Page 62 of Rebels and Roses

“I understand you all too well. Hell, sometimes I wish I didn’t. It must piss you off to no end that I’m not some broke loser who needs his daddy to make everything okay. Turns out I’m not the huge disappointment that you thought. It must scuttle all the plans you’ve made.”

With that, Cooper turned on his heel and strode out before Joel could reply. He waved to a gaping Leigh as he left, not slowing down until he was standing on the sidewalk in front of the building.

Jane was right once again. He shouldn’t have come.

Nothing here would ever change.

“Explain it to me again,”Jane said when she met Cooper for lunch at Tate’s after her group study session. “Where are we going after lunch?”

“To talk to the girl that Tom was with. I want to see what she remembers.”

“Didn’t Finn talk to her?”

Cooper had suspicions, and she didn’t blame him. But shouldn’t Finn be looking into all of this? He wasn’t the detective in one of his novels, and while he knew more than the average person did about investigations that didn’t mean he was an actual police officer.

“Only briefly. The coroner has classified Tom’s death as an accidental overdose. That means the case is closed as far as lawenforcement is concerned. He spoke with the girl, and also with Fiona, but that’s it.”

“Did you discuss this with Finn? Did you tell him that you’re not sure that it was an accident?”

“I did,” Cooper confirmed. “He was apologetic, but he can’t spare the manpower on a case that is technically closed. The town council has been squeezing his budget, and he’s had to cut hours from his deputies. He’s none too happy about it, but he has to put his resources on open cases which I completely understand. He does see what I’m saying, but he pointed out that I don’t have any proof that it wasn’t an accident. If I did, he’d argue to re-open the case.”

“Technically, he doesn’t have any proof that it was an accident,” Jane pointed out.

“Funny, I said that, too,” Cooper said. “He had an answer for that. Tom was a known addict, and there were no signs of a struggle on the body. No signs of suicide either. Tom was in a great mood when he was last seen, partying and having fun. I didn’t have an argument against what he said, only my suspicions because of what Tom told me before he died.”

“So, you’re going to talk to that girl? What do you think she can tell you?”

“Maybe she saw something or someone that night. Maybe Tom said something to her that would give us more information. Finn only asked her what time Tom left her apartment. She might know more but wasn’t asked.” Cooper popped a french fry into his mouth. “Then you might want to pack an overnight bag. We’re driving up to Chicago.”

Chicago? Jane hadn’t seen that coming.

“We’re going to Chicago? What are we going to do there? See a Cubs’ game? I want mustard on my hot dog if we’re going to Wrigley Field.”

“We might be able to catch a game while we’re up there. But first, we’re going to talk to Tom’s second girlfriend. There are questions I’d like to ask her.”

Jane admired Cooper’s determination, but he might have skipped a few steps ahead of where they currently sat.

“That’s great, but how are we going to know who she is? Did he ever mention more than her first name?”

“No, which is why I checked his phone. She was easy to find.”

“His phone? How did you get his phone? What have I missed here while I slept?”

“Fiona had it.”

That was half a sentence.

“Do I have to pull all the information out of you one piece at a time?”

“Sorry, I’m a little embarrassed to tell you that when I took Fiona back to the inn last night, I hung around for a few minutes.”

“Did you steal his phone?” Jane asked incredulously. “Cooper, you could get in trouble for that.”

“I didn’t steal it,” he denied. “I just looked through it while Fiona was in the bathroom. It didn’t take long to find Tom’s messages to a Cassie Dunbar. She has a Chicago area code. I looked her up online. She wasn’t hard to find. There were pictures of the two of them on his phone. Shit, he wasn’t even trying to hide his infidelity. I have to assume that Erica wasn’t the type to check his cell.”

“Some women don’t have cheating exes in our past that make up distrustful.”

“Have you checked my phone?”

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