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

by Denise Grover Swank

  “Maybe,” Jed grunted. “But he’s gonna hold you to whatever you tell him, and there will be retribution if you’re wrong.”

  My heart hammered in my chest. “Do you think you can narrow down a location with the help of those files?”

  “They’re a mess,” Joe said, his breath coming in short bursts. “It’s gonna take some time.” He glanced up at me, and I could see he didn’t think they had enough time.

  I nodded and nearly lost the contents of my lunch.

  “Rose, honey,” Neely Kate said. “You’re not lookin’ very good.”

  I closed my eyes and felt my body swaying. Suddenly, Joe’s arms were around me, holding me upright.

  “How many visions have you had today?” Jed asked.

  “I dunno,” I said, feeling like I was falling down a well.

  “She’s had a lot,” Neely Kate said. “She had five or six just now. But that last one was what got to her.”

  “This happened to her before.” Jed’s voice sounded faint. “She got sick after questioning multiple men in a short period of time.”

  I felt Joe’s hand brush hair from my cheek. “What does she need?”

  “Sleep,” I said. “I need sleep.”

  Joe scooped me up in his arms and headed for the living room and up the stairs. He didn’t stop until he gently laid me down on our bed.

  I cracked my eyelids enough to see the fear in his eyes, and I lifted my hand up to his cheek. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Why did you push yourself so hard?”

  “It had to be done.”

  “No,” he said, “it didn’t. We can get in the car right now—you, me, Hope, and Muffy—and we can leave Fenton County far behind us.”

  I gave him a soft smile. “We can’t leave our friends. And what about the farm?”

  “None of it means anything without you and Hope.”

  “What if I’m greedy?” I asked. “What if I want it all?”

  He didn’t respond.

  “Find something for me to give to Carmichael,” I said. “Even if I just send it to him in a text.” I’d share it with Mason too, in the hopes that the Feds would successfully bust up the meeting. It was our best bet at stopping Hardshaw for good. And Denny, if he was there.

  And James.

  Joe’s worry didn’t ease, so I added, “But if you can’t find anything, we’ll discuss the runnin’ part when I wake up, okay? It’s not off the table.”

  “Okay.” He pressed his lips to mine in a tender kiss. “I love you, Rose. You’re my everything.”

  And then my consciousness faded.

  Chapter 28

  The room was darker when I woke up, but it wasn’t night. I pushed myself to sitting and took a moment to gain my equilibrium. The clock next to the bed said it was nearly seven, which meant I’d slept almost five hours. It had been even longer since I’d nursed Hope, and my breasts were full.

  I had two hours before I was supposed to face Denny Carmichael.

  I headed downstairs and found Neely Kate in the living room with Hope. They were both on the floor, and Hope lay on her tummy on a thick quilt. She was making sweet little noises while Neely Kate talked to her.

  “Oh, you’re up,” Neely Kate said when she saw me. “Feeling better?”

  “Yeah. Still a bit groggy, but I think some water will help. What are you two up to?”

  “We’re havin’ some tummy time. She seems to love it.”

  “She does.” I sent Neely Kate a pleading look. “Please tell me she wants to nurse. Otherwise I have an immediate date with my breast pump.”

  She laughed. “It’s been a few hours, so I bet she’ll be ready soon. We used some of the frozen breast milk. Are you hungry? I made some spaghetti.”

  I gave her a stern look. “What did you put in the sauce?”

  She laughed again. “Don’t worry. Nothin’ weird. By the way,” she said, her eyes bright with excitement, “the guys have made some progress.”

  “Did they find something?”

  “Go see for yourself.”

  They were still at the table, and when I walked in, Joe shot me a worried glance.

  “Are you okay?” He hopped up and pulled out a chair next to his. “Sit. Let me get you something to eat.”

  I sat on the chair and hated that I kind of collapsed into it. This did not bode well for my meeting with Carmichael. I needed to be on top of my game. “I’m feeling better, but you shouldn’t have let me sleep so long.”

  “There was nothing for you to do, and Neely Kate was loving every moment with Hope,” Joe said as he grabbed a plate out of the cabinet and scooped some noodles and sauce onto it, then set it in front of me.

  “Enough with the suspense,” I said. “What have you found?”

  Jed looked up from his legal pad. “We’ve decided there are three possible places. The first is the barn where they held the auction.”

  “You’re kidding,” I said as I stabbed some noodles with my fork and twisted them around the tines.

  “As Joe pointed out, there’s an escape hatch that very few people know about, and there are plenty of places for Hardshaw to hide men and weapons.”

  “Why would they hide men?”

  “To ambush the drug cartel if things go sideways. So they don’t realize they’re outnumbered until it’s too late,” Jed said. “It’s Skeeter’s go-to defense.” He hesitated, then added, “I was the one who originally implemented the plan years ago.” He cleared his throat. “In any case, he’s gonna know he’s in a dicey situation. He’ll want to plan for every contingency, especially savin’ his own ass. The location will have to suit his needs.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Where’s the next place?”

  Joe set a glass of ice water in front of me and lowered into his chair. “A vacant warehouse south of town in the Sugar Branch city limits. There’s a file for it on the flash drive. Mike made note of doing work on it, but he’s very vague about what he actually did.”

  “Does he normally go into detail in his records?” I asked.

  Jed tapped the legal pad with his pen. “We still have a copy of his financial records and invoices from when we investigated him in April. We looked up those invoices, and they’re different from the ones on the flash drive.”

  “How so?”

  “There are invoices on the flash drive for work on the barn, the warehouse, and another location that we think would serve Skeeter’s purposes. They’re not itemized, and the descriptions are sparse. The one for the warehouse says it’s for repairs made to weather-damaged surfaces. The files in Mike’s personal records were much more detailed,” Jed said.

  “But why make the detailed ones public?” I asked. “Why make invoices at all rather than just do it under the table?”

  “Mike needed something for his records,” Jed said. “They’re not made out to Skeeter, of course. They’re made out to bogus names. The details on the publicly available ones are fake. We think the ones on the flash drive are real.”

  Which meant he’d been tied up with Hardshaw for a long time. When had this all started?

  “But then we found the file VAM4E,” Joe said. “He’d put an asterisk in the name and spelled out four, so we couldn’t find it with a simple search. It was buried under multiple other folders, but it contains the full details of the work he did on the places in question.”

  “What exactly did he do?” I asked.

  “Hidden panels. Electrical work to run cameras for surveillance.”

  “Which explains the electrician he used,” I said. “The one who was killed. Mark Erickson.”

  Jed nodded. “According to the financials on the flash drive, Hardshaw paid Mike a lot of money to do the work and pay his contractors.” Jed grimaced. “And he did compensate Erickson well.”

  “A fat lot of good that did him since he and his girlfriend are dead,” I said, loading my fork with more spaghetti. Turned out I was hungrier than I’d thought. “You said there was a file for the barn?”<
br />
  “Yeah. Mike had a work order for electrical and audio-video cables.”

  “So he installed security there too.”

  Jed nodded. “And he also did work on an old church outside of Pickle Junction.”

  “A church?” I asked in disbelief.

  “It’s abandoned,” Joe said. “And it’s out on a less frequently traveled county road. Secluded enough to help ensure privacy.”

  “But what about the courthouse?” I asked. “Vera said that Mike recruited Mark Erickson because he had access to restricted areas. Was there anything about that on the drive?”

  “They installed cameras there too,” Joe said.

  “To spy on the DA’s office?”

  “That and Mason’s office. They were installed around the same time Mason came back to town. He’s investigating the corruption in the county, and Hardshaw is part of it. They aim to be an even bigger part. I suspect they were particularly interested in what was happening with his investigation.”

  “Someone has to tell Mason,” I said, starting to panic. How much had Hardshaw learned?

  “Already called him,” Joe said. “I told him I came across the information and wanted to pass it along. He didn’t even ask where it came from.” He gave me a knowing look.

  I nodded, taking a deep breath to help me settle down. “That’s good. So we’ve narrowed it down to three possible locations?”

  They exchanged an uncomfortable look.

  “What?” I asked.

  Joe leaned his forearm on the table and held my gaze. “This information is old, Rose. Violet must have gotten it last summer. The end of August at the latest, based on when she came to live with you. She wouldn’t have had access to Mike’s laptop after that.”

  And last August was nearly a year ago. “He could have scouted out entirely new locations.” It meant something else too. James had been planning this for some time. He’d been planning it when we were together. I felt like a knife had been stabbed into my gut, and logical or not, I felt betrayed.

  And if I felt betrayed, I couldn’t imagine how Jed was feeling.

  “Maybe,” Jed said, his jaw tight, “but I think he planned on this happenin’ a lot sooner. I think Hardshaw was lookin’ to start the South American drug drops last spring, but then they had a long hiccup after Neely Kate sent that dirty money to the Secret Service and the FBI. Carson Roberts was never arrested, but there must have been some kind of investigation. It makes sense they would lie low.”

  “So you think James has had these three places ready for nearly a year, just waitin’ for Hardshaw to resume with the original plan?”

  Jed nodded. “Exactly. Why else would he do all the work last summer? Not to mention buyin’ the police force down in Sugar Branch. He likes to plan ahead, but not that far ahead.”

  “So why did he buy the police force?” I asked. “To help cover for his meetings at the warehouse in Sugar Branch?”

  “Likely,” Jed said. “But things got out of hand, and he lost them. I suspect Hardshaw wasn’t happy about that since they’re likely the ones who were payin’ for them.”

  I grimaced. “So the Sugar Branch location is out?”

  “Not necessarily,” Jed said. “But I suspect you’re right. For one thing, it’s not as secluded as the other two places.”

  “Hence purchasing his own police department, which had demanded total autonomy from the sheriff’s department,” Joe added. “They did whatever they wanted, as you know, but the sheriff’s department definitely has a presence there now. They would pick up on any unusual activity. They routinely patrol that location and a dozen others.”

  “So that leaves two locations and a vague tomorrow meetin’ time,” I said. “I’m pretty sure Denny Carmichael’s not gonna accept that. I have to give him something concrete.”

  “That’s where Dermot comes in,” Jed said. “I called him and brought him up to speed. He used a drone to investigate all three buildings. Turns out there’s been activity at the church tonight but not those other places.”

  “So he thinks it’s gonna take place at the church?”

  “Yeah. Otherwise there’d be something going on. Even with all the previous plannin’, Skeeter’s got plenty of setup to do before he makes his last-minute announcement. But he wouldn’t risk goin’ out there until just before the meeting.”

  That made sense. He’d used a similar tactic prior to my meeting with J.R. Then the meaning of his words penetrated. “Wait,” I said. “Does that mean what I think it does?”

  Jed gave me a grim look. “The drone showed more activity than Dermot would anticipate if this was going down tomorrow night.”

  I shook my head. “What are you sayin’? It’s happening tonight?”

  “I’d bet good money on it.”

  “Joe and I are bettin’ our lives on it, Jed.”

  He held my gaze. “Tonight.”

  “What time should I tell him?”

  “Kate said tomorrow, right?” he asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Midnight is technically tomorrow.”

  “Well, crap.” Was Carmichael going to be pissed at the late notice? I could technically blame it on him and his nine p.m. meeting time.

  I glanced back at the clock on the oven. “I need to feed Hope before we go.”

  We were going to have to leave her with Neely Kate and Witt. Although it scared me spitless to think Kate might show up, after Neely Kate’s conversation with her earlier, I had to believe she wouldn’t harm my baby. And I knew that Neely Kate and Witt would do everything they could to protect her. Besides, based on what Kate had said, she was going to be busy.

  “We don’t have to go, Rose,” Joe said. “You can just text him.”

  Could I get away with it? I’d look weak since he’d asked me to come in person, but if he got swept up in the raid, it would be a moot point. I picked up my phone from the table and pulled up his number.

  “How long have you had Denny Carmichael’s phone number on your phone?” Joe asked in a gruff voice.

  I rolled my eyes. “Since he called me last October to threaten me if I exposed him during my grand jury testimony.”

  “How many times has he threatened you?”

  Shaking my head, I pushed out a sigh. “Every single one of them has aimed a threat at me at one time or another.” I waved my phone toward the man across from me. “Even Jed.”

  “Jed threatened you?” Joe asked.

  “I never threatened you that way,” Jed protested.

  “Please. You did not appreciate havin’ to deal with me. I was a wild card and a nuisance in the beginning.” I grinned. “But I grew on you.” I turned my attention to my phone. “I’m just gonna text him ‘do you want the time and location sooner?’ and see what he says.”

  “He may be so eager for the information that he won’t want to waste time waiting for you to show up,” Jed said.

  “Let’s hope.” I sent another quick text to Mason on his throwaway phone. Sweet Pickle Christian Church on County Rd 18, midnight tonight. Once it was sent, I deleted the text.

  Joe watched me but didn’t say a word.

  I finished my food over the next few minutes. Hope was starting to get fussy in the living room, and I still hadn’t heard back from Carmichael.

  “That’s not good,” Jed mumbled with a worried look.

  “You think he’s purposely ignoring me?”

  “I don't know, but maybe you should try calling him.”

  “Let’s hope this works.” At this point, I didn’t care about losing face, I just wanted to make sure he was at the church when the authorities showed up. Because despite my visions telling me otherwise, I had a terrible feeling things were going to go badly on the Carmichael property. I couldn’t ignore my vision of Neely Kate in the hospital waiting room.

  I placed the call, my heart beating as fast as a hummingbird’s wings, but he didn’t answer. I left him a voicemail suggesting we skip the theatrics and exchange the inf
ormation over the phone.

  “I don’t know what to do,” I said after I hung up.

  “Text him the time and location,” Joe said. “And hope he sees it.”

  Would that be enough?

  “You were right. We need him at that meetin’, Joe,” I said, sending him a beseeching look. “We need him to be caught up in the raid. If they don’t take him in with the rest, he’ll never let us have any peace.”

  His jaw hardened. “It’s not worth the risk of you gettin’ killed.”

  Jed leaned back in his seat. “And that right there is why this whole setup was a bad idea.”

  We both turned to him.

  “You wanted to be her bodyguard? Her backup? Do you even know what that entails?”

  Joe’s eyes flashed with anger. “Of course I know what that entails.”

  “No,” Jed said through gritted teeth. “I don’t think you do. It means you do what the person in charge tells you to do, and you do everything in your power to prepare for every contingency if things go bad.”

  Joe’s face reddened, and a vein on his neck began to throb. “You expect me to let her just waltz up to that madman’s front door while he’s in the middle of stirrin’ up a bunch of barely restrained criminals?”

  “Yes,” Jed said in a scarily calm voice. “If that’s what Rose thinks needs to happen, that’s exactly what I expect you to do. You can voice your opinion, but it’s her call in the end.”

  “I can’t accept that,” Joe said.

  Jed’s words were ice cold. “Then you shouldn’t have quit your job. You might as well be back at the sheriff’s department.”

  They both glared at each other for a few seconds before Jed said, “Do you realize the message you’re sendin’ right now? You’re sayin’ you don’t trust her judgment.”