It All Falls Down: Rose Gardner Investigations #7 (Rose Gardner Investigatons)

by Denise Grover Swank

“I’m sure you heard me quite clearly, but here’s the thing—you need me. That’s the only reason you left my house yesterday and proposed this meetin’ today. You need me. You’re trying to fluff out your feathers like a damn peacock and make yourself look like the important one, because God forbid you admit you need the help of a woman. You hate the fact that you can’t boss me around like everyone else around you, yet here we are.”

  He looked like he would strangle me if he could get away with it. I had to make sure he knew he couldn’t.

  “Nevertheless, you’re forgettin’ one very important fact, Mr. Carmichael.” I paused and cocked my head. “I don’t need you.”

  He shot me daggers of hate.

  I held out a hand. “Now I was walkin’ away and you called me back, which means I’m actually countin’ this as a potential strike number three, so I suggest you think very carefully about everything you say from here on out, because I will leave, and that will be the end of our discussion.”

  “If that’s the case,” he said, in a tight voice, “what’s to stop me from killin’ you now?”

  “Well, that’s a very good question,” I said, thinking on the fly. Why hadn’t I reasoned this out beforehand? What could he possibly want other than the information about Hardshaw’s meeting? Then it hit me. “What stops you is the insurance I purchased this morning.” I gave him a wry grin. “I have Roberta Hanover under my protection, and she’ll be lost to you if any of us are harmed in any way.”

  His body tensed, then he grinned. “Now, where did you find her?” he asked in a happy-go-lucky tone.

  “Don’t you worry about that,” I said dismissively. “I’d be more concerned about what she’s told me.”

  He froze. “Does she have proof?”

  Of what? What in the world was on that flash drive?

  “Of course,” I bluffed. “But we’re not here to discuss my acquaintance. We’re here to talk about why you need me.”

  He turned to the side, and I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. After a couple of seconds, he said, “I ain’t talkin’ in front of him.” He flung a finger toward Joe.

  Honestly, I was surprised it had taken him so long to fully address the subject of Joe.

  “I take it you’re concerned about his prior connection to the sheriff’s department.”

  “Prior,” Carmichael spat out. “Hell, the ink is so fresh on his resignation letter, you could sniff it and get high.”

  “I guess gettin’ high is your area of expertise,” I said, “but I can assure you that Joe truly did quit, and as a sign of good faith, he brought you a gift.” I nodded my head slightly toward Joe without moving my gaze off Carmichael. “Joe.”

  This wasn’t going like it had in my vision, but I wasn’t going to panic.

  Joe moved up a step, nearly beside me. “I know you’ve got no reason to trust me, but I’m here as Lady’s guard. Nothin’ more. Nothin’ less.” Then the scene from my vision played out in front of me, word for word the same as it had been. I only hoped that meant everything would go well for us.

  Joe drew out the flash drive. “Information the sheriff’s department has on you and every major player in the county, especially Skeeter Malcolm.”

  Carmichael squinted at Joe. “Why would you give me this?”

  Joe took several steps closer and tossed it to Carmichael. “As Lady said, a sign of good faith.”

  Carmichael easily caught it and looked it over, then he handed it to one of the guys behind him. “Look it over and let me know what you find.”

  “On it,” the guy said as he snatched it out of his boss’s hand and disappeared into the house.

  “Let me make one thing clear,” I said in a no-nonsense tone. “This is a one-time offer of good faith.”

  Carmichael looked irritated but remained silent while we stood around waiting for his man to check the information. Less than a minute later, the guy came out, looking elated.

  “It’s legit. He brought information about Malcolm buyin’ those cops in Sugar Branch.”

  Carmichael still looked dubious. “Is the sheriff department about to move on Malcolm?”

  “They’re bidin’ their time, waitin’ for something big to go down,” Joe said. “But they’re clueless about the meetin’ this week.”

  Carmichael’s brow shot up. “Then how do you know about it?”

  “He knows the same way you do,” Dermot grunted, obviously annoyed that Joe had become the distraction he’d predicted.

  I shifted my weight and propped my hands on my hips. “I’m a busy woman, Carmichael, so how about we cut to the chase? What do you want?”

  “You know what I want,” he grunted. “The time and the place of that meetin’.”

  “What makes you think I have it when poor Rufus Wilson couldn’t tell you even after you tortured him?”

  “You find that out from your ex-deputy?” He grinned. “I guess you do have your hands in all the pies.” He looked like he wanted to go on, but in a moment of rare self-control, he didn’t.

  “We both know I gather information, but this is something I don’t have.”

  “Come on, Lady,” Carmichael cajoled. “Last fall you were all for the county unitin’ together to throw off the tyranny of Hardshaw. Can’t you see the benefit of joinin’ me now?”

  “I assure you, Mr. Carmichael, that if I had the information, I would be sharing it with the members of the coalition we formed last fall, so we could come up with a strategy to stop Hardshaw together.” Then I decided to go out on a limb. “But for you, this isn’t just about pushing Hardshaw out of the county. It’s a power grab, and you have two things you didn’t have the last time around. Two things that you think will give you the upper hand.”

  He put his hands on his hips as an amused grin spread across his face. “Go on. What might those be?”

  “One,” I said, holding up my index finger. “You are now in possession of high-power weapons. We all know a South American drug cartel isn’t going to show up with pistols and shotguns, and you caught wind that there were two cases of weapons hidden in the county. You killed Margi Romano to find their location.”

  It was partly bluster. There was still a chance Hardshaw had killed her, but Denny Carmichael had been on a killing spree, and I had a gut feeling.

  A smug smile spread over his face. “I’m sure you can see that if I admitted to stealing the stash on your property or murderin’ a woman to find its location, it could be seen as a confession, so I’ll have to plead the fifth.”

  My rage and horror began to build, but I made myself shut it off. I couldn’t react, or he’d take advantage of my weakness. “Kudos to you,” I said dryly. “That must feel like quite the coup.”

  “We both know Hardshaw’s not gonna be happy to lose ’em, and there was a certain satisfaction knowin’ I’d snatched them out from underneath you too.” Evil flickered in his eyes. “That’s not the only thing I’d like underneath you.”

  My brow shot up. “Really? I hope that little remark was worth it, because we’re done.” I took two backward steps, then turned around to close the distance to the back door, Joe moving to the side to cover me.

  “We’re not done,” Carmichael shouted.

  I didn’t answer as I opened the car door.

  “I want that time and place!” he shouted, his face turning red.

  I started to get in and stopped. “Then perhaps you should be thinkin’ of something to offer me, Mr. Carmichael. When you have something you think I’ll be interested in, give me a call. We both know you have my number.” I paused, then added, “But be forewarned, I won’t be entertaining any more drop-in visits.” I got in the car and shut the door, and Dermot and Joe didn’t waste time following suit.

  Dermot turned the car in a wide circle and drove away, casting a glance in his rearview mirror. None of us said a word until we drove off Carmichael’s property and determined we weren’t being followed.

  “That went better than expec
ted,” Dermot said, grudgingly.

  I didn’t respond. All I could see was Margi’s face in my mind. Had Carmichael made her suffer? Tears stung my eyes. That man was a monster, and I needed to make sure he didn’t end up in control of the county. It was unlikely to help anyone if we stopped Hardshaw, only for him to step into the void.

  Joe turned in his seat to glance back at me, compassion on his face. “You okay?” he asked quietly.

  “I guess I have my answer for Randy,” I said.

  “You can’t tell Deputy Miller that,” Dermot said.

  “I know,” I said, my belly burning with rage. “But I intend to make Carmichael pay for what he’s done.”

  “We will,” Dermot said gruffly. “Don’t you worry.” He cast a glance at me in the mirror. “You told Carmichael he had two things that put him at an advantage but only named one before he tested you again. What’s the second?”

  “He doesn’t actually have the second, just confirmation of where he can get it.” My head began to pound, and I rubbed my temples. “I’d bet good money that Roberta Hanover knows what was in that safe. Rufus must have told Carmichael. He obviously also told him that Roberta has some kind of physical proof.”

  “But does he actually know what was on that flash drive?” Dermot asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’m certain that he does. Maybe not the specifics, but enough to know he needs the proof.” I pushed out a frustrated sigh. “Which means Carmichael is one step ahead of us.”

  Dermot’s face hardened. “Well then, we’ll make sure he doesn’t get any farther. We need to find Roberta Hanover. Pronto.”

  Chapter 23

  “Let me have another vision to see if she still shows up at our house,” I said. Since Joe lived in the same house, I reached over his seat and grabbed his shoulder, concentrating on when we would see Bobby. The vision popped into my head immediately. I was standing in the doorway from the living room to the kitchen, watching Vision Rose talk to Bobby at the kitchen table. Hope was in Vision Rose’s arms. Two plates were on the table with the remains of sandwiches, but Bobby was sitting at a chair without a plate.

  “I know what was in the safe,” Bobby said, wiping tears from her face with the back of her hand. “Ruffie made a copy before he gave it to Skeeter.”

  “Can you get it?” Vision Rose asked.

  Bobby hesitated, and then I was back in the car, staring at Joe’s shoulder.

  “She has a copy of what was in the safe,” I said as the vision ended.

  “You saw her?” Dermot asked.

  “She was in our kitchen.”

  “Day or night?” he asked.

  “Definitely day. It looked like she interrupted our lunch. I asked her if she could get the copy, but the vision ended before she answered.”

  “We need to get home,” Joe said. “She could show up within a few hours.”

  Dermot was quiet for a moment, then said, “I guess it’s as good a plan as any, but we really need the time and date of that meeting. Any ideas how to go about getting it?”

  I hesitated, wondering if I was holding back to protect Joe, James, or myself. It didn’t matter. I needed to come clean. “Yesterday, I had the same thought. I figured only one person would know for certain, so it would be best to go directly to the source.”

  Joe turned to look at me. “Did you go to see Skeeter Malcolm?”

  “I didn’t expect to be able to meet with him directly,” I said, “so I went to Carter Hale’s office to ask him to make the arrangements. But to my surprise, James was already there, takin’ a meetin’ with his attorney.”

  Joe turned to face the windshield.

  Dermot shot him a glance, then looked up into the rearview mirror. “I take it you didn’t get an opportunity to find out.”

  “No. He wasn’t exactly thrilled to see me.”

  “It probably would have been risky if you’d tried to force a vision,” Dermot said. “You didn’t find out anything of use?”

  I took a breath. There was no way I was going to tell them everything. Especially the parts about James shooting at me and threatening to kidnap me. “He was on edge and jumpy. I think he’s nervous about this meetin’.”

  “That stands to reason,” Dermot said. “He’s got a lot ridin’ on this.”

  “I don’t know who else we can use to look for what we need,” I said. “I guess I’ll just keep forcin’ visions of people until something shifts and I find what we need.”

  But both men were silent.

  “That’s not enough, is it?” I asked.

  “We need at least a day to put something together,” Dermot said. “Ideally, we’ll be in place before they ever arrive. We’re gonna be cordinatin’ a bunch of hot-headed men, which means we’ll need a plan, but to have a proper plan, we need a time and a location.”

  My heart sunk. “So I need to go see James again.”

  “No,” Dermot said, sounding stern. “It’s too risky. He’s a smart man. He’s going to wonder why you came to see him twice in a couple of days.” He frowned. “What excuse did you use yesterday?”

  “I told him I wanted to know his end game. I asked him if he was working with the Feds.”

  “You still think that’s what he’s doin’?” Dermot asked in surprise.

  “I don’t know,” I said, resting my forehead in my hand. “I’m just tryin’ to make sense of it all. This is not the man I knew.”

  “Rose,” Dermot said, “there’s a very good chance the man he encouraged you to see wasn’t the man he truly is.”

  I had to accept that he might be right. Because Jed had known James for much longer than me, and he hadn’t seen as much vulnerability in him as I had. “I think Jed might agree with that,” I admitted.

  “If anyone would now, he would.”

  “Did he tell you his end game?” Joe asked quietly.

  “He didn’t. The whole thing was a waste of time.” And a wasted opportunity. Why hadn’t I kept my head screwed on straight and forced a vision? That had been the sole purpose of seeing him.

  But I’d struggled to remember that in that room with him. Because part of me still cared about James, and I was scared for him and the path he had chosen. He’d decided that if he couldn’t have love, he’d take power and money. Yet he hadn’t needed to choose. I’d offered him love—unconditional love—and he’d thrown it back in my face. Why wasn’t I more furious? Why didn’t I hate him?

  I couldn’t even let myself stop and think about how this had to be killing Joe. Emotions were complicated, and just because Joe was the man I loved, the man I wanted a life with, didn’t mean my worry about James had died.

  We were all quiet for nearly a minute, and I knew what had to be done. “I need to see him again,” I insisted.

  “Are you insane?” Dermot asked.

  “No. He won’t hurt me. I told him that one of my questions was whether he wanted me dead. He assured me if he had, I would have died a long time ago.”

  “Charming,” Joe grunted.

  “That may be true,” Dermot said, “but his entire life is hangin’ in the balance. If he figures out what you’re attemptin’, I wouldn’t put it past him to see you as collateral damage. At the very least, he’ll detain you until the meeting is over.”

  I suspected he was right. If it was just me, I might risk it, but James had already threatened to take me and leave Hope behind. Not to mention, Dermot had suggested he might try to kidnap her. I couldn’t risk it.

  I turned to Joe. “Now that you’ve left the sheriff’s department and my vision changed, what if we give the sheriff department an anonymous head’s up? Or maybe we can tip off the FBI.”

  “We need a location. A time. It could literally be anywhere in the county, and if both sides have the fire power we think they’ll have, it could be a slaughter.”

  Dermot shot him a glare. “You said we.”

  Joe looked confused. “What?”

  “You said we need a location. As though you’re s
till with the sheriff’s department.”

  Joe pushed out a frustrated sigh. “Habit. I quit the department, I swear.”

  “You say something like that around the wrong people, and it could get you killed,” Dermot grunted.

  But as Dermot was delivering his terse response, my phone began vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out and gasped when I saw Levi Romano’s name on the screen. My fingers fumbled to answer.

  “Levi?” I asked. “Are you okay?”

  Joe swung around to face me while Dermot sat upright and stared at me in the mirror.

  “No, Rose,” Levi said, his voice breaking. “I’m in trouble.”

  “Where are you?”

  “They killed Margi, Rose,” he choked out.

  I leaned back in the seat. “I know, Levi. I’m so sorry, but right now we need to focus on you. Let me help you.”

  “Can you come get me? I had to run, and my truck broke down. I’m stuck out in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Just tell me where you are, and I’ll come get you.”

  “Um…I’ll send it to you to you,” he said, sounding flustered.

  A couple of seconds later, my phone dinged with the pin. He was in the southern part of the county, not too far from our current location. “I’m on the way, Levi. Stay hidden until I get there.”

  The call disconnected, and I glanced up at Joe. “We have to go get Levi.” I pulled up the pin and handed Joe my phone. “Here’s the location.”

  Joe took my phone and studied the screen, then looked up at Dermot. “Something’s off here.”

  “Agreed,” Dermot said. “Where the hell has he been for the last twenty-four hours?”

  “My thoughts exactly,” Joe agreed.

  “What are you sayin?” I asked in disbelief. “He sounded desperate.”

  “It smells like a trap,” Dermot said.

  I shook my head. “No. You’re wrong.” I told him what Randy told me the night before about his recent talk with Levi after Margi broke up with him. “If Margi was doin’ things for Hardshaw, Levi was clueless.”

  “Or so he told Randy,” Dermot said.

  “I know I’m the new guy,” Joe said slowly, “so correct me if I’m wrong, but pickin’ him up seems like an errand, and the Lady in Black is too important to be runnin’ errands.”