Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 05 - Gems & Gunshots Read Online Free

inappropriate, but I thought this would be a great way to get to know them.
    Conversation over dinner was spent getting acquainted with one another, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I rather enjoyed Greg and his wife, Amelia. They were charming people. I was the supportive girlfriend and proud when Cooper won the award he had been nominated for: best security firm for the year. Cooper wasn’t one to bask in attention and glory, but I could tell he was extremely happy and proud to have won, as he should’ve been. I knew enough about business to know this would help him move forward.
    As coffee and dessert were served, I decided I needed to find an opening in the conversation to ask about the situation at Gemstone’s Unlimited, but it had to be subtle and preferably out of Cooper’s earshot.
    “I just love tiramisu, don’t you, Presley?” Amelia asked as I was stuffing my face with my portion of dessert.
    “You have to ask? Look at how much I’m eating,” I joked. “I’m a fan of any dessert, but this is especially delicious.”
    “I agree. I wouldn’t have to make that daily trip to the gym if I didn’t have a weakness for desserts.”
    Amelia was all of maybe a size two. I somehow doubted she had to worry too much about eating dessert. I wished that were true for me. I was a solid size eight on a good day, and I had to be careful to not look at fattening food too long, much less eat it, or I go up a size.
    Cooper pushed back his chair. “Would you excuse me for a minute, Pres? I see Bob Render over there, and I wanted to speak to him about a few things before he left.”
    “Sure. Hey, are you going to eat the rest of your tiramisu?” Yep, I was bad, but this dessert was so darn good.
    He patted my shoulder. “Be my guest; eat it. I’ll be back before you know it.”
    “Mind if I join you, Cooper?” Greg asked. “I’ve been wanting to meet him.”
    “Not at all.”
    “You ladies enjoy your coffee and we will be right back,” Greg said smiling.
    “We will try to live without you both,” I teased, secretly glad they were leaving as it would give me the perfect chance to ask Amelia about the murder.
    A few minutes passed as I tried to think of how to broach the subject, when Amelia sighed, a worried look on her face. “Something wrong, Amelia?”
    “It’s just been a long day. One of our businesses had, well, a bit of an issue this morning, to put it mildly. I didn’t think we should come to this event tonight, but Greg insisted. As one of the sponsors, it was our duty. I just can’t help feeling guilty to be enjoying all this extravagance after what happened.”
    “What happened?” I said, sounding concerned and trying not to get excited that, without any prodding from me, Amelia had brought up the very topic I wanted to talk about.
    She took a sip of her coffee before answering. “One of our stores was robbed today and someone was murdered in the process,” Amelia said in a whisper, leaning closer to me. “It’s just devastating. In all the years we’ve had businesses this has never happened.
    “Oh my! It wasn’t Gemstone’s Unlimited by any chance, was it?”
    Amelia looked at me funny. “That’s an awfully good guess or do you know something I don’t know?”
    “I admit I know a little,” I said sheepishly, hoping she wouldn’t get angry thinking I was poking into her business. “I was sitting at the coffee shop across the street, the Coffee Break, when I heard the gunshots. I know someone was murdered because I saw the medics bringing out a body. Then I got home and found out from Cooper it was one of his clients. He won’t talk to me much about work. Client confidentiality and all, but of course it was in the news.”
    “Oh, well, no secrets here. There were two armed men who conned the sales girls into letting them in before hours, saying they had a plane to catch and one of them wanted to buy something for his wife. They said they would make it worth her