"Aren't you the Xerox people?" Cindy asked derisively. "What on earth are y'all doin' here?"
Cooper thought it was a fair question, but before she could think of an answer, Cindi passed her manicured hands over her face in a gesture of fatigue and resignation and mumbled, "Look. What ever the reason, this isn't a good time."
Nathan's arm shot out to prevent Cindi from closing the door. Her eyes widened in surprise.
"We came to warn you." Nathan spoke gently. "We think the person responsible for Brooke Hughes's death is ..."--he fumbled for words--"someone you might be friends with."
Clearly disturbed by this pronouncement, Cindi took a step back into the shelter of her apartment. "How do you know anything about my personal life?"
"We're from the church Brooke attended," Nathan explained simply. "And we've been trying to get her husband Wesley released from jail by finding her real killer." He stole a quick glance at Cooper. "Now we think we know who he is."
Cindi paused, her face a mixture of fear and a desire to hear him out. "I'm not sure I like the sound of this, but you'd better come in."
Cooper had just crossed the threshold when Cindi blocked her way and pointed at her rubber-soled sandals. "Please take off your shoes," she said with distaste. "I don't like the floor to get scuffed."
Quickly complying with her request, Nathan and Cooper removed their shoes and lined them up alongside Cindi's sexy black sandals. Eyeing the sharp heels, Cooper could see how they might pose a threat to the blond wood that ran the length of the great room.
"This place is beautiful," Nathan said, awestruck.
Cooper moved slowly past a small marble fountain that gurgled hypnotically before she glanced into the kitchen, which gave off a sense of, gleaming granite and polished chrome. An enormous glass vase stood on the center island. It was filled with clear marbles and several calla lilies placed with such precision, that Cooper wondered if the flowers weren't in fact glued to the base of the vase.
Cindi smiled. "Mighty nice, isn't it? My boyfriend hired some fancy decorator to make this apartment look like a magazine picture."
Pivoting around, Cooper took in the white shag carpet, the voluminous white sofas with matching side chairs, and the glass and chrome accent tables. The coffee table, which was made entirely of glass that sparkled beneath the soft overhead lights, held no books. Instead, two crystal glasses and a sleek decanter half-filled with amber liquor decorated the piece. Dozens of beige and brown pillows made with expensive-looking fabrics were carefully scattered on the sofas and several large floor pillows were stacked in front of a fireplace whose mantel bore a collection of modern chrome vases. Each vase was filled with a single gerbera daisy the color of a ripe orange. Lush silk curtains in a camel hue flanked enormous windows that overlooked the historic canal to south and the James River to the west.
"This view!" Cooper breathed and then turned away from the window in an effort to break free from the apartment's spell. It was easy to forget about the outside world in such a lush and hedonistic setting.
Nathan also tore his eyes from the breathtaking view. "Where are your kids?"
Cindi's face immediately grew guarded. "With their father. Why?"
"Just trying to be friendly," Nathan answered kindly. "I know they must mean the world to you."
Cooper reflected on how Cindi's neighbor had said,
If they are her progeny
...
Making an obvious show of shifting back and forth on her feet as though she was in a state of discomfort, Cooper cleared her throat in embarrassment. "Nathan, you fill Ms. Rolfing in on all we know. Ma'am, I had an awful lot of sweet tea for lunch. Would you mind if I used your bathroom?"
Hesitating fractionally, Cindi nodded and then said, "This way." She walked several feet ahead of Cooper and hastily closed the doors leading to two of the three rooms off the hallway. One of the doors had a sign reading beware of kids: stay out! hanging from the knob. Gesturing to the only remaining open door, Cindi flicked on the light to a bathroom painted in bold crimson.
In case Cindi was standing right outside, Cooper used the bathroom. Afterward, she washed her hands and then opened the door a crack. No one was in the hall and she could hear Nathan's voice in the other room. Flushing again, Cooper pulled the door shut behind her and as quietly as possible, eased open the door across from the bathroom.
A speedy glance confirmed that the room was a media center. A large flat-screen television dominated one wall while a U-shaped sofa in black leather took up the remainder of the space. The only accents in the room were the square, red pillows on the sofa and the black-and-white photographs on the wall. As Cooper looked at one of them more closely, she gasped. It was a nude photograph of Cindi, lying on her stomach with one of the square pillows propped beneath her arms. There were a dozen shots altogether, each showing Cindi revealing parts of her body that should only be seen by a doctor or a lover.
Cooper closed the door and dashed back into the bathroom where she turned on the faucet and splashed her face with cold water.
"Are you okay in there?" Cindi's voice echoed down the short hall.
"Ye-es." Cooper struggled to control her astonishment. "I'll be right out."
She wiped her hands and face on a black hand towel embroidered with the letter
C
in gold thread. Then, turning on the tap once again, she snuck out of the bathroom and opened the door with the sign hanging from the doorknob. Having already spent far too long pretending to be using the facilities, Cooper only took the time to peek at a single object inside the bedroom. One look within the family album was all she needed to cause her heart to skip several beats. She ducked into the bathroom, turned off the water, and reentered the white, beige, and chrome living room.
"Sorry," she said, avoiding Cindi's gaze. Instead, she locked eyes with Nathan, taking comfort in the kind face familiar face. "My lunch doesn't seem to be settling too well."
"Let me get you some ginger ale," Cindi offered and walked into the kitchen.
Nathan got up from where he had sunk into the cushions of one of the white sofas and took Cooper's elbow. "You don't look so good." He searched her face as the sound of an icemaker depositing ice into an empty glass resonated from the kitchen.
Cooper didn't reply, but gestured in the direction of the kitchen and then made a pair of horns on either side of her temple using her pointer fingers. Nathan frowned and shrugged.
"She and Vance--," Cooper began.
Cindi came back into the room carrying a highball glass filled with ice in one hand and a gun in the other.
"Sit down," she commanded with a flick of the gun as she made her way over to the coffee table. Utterly relaxed, Cindi perched at the end of the sofa across from her guests and poured herself a drink from the crystal carafe. "I'd offer y'all some whiskey, but it's the good stuff."
"You don't have kids, do you?" Cooper blurted out as she stared at the gun held so nonchalantly in Cindi's hand.
Cindi drank a slug of whiskey and licked her lips. "Nope. I can't have babies. There's somethin' wrong with my plumbing." She put a hand on her flat stomach and grinned wickedly. "My job was to seduce Reed New-combe and convince him to make up a computer program to steal money from Capital City customers. Well, Reed loves kids and I knew he wouldn't wanna be with me unless I put on the helpless little mommy act, so I borrowed my sister's kids a couple of times." She looked up, her eyes dark and defiant. "I've been good to those snotty brats too! Bought 'em all kinds of stuff though I'd like to have killed 'em a dozen times over."
Nathan looked around wildly, clearly searching for some way to distract Cindi and buy them some precious time. "But Reed has four kids of his own. How could he afford this place?"
Cindi polished off the whiskey. "Ever since our scam got goin', Reed's had plenty of cash, but it turns out he didn't plan to share it with me after all." She poured herself another splash of whiskey and laughed condescendingly. "He actually wanted to patch things up nice and pretty with his sow of a wife. 'Course he didn't get a chance to tell
her
that!" She smirked.
Cooper thought back to the brief exchange between Reed and Vance on the pitcher's mound. "Is that what Reed told Vance at the Little League game? That he was planning on quitting his job at Capital City? Vance looked angry and then he wiped the emotion from his face and pretended to be supportive."
"Reed wasn't supposed to quit. He was supposed to get caught, but he let Vance down by turning into a prissy Boy Scout at the last second." Cindi crossed her legs and allowed her back to rest against the plump cushions. "I was gonna get rid of Reed sooner or later. Vance and I just needed someone to pin the blame on, so that boy's days were numbered from our first kiss. He made it easier by makin' both me and Vance mad. Can you believe that he actually broke up with me?" She uttered a deranged giggle.
"We thought Vance pushed him off the bridge, but it was you, wasn't it?" Cooper tried to control her shaking hands. "I saw all the pictures of the two of you in the
kids'
bedroom. He's been your boyfriend for years, right?"
Cindi pretended to clap using her free hand against her glass. "Vance's got the brains, I've got the balls...so to speak. I borrowed Vance's SUV and dead wife's morphine and gave Reed a little push. Whoopsie!" She giggled and the sound was eerie in the atmosphere of palpable tension. Cindi began counting on her fingers. "Brooke was first, then Reed, and I'd hunt down that weasel accountant if I had the time, but I don't. Now it looks like I'll be holdin' up two more fingers by the end of the day."
Her face slowly transformed. Gone was her expression of smug pride and a cruel and calculating mask fell over her features like a curtain. Impatiently pushing a strand of black hair off her forehead, Cindi stood and waved the gun at Cooper and Nathan. "That's enough chitchat. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you all the hows and whys. We wanted money. Loads of it. Vance came up with a way for us to get enough to buy a whole island for ourselves. Just think of us as Bonnie and Clyde, but with nicer clothes."
"Did you send Brooke those threatening faxes?" Nathan couldn't rip his eyes away from the gun.
"No. Reed did that. Went to some mailing place south of the river so he couldn't be traced." For a moment, she looked at him as though hoping to be entertained. "How did you find out about those?"
"We found them in Brooke's office at home. The woman who owns the mailing place remembers that the man who sent the faxes had curly, light-colored dog hair all over the sleeve of his coat. When we saw the Newcombe family dog at the Little League game--"
"You must have thought you had it all figured out, huh, Mr. Smartie?" she said with a sneer and then, glancing around the room, located a voluminous black leather purse and placed the pistol inside the bag. "I can shoot y'all easy through this bag. The leather's as thin as paper. Now stand up."
As Cooper and Nathan rose from their seated positions, Cindi stepped directly in front of them. "And don't even think about tryin' any hero stunts! Vance is on his way. I called him when I was gettin' your ginger ale." She smiled sinisterly at Cooper and opened her apartment door. "He's gonna decide what to do with y'all, but just so you know, I've got no problem blowin' either of your church-goin' brains out before he gets here. That's probably what it's gonna come down to in the end anyhow. Now get in that elevator."
Inside the elevator, Nathan immediately put his arm around Cooper's shoulder. "Hit the garage button and then keep your hands out in front of you, Xerox boy!" Cindi snapped from behind them.
"Hazel Wharton was right." Nathan voice was filled with ire. "You three were all going to get rich by ripping off Capital City clients. Did you stop to think that every penny mattered to some of those clients?"
Cindi snorted. "Poor folks shouldn't charge stuff they can't pay for. They should just do without.
I
did, growin' up in a trailer park. My daddy drank away every dime he got, but the one thing he did right was teach me how to shoot."
The elevator paused at the lobby level. Seconds before the doors slid open, Cindi rammed her purse against Cooper's back. "Don't say a word," she hissed.
An elderly gentleman in a seersucker suit put a single shiny loafer inside the elevator and then immediately stepped back out. "Goodness, I forgot my glasses again," he declared. "My apologies for delaying you."
Cooper longed to grab the man by the sleeve, and though she prayed with all her might he would turn around and discover the terror in their faces, the last they saw of him was the fabric of his suit as the brass doors closed and the elevator resumed its downward journey.
"You oughta put some meat on your bones," Cindi whispered behind Cooper, still pressing the gun against her back. "Men like a little somethin' to hold on to."
Anger surged through Cooper. This made two times in a matter of weeks that someone had jabbed a gun barrel into her flesh and she didn't enjoy the feeling.
Cooper's anger swelled as an image the Hughes family photographs came into her mind. "I can't believe you shot Brooke Hughes!" she exclaimed with fury. "She kept you on as her assistant because she felt sorry for you and you repay her by showing up at her house and shooting her point-blank! What kind of person does that?"
The elevator stopped at the garage level. Cindi pushed Cooper forward and then slid behind Nathan, her right hand inside her bag and her free arm draped possessively on his left arm. "I
told
her I would handle Hazel, but Brooke wouldn't trust me with one of her precious clients--'specially an old, upset, black lady. If my saint of a boss hadn't hired that nosy accountant, she'd still be alive." Cindi's eyes darted around the dim parking lot. "Reed could have lived too, but he got too greedy. After all, he just made up a computer program. Vance is the one who thought of the whole penny-stealing bit."
