Rebels and Roses (Winslow Heights #2)

Chapter 11

11

F inn had taped off the area around Tom’s body which was currently covered in a sheet until the coroner arrived. The place was swarming with police, EMTs, and the forensic team, their blue lights flashing and drawing a crowd that was kept behind barricades.

Cooper could feel the stares of the onlookers as he stood helplessly waiting to give his statement to Finn. The sheriff was currently speaking with Fiona, comforting the crying woman as she told her story. The deputies had separated him from his ex when they’d arrived. It was standard protocol, but Fiona had been upset and vocal about it, insisting that she needed to stay with Cooper. Finn, who had a deft touch with people, assured her that as soon as they gave their statements, they wouldn’t be kept apart any longer.

For his part, Cooper was glad for the space. Seeing a dead body wasn’t a daily occurrence for him, and he needed some alone time to process it all.

While waiting for Finn to get there, Cooper noticed that Tom’s body appeared to be untouched. No bruising that he could see and no blood.

Was it possible at thirty years old that Tom Kemp had died of a heart attack or a stroke? It was a possibility, of course. Perhaps the younger man had health issues that didn’t show on the outside. Cooper’s first thoughts had gone in a different direction.

Drugs.

If Tom had a drug problem, it was plausible that might be how he died. Addiction was cruel and heartless.

“I need to get your statement, too,” Finn said when he was done with Fiona.

“I doubt my story is going to be much different than Fiona’s.”

“To be honest, I didn’t get a great deal of information from her. She did tell me to go fuck myself when I asked about Tom’s life and friends.”

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Cooper sighed, rubbing the back of his neck where a pain had made itself known this morning. “She’s upset. She and her brother were quite close.”

“Can you start at the beginning here?” Finn asked. “I can’t seem to get a straight answer as to why Fiona Kemp was even in Winslow Heights in the first place.”

Cooper recounted the story from when Fiona showed up to finding the body this morning.

“They were supposed to fly out today?”

“That’s what Fiona said. She said that she was taking him to a rehab in Miami. That’s where she lives.”

“And you tracked his phone here?”

“Technically, we tracked her phone. He’d taken it.”

“And the last time you saw Tom alive was at Tate’s last night?”

“Yes, he left with a girl. Amanda, I think. I’ve seen her before at Tate’s and the bookstore.”

“I’m going to need to talk to her then. Your ex-wife said she was going to notify her parents. When the coroner gets here, we’ll hopefully get a better idea of how long he’s been dead and how it might have happened.”

“Do you think it’s drugs?”

“I try not to jump to any conclusions,” Finn said. “That’s certainly a possibility. He’s been in rehab several times before from what his sister said. I’m not leaning toward foul play at this point. He didn’t really know anyone here in town. I can’t rule that out, however, as he said that he was being watched and followed. I need to take his claims seriously at this point.”

“I still can’t think why anyone would want him dead.”

“Even the woman he was cheating on?”

“There were two of them, actually, that I know of. But they’re not here.”

“It should be pretty easy to prove that they weren’t in town at the time of death. I will talk to them, though. I’d like to ask them if Kemp had any enemies. Those sorts of questions. I’d also like to talk to the parents.”

“I’ll warn you now that Joyce and Andrew Kemp make Fiona look downright reasonable and helpful.”

“Noted. I think you and I are done here,” Finn said. “If I need anything else, I’ll let you know. I’ve asked Ms. Kemp to stay in town until the coroner makes his report. She wasn’t happy about that. She wants to leave as soon as possible.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

Cooper wasn’t sure it would do any good, but he’d give it a shot.

When Fiona saw Finn walk away from Cooper, she ran over and threw herself at his chest as her tears began to flow again.

“I should have stayed with him all night.”

“Tom wasn’t going to let you babysit him,” Cooper said, trying to soothe his ex who was beside herself with grief after seeing her brother’s dead body.

Not a pretty sight.

“I should have been more forceful. I should have made him stay with me.”

It wasn’t the time to point out that Fiona had been three sheets to the wind last night, and she hadn’t been in shape to do much other than pass out on her hotel room bed. She could have hardly dealt with her brother, too.

“Tom was a grown man. He made his own decisions.”

“All of them wrong,” Fiona sobbed, grabbing his t-shirt and burying her face in the cotton. “But I still loved him. He was my little brother. Why on earth did this happen? How did it happen?”

Both were good questions.

“Finn and the coroner are going to figure out how Tom died.”

“A couple of hick public servants in a hick town,” Fiona scoffed. “I bet Daddy is going to want to hire a real investigator.”

The Kemp patriarch would have to notice that he had children first.

“What did your parents say when you talked to them? Are they flying in to claim the body?”

A strange expression crossed Fiona’s face - part guilt and part deception. He’d seen it before. She was about to either lie to him or tell him something that she wasn’t proud of.

“I haven’t called them yet.”

Fiona’s gaze was somewhere over his shoulder, deliberately not meeting his eyes.

“I understand that you’re upset. When are you planning to call them? Do you want me to take you to the inn so you can have some privacy to do it?”

“About that…I was hoping that you could do it.”

She still wasn’t meeting his eyes, but her tone had been casual as if asking such a request was completely and totally no big deal. Ten years ago, Cooper would have done it, too. Now, he was older and hopefully wiser.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. They’ll want to hear it from you.”

His denial caught Fiona by surprise. Her eyes widened and she took a step back and then stopped, seemingly unsure as to how to react.

“I—I don’t think I can tell them.”

“I’m sure you can,” Cooper replied, not budging an inch.

“You always know just the right words to say, though. I’ll just upset them.”

“Their son just died, Fiona. I would imagine they’re going to be upset no matter what. This is a family situation.”

“You’re family.”

“No, I’m not,” he said, keeping his voice steady but firm. “This is not my news to share with your parents. You need to do this. Can I give you a ride back to the hotel?”

Not happy with his refusal, her uncertainty as to how to deal with him morphed into something far more calculating. A smug smile bloomed on her face, and her eyes glittered with triumph.

“Once I start talking, I may not stop,” she said. “I might even tell your family that you’re the bestselling author S.S. Cooper. You don’t want that to happen, now do you? Maybe you should call my parents and tell them about Tom. I’d hate to reveal one of your big secrets.”

If Cooper could kick his own ass, he would. He only had himself to blame, however. He’s the one who had married her, ignoring all the red flags along the way.

She thought she had him by the short hairs, but she’d calculated wrong. He’d intended to eventually tell his family; he simply wasn’t in a huge hurry. He would have told them already except for his dad.

“Go ahead,” Cooper urged. “But blackmail goes both ways. I know shit about you that would curl your old man’s hair. The best you got is that I’m actually a productive member of society instead of a deadbeat, and that I make a hell of a lot of money. That’s not much of a threat. You’re losing your touch, Fi. Seven years ago, you would have done better.”

The only tell that she was furious was the visible trembling of her lips and hands. Otherwise, she appeared as cool as a cucumber.

“Take me back to the hotel. Asshole.”

She stomped toward where he’d parked his car, not sparing a glance over her shoulder to see if he was following her. Before he left, he wanted to let Finn know that he was taking her back to the inn.

His phone vibrated with an incoming text. Jane had messaged him that Tom’s almost-fiancée Erica had shown up at the bookstore. Was Tom with him?

Damn. This wasn’t going to go well.

The news of Tom’s death hadn’t hit the town gossip grapevine yet. His thumb hovered over the screen, but he didn’t think that breaking the news over the phone was a good idea. Instead, he sent a message back that he’d be there in a few minutes. Finn would want to talk to Tom’s fiancée.

Cooper would drop Fiona back at the inn, and then go directly to the bookstore. Did Erica know about Tom’s drug problems, debt, and general womanizing?

It looked like they were about to find out.

Jane couldn’t believe how everything in the world could be upended in such a short span of time, but somehow it had. Erica was here in town, Tom was dead.

I’ve barely even had my coffee.

Erica was now crying for a different reason. Her fiancé Tom had been found dead, which was a shock to them all, of course. The young woman was beside herself, angry that she’d let him out of her sight. Apparently, she’d known that the man she planned to marry someday had a drug problem.

“He was getting help for it,” Erica explained, the tissue clutched in her hand a sodden mess. “He was seeing a therapist. He’d been clean for months.”

“Did you know that he’d been to rehab several times?” Cooper gently asked. Finn was still at the scene with Tom’s body waiting for the coroner. “Did you know that his sister Fiona was here to take him again? To a place in Miami?”

Anger immediately crossed Erica’s delicate features. She tossed the tissue onto the table and ripped a new one from the box that Lucy had slid in front of her. They’d moved this conversation into the backroom, but there were a few customers in the main area that were curious as to what was going on. The gossips would fill them in eventually.

“Fiona,” Erica spat out, her lips curled in distaste. “She wasn’t making anything any better. She babied Tom, telling him that his addiction wasn’t that bad. She’d say that he’d get help when he was ready. I find it hard to believe that she was going to take him to rehab. In Miami or anywhere else.”

“You didn’t get along with Fiona?”

“Does anyone?” Erica shot back. “She only cares about herself. I’ve never seen a more self-absorbed person in my life. She simply would not leave us alone. She’d dig around until she found one of Tom’s weaknesses, and then she’d try to exploit it.”

“What for?” Cooper asked. “How did she do that?”

“What for? She wanted to pull all the strings. Control. She wanted Tom to do whatever she told him to do. And before you even ask me, I don’t know why that was important to her. His life didn’t even affect hers, but she’d still do it. He and I would be doing great, and then she’d show up. She’d mess with his head, and the next thing I knew he’d go on a coke binge after being clean for months. It was almost like she couldn’t stand for him to be healthy and happy.”

From the expression on Cooper’s face, he believed Erica completely. For the dozenth time, Jane had to wonder just how he’d ended up married to Fiona. He’d explained that he’d been young and optimistic, but…damn. He’d been willingly blind, too.

Lust. It had to be lust. Perhaps Fiona was great in the sack. Jane had seen men fall for women who were a red flag-waving party, but they didn’t seem to care as long as they were getting laid.

Until later, of course. Then they cared a whole bunch, but it was often too late.

What was that saying? Don’t stick your dick in crazy.

“I can’t believe he’s really gone,” Erica sobbed, more tears running down her cheeks. “I just talked to him the day before yesterday. He was coming home. He had his flight booked and everything. He said that he was going to hire a private investigator to look into his claims of being followed and watched. He seemed upbeat about it.”

“How did you feel about his claims?” Cooper asked. “Did you believe him?”

“I believe that he believed it,” Erica replied. “But I was honest with him that I couldn’t see why anyone would follow him. It’s not like he was a famous actor or a rock star. We lived a fairly quiet life most of the time.”

“What about his friends? Or co-workers?”

“What about them?” Erica said with a shrug. “He partied with friends a few nights a month. He didn’t socialize with his co-workers. He said they were all stupid. They wouldn’t follow him around. That wouldn’t make any sense.”

The problem was none of it made any sense. Erica had a decent point. Tom wasn’t a famous pop singer with an army of fans.

“Was he privy to any sort of business or finance secrets in his job?” Cooper queried. “Was he working on any sort of business development projects that other companies might want to get ahold of?”

“Listen, I don’t want to make it sound like Tom didn’t do anything, because he definitely did,” Erica explained. “But his job was routine. Nothing high-profile. He went in at nine and he left at four. It was kind of an open secret that the only reason he worked at the firm was because my dad insisted on it. He didn’t want me to marry someone who lived off their trust fund. Why are you asking me these questions?”

“I was wondering if Tom had a legitimate reason to be paranoid.”

Erica shook her head again as more tears flowed. Jane felt terrible for the young woman who had been dealt such a horrible blow. The poor girl wasn’t going to get the happily ever after that she’d been counting on.

Cooper excused himself while Erica tried to pull herself together, coming over to speak to Jane.

“Can we step outside for a minute?”

“Sure.”

The two of them exited the back door and into the deserted alleyway behind the building.

“I’m sorry I didn’t answer the texts from you and Lucy.”

“I get it,” Jane replied. “You were dealing with this. You found the body?”

“I did, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.”

“Is Fiona okay? Seeing her brother like that had to be traumatic.”

“Yes, she is upset.”

His tone was short and clipped. Jane had the distinct feeling there was more to the story.

“That sounded like half a sentence. Is there more?”

“Yes,” he sighed. “So far, she has refused to call her parents to give them the bad news. She wanted me to do it.”

“You? Why would you do that?”

“Because she threatened to tell my family that I’m S.S. Cooper.”

Holy shit, Fiona tried to blackmail Cooper. I bet that didn’t go well.

“And after you told her to get fucked, what did she say?”

“That’s why I like you,” Cooper chuckled. “You know me well. I told her to go ahead. I’ve been meaning to tell everyone anyway. The only reason I haven’t is because of my dad. Then I told her that I know more secrets about her so maybe she shouldn’t start thinking she held a winning hand here.”

That sounded like Cooper.

“Her reaction?”

“She stomped back to my car. I took her to the inn and left her there. What happens now I don’t know. She’s pissed off at me for sure, though. Not that I care.”

Cooper’s phone buzzed in his pocket. Cursing softly, he pulled it out and checked the screen.

“All be damned. This is getting stranger by the second. It looks like my dad and Kimberly have been made aware that Fiona is in town and that Tom is dead. They want to host a dinner tonight with everyone there including Fiona and Erica. This can only be trouble. My dad doesn’t do anything without a motive.”

“Everyone will be there?” Jane echoed. “What does that mean?”

“I would assume everyone that will show up. That would be Tate, Sam, maybe Zack and Lucy. Kim has already invited Fiona apparently, so I guess I have to go.”

“Since when do you give in to your dad and say yes to his dinner invitations?”

Cooper had been giving Joel Winslow the middle finger for a couple of decades. He had nothing but contempt for his father.

“Since I don’t want my ex-wife there without me. If I say no, he’ll go around me and get her there anyway. When he met Fiona, he immediately liked her.”

“And that didn’t give you pause?”

“I thought it was because she was sexy and good-looking. He’s always liked the ladies, and Fiona played up to him. She’d flirt and laugh at his jokes. That sort of thing.”

When Jane was younger, she’d laughed at her father-in-law’s horrible jokes, and eaten her mother-in-law’s terrible casseroles, so she understood wanting to be liked by the spouse’s family.

“If she goes alone, what bad thing could happen?”

“I don’t know, and that’s what bugs me. I want to be there to keep an eye on her. And my dad. I don’t trust either of them, so I have to go. I’ll tell them that there will be two of us coming.”

Now Jane was confused.

“Are you going to try and get Frankie or Piper to go with you?”

“No, I’m talking about you. I was hoping you’d go with me. Don’t make me go to this alone. My dad is up to something, and I need to find out what.”

Me? You want to be seen in public with me? With your family? This is…big. And unexpected. How do I feel about this?

Jane’s immediate reaction was to say hell no . They needed to have an entire discussion as to what that would mean and the consequences of being seen together. A hell of a lot of thought needed to go into this sort of decision. If she did this, everything would be different tomorrow. In a good or a bad way? She didn’t have a clue.

“I can do that.”

The words had tumbled out of her mouth without even a pause at the Yield sign in her brain. So much for holding the line until they could talk about it.

It was official. Jane was going to the Winslow mansion for dinner with Cooper as her escort.

What could possibly go wrong?