Thirty-Six and a Half Motives: Rose Gardner Mystery #9 (Rose Gardner Mystery Series) (26 page)

I straightened my back and gave her a defiant look. “I trust him.” When she started to protest, I held up my hand. “I know you and Skeeter don’t, but if I’ve learned one thing, it’s to go with my gut. And my gut tells me that Mason Deveraux would sooner die than put me in harm’s way.” I paused. “And if you can’t accept me sharing information with him, maybe we need to tackle this separately.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You would do that? You would let a man come between us?”

“No. This is no different than if you’d asked me to stop trusting Jonah. Or Bruce Wayne. Mason can help us.”

“Well, we don’t have a heap of evidence implicating either of them.”

“Everything you have is circumstantial and hearsay.”

She put her hand on her hip. “I thought he didn’t want to be caught in the middle.”

I shrugged. “There’s nothing shady about looking up some information. We need all the help we can get.”

“But can you trust him?”

I looked her in the eye. “I would bet my life on it.”

“You just did. Let’s hope you picked the winning side.”

W
hen we left the courthouse
, Neely Kate called Skeeter to fill him in on what she’d discovered. She hung up grinning.

“What did he say?”

“He said he’d look into Allen Steyer and get back to us.” Her grin spread.

“What else did he say?”

“He said if we didn’t get off the damn street, Jed was gonna hang out with us again.”

I laughed and spotted Jed sitting in his parked car. “Let’s go to the office. It’s after five o’clock, which means we have less than five hours. We need to figure out what to do next.”

“We keep diggin’,” Neely Kate said, stopping by Skeeter’s car. She stuffed our guns into her purse. “We keep looking until it’s time.”

I dug out my keys and unlocked the door to the landscaping office.

“I say our next task should be to find out who rented that shed twenty-five years ago,” Neely Kate said.

“But do we need to do that?” I asked as I locked the door behind us. “We were only looking into it because we thought the storage unit might be the shed mentioned in the shorthand page.”

“Maybe so, but my gut tells me to keep digging. If you’re listening to your gut, then we should listen to mine, too.” She shrugged. “Besides, we’ve got nothing else to do, but I think we should wait another hour until it’s dark.”

“Why?” I asked. “Jed couldn’t find the Pelgers. What are you proposin’?”

She grinned and plopped down on the sofa by the front door. “We’re going to snoop in the Pelgers’ office.”

“In the
antique store
?”

“Yeah. And the beauty of it is that we aren’t
breaking
and entering, because the place was already broken into when the crowd looted the store. We’re only entering, which sounds so much less illegal.”

My eyebrows rose as I sat down next to her. “And yet it
is
illegal.”

“So you want to sit this one out?” she asked.

“Shoot, no. I’m comin’.”

“So now we need to figure out what to do for the next hour.”

I studied her for a moment. I suspected she wasn’t going to like what I was about to propose. “I need to talk to Joe.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”

I sighed. “I want to ask him what he knows about Kate and her boyfriend. And to make sure he knows about her threat against Hilary.” And while that was all true, I had other reasons. Would Neely Kate understand? “There’s more . . . I have no idea what’s gonna happen tonight. If anything happens to me, I realized there are too many things left unsettled between us.”

Her mouth pinched tight. “You’re not dyin’, Rose Gardner, so stop talking like that.”

“They still need to be said, Neely Kate,” I said softly.

She was silent for several seconds before she said, “So what are you proposin’? It doesn’t sound like you’re talking about a phone call.”

“No. I need to talk to him in person.”

She nodded, then a grin spread across her face, and she jabbed my arm with her elbow. “Hey! If you get back together with Joe, we’ll be related. Maybe I should support that endeavor.”

I grinned back. “We don’t need blood or legal binds to hold us together.” I grabbed her hand, turning serious. “What we have runs deeper than either of those things. No matter who your father is.”

Tears filled her eyes. “He’s a monster, Rose. And look at all of his children.”

“I know Kate is loony tunes, but Joe’s coming around. He’s breaking free of his father’s hold. He’s really trying to be his own man.” I grinned. “And you’re stronger than the two of them put together.”

“Well, of course I am,” she said with attitude, and then her voice softened. “He would have killed my mother. He would have killed us both. That’s why she moved around so much. All these years, she was trying to keep me safe.”

From what little I knew about Jenny Lynn Rivers, she had probably put herself as number one on the list of importance. I only hoped Neely Kate had been number two. But I wasn’t about to point out all the shortcomings of Neely Kate’s mother. Hopefully we’d have years to revisit the topic.

“It’s a lot to take in, Neely Kate. Trust me, I know. Give it some time.”

“I want to talk to my granny. I want to ask her some questions.”

“Now?”

She turned to look at me. “Sure, why not? You need privacy to talk to Joe. Besides, maybe my granny knows something that will help us. I’ll call and see if she’s home.”

“Okay.” I didn’t like the thought of her going off without me, but she was right about me needing privacy when I talked to Joe. She started to call her grandmother, so I sent Joe a text.

Truce?

He sent back a text within seconds.
What are you up to?

Can we talk? In person?

The little text bubble kept popping up and disappearing on my phone before he finally sent:
Why?

Because we need to clear the air. Hence the “truce.”

Fine. How about in a few days?

No. Tonight. I’m in my office. Can you come now?
When he didn’t answer after ten seconds, I added,
You need to eat dinner. We can meet at Merilee’s if you’d like
,
but I’d hoped to talk in private. I can pick something up.

He answered right away.
Call something in for both of us—you know what I like. I’ll pick it up and be there in twenty minutes.

Thanks.

“Granny’s got two fortune-telling clients back to back,” Neely Kate said. “She can’t see us until later. What did Joe say?”

I grimaced. “He’ll be here in twenty minutes. I’m calling a dinner order in to Merilee’s, and he’s gonna pick it up.”

A wicked grin lit up her eyes. “So what to do with me, right?”

“Neely Kate—”

Waving her hand, she laughed. “I’m teasing. I’ll have Jed take me to get something. He can’t say no to leaving you alone with the chief deputy sheriff.”

“Are you sure?”

“Totally. You better call in that order if you want it to be ready when Joe gets there.”

I picked up my phone and called the restaurant, ordering a bowl of potato soup for me and meatloaf and mashed potatoes for Joe.

“That’s not what you usually get for Mr. Deveraux,” the waitress taking the order said. “He trying something different tonight?”

“No,” I said, feeling like I was cheating on Mason even though I wasn’t. “It’s for Chief Deputy Simmons. In fact, he’ll be picking it up.”

“Oh,” she said, sounding scandalized. “I see.”

Obviously she didn’t, but pointing that out would only draw more attention to the situation. “Thank you.”

Neely Kate had called Jed, who’d at first balked at the idea of leaving me under Joe’s watch, but she’d successfully convinced him. When she hung up, she sat at the round table we used to make presentations to customers. I was rearranging stacks of gardening magazines and papers to make room for my dinner with Joe.

“Are you nervous?” she asked.

“About tonight with J.R.?” I was terrified, but I wasn’t sure I could let myself admit it.

“No. With Joe.”

I shook my head. “No, I think this talk has been a long time coming.”

“Aren’t you worried Joe will try and put you into protective custody?”

“No. I think he finally respects me enough to take my opinion into consideration.” Or at least I hoped so.

She just nodded, a thoughtful look on her face.

I went into the bathroom to clean up the mess from Merv’s incident the night before. I sure didn’t want Joe to discover my role in last night’s events.

I’d just finished when I heard a knock on the front door and then Neely Kate’s voice. “Hey, Joe.”

“Neely Kate,” Joe said, sounding miffed.

“You’re not gonna have bad feelings, are you?”

“That depends on whether or not you continue to impede official investigations.”

I walked out of the bathroom to find Neely Kate with her hands on her hips.

“It’s a free country, Joe Simmons. I didn’t break any laws,” she said.

“Neely Kate,” I said as I approached them. “Let’s give Joe a break.”

It suddenly hit me that they were constantly bickering. Just like siblings. The thought brought a lump to my throat. How would Joe react when he discovered Neely Kate was his sister?

“Thanks for agreeing to see me,” I said, noticing the bag in his hand. He was wearing his sheriff’s uniform and a leather coat. The dark circles under his eyes were a testament to his exhaustion. “And for picking up dinner.”

“And that’s my cue to leave.” Neely Kate grabbed her coat and her purse and dashed out the front door.

I walked over and locked the door behind her.

“Do you think it’s a good idea for her to be out there alone with my father on the loose?”

I turned around to face him. “You’re worried about her?”

“Well . . . yeah. I am.”

Part of me ached to tell him what I knew. With his wackadoodle sister Kate, his evil father, and his controlling mother, Joe needed family who would actually care about him and support him. But it wasn’t my place to tell.

I motioned to the table. “I thought we could eat at the table.”

He nodded as he walked over and sat in a chair. “I have to say I was surprised to get your text.”

“We’ve had so many ups and downs lately—more downs than I’d like—I thought it might be nice to clear the air . . . but over dinner. And without our usual yelling.”

He unpacked the two containers and set the bowl in front of me. “Why do I think there’s an ulterior motive here?”

I opened the lid to my soup and sighed. “Given the last few months, I can see why you would think that.” I reached for a plastic spoon.

He opened the lid to his container and grinned. “Meatloaf and Merilee’s garlic mashed potatoes. Exactly what I needed right now.” He scooped a forkful of potatoes and shoved it into his mouth.

“How’s the search for your father going?”

He stopped his fork midair and then scowled as he cut off a piece of his meatloaf. “Is that why you asked me here? You could have asked about my father on the phone.”

“No, that’s definitely not why I asked to see you. I assumed you’d tell me what you can when you can.”

His eyes widened. “I’m surprised to hear you say that.”

I nodded. “Which is why I thought we should talk.”

A wary look filled his eyes. “I’m listening.”

After taking a couple of slurps of soup, I put my spoon down, suddenly unsure where to start or what to say. “I hate that we’ve come to this—the fighting and distrust. We’ve both said we want to be friends, but it seems like we’re adversaries more than anything else.”

“Rose.” He set his fork down.

I put my hand on his. “Joe, just listen to me first. I want to be your friend. We’re business partners, and now that Violet’s goin’ to Texas for who knows how long . . . well, I’m going to need you more than ever. But I need you to respect me. I need you to see me as a grown woman and not the scared girl you met on your front porch last May. I know you think I’m foolhardy, but I know what I’m doin’. You wouldn’t even begin to imagine the things I’ve done the last several months.”

He looked me in the eye. “Like the Lady in Black?”

“Do you think the woman you met last year could actually be the Lady?”

He shook his head. “No.” I tried to curb my disappointment, but he continued. “Because you’re not the woman you were last year. You’ve changed. While you made quite an impression on Crocker in that warehouse last summer, that woman was nowhere close to the woman who faced my father last week. I barely recognized you.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Is that good or bad?”

He gave me a sad smile. “It’s neither. It just is.”

We ate in silence for another half-minute before Joe said, “I loved you, Rose. It’s important you believe that.”

I put my spoon down and searched his eyes. “I’ve never doubted that for a minute.”

He grinned, but there was something sad about it. “I believe you’ve said a few things to contradict that.”

“I think we’ve both said a few things we regret.”

We were silent for a moment before Joe said, “I’ve thinking about last week, that night in your barn. Everything you said . . .”

“I was angry, Joe.”

“But you meant every word.”

I couldn’t deny it.

“When I thought you died, I kept replaying that conversation over and over in my head. And I realized you were right. I was so desperate to hold onto you that I lost sight of everything.”

“I know you loved me, Joe, but I can’t help thinkin’ you loved the idea of you
with
me. Joe McAllister living in a small town and living a simple life.”

“No, Rose,” he said quietly. “I loved
you
.”

I looked into his eyes. “Loved? Past tense?”

“You’re not the woman I met and fell in love with. That woman is gone. I think my desperation to hold onto you has been part of my grief over that.”

While part of me was relieved to hear him say that, it was also like a knife to the heart.

“Rose, when I lost you, I thought I had nothing left.”

“That’s not true, Joe.”

He shook his head. “No, it actually was. I’d made you my entire world. But right after Thanksgiving, Maeve said something to me that left an impression. She told me I had to find peace and strength in
myself
before I could find happiness with someone else. It took awhile for that to really sink in, but after our conversation in the barn . . . well, I think I get it now.”

“So what about Hilary?”

“I don’t want to get back together with her, but like I said on the phone, I’m making an effort to get along. We’re having a baby, and I want to be a part of his or her life. The problem is that Hilary can’t see the possibility of us being friends. For her, it’s an all or nothing deal, and she got it into her head that you were the reason we weren’t together. But now that I’ve started making more of an effort, she’s acting less paranoid and seems to have leveled out.”

“How do you feel about the baby now?”

“To say I was unhappy about the baby is an understatement, but now that I’ve gotten used to the idea . . .” He frowned. “Neely Kate’s miscarriage really shook me up, and after I found out about Savannah, I realized I
do
want the baby. I want a family, Rose. I’ve never made a secret of that. And while it’s true that I’ll never have a traditional family with Hilary, I think I’ll be a damn good dad.”