Rebels and Roses (Winslow Heights #2)

Chapter 18

18

T he next morning, Jane and Cooper made their way to Tom’s girlfriend’s apartment. Cassie lived on the second floor of a lovely brick building located on a sunny, tree-lined street. When they knocked, a dog barked a greeting, and the woman opened the door.

She looked young, probably in her early twenties. Petite, with light brown hair and clear blue eyes, Cassie was quite pretty, although she’d clearly been crying before they’d arrived. She picked up her tiny Yorkie dog and welcomed them into her home.

When Cooper had called Cassie the day before to ask if they could speak with her, he’d had the unenviable job of giving her the sad news of Tom’s death. Since her relationship had been a secret from the main people in Tom’s life, no one had known to inform her.

“I’m sorry everything is sort of a mess,” Cassie apologized, placing the dog onto a floral fabric ottoman. “Since getting the news, I haven’t felt like doing much of anything.”

Jane’s keen gaze went straight to the boxes stacked in a small area between the kitchen and living room, then to Cassie’s mid- section. Sure enough, the woman was wearing a loose, billowy empire-waist top. The boxes were printed with the logo of a popular brand of diapers.

She’s pregnant.

She turned to see if Cooper had noticed, but he was looking at the framed photos on the fireplace mantle. There were pictures of Tom and Cassie together, smiling as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

“It’s fine,” Jane assured her. “Under the circumstances, we completely understand. This must be so hard for you, especially at a time like this when you need the support of loved ones.”

Cooper gave her a strange look, but she didn’t meet his gaze. He’d figure it out eventually. He wasn’t dumb.

Cassie placed her hand on her abdomen, her eyes glistening with tears.

“We had so many hopes and dreams. Tom was so excited about being a dad. It’s all he talked about. I keep expecting him to walk through the door and tell me it was all just a bad joke.”

“How far along are you?” Cooper asked.

Good, he’s got it.

“Sixteen weeks,” Cassie replied with a watery smile. “We’d just started telling people and buying for the nursery. We didn’t want to do it too early in case something bad happened. I guess something bad did happen?—”

The young woman broke off, her shoulders shaking with sobs. Jane quickly crossed the room and placed her arm around Cassie. The woman’s grief was palpable.

“Why don’t you sit down and let us make you a cup of tea?”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” Cassie protested, but she did sit down. Her dog immediately curled next to her in comfort. “You’re a guest in my home. I should be making tea for you.”

“You didn’t ask, I offered,” Jane said. “And I’d love to make you tea. Please let me.”

Cassie nodded, more tears streaming down her already red cheeks.

“Tom would make me tea sometimes.”

“Why don’t you ladies chat? I’ll make the tea,” Cooper offered. “I’ll be right back.”

“The tea bags are in the cabinet above the stove,” Cassie said, sniffling into a fresh tissue from the box on the end table.

“I found them. Won’t be long. Do you want anything in it?”

“No, thank you.” Cassie looked back at Jane who had sat down on the sofa opposite. “You must be thinking I’m losing my mind, sitting here crying like this.”

“No,” Jane replied softly. “I think you’ve lost someone you loved very much. There’s no shame in mourning Tom. How long were you together?”

“About a year.”

Jane tried to hide her surprise, but not well enough.

“I can see I shocked you. Yes, it did move fast. But I knew how I felt about Tom the minute I met him. We met at a party, and by the end of the night I was in love. He wanted all the same things I did - commitment, a family. I’d finally found someone who wasn’t terrified of being tied down to one woman and kids. He was seeking permanence in his life, he said. His parents weren’t very loving or demonstrative, and he wanted to do better for his children. That spoke to me on a very deep level.”

“When you know, you know,” Jane replied with a smile. “I’ve seen it happen that way.”

“It really was magical.” Cassie looked down at her hands before continuing. “At first, I thought he was single. Then I learned that he had a girlfriend, but he was trying to end things. He swore to me that he was going to break up, but she was sick, and she needed him. As soon as she recovered, he would leave, and we would be together.”

Oh Tom, what a tangled web you have weaved. You were lying to two women. Did you think you’d never get caught?

Cooper rejoined them, placing a mug of hot tea on the table next to Cassie before sitting next to Jane on the couch.

“We are sorry for your loss,” Cooper said. “When was the last time you talked to Tom?”

“Tuesday night. He called to see how I was feeling. I had some nasty morning sickness my first trimester, but I’ve been feeling a lot better.”

“Nothing after that? A text or an email?”

“No, when he was gone on business, he didn’t call every day. I knew he was busy.”

Business? This poor girl didn’t have a clue.

“He lived in Denver, and you lived here in Chicago. How did that work?” Cooper asked.

“Since he traveled so much for business, he would make a stop here. I saw him probably a couple of times a month. It wasn’t perfect, but we made it work. He was looking for a job here in the city. We wanted to be settled before the baby came.”

Hadn’t Erica noticed that her almost fiancé was gone a hefty chunk of the time? Didn’t she ever question Tom, especially as she knew he had an addiction problem? Had he been so charming that two women - and potentially more - completely bought his lies? Or had they known he was lying, but they hadn’t wanted to admit that they’d been taken in by a smooth operator?

Cooper cleared his throat, shifting on the couch cushion.

“This is difficult to ask, but I have to. Did you know about Tom’s problems with addiction, Cassie?”

The young woman took in a shuddering breath, her eyes once again bright with unshed tears.

“Yes, I knew. But he’d been clean for months. Once I told him that I was pregnant, he promised to stop. And he did. He was that excited about the baby. He always wanted us to have a baby as soon as possible. He dreamed of being a father. That’s why I stopped using birth control a few months into our relationship. I knew he was going to make the most wonderful dad in the world.”

I’m flabbergasted. Am I looking at this through my own cynical, been there done that world view? Have I been hurt too many times by useless, asshole men that I can’t see the forest for the trees?

Jane had to remind herself that Cassie was young. Young and inexperienced enough to trust a man who said he was single and then he wasn’t. Young enough to trust a man who was an addict to say that he was clean. And young enough to trust a man just a few months into a relationship that if she got pregnant, he’d stick around and be father of the year. Even when she knew that he was still tied to another woman.

Had Tom even been looking for a job in Chicago? Was he even planning to move? He hadn’t mentioned it to Cooper, but he’d only been in town a few days. He certainly hadn’t been ashamed of seeing two women, but he also hadn’t announced that he’d gotten both of them pregnant - within a few months of each other.

What was Tom’s endgame here? How had he pictured this all going? Jane couldn’t make heads or tails of this. When it all blew up in their faces, had Tom planned to simply walk away and start with a new woman?

“Now that Tom is gone, I’m worried about how I’m going to pay for everything,” Cassie sighed. “I was hoping to stay at home with our kids until they started school, but I’m going to have to go back to work pretty much right away. This wasn’t what we planned at all. Luckily, a few friends have been buying me things as gifts, but it’s not going to be the same.”

At least Erica came from money. After her baby arrived, she wouldn’t be concerned about keeping the lights on and the price of food and gas.

“Is this your apartment?” Cooper asked. “Did Tom help with bills?”

“He did help,” Cassie replied. “I’m hoping he had life insurance or maybe a 401K. Do you know if he did? I was planning to reach out to his employer to ask.”

That might be awkward, considering Tom worked for Erica’s father. It also didn’t sound like Cassie knew that Tom had any family. Had he lied about that, too?

“I don’t know,” Cooper answered. “Did Tom talk about money? About his plans when the baby came?”

“He always said that everything would be taken care of. That we’d have no worries. He said there would plenty of money to live on and have fun. He said that I’d never have to worry about money again.”

Those were bold statements from a guy who was in debt and spent every penny of his yearly trust fund allowance.

“I just have to ask again,” Cooper said. “Are you sure Tom was clean these last months? There was no sign of drug use?”

“None,” Cassie replied in a firm tone. “I noticed the difference right away. When he was using, he wouldn’t sleep hardly at all. Since he quit, he slept great and was all around calmer. He wasn’t wanting to party every night. He was almost a homebody.”

“Just one more question, and we’ll get out of your hair. Did Tom ever talk about feeling like he was being followed or watched?”

“No. No, not at all. Did he tell you that?”

“He mentioned something about it,” Cooper admitted. “I just wondered if perhaps he’d said something to you, too.”

“No, he didn’t. He did say something about his employer not being happy about his working from home when he was with me here in Chicago, but he was planning on changing jobs, so he said it didn’t matter.”

They thanked Cassie for her time, and Jane saw Cooper slip a piece of paper into the young woman’s hand. When they were back in the car, she had to ask.

“Did you give her your phone number? Should I be concerned?”

“No, you should not. With you, I’m a one-woman man. A happy one. I gave Cassie the phone number of the Kemp family attorney. If the baby is Tom’s, the family should take care of it. She shouldn’t have to struggle just because Tom used questionable judgment in almost every aspect of his life.”

“Questionable judgment? I think you’re being kind. He had piss poor decision-making skills. All I could think as I listened to that woman’s story was that someone should take Tom out behind a barn and kick the shit out of him. It also made me wonder how many other women have or are having Tom’s baby. Was this some sort of fetish? It’s weird. But it might explain why he spent all of his trust fund and was in debt. Drugs and babies get expensive. Flying all over the country to see naive young women isn’t cheap either.”

“If I’d known what he was up to when he was staying at my place, I might have done it myself,” Cooper said. “I don’t know what he was thinking either. When I called him out on seeing two women, he said it wasn’t a big deal.”

“He knew they were pregnant. This is so…bizarre. I’ve never seen anything like this. It explains why he was trying to stay clean, but it doesn’t explain why he fell off the wagon that night. Why was he so determined to party?”

“I think his paranoia was getting to him,” Cooper replied as they walked down the block. It was a beautiful sunny day. “Then when Fiona arrived, it seemed to put him into overdrive.”

“He had good reason to be paranoid,” Jane said. “If he was lying to so many women, he should have been terrified. Tom’s behavior was creepy.”

“I’m going to call the Kemp family attorney. Give him a head’s up about Cassie. And Erica.”

“And maybe more?” Jane added.

“Yes, that, too. He’s a good guy. Hopefully, he’ll be able to help them.”

“In the meantime, I’m not sure we learned much about Tom or who might have been with him the night he died,” Jane said.

“We learned that Cassie and Erica don’t know about one another, or if they do, they’re excellent actresses.”

“And more forgiving than I would have been.”

“We also learned from Cassie and Amanda that Tom wants to spread his seed around.”

“Ick.”

“I can’t argue your eloquent point. In the meantime, we head back to Winslow Heights and the one person who is still on my suspect list - Erica. We need to circle back to the clerk at the hotel. Right now, she’s saying we’re wrong. We need to be sure.”

Had Erica come into town early? Was she the one that was having Tom followed? If - and that was a big if - he was actually being watched and followed? And if so, did she know about Cassie?

And did that even mean anything in the big scheme of things? Tom was perfectly capable of dying of an overdose with no help whatsoever.

Just what had truly happened that night?