Page 58 of Rebels and Roses

“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 himthat 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 mesome 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.”

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