Rebels and Roses (Winslow Heights #2)

Chapter 14

14

A fter a hot shower the next morning, Jane pulled on her bathrobe and padded on bare feet into the kitchen. She didn’t have to work until mid-afternoon, but there was a study group she wanted to attend in about an hour. Everyone was gearing up for finals, and she was no exception. It was hard to believe that in just two weeks she’d finally be done. It had been one long, hard slog but worth it.

She’d taken the first sip of her coffee when there was a soft knock on her door. The sun was barely up, and while the town was beginning to wake outside, it was still damn early. She was sure that she’d never had a visitor at this hour of the morning before.

Which could only mean one thing. It had to be Cooper. He was the unpredictable in her life. Everything else was boring as hell.

Just to be sure, she checked the peephole first. She’d guessed correctly. She opened the door and stepped back, letting him enter.

Dressed in jeans and a cotton button-down shirt, his hair was still damp from his shower. His clean scent teased her nostrils with citrus and spice. He always smelled amazing. He always looked good, too. In fact, she ought to hate him for looking so handsome this early in the morning. She didn’t have a scrap of makeup on, and her wet hair was wrapped in a towel.

“This is becoming a habit.” He looked confused, not sure what she was referring to. “You showing up at my door unexpectedly.”

“Did you really not expect me? After last night?”

“I thought I’d see you, but not necessarily this early. Did you sleep? Were you up all night writing?”

That was another annoying thing about Cooper. He could stay up all night working, and still look fresh as a daisy the next day. It really wasn’t fucking fair.

“I tried to write, but I couldn’t concentrate. I kept thinking about Tom. Is there enough coffee for me, too?”

Jane had made a full pot, so she poured him a cup as well before they settled on her sofa.

She hadn’t slept well last night, her head spinning with too many questions and barely any answers. Mostly, she needed to know how she felt about this man. That was the first and most important query. The second was, of course, how he felt about her.

But to be honest, if she wasn’t falling for him…did it matter how he felt about her? And how could she expect him to know how he felt when she was trying to sort out her own feelings, as well?

“You didn’t sleep because of Tom?” she prompted. “Guilt is not a productive emotion, Cooper.”

“What makes you think I feel guilty?”

“Because you couldn’t work. That’s rare for you.”

“True,” he conceded. “I guess I do feel a bit guilty. Tom came to me for help, and he ended up dead.”

“That’s not your fault. None of this is your fault. He shouldn’t have even come here to ask for your help. That was strange in and of itself. You said yourself that you two weren’t all that close when you were married.”

“We weren’t, and yes, it was a shock to see him here in town. But he did come here for help.”

“He thought someone was following him,” Jane said. “The paranoia could have been because of his drug use. You said that yourself.”

“Erica swears he wasn’t using before he came here. She swears he was off cocaine. He still drank a bit, but he wasn’t partying. She said that more than once when I took her back to the inn last night.”

“Addicts hide their behavior.”

“Yes.”

“But you believe her?”

“Let’s just say she was convincing,” Cooper replied, his fingers rubbing at his stubbled jaw. “But that’s not why I was thinking about Tom all night.”

“Okay, I’ll bite. Why were you thinking about Tom all night?”

Cooper turned his body toward her as he placed his cup on the coffee table.

“After I dropped Fiona and Erica at the hotel, I stopped at the front desk. I felt bad about Tom’s death and all so I thought it would be a nice gesture to pay their hotel bills for them. Kind of a surprise. After all, neither of them planned on coming here. They were here for Tom. Anyway, I was talking to the front desk clerk, giving him my credit card, and he let something slip that caught my attention. He was sort of talking to himself as he pulled Erica’s account up on the screen. She was here the night before she showed up looking for Tom.”

“Wait, what do you mean she was here? The day before?”

“Yes, she was here a full night before she started asking about where Tom was. You don’t think that’s strange? I think it’s strange.”

“And suspicious,” Jane said, completing Cooper’s unspoken thought.

“Yes. What do you think?”

“I think I agree,” Jane replied carefully. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions though. There might be a simple explanation. But there’s more here. Do you not believe that it was an accident? Are you thinking foul play?”

“Have I been reading my own books too much?” Cooper said with a shake of his head. “I just have a funny feeling about all of this. If I were writing this story, my detective would be saying that it doesn’t all quite add up. Tom’s paranoia, and then his death. His sort-of fiancée possibly hides when she actually arrived in town. It makes me stop and want to take a second look.”

“I’m just going to say the word out loud,” Jane said. “You’re thinking that Tom might have been murdered. That it was murder.”

“Am I crazy?” Cooper said, his head falling back and resting on the top of the couch cushion. “Am I seeing monsters around corners?”

“Let’s look at it logically,” Jane replied. “You’re the mystery writer. We have some suspicious events. Do we have means, motive, and opportunity?”

“This is why I ended up here,” Cooper said with a crooked grin. “You wouldn’t laugh me out of your place. You’d talk it through with me. Okay, let’s take the first one - means. It wouldn’t take a genius to find drugs in a college town. That’s the easy part.”

“True, but what about motive? Why would Erica - or anyone else - kill Tom?”

If what Finn said about Tom was true, the only thing that Tom would leave behind is debt. There would be what was left in his trust fund, but that would simply go back to the parents. Jane wasn’t sure how trust funds worked, to be honest, but that seemed to make the most sense.

“What are the usual motives for murder? Love, money, and revenge.”

“Don’t forget jealousy and lust.”

“I’m grouping those under love,” he replied. “Love, lust, and jealousy are all bound up together.”

“Someone can be jealous and not in love,” Jane pointed out. “If I went to my high school reunion, and Betty Sue had married my teenage crush so I shot her in the parking lot, it would just be jealousy.”

“But you thought you were in love with him. So, it’s love-related,” Cooper argued. “Can I say that I love debating these things with you at seven forty-five in the morning?”

“I think we both need a second cup,” Jane said, rising to her feet. “Keep talking. Motive? Who would have had a motive to kill Tom?”

“Obviously, Erica.”

Jane refilled both cups and returned to the living room.

“If she knew about the other woman. Do we know if she did?”

“We don’t know for sure, and there might have been more than one woman. Tom even admitted that he liked to party and womanize. He didn’t seem ashamed of it. If she knew, maybe she was angry enough to help him overdose.”

Jane wasn’t convinced yet.

“I’m not sure I see what Erica’s logic would be. She’s angry at Tom. He’s been seeing another woman or multiple women. Instead of confronting him on her home turf, she waits until he leaves town and then follows him. She gets him alone, maybe they argue - we can’t know for sure - and she convinces him that she’s suddenly changed her mind about drugs. Being clean is a terrible idea, no, he should take as many drugs as he can. He dies. She goes back to the hotel, and then instead of simply leaving town, she comes to look for Tom, pretending to be worried.”

“That isn’t how you would do it?”

Cooper had an amused expression on his face, but she was quite serious.

“No, it’s not how I would do it. Would that be your plan? Because I don’t believe that based on the books you write. Your motives are much stronger, and the murder plans are better thought out.”

“True life is stranger than fiction. There are true things that have happened that I could never put in a book. No one would believe it. But I will concede that you make some good points. It would make more sense for her to stay at a hotel out of town, kill Tom, and then leave without anyone knowing she was here.”

“Unless she was trying to set up her alibi,” Jane said. “Who would believe the bereaved and mourning fiancée would have killed the man she loved?”

“I thought you weren’t buying it?”

“I’m playing devil’s advocate. And to add to that, she may have been having Tom followed by a private investigator. It’s not paranoia if they’re really after you. Isn’t that the saying?”

“It would make sense…if she knew,” Cooper countered.

“Are you going to ask her?”

“That’s a good question. What’s a good way to work that into the conversation? Hey, your fiancé is dead, and I’m so sorry about that. Oh, by the way, did you know that he was a pussy hound in addition to a junkie?”

Jane couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up at his brash statement.

“ Pussy hound ? That’s hilarious.”

Some people might have said it would take one to know one. Had Cooper heard that description about himself? He wasn’t, though. Or perhaps he had been at some point. The two of them hadn’t been “official” in any sense, but she would have bet money that he hadn’t slept with anyone else while with her. He was honest that way. If he’d wanted to sleep around, he would have told her up front. He didn’t play stupid games.

“Do you have a better way to phrase it?”

“How about anything else? Seriously, if you want to open the conversation, I’d start with asking her about coming into town the night before. Open with that. Then you can see where the conversation goes. If she has a perfectly rational explanation, then I doubt I’d push forward.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

“That’s a whole different thing. Are you going to talk to her?”

There was a long pause as Cooper stared off into the distance, deciding how he was going to answer.

“I don’t know,” he finally replied. “I don’t think I can shake this feeling about Tom. It’s all just too much of a coincidence for me to let it go easily. I have a lot of questions, and not just about Erica. Were there other people with motive? People close to Tom that might want him dead?”

“For what reason? We’re back to what would someone gain if Tom were out of the way. I would understand Erica. Her motive would be vengeance. But someone else?”

“Maybe his girlfriend in Chicago got tired of being a sidepiece,” Cooper said. “Or another girl, for that matter. Finn said that Tom was in debt. Maybe he owed money to the wrong people. There are more than a few possibilities.”

“Do rich people borrow from loan sharks? Or do they borrow from other rich people?” Jane questioned. “If I came from money, money, money, I would know people that might loan me some cash that wouldn’t need it back right away. Where would Tom meet a loan shark? The country club driving range?”

“He met a drug dealer without too much fuss,” Cooper pointed out. “Maybe more than one. And I can assure you, as a member of a country club growing up, there was a drug dealer on the grounds. If you wanted it, you could get it. Drugs, booze, girls. Whatever our spoiled, rich asses wanted.”

“You kind of make me glad that my parents weren’t rich.”

“I’m not the type that says money is evil or anything. Money has its purpose, and it can be a lot of fun. With money, you still have problems. Just different ones. You’re not worried about paying the power bill or how little Johnny is going to get that expensive surgery.”

“Okay, so you’ve identified some people that might possibly have wanted Tom dead. Although I have my doubts about the loan shark. Dead people can’t pay their debts.”

“That’s a good point,” Cooper replied. “Let’s put that lower on the list of possibilities.”

“What are we going to do with this list? Are you going to talk to Finn?”

“I’m headed there next,” he agreed. “I also have another errand that I need to run.”

He certainly didn’t look too happy about it. His normally relaxed vibe was missing in action.

“Do I dare ask? Do you need to return something to the store? Yell at a mail clerk?”

“I’m going to stop at my father’s office. He and I need to have a chat about the deal he offered Fiona last night. I knew he was up to something, and I was right. I want to let him know that he’s failed. Again. And I want to look at his face when I say it.”

“A deal?” Jane asked cautiously. “What kind of a deal? Is that a bad question?”

“My dad offered Fiona money to reconcile with me, and then bring me back into the family’s loving arms. Honestly, I should have expected this. He has a history of crap like this. Originally, he paid Fiona to keep tabs on me when I was traveling around after college.”

That was so much information all at once, Jane’s brain wanted to explode. Surely, she must have heard wrong. Joel was trying to buy Cooper a woman? Who was an informant? No, she had to clean her ears out, because that could not be happening.

“Can you repeat that, please? You lost me somewhere along the line.”

Cooper repeated what he’d told her, going into more detail this time. She hadn’t heard incorrectly. Joel had, indeed, hired the daughter of a business acquaintance to tag along and make friends with Cooper so that she could report back about what he was doing.

Insanity. And…creepy as shit.

“Your dad is something else,” she finally said when he was finished the story. “You’re going to confront him?”

“It won’t change anything, but it might make Joel try harder next time. He’s not as smart and clever as he thinks he is. Frankly, he’s getting sloppy in his old age.”

“I just do not understand the Winslow family.”

“Don’t even try. We’re too dysfunctional for the rest of humanity. Can we meet for lunch at Tate’s later?” Cooper asked, levering to his feet. “I should probably get over to see Finn. And I should let you get ready for your study session.”

Reaching up, she touched the bath towel that was still wrapped around her hair. She’d completely forgotten she’d been sitting here looking like hell.

“I forgot?—”

“Fuck that,” Cooper said, sweeping her into his arms. Their bodies were pressed together, and he dropped a kiss on her bare shoulder where her robe had been pulled aside. “You’re fucking gorgeous like this, just out of the shower. And you smell…”

He nestled his face into the crook of her neck and breathed deeply, making her shiver in delicious anticipation. His mere touch could send her into the stratosphere. He knew just what to do with a woman’s body.

“Amazing,” he sighed, giving her soft skin a tiny nip with his teeth. Somehow, he’d insinuated his arms inside her robe so that it was almost falling off of her, her naked body on display. “If I didn’t know you had someplace to be this morning, I’d throw you over my shoulder and have my wicked way with you. But I will do this before I go.”

She was practically a puddle of goo already, but then he tugged at the towel around her hair so that it fell to the floor. Her long, damp hair came free, and he smiled triumphantly as if he’d wrestled a bear or maybe a gator. She, on the other hand, was pretty sure she looked like she’d been caught in a windstorm, her hair a tangled mess around her shoulders.

“Perfect,” he said, plunging his hands into the damp strands as he bent his head to capture her lips.

Time seemed to slow as he explored her mouth thoroughly, taking his own sweet time. He liked to drag it out and make them both crazy with want before giving in to the desire.

But there would be no satisfaction this morning. This was madness. She was supposed to be calm and composed when all she wanted to do was ravish this too-sexy-for-words man currently standing in her apartment.

Eventually, he lifted his head, his eyes gleaming with a heat that she recognized all too well. Desire had never been a problem for them. Could they make this something more? She wasn’t sure that it was possible.

She recognized that she wanted it. She simply didn’t know if he did.

“I’ll call you later,” he said as he walked out of her door, leaving her hot and breathless in his chaotic wake. “Let’s meet for lunch.”

Was she ready to talk to him about being more? Would she have to give him an ultimatum?

Most importantly, was she ready to walk away if he turned her down?

Straightening her spine, she couldn’t ignore what needed to be done.

She and Cooper needed to have a talk. The kind of talk that he’d avoided for years.

Was it just lust? Or did they have something more? She had to know.