Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 05 - Gems & Gunshots Read Free Page A

wasn’t interested in, I kept diligently watching because I didn’t want to take the chance of missing what I was waiting for.
    “Far be it for me to criticize, but since when did you become so interested in the news? And since when have you ever taken less than two hours to get ready for a special event?” he said with a smile on his face to show me he was teasing.
    I turned my head toward him long enough to stick my tongue out to show him I wasn’t amused. “Since this morning, which you would know if you ever checked your voicemail. I went to that coffee shop you told me about. You know, the Coffee Break. Well, there were some exciting happenings across the street. All of which was in my message.” Cooper wasn’t the greatest about checking his personal voicemail. He had what could be a very demanding business, and I had learned that sometimes, even when he might want to, he couldn’t respond to my calls. He always told me that if it was an emergency to go through his assistant, Denise. So I wasn’t surprised when he hadn’t called me back today.
    “Oh, you mean that mess at Gemstones Unlimited? Yeah, sorry I couldn’t call you back, but actually—that’s the reason I couldn’t call back.”
    “How did you hear about it?” I wasn’t too surprised. Cooper usually knew everything. Especially where I was concerned and especially when I didn’t really want him to know. He had some kind of sixth sense about certain things. A trait that I was sure helped to make him a success in his security business.
    “Gemstone’s Unlimited is one of my clients. Or rather, the owner, Greg Anderson, is. He called me as soon as he found out what happened, and I was helping him sort things out today at the jewelry store. That’s what prevented me from returning your call,” he said, finally making his way over to me on the couch and dropping a kiss on my forehead.
    I turned to face him, not worried about the newscast now when I had a much better source of information at my fingertips. The trick would just be to get him to share what he knew. I smiled at him, and he started laughing.
    “Is this where you start to pump me for information and then get annoyed when I won’t give you any?”
    My smile turned to a frown. I didn’t know why he always had to make everything so difficult when all I wanted was a little insider’s report. “C’mon, Coop. You should know by now that I won’t tell anyone what you tell me. I was right there when it happened. I have a right to know what’s going on.”
    “I’m not sure that being an observer to a crime gives you a right to information. Did the police talk to you?” As usual, he was ignoring my questions by asking questions of his own—an infuriating habit of his.
    “Of course they talked to me. I was sitting right across the street with Haley, the girl who works at the coffee shop. I saw everything. At least everything that took place outside the building, and I heard the gunshots and saw the ambulance guys bring out a body bag on a gurney. I assume there was a body in that bag. Do they know who did it?”
    “What did you tell the police?”
    “Pretty much what I just told you. Do you know if they have any leads? Who was the person murdered? Was it random or do they think it was planned?”
    “Presley…” he sighed, shaking his head. “Please go get ready. We need to leave in forty–five minutes, and it wouldn’t look good for one of the nominees to be late.”
    “Fine. But only because I have an amazing dress to wear and I want to look fabulous. I’m not giving up asking questions. You know you can only resist me for so long.”
    “Don’t I know it.”
    *****
    Forty–five minutes later, I was almost regretting I had wasted time watching the news. I should know better than to rush getting ready. I was trying for the dramatic effect with my makeup and a smoky eye look that was turning out to be more like a black eye. I was redoing them for the third time and was