I heard the door open and shut and soon after, Cooper walked into the kitchen where I was sitting at the bar having a snack of pretzels and a glass of wine. I had finished the last of the mojitos yesterday and had been too lazy to make any more. Opening a bottle of wine was much easier.

  “Hi, sexy man,” I said to him in a teasing voice, although he sure was a sexy man to me.

  He raised his eyebrows at my comment. “Why, thank you, sweetheart. Now, what do you want?”

  “Why is it every time I say or do something nice for you the first words out of your mouth are asking me what I want?” I asked indignantly.

  “Because nine out of tens times you do or say something nice because you do want something. I can’t help it if I’m trained.”

  “You’re such a jerk. It is not nine out of ten times. Maybe six out of ten. Seven at most.” I laughed because he was right. I took another sip of my wine and just stared at him. Again he raised his eyebrows at me and walked to the fridge and grabbed a cold beer. “Something tells me I’m going to want a drink for whatever it is you are planning to tell me.“

  Turning around he leaned against the fridge and again asked me, “What do you want?”

  “Well, it’s not what I want, per se, but rather more like what I did and what I need to tell you,” I said, wincing a little knowing what his reaction would be.

  “Presley. What did you do?!”

  “Just hear me out, before you get angry.”

  Cooper hung his head. “I hate it when you start out like that because I know whatever it is you have to tell me, I’m not going to like.”

  “Would you stop giving me a hard time and listen for a minute?” I said, exasperated.

  “Okay, okay.” He held up his hands in surrender and pulled up a seat. “Shoot.”

  Now, where to start? “I admit I was curious about this whole robbery murder incident at Gemstone’s Unlimited and just wanted to find out more about Nicole. You know, to see if anything obvious popped up.” I was looking at Cooper and could tell he desperately wanted to say something but was trying to restrain himself, so I took a deep breath and continued. “I went to the funeral home…”

  “You what?!” Cooper exclaimed. Apparently, this was such a shock to him that he wasn’t able to stay silent.

  “To meet Nicole’s family and to see if there was anything I could learn about her that would shed any light on what happened.” I continued as if he hadn’t interrupted me. “I didn’t really find out anything, but I did have a chance to meet her brother, Alan. We got to talking, and one thing led to another and he told me that Nicole worked at Steven’s Dental before she became a saleswoman at the jewelry store.”

  “You do know the police are investigating this?” he said somewhat sarcastically.

  I ignored him. “I went to the dentist’s office and asked a few questions and found out that Nicole’s main goal in life was to find a sugar daddy, according to the girls who worked there anyways.” I paused for a second to let that sink in and to take another drink of my wine. When Cooper didn’t comment again, I went on. “Coincidentally, Greg Anderson is a patient at Stevens Dental.” I was sort of disappointed when I didn’t get a reaction from that one, but there was a chance Cooper already knew the story. “Here’s where it gets interesting,” I said, leaning closer to him.

  “I can hardly wait,” he said dryly.

  I punched him lightly in the arm. “Be nice. Nicole’s family owns the insurance company that wrote the policy on Greg’s stolen diamonds.” Cooper sat up a little straighter in his chair. Finally, I had his attention. Good, since now I was going to tell him about seeing Amelia. “Last night I found out where Greg was going to be having dinner and I drove over there and sat outside and waited for him.”

  “Why on earth would you do that?”

  “Because he’s a womanizing jerk and I wanted to prove it to Amelia.

  “This just keeps getting better,” he said putting his fingertips to his forehead.

  “I thought I was doing something good for someone, but now I’m not sure it even matters. After catching Greg, Haley and I…”

  “You took Haley with you,” he said incredulously.

  “I wasn’t going to go by myself and I don’t know anyone else out here,” I retorted. “After catching Greg,” I repeated, “we went to eat at some bar on Fifth that has great burgers. We were there minding our own business, when in walks Amelia.” I paused for effect. “And Alan, Nicole’s brother, was with her.”

  “Oh. Now that’s interesting.”

  “Wait.” I held up my finger for emphasis. ”It gets better. We snuck out the back so they couldn’t see us, and when they left we followed them. Rather, we followed Amelia. She went to this condo complex and gave an envelope to some guy whose door she knocked on. I couldn’t get a good look at him, but in a really strange coincidence I went to have coffee with Alan this morning, you know, to ask him how he knew Amelia, and that guy was with him. Alan went to prep school with the guy who Amelia gave some envelope to. Isn’t that weird? I mean, too much to be a coincidence don’t you think?”

  “How do you know it’s the same guy?”

  “After he got the envelope from Amelia he left the complex and I saw what he drove. I then recognized his car at Alan’s office. Not that there’s only one red Corvette in San Diego, but Haley wrote down the license plate and it was the same.” I slid the paper with the number on it to him. “So, see, Amelia and Alan know each other and Amelia and this guy, his name is Nate, know each other. Something’s fishy don’t you think?” I finished and leaned back, satisfied that he found at least a little of what I just told him to be interesting and hopefully something he might not know, so he would focus on the information and not on me being a snoop.

  “A red Corvette? Are you sure it was the same car?”

  “Yes. This guy was a real piece of work, too. He thought his car was impressive enough that I would want to take a ride with him, if you know what I mean,” I said, grimacing.

  “I don’t care about the stupid car. It’s the guy. That’s Ganuchi’s son.”

  “The loan shark Greg borrowed money from? How do you know?”

  “Yes, because we’ve been following him and this is the license plate number.” “What would his son be doing with Amelia?”

  “I have no idea. I need to make a phone call.”

  Chapter 22

  I walked out, yawning, to the driveway to grab my bag out of the car. It wasn’t that early, but I had stayed up late waiting for Cooper to get off the phone, which took forever. I had hoped that by waiting up he would fill me in on whatever his call was about, and for once I wasn’t disappointed. He had gotten off the phone to find me patiently sitting in the same place at the bar where I was when he left to make the phone call. I had managed to consume another glass of wine in the interim, but that was how I was able to stay patient so I felt it was well deserved.

  “So who did you call?” I asked, not willing to wait another second.

  “First, Ganuchi and then Greg.”

  “And?” I pressed. My patience had run its course and so had my wine. I either needed to know or I needed another glass.

  “Ganuchi wasn’t happy to say the least. He doesn’t involve Nate in his business because, and I quote, he is irresponsible and unable to think things through before acting. Ganuchi assured me he would end the blackmail scheme on his end if that’s what Nate was doing and told me to offer his apologies to Greg for everything we had gone through over this.”

  I furrowed my brow. “That seems so odd to me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. For a loan shark to call off a blackmailing in progress. Seems odd.”

  “Just the glamour of my job,” he teased. “But you’re right, it is interesting.”

  “So was Greg happy when you gave him the good news?”

  “Extremely. Even though we suspected it to be an amateur job and weren’t planning on paying up, not knowing who was behind the blackmail was really getting to both of us, but especially him.”

  “What did he say about Amelia knowing Ganuchi’s son?”

  “I didn’t tell him.”

  My eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Really?” Why not?”

  Cooper shook his head. “I’m not sure. I just want to keep this to myself for a while until I can check a few things out. Ganuchi said he would ask Nate how he knew Amelia and would get back to me. I think that’s good for now.”

  “You don’t think anything sinister is going on, do you?” While I thought it odd that Amelia would know Nate, I couldn’t see her doing anything sinister.

  “Hard to tell.”

  *****

  I reached into the backseat where my bag was, when I noticed a piece of paper sitting on the drivers seat. That’s weird . I didn’t remember leaving anything on my seat when I got out of the car last night. I reached over the seat to grab the piece of paper. Walking back up to the house with my bag, I unfolded the paper and started reading. What the hell?

  I stopped where I was in the driveway, frozen in disbelief as I read it: It would be in your best interest to mind your own business. Bad things happen to those who interfere where they don’t belong.

  I looked around as if to see the culprit, though obviously whoever left this note was long gone. I rushed the rest of the way into the house, heart pounding. Who would threaten me like this? I started to panic and the all of a sudden a realization came to me and I started laughing. Kendra. It must be Kendra. She had already warned me once in person. Who else would be bold enough to come to the house and leave a note in my car? It had to be her. And to think I almost called Cooper in a panic. I tossed the note on the coffee table and sat down with my computer to get caught up on some emails.

  Chapter 23

  Cooper was working late tonight so I was happy when Amelia called me wondering if I wanted to meet for a late dinner. She said there was this off–the–beaten–path seafood place she knew I would love, and we made plans to meet at eight.

  When she said off–the–beaten–path she had really meant it. I was driving down a road that was sparsely populated with businesses and most of the ones that were there seemed closed. I finally found the address I was looking for and pulled in to an almost deserted parking lot. Was I really in the right place? Surely this wasn’t it. I put the BMW into park and looked at Google maps on my phone to check it against the address I had written down from Amelia. It was the correct address. Maybe I should call her. But then I saw Amelia pull in and relaxed. I locked the doors and started walking to her when another car pulled in. I glanced over and noticed it was Alan in the driver’s seat. Did he tell Amelia I knew they knew each other and she invited him along to dinner? I continued across the parking lot to Amelia figuring I would find out soon enough.

  “This really is off–the–beaten–path,” I said as I reached her. “I hope the food is as good as this place looks bad.” I added, laughing so she wouldn’t be offended thinking I doubted her choice of restaurants.

  “Unfortunately, we won’t be eating here,” Amelia said coldly, and I noticed for the first time a very odd expression on her face.

  “Amelia what’s wrong?” I asked, concerned for my friend.

  “What’s wrong is you screwed everything up and now I have to go to plan B.” She spoke calmly and softly in a very unnatural way, which made me very uncomfortable. I clearly wasn’t getting the meaning of what she was taking about, but her tone made me think that once I did get clued in, I wasn’t going to like it.

  “Amelia, I have no idea what you’re talking about. What is going on?”

  “You followed me. And then you told Cooper about it and got the blackmail called off because Cooper realized that Nate Ganuchi is a harmless incompetent twit who fancies himself a gangster like his father but poses no real threat on his own.”

  “Amelia, I don’t understand. Why would not being blackmailed be a bad thing?”

  Amelia sighed. “Really, Presley. I guess I gave you too much credit. I thought you were smarter than that. After seeing me with Alan and Nate, especially Nate, and knowing from Cooper that Nate was the one blackmailing Greg, you still don’t get it?”

  “You?” I said, confused. Surely Amelia wasn’t the one behind the blackmail.

  “Does that surprise you?” she asked as her way of confirmation.

  “But why?”

  “You think I don’t know the kind of person my beloved husband is?” she said with a sneer. “I wanted the money so I could get far away from him and start over.”

  “Why go through all this? Why not just a divorce?”

  “A divorce could take years and in the meantime, I would have nothing. This was faster.”

  “Sorry, Amelia. I didn’t mean to ruin your plans. I guess now you’ll have to go the old fashioned route of divorce instead of blackmail,” I said somewhat sarcastically, thinking this was one of the more ridiculous things I had heard. Not that I didn’t understand that a divorce would take time but blackmail, really?

  Amelia shook her head. “Oh, Presley. You didn’t ruin my plans. You just merely changed them.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “If I can’t get my money with blackmail, then I will get it from ransom,” she said.

  I looked at her quizzically and then looked over at Alan and was surprised to see Nate was also there. I hadn’t heard or seen him come up. He must have been in the car with Alan and I hadn’t noticed. It was starting to dawn on me what they were planning. “You mean me? You are going to pretend to kidnap me and hold me for ransom?”

  “Yes. Well, all except for the pretend part. This isn’t a pretend kidnapping. It’s real, and if they don’t pay up, then it won’t be one of your best days.”

  Amelia was crazy. How could she manage to act so normal and yet be so deranged? Even Cooper couldn’t blame me for this one. He didn’t see she was nutso either. I ran to my right, aiming to get to my car but didn’t make it more than a few steps before Nate grabbed me and jolted me to a halt.

  “Not so fast, pretty lady. We’ve got money coming to us and you’re our ticket,” Nate said.

  “Amelia, you don’t really think you will get away with this, do you?”

  “Presley, I wouldn’t have this as a back up plan if I didn’t feel it would work. I need that money and nothing is going to stand in my way. Hopefully for you, Greg

  will pay up and no harm done. You will just spend a few uncomfortable hours in the trunk,” she said walking over to the trunk of her car and opening it.

  I looked at her, my hands on my hips. “You can’t be serious!”

  “I know it’s not ideal, but I need to make sure you’re in a place where you can’t escape until I have the money. And, I think you probably already know these two can’t really be trusted.”

  “Amelia, that’s not fair,” Alan said with a whine in his voice.

  “Oh, Alan, shut up. Now hand me your purse,” she said to me.

  I just looked at her.

  “You’ll get it back. I just don’t think you need it in the trunk,” she said, sounding exasperated. “Besides, it’s a knock off. It’s not like it’s a real Louis.”

  “Not all of us can afford designer purses,” I retorted.

  She ignored me and instead asked, “Is your phone in here?” and rummaged around in my purse.

  “Yes.”

  “How the hell do you find anything in this mess? Ahh, here it is. Okay, I think we’re ready to go. Get her in the trunk, boys.”

  “Amelia, I beg you. Don’t go through with this. It’s not going to end well for you.”

  “The only person it’s not going to end well for is you if you don’t get in that trunk.” She pulled a gun out of her purse.

  “Whoa there, Amelia. Where the hell did you get that?” Alan asked.

  “Don’t worry about it, Alan. Just do what I said and get her in the truck. I’m tired of wasting time.”

  Nate started pulling me toward the back of the car. I resisted. I knew that once they had me in the trunk my chances of escape would be gone, but while I couldn’t imagine Amelia actually using that gun, I didn’t really care to take that chance. How did my crazy meter not pick up on her? She seemed so normal when we had lunch and coffee I really thought she was friend material. I jerked away from Nate again and started to run to my car. I heard a super loud noise and a pinging sound and froze.

  Did she just? No, she wouldn’t have. She was insane.

  “Presley, besides playing tennis weekly at the club I also go out to the shooting range on a regular basis. I am actually second in my age group for amateur sharp shooting, which isn’t too shabby. So, I would suggest you get back here and don’t cause us any more trouble,” Amelia said as calmly as if she were asking me to tea.

  Since it seemed to me, at this point, she was crazy enough to actually shoot me—a fact I wouldn’t have thought possible a few minutes ago—I decided it would be best to do what she said and hope that I would have another opportunity to get out of this mess. I shivered and felt tears welling up in my eyes, but I wasn’t going to let myself cry. Not in front of her. I needed a distraction.

  “Alan, I don’t understand your involvement in this?” I said much more calmly than I felt.

  “Well, you see…”

  “Oh for God sakes, shut the hell up, both of you. Get in the trunk, Presley. I’m tired of all this chitchat. We’ve got to get rolling.”

  Nate for the third time started to pull me back toward the trunk and this time I didn’t resist. I wasn’t giving up, just looking for the right time.

  “Get in,” he said, still in that smarmy voice. It was hard to take him seriously as a gangster, and it was obvious Amelia was the brains of this operation.

 

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