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

by Denise Grover Swank

  “Like we can trust that,” Jed sniped.

  “We can,” Neely Kate said solemnly. “She was devastated to lose her baby. She would never take Joe’s.”

  “Well, that’s not exactly true, now is it?” Joe asked in a snide tone. “If Kate hadn’t been so fixated on havin’ her big showdown, my father wouldn’t have shot Hilary.” His face hardened. “Killed her while she was pregnant with my baby.”

  Neely Kate looked properly chastised. “I know, but Kate seemed adamant about not hurting Hope. She said she wants you to be happy too, Joe. That’s why she gave you the flash drive and told me which file you should look for.”

  Joe’s lips pressed into a line. “Forgive me if I’m not as accepting of Kate’s sincerity as you seem to be.”

  I had to agree with Joe on that one, but I busied myself with filling the sink with sudsy water and kept my opinion to myself. Still, I couldn’t deny that she’d sounded sincere about not hurting Hope. Losing her baby and her partner had driven her to seek revenge against her father. She was more likely to show a baby mercy than any adult, with the exception of Neely Kate and possibly Joe.

  “What else did she say?” Jed asked, still looking pissed.

  “I asked her to please stay away from our birth mother, and she said she would.”

  Joe’s scowl suggested he wasn’t convinced.

  “She said she was doin’ this for me. She’s gonna make all my dreams come true, but I need to let her do it on her own.”

  “Wouldn’t that make her life easier?” Jed said sarcastically.

  “There’s something else,” Neely Kate said. She cast a quick glance at me, then turned to face Jed. “I think her big wig Hardshaw boyfriend’s gonna be there.”

  “Carson Roberts?” Joe asked.

  She nodded.

  “She told you that?” Jed asked in shock.

  “I can’t remember how the conversation went exactly,” Neely Kate said, “but I got the impression that she’s here in town because he’s gonna be there.”

  Neely Kate was covering for me.

  The two men turned to each other with questioning looks.

  “There’s something else,” Neely Kate said. “I think Kate is arrangin’ for the FBI to bust it up.”

  “She said that?” Jed asked in disbelief.

  “Not exactly…”

  “Then what did she say, exactly?” Joe barked.

  Neely Kate glanced at me, prompting him to swing his attention to me. “Were you privy to this conversation?”

  I turned off the water and rested my back against the counter. “Look, it was Neely Kate’s decision,” I said to buy myself some time.

  “I didn’t ask if you approved of the call,” Joe said, shifting in his seat to face me. “I asked if Kate told you the FBI would be there.”

  “Like Neely Kate, I don’t remember exactly how the call went,” I said, still stalling. “But she hinted that she was takin’ care of everything and that Neely Kate didn’t need to worry.” Not a lie.

  “That’s not exactly the same as sayin’ the FBI is gonna raid the meetin’,” Joe said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Kate’s way of ‘handlin’’ it could be showing up with a bazooka.”

  I shot a look at Neely Kate, trying to hide my desperation.

  “She said the Feds were on it,” Neely Kate said. “I just presumed it was the FBI. But she was adamant that we need to stay away.”

  Joe sat back in his chair, narrowing his eyes as he studied his sister. “What aren’t you tellin’ us?”

  “Nothin’,” Neely Kate said earnestly, “unless you want all the little details.”

  “Yeah,” Jed said. “There might have been some hidden context.”

  “There wasn’t,” I said. “It was all very straightforward, with the exception of what she said about Carson and the authorities being there. She asked if you got your gift. She wanted to know if I was there. Neely Kate got pissed and suggested Bobby could have hurt Hope, but Kate insisted she’d threatened to kill Bobby if she hurt her. Neely Kate suggested that instead of scheming, Kate meet her for coffee like a normal sister, but Kate said she was too busy plannin’ for tomorrow. She said someone from the very top would be there. See? No hidden context.”

  Both men were silent for a few seconds before Jed turned to Joe. “Do you think the Feds could be involved?”

  “Maybe. The sheriff’s department doesn’t know anything about it, but we know the state’s workin’ on a case.”

  “We need to stay away,” I said.

  They gave me questioning looks.

  “If some type of law enforcement is involved, then we need to steer clear and let them do their thing. I’ll have another vision of Joe to make sure he’s still safe, and if not, we’ll keep changin’ things until I see that he is, but as far as I’m concerned, we won’t be anywhere near that meetin’.”

  Joe got up from his chair and crossed the room, wrapping his arms around and pulling me to his chest. “Thank God.”

  I hugged him back, burrowing into his shirt as I forced a vision.

  Will Joe be killed if I tell Mason the time and location? The vision was slow to come, but when it finally appeared, I was looking down at toddling Hope. “There’s Daddy’s girl,” I said in Joe’s voice. “Are you ready to watch some fireworks?”

  “You’re gonna watch fireworks,” I said.

  Joe glanced down at me. “What?”

  Relief coursed through me. “I had a vision asking if you’d be okay if we tell the Feds through Mason. You were with Hope, only she was a little bit bigger, and you asked her if she was ready to see fireworks.”

  “The Fourth of July?” Neely Kate asked.

  “Probably,” I agreed.

  “You’re really gonna trust the Feds to handle this?” Jed asked.

  I pulled away from Joe to face him. “Yeah.”

  “What about Carmichael?” Joe said. “He wants the location and time of the meetin’.”

  “And I told him that I would only give it to him if he gave me something in return,” I said. “And we don’t even have it to give it to him.”

  “Maybe the answer’s in those files,” Neely Kate said. “Maybe that’s why Kate told Joe to look at that particular one.”

  “Doubtful,” Joe said. “I suspect the location has yet to be determined.”

  “But Skeeter’s got to be the one who’s pickin’ it,” Jed said. “And he’s not goin’ to pull it out of thin air. He’ll have scouted locations, and maybe Mike was part of that.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  “Skeeter’s gonna be prepared for any kind of ambush or raid. He doesn’t like goin’ in without a way out.”

  “He’s gonna build a trap door,” Joe said in excitement. He gave me a hard kiss, then rushed over to his computer. “Just like the one you escaped from in the barn at the auction.”

  Jed’s brow lifted. “You told him about that?”

  “I told him a lot of things when he decided to quit his job.”

  “If Kate doesn’t want us to go, then why are y’all chasin’ this?” Neely Kate asked.

  Joe glanced up. “Honestly, the thought of usin’ a lead that Kate dangled doesn’t sit well with me, but Denny Carmichael is goin’ to want an answer.”

  “You actually want to give him the time and location?” I asked in disbelief.

  “Seems to me it’s a good way to kill two birds with one stone,” Joe said. “If Carmichael’s there, he gets swept up into the whole sting.”

  He had a point. But the sting would only happen if the Feds had the time and location. All the more reason for us to buckle down and find it.

  I groaned. “What if he doesn’t call with an offer? Do I lose face and just give the information to him anyway?”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Joe said. “We don’t have anything to give him yet.”

  And it might be a while before we did. “Maybe I can try another vision to see if anything’s changed.” I wa
lked over to Joe and put my hand on his shoulder, forcing a vision to see the details of the meeting.

  This one was less murky than the others had been, and I could see a brunette Kate with a man next to her. He wore a dark suit while she had on jeans and a flowy black tank top. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Kate looked happy and he looked furious.

  The vision vanished, and I was plunged back into my kitchen. “You’re gonna see Kate.”

  He gave me a startled look. “You saw something this time?”

  I nodded. “It wasn’t clear, but I saw Kate with a man. I couldn’t tell where you were or if it was day or night.”

  Worry filled his eyes, and Jed tapped on his keyboard before turning his screen around to face me.

  “Him?”

  There was a photo of a man in an expensive tailored black suit and red tie, posing in front of a stone wall. His dark hair was styled and his face was clean-shaven. His eyes were cold. He looked like he could be on the cover of GQ.

  “I couldn’t see him clearly,” I said, my skin crawling. “But I’m pretty sure that was him.”

  “You saw Anthony Carson Roberts,” Jed said. “Son of one of the original Hardshaw three.”

  “So Kate wasn’t bluffin’,” Neely Kate said.

  “No,” I said. “It was him.” I turned to Joe. “But in my vision, you were with the both of them. Does that mean you’re goin’ to that meetin’?”

  Joe shook his head. “I have no intention of goin’ anywhere near it.”

  But he’d been there, nonetheless. Did that mean we were going to get roped into going anyway? I walked over to Neely Kate and put a hand on her arm.

  Will Neely Kate be at the meeting with Joe and Kate?

  The kitchen faded, and I found myself in a hospital waiting room with Jed, who was pacing with a worried look on his face.

  “When are we gonna hear if she’s okay?” I asked in Neely Kate’s worried voice.

  “I don’t know,” Jed said. “The doctor said he’d let us know as soon as he could.”

  “I can’t lose her, Jed.” I shook my head and started to sob. “I can’t.”

  Then the vision faded, and I found myself staring into the worried face of my best friend. “You’re scared you’re gonna lose her.”

  Her eyes flew wide. “Lose who?” she asked in a panic.

  “I don’t know.” I told them about my vision. “Who do you think it was?”

  “It could have been the baby,” Jed said. “Or Rose.” He looked up at me. “What question did you ask?”

  “Whether Neely Kate would be at the meeting with Kate and Joe.”

  “So that vision could have been of you and I waitin’ at the hospital for the baby to be born,” Jed said.

  “It’s more likely it’s Rose,” Neely Kate said. “The social worker is supposed to bring the baby to us at home. Her family doesn’t want us at the hospital.”

  “But Rose asked if you were with me and Kate,” Joe said. “Wouldn’t the situation in the vision be happenin’ while I’m seein’ Kate?”

  “Maybe, maybe not,” I said. “My visions aren’t always literal.” I swallowed. “It could be the result of the meetin’.”

  “Then where the hell was I in Neely Kate’s vision?” Joe asked. “Why wasn’t I there?”

  “Maybe you were in the room with Rose,” Jed said.

  Or he could have been dead. But I kept my thought to myself.

  “Or the hospital scene could have been completely unrelated,” Jed said. “For all we know it could be Neely Kate’s granny. She’s not in the best of health at the moment.”

  That suggestion sobered us. Neely Kate was already upset that her granny had missed her wedding. She’d be devastated if her granny died before meeting her baby.

  “I want to have a vision of Jed,” I said, marching around the table and putting my hand on his shoulder. I didn’t waste any time asking my question.

  Why will Jed and Neely Kate be in the hospital waiting room?

  The vision slammed into me, and suddenly I was in Jed’s head, running through the hospital emergency room sliding doors at night, trying not to panic. Then Neely Kate was in front of me, her face pale as a ghost’s. “Have they told you anything?”

  She shook her head. “Only that she’s lost a lot of blood.” She released a sob. “They’re not sure if she’s gonna make it.”

  Then I was back in the kitchen, saying, “She’s lost a lot of blood.”

  Neely Kate gasped.

  “What did you see, Rose?” Joe asked.

  A dull ache sprang up behind my eyes, but I ignored it and told them everything I’d seen.

  None of us spoke for several seconds.

  Finally, Joe said, “We know that someone gets hurt enough to lose a lot of blood. And we know that I’ll be meeting Kate and her boy toy.” He turned to Jed. “Carmichael’s expecting Rose to give him the time and location of the meeting. Does she have to do it in person?”

  “He’ll want an in-person exchange, especially since she wanted something in return.”

  Joe’s jaw worked. “For all we know, Carmichael or one of his minions is the one to put her in the ER. That psychopath wouldn’t blink an eye at shootin’ her just because he feels like it…after she gives him what he wants.”

  Jed turned to look at me. “He has a point.”

  I rested my hand on Joe’s shoulder and forced a vision, this time asking if I went to see Denny Carmichael.

  I was plunged into a vision similar to the one I’d had of Carmichael last summer. We were in his front yard, surrounded by a crowd of rowdy men. Most of them were carrying torches. Fear and heat made me sweat.

  Vision Rose was in front of me talking to Denny Carmichael.

  “You holdin’ out on me, Lady?” Carmichael spat out.

  She stood her ground, sounding angry. “Why would I hold out on you?” she asked. “I want Hardshaw and Malcolm gone just as much, if not more, than you do. That’s the place.”

  Carmichael studied her for a moment, then climbed up onto a four foot or so tall platform. Someone in the crowd handed him a torch, and he held high, waving it over his head.

  The men quieted down.

  “Are we gonna sit back and let Malcolm take what’s rightfully ours?” he shouted.

  “No!” they shouted back.

  “Are we gonna go stop ’em?”

  “Yes!” they shouted.

  A maniacal grin spread across Carmichael’s face. “Then let’s go.” He hopped off the platform and strode toward the trucks parked behind us, leaving me and Vision Rose in front of the platform.

  The vision ended, and I said, “He’s gonna go get James.” The pounding in my head had turned to a sharp spike, and I felt like I was going to throw up, but I held it together and told them what I’d seen.

  “It was similar to the vision I had last summer,” I said, “but things were significantly different. For one, Joe was with me in this one, and for another, in the previous vision, Carmichael made me go with him. This time he left us behind.”

  “Did you see Dermot?” Jed asked.

  I couldn’t remember, so I forced another vision. It was identical to the first, but this time I purposely searched for Dermot. When the vision ended, I opened my eyes and winced from the light streaming in the back windows. A wave of nausea rolled through me. “Dermot wasn’t there.”

  Jed nodded as concern filled his eyes. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine,” I said, placing a hand over my belly.

  “Did you just have a vision?” Neely Kate asked.

  “Yeah,” I said, my head pounding as if a jackhammer was trying to split my skull.

  She moved closer to me. “But Rose. You answered the question when you came out of it. You usually just blurt out something that you saw.”

  I turned to look at her in surprise, but the sudden movement made me dizzy, and I grabbed the back of the chair. “You’re right. I was purposely looking for Dermot in the crowd. I wa
sn’t just a casual observer in Joe’s head.”

  “You took over my conscious thoughts and actively looked for him?” Joe asked in disbelief.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I guess I did.”

  “That means you can manipulate visions,” Joe said, his voice filling with excitement. “You might have the ability to change things.”

  “Is that even ethical?” Jed asked. “That would mean takin’ over someone’s free will to change the outcome.”

  “Or maybe the things she’s seein’ are like holograms on that Star Trek show you like,” Neely Kate said to Jed. “And they’re only reflections of the real thing.”

  “Either way, I don’t think I should be dabblin’ in that,” I said, feeling like I was about to throw up as the room spun. But I had serious doubts I could make it to the powder room.

  “That’s a topic for another time,” Jed said. “At the moment we need to figure out when this thing is happenin’ so we can get the information to Carmichael.”

  My vision was blurry, but I pulled out my phone to make sure I hadn’t missed any messages, and my heart dropped when I saw Carmichael’s initials on the screen with the message: You’ve got your deal, come to my property at nine p.m.

  “Well,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant. “Our time just ran out. He’s offering me a deal, and he wants me at his property at nine.”

  Joe cursed under his breath.

  “He’s gonna expect an answer,” Jed said, his face hard. “You’re not gonna be able to bluff your way out of this.”

  I tried to swallow my panic. “I know.” I only had myself to blame for this. Me and my stupid pride trying to one-up Denny Carmichael.

  “So what are we gonna do if we don’t have it by then?” Joe asked. “She can’t go unless we pull something out of thin air.”

  “Not a good idea,” Jed said. “They’re not gonna take her at her word. They’ll likely hold her until they get verification that she’s right.” He grimaced. “Or insist on takin’ her with them. Besides, if Denny’s not at that meetin’, he won’t get taken in with the rest of them. He’ll stay a problem for us. And this county. We need him there.”

  “I don’t think he intends to take me with them,” I said. “Every vision I’ve had today shows them leaving us on Carmichael’s property while they run off. Where to, I don’t know, since the meeting’s not until tomorrow. But if he intended to take me with him, I suspect he wouldn’t have let us go.” I paused, thinking, then added, “Last year he suspected there was something going on between me and James. He probably took me along to goad James. Now he knows there’s nothin’ between us. No point in havin’ me slow them down.”