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

by Denise Grover Swank

  “I felt like an asshole takin’ it, but I couldn’t let that information get out. Still, I hoped Mike’s involvement would come out after the deal was done. I planned on leakin’ it myself if need be.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me where Ashley and Mikey were? Why send Vera?”

  “Another of the biggest mistakes of my life, and one of the reasons I’m here. It’s like I said. I don’t trust anyone else to protect you.”

  “You didn’t need to kill her,” I said softly. “I couldn’t believe you did.”

  “I didn’t. One of my men shot her. Thought he was doin’ my biddin’, but I showed him the door. How did you know?”

  I was surprised by the relief I felt. I hadn’t wanted another leaf added to that tattoo on his back, especially not on my account. I knew how those deaths weighed on him.

  “A vision.”

  “Just like how this all started,” he said.

  Then he handed Hope back to me and got to his feet.

  “What are you doin’?”

  He started for the door. “Checkin’ to see if the hinges are on the inside.” A few seconds later, he shuffled over to the desk and rummaged around.

  From Hope’s steady breathing, I could tell she’d fallen asleep. She must have exhausted herself crying and from whatever torture Kate had put her through. I suddenly wished I had more light so I could examine every inch of her, but I took comfort knowing I hadn’t seen any blood on her clothing after Kate had unbundled her.

  “What are you lookin’ for?”

  “Something to help me get us out of here.”

  It looked like he had a metal ruler that he was using to scrape paint off the window. When he got a small patch off, he stepped onto a box and pressed his eye to the opening. “She’s not out there.”

  He slid the ruler down the door, grunting as he presumably tried to pry up a hinge, but it didn’t seem to be working well.

  I got to my feet. “Give us more light,” I said. “I’ll look for something more substantial to use.” Hope was sleeping, but this wouldn’t be the first time I’d held her while working.

  He cast a glance back at me and began scraping the rest of the paint off while I opened the desk drawers. There hadn’t been much in here before, and no one had added anything since. Then a new thought hit me. “What about my boot? It’s got a hard heel. You can use it as a hammer.”

  “I need something to actually hammer,” he said in frustration. “Something hard.”

  The only place I hadn’t really looked was the closet, so I opened it with one hand, Hope cradled against my chest. Metal brackets held up several empty shelves. “What about these brackets?”

  He followed me inside and nudged me back into the room as he started to lift up a shelf. “Go look and see if she’s comin’ back. This is gonna make some noise.”

  I rushed over to the door, trying to keep Hope as motionless as possible, and looked out of the rectangle. Now that he’d cleared most of the paint, I didn’t need to climb onto anything. “I don’t see her.”

  “Good,” he said, walking over with a four-foot-long piece of wood and two metal brackets. “There’s no time to waste.”

  He made quick work of getting the hinges out with the bracket and a rock that looked like it had been a paperweight, stopping every five to ten seconds to see if Kate had returned.

  I was feeling hopeful when he removed the first hinge and anxious when he removed the second. He’d been at work for less than five minutes, but she wouldn’t be gone long, would she? Not to mention she’d hear the noise.

  He removed the third hinge, fitting the ruler into the crack to try and pry the door open. He glanced through the window and instantly stopped what he was doing.

  “She’s back.”

  Chapter 36

  I heard the dull murmur of voices but couldn’t make out any distinct words. Kate had brought someone with her. Not that that was surprising. She’d said Carson was coming, after all, and she’d always meant for this to be a show.

  James turned to face me and whispered insistently, “Go hide in the closet. I’m going to jump her when she opens the door, but be prepared to run.”

  “Okay, but be careful,” I pleaded.

  He didn’t respond, just shoved me into the closet and shut the door.

  The voices were even more muffled now, but I could faintly hear Kate’s coming out in a breathless, high-pitched rush. The man’s voice was deeper and more audible.

  “What the hell’s goin’ on, Andrea?” he grunted.

  That had to be Carson Roberts. Neely Kate’s other prize.

  “I told you, it’s a surprise, but if you want me to spoil it, fine,” she huffed. “Skeeter Malcolm skipped out and double-crossed you, so I have him all packaged up for you. And you’re lucky I told you not to go to that meeting. He’d set them all up to be arrested.”

  “What?”

  “See? I told you that I have your back, so trust me. Use the keys and open the door.”

  I held my breath, turning my back to the closet door as I curled over Hope’s sleeping body, praying my body would help protect her from any flying bullets.

  I heard a screeching sound and then several bangs and grunts. Kate laughed with abandon before she stopped and shouted. “That’s enough. Both of you stop, or I’ll shoot you and be done with it.”

  “What the hell, Andrea?” Carson demanded.

  She ignored him. “I need you to tie Skeeter Malcolm to a chair.”

  “To hell with that,” Carson grunted. “Shoot the fucking traitor now.”

  “I have a surprise for you,” she said. “But you need to tie him to a chair first. I suggest you cooperate, Skeeter Malcolm, or I’ll put a bullet in your chest, and then I’ll put one in Rose and your baby.”

  My heart skipped a beat.

  “Baby?” Carson barked. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Carson,” she said, sounding bored. “Don’t worry your pretty little head. Just do it. The rope’s in my bag.”

  I clutched Hope tighter, my heart pounding so fast and hard I could hardly believe it didn’t wake her up.

  “I know you’re in there, Rose Petal,” Kate called out in a giddy tone. “Come on out and join us or I’ll start shooting then look for you in there later.”

  If it were just me, I would have taken my chances, using the desk as a barrier, but I didn’t dare risk Hope’s life. I turned and slowly opened the closet door. “I’m comin’ out.”

  She stood about six feet away from the office doorway. The door lay catawampus on the floor, blocking the exit.

  A smug grin spread across her face. “I knew you’d see things my way.”

  “You can’t blame me for tryin’ to protect my baby.”

  “Neely Kate’s baby. You’re merely watching her until my sister shows up.”

  I considered arguing with her, but I didn’t see the point. It seemed easier and safer for Hope if I went along with it. “I can live with that.”

  She smirked. “You won’t be living with it much longer. Now come on out here.”

  I stopped at the door, trying to figure out the safest way to walk over it without dropping Hope.

  “Carson,” Kate said, sounding sweeter. “Come help Rose and the baby out of that room.”

  A few seconds later, a man in a gray suit appeared in the doorway. If he’d worn a tie, it was long gone, and the top buttons of his white shirt were undone. His eyes widened when he saw me and Hope.

  “Andrea?” he called out, clearly wanting an explanation before he followed her orders.

  “You want to salvage this mess, Carson? This is how. Trust me.”

  He hesitated, then reached in and grabbed my elbow, holding me steady as I walked over the door.

  Once I reached the other side, he dropped my arm and turned to face her. “Enough of this bullshit,” he snapped. “You’ve been draggin’ me all over this God-forsaken hell hole all night. What the hell is going on?”

&nb
sp; “I saved your ass from the raid, didn’t I?” she demanded with one foot thrust out to the side. “You’re gonna have to trust me, so take the other rope and tie her to that pillar over there.” She motioned to a concrete post closer to the windows.

  I considered trying to run, but Kate would just shoot me, and I’d drop Hope on the concrete floor. I cast a glance at James, who’d been tied to a metal office chair with nylon rope, his arms and legs secured. His face was expressionless as he tracked my movement across the room.

  “This is never gonna work,” I called out. “Neely Kate’s never going to forgive you for this.”

  “Don’t you worry about me.”

  Carson tied me with my back to the round pillar, the rope circling around my waist, holding me in place, but he’d been smart enough to put the knots in the back, not that I had two hands to untie it. Not with Hope in my arms. I prayed my arms didn’t get tired.

  While Carson was doing her bidding, he seemed reluctant about it. There was a bulge under his jacket, which I was sure was a gun. If he was starting to distrust Kate, he could turn out to be an ally, especially since he had no idea what role he was doomed to play in her little show tonight.

  “Her name’s not Andrea,” I said.

  He jerked his gaze to me. “What?”

  “She’s Kate Simmons, J.R. Simmons’ daughter, and she’s planning to kill you too. She holds you responsible for almost destroying her sister’s life.”

  He shook his head as though he was trying to clear it. “What?”

  Kate let out an exaggerated sigh. “Don’t listen to her, Carson. She’s a desperate woman, who will say anything to save herself.”

  He started to reach for his jacket, but something stopped him.

  Kate smiled, then nodded her head toward James. “You need to trust me, Carson. That man is my gift to you. He’s been setting you up since you first approached him over a year ago. You need to find out what he knows and what he’s told the authorities if you have any chance of saving Hardshaw.”

  Carson shifted his attention to James, marching over to confront him. “Is that true?”

  James gave him an evil grin. “Every word of it, and it doesn’t matter what happens to me. You’re still goin’ down.”

  Carson punched James so hard the chair fell to the side.

  James didn’t move.

  “Did you knock him out?” Kate asked, sounding baffled.

  “Guess so.” Carson turned back to Kate, cocking his head. He looked a lot less trustful than he had a few seconds ago. “What are we doin’ here, Andrea? I could kill Malcolm anywhere.”

  “Kate,” I said insistently. “Her name is Kate Simmons, and she’s doin’ this for revenge.”

  He shook his head in confusion. “Revenge? What the fuck does that mean?”

  “I can tell you,” Neely Kate called out of the darkness. “I’m the person she’s tryin’ to avenge.”

  “Neely Kate?” Kate called out in surprise. She looked downright giddy.

  “It’s me,” Neely Kate said, still in the shadows.

  “How did you find me?” Kate sounded like a proud parent whose toddler had put a round peg into the appropriate hole.

  “It wasn’t hard,” Neely Kate said. “Something Rose mentioned earlier clued me in.”

  Kate’s deadly glare shifted to me, but Neely Kate stepped out into the open and marched over to me, standing in front of me like a human shield. “If you’re doin’ what I think you’re doin’, then you have truly lost your ever-lovin’ mind! Did you just think you could kill Rose and I’d be okay with it?”

  “You weren’t supposed to know,” Kate said. “I was gonna let you think Skeeter Malcolm killed her in a fit of jealous rage and then killed himself. The poor baby would be an orphan and you could raise her.”

  “What about Joe?” Neely Kate cried out, her voice rising. “Hope wouldn’t be an orphan. She’d still have Joe. Do you honestly think I’d take his baby from him? How is that any better than what J.R. did to you?” She took a deep breath. “I don’t want this, Kate. Please, just let Rose and Hope go home.”

  Kate’s expression softened. “I know you don’t understand this, but I know what’s best for you, little sis. As long as Rose is part of your life, you and I will never be close. Not like we’re supposed to be. Once Rose is gone, you can finally have your baby.”

  Neely Kate shook her head. “No, Kate. Not like this. If you do this, I will never speak to you again. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you pay for what you did.”

  Joe stepped out of the shadows in the middle aisle, about ten feet from Kate. His face was hard, and he had a gun aimed at his sister. “You’re plannin’ to give her my baby, Kate. You’re talking about killin’ the mother of my daughter. The woman I want to marry.”

  Kate turned to her brother. “That’s not your baby, Joe. Skeeter Malcolm is her father.”

  Joe cast a dark glance at James, who was still lying on the ground, then turned back to Kate. “She is my child. I was there for almost every doctor’s appointment before she was born and after. I was the one who put her crib together. I was there when she was born, terrified she and Rose would die in that damn field. Rose and I are the ones who get up with her every night. I change diapers. I walk with her when she’s fussy. I cherish every smile that lights up her face and thank God for every moment I have with her. No one is pulling a fast one on me, Kate, and as we both know, DNA doesn’t make a father. That is my little girl, and no one is takin’ her from me. Not even you.”

  Kate stared at him in surprise, and a huge grin spread across her face. “Well, look at you.” Then her smile faded. “But be that as it may, Neely Kate deserves this baby more.”

  Carson stared at Kate as though finally seeing the crazy he’d hooked his wagon to. “I have no idea why I’m here,” he said, shaking his head. “This sounds like a family matter to me, Andrea.”

  “Don’t you get all high and mighty,” Kate said. “Your family is plenty messed up.”

  “Enough!” Joe shouted, then his shoulders sank, and he looked devastated. “Enough. You had your fun, but honestly, Kate, we’re done with your drama. Your orchestrations are exhaustin’. The showdown you arranged with our father in which my fiancée was murdered, and I lost my baby. Last summer in the barn with Stella and Branson. Now this?” he shouted, his anger building. He gestured to the fire on the concrete floor. “What the hell is that? A damn fire in June? Are you plannin’ on burning Rose at the stake? Because you’re gonna have to go through me first. Neely Kate, take my wife and baby home.”

  “She’s not your wife!” Kate shouted. “You’re not married.”

  “It’s a damn piece of paper,” Joe said. Then he turned to Neely Kate. “Untie her and go.”

  Neely Kate scrambled behind me and started to work on the knots.

  Kate swung her gun around to point at me. “Neely Kate, don’t do it, or I’ll shoot both Rose and the baby.”

  “Just get Hope,” I whispered frantically. “Please, Neely Kate.”

  But then there was a thunk over by James. He hadn’t been knocked out at all, of course. He’d gotten loose from his chair and tackled Carson.

  “Get up!” Kate screamed at him, but it was James who got to his feet. When he did, he pointed his gun at…Joe. He stood about ten feet away, with Kate between them but off to the side. She stared at James in horror. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  James ignored her, hate radiating off his body. “You thought you could take what was mine, Simmons?”

  “You could never deserve them, Malcolm,” Joe countered, his body shaking.

  Everything in me froze, my blood, my heart, my mind. This scene. I’d seen it again and again in my visions, but somehow I’d let myself believe it wouldn’t happen. I didn’t have time to react, I didn’t have time to do anything but scream.

  “Maybe not,” James spat, “but neither do you.”

  A gunshot rang out, and then another, the seco
nd ringing in my ear. I turned to see Neely Kate standing next to me with tears streaming down her face, her arms extended and her pistol in hand.

  It took me another half second to realize that Kate was lying on the ground.

  But so was Joe.

  “No!” I screamed, and Hope was screaming too. I frantically tore at the rope at my waist. “No!”

  Jed emerged from the shadows, gently pushing Neely Kate’s arms down and pulling her into his embrace. “It’s okay,” he murmured.

  But it wasn’t okay. James had shot Joe, just like in my vision, and Joe was now lying on the ground, and I was stuck, still tied to the pole.

  “Let me go!” I shouted, hysterical. “Somebody let me go!”

  Jed immediately cut me loose with his pocketknife, and I ran to Joe, dropping to my knees as I cried hysterically. He lay crumpled on his side, his eyes closed.

  I jerked my gaze up to James, who was holding the gun on Carson. “How could you?” I screamed. “How could you?”

  I got to my feet, sobbing. I started to advance on him, but Neely Kate grabbed my arm.

  “Rose. Stop. You’re scarin’ Hope.”

  She was right. My poor daughter was flailing and screaming in my arms, and it hit me like a Mack truck that I was the one who was scaring her. I was the person she trusted, and not only had I terrified her, I’d let her father get killed. I handed her to Neely Kate and turned my wrath on James.

  “What did you do?” I asked in a shockingly calm voice, but it was laced with hatred.

  He gave me a defiant glare. “I did what I had to do to save you and Hope, and I refuse to apologize for it.”

  It was then I saw the blood on his shirt, just under his left shoulder.

  I shook my head in confusion. Had Joe shot him before he’d been shot himself?

  “Kate shot him,” Neely Kate said, her entire body shaking so much I was scared she would drop my daughter, but Jed’s arms were around her, holding them both. “When Kate realized Skeeter was goin’ to shoot Joe, she turned her gun on him.”

  My mind spun out of control, trying to understand what had happened, and then Joe released a loud groan.