Page 26 of Rebels and Roses

“No, just some information about his house guest that he had me look into. How are you, Jane? Almost done with school, right?”

“Just finishing up my last class. It won’t be long now. I’ll be glad to finally be finished. It’s been a long haul. Can I get you a cup of coffee? Or a soda?”

“I wouldn’t say no to something cool to drink. It’s warm out there today.”

Finn followed her to the coffeeshop area, and she slipped behind the counter to pour his drink. He accepted it gratefully, drinking down half the glass right away.

“Let me refill that for you.”

“Nah, I’m good. Cooper, do you have a few minutes?”

Can you drag yourself away from Amy?

“Sure,” Cooper replied easily, sitting down at one of the tables with his cake and coffee. “What’s going on?”

“I did that check into your former brother-in-law.”

“Cooper?” Amy called. “Do you want another piece of cake? I can get that for you.”

Amy looked a bit put out from Cooper’s immediate dismissal of her now that Finn had showed up.

“This is good, thanks,” Cooper said. “I definitely want to hear what you’ve found out.”

This was none of her business. Jane began to step away from the two men, but Cooper shook his head.

“You don’t have to go. You can hear this, if you want to.”

She did want to. Just what was the skinny on Tom Kemp?

“First of all,” Finn began. “I just talked to your brother Tate before I got here. I was looking for you at the tavern. He said that Tom was there all last evening until closing time flirting with a young female student and getting drunk as hell. They left together. I wasn’t sure if you knew that.”

“Christ on a bicycle, that kid has no sense of self-preservation,” Cooper muttered. “He has an almost-fiancée, a girlfriend, and now he’s picking up college girls in bars. Fantastic. I will say he never brought her back to the apartment,so I guess that’s something. Maybe his judgment isn’t complete shit.”

Cooper had left her apartment about three-thirty in the morning. The bars closed at two. Tom could have brought the girl back and then got rid of her before Cooper arrived home. It wasn’t a sure thing, but it was a possibility. However, he probably didn’t want Finn to know that he’d been out almost all night. That would raise questions. And she was the answer. An answer that they were keeping quiet.

“I had a friend probe into Tom Kemp’s background these last few years,” Finn went on. “I’m afraid it’s not pretty. He’s been in and out of rehab several times. Cocaine and booze, from what I was able to find. He’s also in debt to his eyeballs. He’s living the high life and putting it all on cards.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Cooper replied. “His family is loaded with money.”

“His family has put him on a strict budget with his trust fund,” Finn said with a shake of his head. “They know about his problems, and they’re not going to feed them anymore. That’s when he got a job.”

“That explains his paranoia.”

Shit, Jane needed a filter on her mouth. She should have just sat here and kept her mouth shut.

“It could definitely be the reason he thinks people are following and watching him,” Cooper agreed. “He’s convinced himself that he has a stalker.”

Finn levered up from the table, draining the last of his drink.

“I need to get back on the job. I just wanted to let you know what I’d found out. I’m not sure it really helps much.”

“It does,” Cooper replied. “If only so that I understand where he’s coming from. Thanks for digging that up. I appreciate it.”

“No problem. I’m meeting with the private investigator in a few hours. Are you going to be there?”

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

“See you then.”

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