Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 08 - Vows & Victims (9 page)

“I take it they’re wives of men who chose to partake in the services Bethany provided.”

“Exactly.”

“Once the business was officially broken up, there were some of us who kept things going.”

“You aren’t afraid you’ll get caught again?”

Rachel shrugged. “That’s a chance I’m willing to take. I just want to finish putting myself through school and this way I can do it without having any student loans when I get out.”

“I take it Celeste puts all her money into her house.”

Rachel started laughing. “I can see why you might think that, but Celeste is no longer in the business.”

“Then how …?” I asked.

“That would be why Diane Abbot is not a fan of Bethany’s. That used to be Diane’s house, and while Diane no longer lives there, her husband does, with Celeste.”

“Oh.” It now made sense. Especially why Celeste probably would rather not talk to us and relive the past. “So Diane’s husband used Celeste’s services and left his wife for her?” I said, wanting to make sure I had it straight.

“You’ve got it. Diane made a big stink, came to the real estate office screaming at Bethany, at Celeste, and really anyone else who would listen that we were filthy dirty whores.”

I winced. “Ouch, that’s pretty harsh.”

“She was upset, and we all understood, but again the person she should have been most angry at was her husband, not us. Bethany told us to just let it roll off our backs and not let it get to us.”

“She would have more reason to hate Celeste, not Bethany though,” said Tobey.

“You would think. It’s that whole misplaced anger thing. I mean sure she was mad at Celeste. Waited for her outside of work a few times, called her a home wrecker, followed her around town. But it was Bethany who she blamed for bringing this to Clermont and ruining her family.”

“What about Trish Young? Same story?” I asked.

“Yes, but not to the same degree. None of the drama of the husband leaving. She completely blamed us for leading her husband astray. She, along with a women’s group formed from one of the local churches, tried to hang out in the parking lot and picket. It was actually quite comical. I think it pissed Bethany off more than anything because it did affect business. The real estate business. People didn’t want to encourage the wrath of the church ladies when there were other real estate companies in town. That was the final straw for Bethany and why she closed up the real estate office.”

“Really? I guess it doesn’t make sense to me that she would care about the real estate side as a business. Once I heard about the escort part, I assumed it was a front,” I said.

“See,” Rachel said, wagging her finger. “You underestimate her. She loved the business of real estate. The thrill of the close. She always said sleeping with men for money was easy, selling a million–dollar property, now that’s where the challenge was. She knew being young, beautiful and desirable was a short–term thing and real estate was long–term. When people stopped wanting to hire her as their realtor, she lost interest, and I think it’s what made her decide to leave town.”

“Do both these women still live in town?” I asked.

“As far as I know. When Dianne’s husband first left, she moved into a place in town. I assume she’s still there, but then again I don’t pay a lot of attention to that so they could have moved.” She smiled. “Here I’ve been babbling and haven’t even asked why are you interested in Bethany’s murder. I’m assuming neither of you were clients.”

Tobey actually blushed, making me laugh. “Ha! No. Her body was found in my friend Katy’s salon. We just want to find out who would do this to her.”

“Wow. And your friend didn’t know Bethany?”

“No. And she’s getting married this weekend to Tobey’s brother and I hate that this is hanging over her head.”

“That does suck.”

“We appreciate your willingness to talk to us, Rachel. It’s been helpful,” I said, as we had concluded our conversation and walked our way back to the front door.

“Glad to be of help. Like I said, I was one of the few who liked Bethany. Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any more questions, Presley, Tobey. What was your last name again?” she asked him.

“Stone. Tobey Stone.”

“You’re not related to a Chris Stone by any chance are you?” she asked.

“Yeah. That’s my brother.”

“Oh, sorry I asked,” she said with a look on her face that clearly conveyed she was sorry she asked.

“You know him?” Tobey asked, though I think we both knew the answer to that one.

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“Not really, but yes,” he said with a wry smile.

“He’s a client. But at least he’s not married, right?” she said trying to be cheerful. Then she noticed both our faces. “Oh, God. He’s the brother marrying your friend. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Usually guys don’t lie about that sort of thing to us. I mean there’s no reason to lie.”

“He didn’t lie, well technically, and even if he did, it’s certainly not your fault,” Tobey said.

The three of us just sort of stood there in her doorway in an uncomfortable silence.

“When was the last time he was a, uh, a client?” I asked.

She thought for a minute and hesitated like she didn’t want to tell us. “I don’t know exactly. Probably about two or three weeks ago.”

I had been hoping she was going to say months ago. Not that it would have been OK, but to know Chris was once again cheating on Katy and so recently was not good news.

“You?” I asked.

“Oh, no. Bethany. The only reason I know is we had coffee last week and she mentioned a few clients she was still seeing. She was thrilled, however, over opening another real estate office and said she was going to be even more careful this time to not let things interfere with her being the best real estate agent in the state. Her side business was really just the means to an end with her. It was a vehicle to put money away for the future.

“Thanks again, Rachel,” I said, and we walked to the car. My head was about to explode with information. Some of which I really wished I didn’t have and I was sure Tobey felt the same way. Ignorance could really be bliss.

Tobey started the engine and looked at me. “Do you want to try and find Diane and Trish?”

I shook my head. “Not today. I’m not so sure how much more I can take.”

“Yeah. Me either.”

We rode in silence for the thirty–minute trip home, and soon Tobey came to my car.

“We need to tell Katy,” I finally said.

Tobey sighed. “I know. Don’t do it yet. Give me a chance to talk to Chris.”

“Tobey.”

“I know, it probably won’t change anything, but he’s my brother. Just give me tonight to talk to him. Maybe this isn’t what it seems.”

I agreed mainly because I wasn’t in any hurry at all to tell Katy this latest news. In fact, she had texted me twice in the last fifteen minutes, wanting to know what time I would be over tonight and I had yet to respond. I wasn’t looking forward to spending all evening with her, talking about wedding stuff, knowing what I now knew.

I started to dial Cooper out of habit, then stopped, remembering we might be broken up, and in any case he needed time to think and was busy. He didn’t need to listen to me whine about how Chris was once again treating Katy.

Thinking about my own depressing personal state of affairs made me wonder why anyone wanted to be in a relationship. It seemed like they were complicated and painful. Katy had issues with Chris, I had issues with my relationship with Cooper. I had just talked to an escort who showed me that married people had relationship issues. I knew things happened and relationships sure weren’t easy, but did things have to be this hard? I really couldn’t stop thinking about Katy. After all she and Chris had been through, she finally thought he had changed and now this. He had been, and still was, visiting prostitutes.

I couldn’t even understand why he would want to do that when he had someone devoted to him like Katy. Maybe when Tobey talked to him he would say something that would make sense of all this.

Chapter 11

W
ake up, sleepy head.” I heard Katy’s voice and felt the mattress move as she sat down on the bed next to me.

“I have coffee,” she singsonged, and the smell of the coffee compelled me to open my eyes.

“Thank you,” I said, sitting up and taking the cup from her, enjoying the aroma.

“What are you doing here so early?” I asked, looking at the clock that read seven.

“Well, after you ditched me last night I went to bed early and woke up at five. I came over here at six thirty knowing your mom would be up, and we enjoyed a cup of coffee together and chatted until we decided it was time for you to get up, too.

“How nice of you.” I had bailed on Katy last night, claiming to have a bad headache and be tired. I just couldn’t face her knowing what I knew, and this morning it wasn’t any easier, especially seeing how happy she looked.

“I thought so. Anyways, we need to make up for lost time. I brought the centerpiece parts—and my mom—over here, and you are going to get dressed and come downstairs and we are going to finish these centerpieces!”

I inwardly groaned. It was too early for centerpieces and motherly togetherness and hiding something potentially devastating from my best friend.

“So get up,” Katy said, standing and walking to the door. “I expect you downstairs in five minutes.”

I heard her footsteps moving down the stairs and I reached for my phone. Balancing my coffee on my knee, I sent Tobey a text asking if he had talked to Chris.

He obviously had been awake, or sleeping with his phone, because he texted right back. He hadn’t done it yet. Chris had never responded to him last night.

Hmm. That was interesting, I thought, getting out of bed and putting on some black leggings and a long T–shirt.

I made my way downstairs where Katy and our mothers were already sitting at the dining room table, setting up an assembly line of sorts.

“Doesn’t this look like fun?” I said.

Katy laughed. “I know it’s not one of the more glamorous parts of the wedding, but we can’t have everything now, can we?”

I poured more coffee, sat down at my place in the production line, and asked what I was supposed to do. “You realize that I’m the least crafty person here.”

“Presley, you just need to follow the steps we gave you and it will be fine,” Katy said.

“Isn’t there something easier I could do? Like put rice in bags or something?”

“We don’t use rice, it makes birds explode. We use bird seed.”

“Oh,” I said, having no clue that that was the case.

The centerpieces were comprised of dried flowers: ivory and mint green with a hint of silver in the leaves. And we were sticking them into triangle–shaped Styrofoam cones in a very specific pattern. There was a finished product for me to look at which was very pretty. I could see why Katy picked that for her centerpiece. I was just very doubtful I would be able to make mine turn out to look as good as Katy’s example.

Even though crafts weren’t my thing, I found myself having fun. Just hanging out, drinking coffee.

“I smell cinnamon rolls.”

“They’ll be coming out of the oven in a few minutes,” my mother said.

My mom’s homemade cinnamon rolls totally made this craft soiree worth it, although it would make my dress that much tighter. I had to stick to salad the next few days. After a cinnamon roll or two, of course.

We worked, ate, and drank for about an hour. It was actually fun. Then my mom turned to Katy’s mom and said, “Sheila, if we’re going to be on time for the ladies’ circle, we need to get a move on.”

“OK, I’m just about finished with the one I’m working on.”

My mom got up from her seat and started packing up the leftover cinnamon rolls.

“Hey! What are you doing?” I protested, as I had my eye on one more.

“You’ve already had two, and didn’t you say you had a dress to fit into?”

“So?”

“Here, I’ll leave one. Katy, how about you? You want another one?”

“No, Mrs. Thurman, I’ve got to have some self–control or I won’t fit in my dress, either.”

“Mom, maybe you should leave Katy one just in case she changes her mind.”

“Ha! Nice try, sweetheart.” Our mothers and the tasty cinnamon rolls soon left.

Katy and I were finishing up the last few centerpieces when she asked me about what Tobey and I had found out the previous day. “Did you actually find some of the people she worked with in Clermont?”

“Yeah. Get this. Bethany was running an escort service.”

Katy’s jaw dropped. “Shut the front door. You’re joking!”

I shook my head. “No, I wish I were. Tobey and I were just as shocked as you are now.”

“It’s hard to imagine something like that happening in such a small town.”

“That’s exactly what we said. But it’s for sure. We talked to one of her ‘girls’ who was very open about everything.” Too open I thought, feeling guilty over the information I had and wasn’t telling her.

“Do you think that’s what got her killed?”

“I don’t know, but Rachel, the woman we talked to, said there were a few wives of customers who weren’t fans of Bethany’s. Tobey was going to try and track them down and we were going to go talk to them.”

“Wow. Such sordid happenings in our little town.”

“Just shows that everyone has secrets.” And I really hated keeping this one about Chris from her.

We were cleaning up the leftover supplies and packing the centerpieces in boxes when there was a knock at the front door.

“I’ll be right back.”

Chapter 12

W
hat are you doing here?” I asked Tobey as I answered the front door expecting the mailman or something, and instead he was standing there.

“I need to talk to you!” he said, stepping in the foyer.

“Katy’s here,” I said in a loud whisper.

“Crap. Her car’s not here, I didn’t know.”

“Her mother took it. She went to some ladies’ thing with my mom and I said I would take Katy home.”

“Can you leave? Meet me somewhere?”

“No. We’re doing wedding stuff. I can’t just leave Katy without a car at my house. There’s no excuse I can think of that would make any sense.”