin. Presley reached for her phone thinking where were the odds this would happen to her twice. She had just found a dead body.
If you enjoy reading about Presley’s adventures then you won’t want to miss reading about Trixie Pristine and her friends Berklie and Sophie in A Day in the Life of Trixie Pristine and Books Aren’t Just for Reading.
Someone is trying to sabotage the company Presley’s best friend Jared works for by leaking company documents to other firms who are then upstaging their presentations. To take her mind off Cooper, Presley tries to help the owner figure out who wants to ruin the company but it’s not really working.
Presley and Cooper are on a break or are they broken up? It was never really clarified and she just found out he’s in town and he hasn’t called. Is he avoiding her? What does that mean?
Are they done for good?
Presley buys a failing retail boutique, Silk, and on the first day of business ownership the store manager Roxanne is arrested for murdering her boyfriend. Roxanne insists she’s innocent and asks for Presley’s help.
Presley believes her and tries to help while getting the boutique up and running just to find out someone has been paying themselves from company funds? Who is stealing from Silk and is there more to Rod and Roxanne’s relationship than meets the eye?
A Day in the Life of Trixie Pristine
In this short story prequel, Trixie and her friends Berklie and Sophie, considered themselves typical thirty something females until someone turned up murdered in their newly opened bookstore/wine bar. They thought they would be living out their dream in their new shop not trying to catch a killer. Who killed Sylvia and why? Or was one of them the intended target?
Available on Kindle, Nook, and iTunes along with the audio version on Audible, iTunes, and Amazon.
Trixie and her friends, Berklie and Sophie, are excited about the opening of Read/Wine their new business venture of a bookstore/wine bar. All is going well until they happen to find a dead body in the shop and that wasn’t part of the business plan. All signs pointed to Berklie since it was her ex-husband’s lover who was murdered. Trixie knew Berklie hadn’t murdered Sylvia so who did?
Available on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords, iTunes and as an audio book on Audible and iTunes.
Cupcakes Aren’t Just for Eating
Trixie, Berklie, and Sophie are enjoying the success of their bookstore/coffee shop/wine bar, Read-Wine, and planning for Sophie’s upcoming wedding when they start receiving hang up calls. At first they chalk it up to a wrong number but soon the caller reveals himself. It’s Stephen making good on his threat. He wants his money back. The fact that the police confiscated it doesn’t matter to him. He wants it back and has given them a deadline. A deadline they need to meet before anyone else ends up dead.
Finding out Sophie’s fiancé isn’t who he says he is a shock but his alter ego might come in handy getting Stephen to leave them alone. But with this much money at stake will he? Or are they in danger?
Now available on Kindle.
Get the first three
Trixie books
PLUS
Athena’s Holiday
as a boxed set. Available on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords, iTunes and as an audio book on Audible and iTunes.