Stilettos & Scoundrels (49 page)

“Hello.”

“Stop poking your nose in where it doesn’t belong, Sweetie, or you’re liab
le to lose it,” said a voice I
didn’t recognize. It wasn’t scrambled with some box thingy like in the movies, but
instead, sounded
rather
like
someone was trying to do a bad impression of a gangster or kidnapper. This person had watched
too many movies. Either way, I
had no idea who it was. And what was with the nose thing? Did people really still say that? It made the guy mu
ch
less threatening.
Whoever it was clearly was an amateur.

“Who is this?” I
demanded. Did
I
think they were going to tell
me? Not really, but I
wa
s trying the tough girl act. I felt I
could get rather good at this
. B
eing bitchy was second nature.

“Don’t worry about who this is, Sweetness. Just keep in mind
that
we know who
you
are and where you live. You should just go back to the city in the morning and everything will be just fine. We don’t want to hurt a pretty little thing like you, but please be assured
that
we will if you
don’t heed our warning.” I
stood there with the phone
in my
hand
when
the caller hung up, just staring at it, dumbfounded.
I was m
ore shocked than scared since the caller didn’t seem
like a
professional
M
ob
ster
.
But my nervousness grew when I realized what had just happened. Something bad was going on here.

“
P
lease be assured
…
”
Who used that kind of language. Who?
I put the phone back on its cradle and headed for the kitchen for a glass of water.

Katy
followed, wondering who I
had been talking to. I
debated whether to tell her. I
didn’t want to make Katy nervous, but, hey, maybe this would ta
ke her mind off Chris. Plus, I
was starting to get a little freaked out.

I told Katy,
“I don’t know who it was.”

“Then wh
at’s with
that strange look on your face?”

“I think I’ve just been
threatened.” I
poured myself a glass of water
and walk
ed back to where I left my ice cream. I
needed fo
rtification to process this. I
hoped there was more in the freezer. One pint was not going to be
enough to handle all of this. I
might have to start in on th
e chocolate cake or the wine. I
placed the glass beside my bowl of ice cream on a nearby table,
plopped down on the couch
, and crossed my
legs,
tucking in my feet, which were encased in my
pink fuzzy princess slippers
.
Katy followed
me
.
I
could see
that
Katy was a little on edge.
T
his
had
put Chris out of her mind, but
I
wasn't sure this was a great alternative.

“What do you mean threatened?” Katy demanded, hand
s on her hips, standing over me
on the couch.

“Someone doesn’t want me snooping around this murder
,
and they pretty much said that if I kept at it
,
something bad would happen.”
I
shivered involuntarily
,
pretty sure it was from the call, not the ice cream.

“That’s it! We need to call Dirt,” Katy said and grabbed her purse to dig her cell phone out.

“Wait a minute,”
I
protested
,
but Katy had already dialed.
“I got his voicemail and don’t really want to leave this in a message,” she said, pacing around the room.

Just as Katy hung up,
my
cell rang.
I
was almost afraid to look at it. What if th
ese goons had somehow gotten my
cell number?
W
hat i
f they had called and gotten my
mother? That w
ould not have been good. I
looked and it was
Cooper. For once, I
wa
s glad he was checking up on me
.

“I’m so glad you called,” she said urgently into the phone.

“Why? What happened?”

“What makes you assume something happened? Maybe nothing happened. Couldn’t I just be happy to hear from you?”

“I would love for you to be happy to hear from me for no reason, but it seems that every time I call you are pissed at me for checking up on you. So obviously, something happened to make you glad I am checking up on you. What happened?” He said with exaggerated patience.

Oh, she thought. He has a point
. “Someone called the house and threatened me. I
think.” Saying it this time, I
started to get even more freaked out
. I
wanted to be tough, especially in front of
Cooper
, but
I
hadn’t planned on getting into all this and wasn’t equipped
for this conversation. I
could
joke all I
wanted, but
this was some serious shit. I
started to cry.
Shit. Damn.
I hated doing this. I was a horrible crier; I
got all red and blotch
y and become a snot factory. I
wasn’t one of those cute criers who, once they got the sympathy they needed, could return to normal.

“Pres
,
don’t cry. What do you mean
‘
you think?
’
Did you recognize the voice?”

Don’t cry!
As if I
could turn it off any time
I
wanted.
For the love of Pete!
Didn’t men realize
that
crying was an emotion? It wasn’t a
shirt one
could take on or off at will.

“It won’t be fine
until we catch the killer,” I
snapped. “And no, I have no idea who it could have been. They tried to mask the voice. I couldn’t t
ell at all who it might be.” I realized I
wasn’t as upset anymore. Getting mad solved that problem, thanks to
Cooper
. Gues
s he was good for something. I
bet he was good for many things and
I
would be interested in seeing all of his hidden talents. If
only
all this crap wasn’t going on.

“Listen, just hang tight. I’ll be right over,” he said and hung up.

“
Cooper’s on his way over,” I
said to Katy.

“Good, you need to tell him everything.”

“Ok
ay.” I
leaned back on the couch pillows. Wait a minute. He said he would be right
over. How did he know where I
was? He
had called me on my cell. I could be anywhere. My
eyes narrowed
,
and the tears
stopped flowing
.
That son-of-a-bitch!
He’d been spying on me even more than I thought. My
anger at this new re
velation completely overcame my
fear
about
the phone ca
ll. I
was indignant.
He could have at least told me he was spying on my
every move.
What the hell?
Did he have a GPS locater on my car or something?

I jumped up and grabbed my shoes. I
wasn’t normally a big fan of going out in public in
my
pajamas, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
I
did draw the line at wearing
my
slippers in public
so I put my shoes on. Grabbing my keys, I
said to Katy, “C’mon, we need to get out of here before
Cooper
gets here
.” Katy just stared at
me
.

“What are you talking about, Presley? We need to wait for
Cooper
, and we need to tell him everything.”

“Hell no. He’s been keeping tabs on me
,
and I don’t appreciate it. He needs to learn that he can’t do this to me.”

“Presley, he’s only doing it because he’s worried for your safety. Right now, I’m worried about your safety, our safety. What’s the big deal?
Two seconds ago, you were glad he called.
”

This was a fundamental difference between
Katy and I
. Katy liked that male attention.
I
, on the other hand, liked male attention just as much as the next
girl, but only on my
terms. One day it was casual surveillance on your whereabouts
,
and the next thing you knew, you were staying in the house all day doing laundry and cooking all their favorite meals. Independence, gone just like th
at. Poof! This was something I
felt very strongly ab
out, maybe too strongly, but I
ha
d been so hurt by losing who I
was
,
all to be what the guy wanted.
It was a pattern I intended to stop. “
Katy, you can stay here if you want. I’m going. He’s going to have to work harder if he thinks he can find me.”

“I sure as hell am not staying here by myself, so I guess I’ll go.” She grabbed her
things and followed me
out the door. “I just hope you know what you’re doing. He’s not going to be too happy when he gets here and finds out you’re gone, and I think we need his help.”

“Well, he should
have
thought of that earlier. Besides,
I need to
teach him a lesson. I like him
,
but this pisses me off,”
I
said childishl
y. I stopped short when I
saw head
lights beam up the driveway. I
felt a stab of
fear and had a huge lump in my
throat. What if it was the pers
on who called? Katy grabbed my
arm
, and I
could tell she was thinking the same thing. Fear changed int
o relief and annoyance, when I
noticed it was
Cooper
’s SUV. D
amn, he got here faster than I
expected. Where the hell had he been? The end of the driveway?

“Going somewhere?” he asked, walking up the drive and casually sitting on the porch railing. Looking good as ever in faded jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt tight enough to mold to every muscle. And it was the perfe
ct blue to set off his eyes. I
wished he didn’t look so good. It was hard
to stay mad at him. Whereas I looked…I
didn’t even want to
think about how I looked considering I
had on pajamas, no makeup
, and my hair was in a ponytail. Not my
best look by any means
, and one I
usually didn’t show guys until after a few months. It was going to take every ounce of effort to stay mad at him.
Bastard knew it too
.

Cooper looked at me
, eyes twinkling. He knew exactly what
I
was up to and the effect he had on
me. I put my hands on my
hips, ready to chew him out.

“That’s a nice look on you
,
King.”

“Shut up.”

“What? I’m serious.” He lea
ned over to whisper in my
ear, “You look soft and cuddly. I like that
,
babe.”

That just about did me
in
, but I
was a strong woman and wouldn’t buckle under pressure
—n
ot even this kind.

“If you were really concerned about where I was going then maybe you should have called m
e like you said you would,” I
retorted. “You know, instead of waiting until now when something has happened.”

“Don’t be mad at me, King. Besides, you hung up on me earlier.”