“Who is this?”
“Merv. Now do as I said!”
I turned off my computer monitor, casting the room in darkness, and checked the door even though I knew it was bolted.
I sat in my chair, feeling a little foolish. Should I be hiding?
A gunshot rang out, and I ducked, wishing I had the gun that Jed had given me last week. The one I’d used to shoot J.R. in the leg. But it had been taken for evidence. I regretted sending Neely Kate and her trusty revolver home.
Another shot rang out, followed by shouting. Sirens were next, although for the life of me, I had no idea why the Henryetta police would need to use sirens when their headquarters was on the other side of the square—although, common sense had never ranked high on their list of new-hire qualifications.
Someone pounded on my back door, and I ran back to open it. “Who’s there?”
“Merv. Let me in.”
I unlatched the deadbolt, and Merv stumbled in when I opened the door. The first clue something was wrong was the fact he wasn’t standing upright.
“What happened?” I reached out to help him, but he flung his hand out to hold me off, his gun still in his grip. I backed away from it.
“The bastard shot me, that’s what.”
“Oh, mercy. Where?”
“In my damn leg. I need to call Skeeter.”
My heart was in my throat as I shut and locked the door behind him. “I take it you want to hide from the police, but the only places to hide in here are the bathroom and the small storeroom.”
“Bathroom.”
I opened the bathroom door and turned on the light.
“Turn that off,” he barked. “The damn police will come knockin’, wantin’ to question you.”
I flipped the switch and closed the bathroom door, then used the flashlight on my phone to illuminate the small space. Merv hobbled to the toilet and sat on the lid, and as soon as he was situated, I shined the light on the hand that was pressed to his thigh. He lifted it to reveal a quickly spreading dark stain on his jeans.
“Ya got a towel?”
“Yeah.” I told myself to calm down as I opened the cabinet under the sink and handed him two clean hand towels. “Do you want me to call Skeeter?”
“No. I’ll do it.” He pressed one of the towels to his leg as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and placed the call. “Skeeter. There’s been trouble.”
He flicked an expressionless gaze up to me and then looked back down at his leg. “No. She’s fine. We’re in the bathroom of her shop. Some guy was lurking out front. I chased him toward the alley, but he shot me in the leg, and now the police are swarming all over the square.”
“It was Sam Teagen,” I said.
His gaze lifted again. “What?”
“The man outside the shop—he was Sam Teagen.”
“Who the hell’s Sam Teagen?”
I snatched the phone and pressed the speaker button. “Skeeter, listen to me. It was the guy who posted my bail.”
“You’re certain?” he asked.
“I’ve seen two photos of him, and it’s him. I’m sure of it.”
“This ties Simmons to your kidnapping after all.” Skeeter sounded pained to admit it.
“And there’s something else,” I added.
“What?”
“He had scratch marks on his cheek. I think he was also one of the men who kidnapped me.”
“What? Did Merv get him?”
“He got away,” Merv grumbled.
Skeeter cursed a blue streak, and I was shocked to see Merv cringe.
“Skeeter,” I said, getting pissed. “Merv got shot in the leg. We need to address that right now—not the fact that Sam Teagen got away.”
“Merv,” Skeeter said, “did you leave a blood trail?”
“No,” Merv answered. “I was careful.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “Your employee was shot, and all you want to know is if he left a blood trail?”
“Yes,” Skeeter said, sounding like he’d pinched off the word. “Because if they tie him to a shooting, he’s probably goin’ to jail, Lady!”
He paused for a moment, and when he spoke again, he sounded calmer. “Merv, how bad is it?”
“It hurts like hell, but I’ll live.” He shot me an angry glare. “It’s nicked is all.”
“So the place is already teeming with cops?” Skeeter asked.
“Yeah,” Merv said.
“Then we can’t get you out yet. Rose?”
“Yeah?”
“I need you to stay with him. There’s a murderer on the loose, and I don’t want you going home on your own. Besides, we can’t let the cops know you’re there.”
“Why?”
“They’ll want to question you, which means they’ll probably want to come inside. It goes without saying that we don’t want them knowin’ Merv’s holed up there, and we sure as hell don’t want them knowing that you saw Teagen, let alone that you recognized him.”
“I think we should—”
“Yeah, I know. Your boyfriend’s gonna pitch a fit, but I’ll make him see it my way.”
And there it was—the pain I’d stuffed down all afternoon was rising up and demanding my attention. But I wasn’t about to fall apart now. Not here in the bathroom of my office, with a man bleeding in front of me. I’d let myself cry later.
“Mason’s not an issue at the moment. We’re not telling him anything. Have I made myself clear?” I asked in a direct tone.
“Crystal.” Skeeter said, clearly pissed.
“But won’t the police figure out I’m here?”
“Your truck’s not out front, since Neely Kate drove it to your farm. As far as they’re concerned, you’re nice and cozy in that farmhouse of yours.”
“How do you—” I cut myself off. “Jed’s watching Neely Kate, isn’t he?”
“You let me worry about who’s watching who. My point is that you need to hole up for a few hours, and then I’ll come to get you.”
“You think it’s a good idea for you to come?” Merv asked. “Why don’t you send one of the guys?”
“Are you telling me how to my damned job, Merv?” Skeeter demanded in a cold, ominous tone.
Merv was not immune to it. “No, sir.”
“Good. Rose?”
“Yeah?”
“You sure you want to keep this from the D.A.? Because I’m playin’ this differently if you do.”
“I’m sure.”
After a beat of silence, Skeeter said, “You both sit tight, and I’ll let you know if I hear anything. You do the same.”
“Okay,” I said.
As soon as the line disconnected, Merv shot another angry look at me.
My back stiffened. “Go ahead and say what’s on your mind.”
“You’re not worth all of this trouble.”
“I never claimed to be.”
“You’re not even puttin’ out, and he’s still chasing you around.”
I cringed. “It’s not like that, and you know it. I provide a service that has helped Skeeter ferret out his enemies.”
“I don’t believe that hocus-pocus bullshit for a minute.”
I gave him a haughty look. “Well, good thing for me it’s not up to you to believe it or not.”
“You’re gonna ruin him.”
I cracked the bathroom door open. “Not if I can help it.”
“Where the hell do you think you’re goin’?”
“I want to see what’s goin’ on out there.”
“Like hell!” He reached for me as I slipped out the door and into the hall.
“Calm down, Merv,” I said, closing the door but leaving it open a crack. “I’ll be careful, and you know you’d be lookin’ yourself if you could.”
He grunted, which I took to be acceptance, and I plastered myself to the wall in the short hallway that opened to the office. Red lights swept across the darkened room, and through the edge of the front window, I could see several police cars spread out aro
und the square. I squatted down and made my way to Neely Kate’s desk. Hunkered down behind it, I had a much better view out of the front window.
Officer Ernie was standing on the sidewalk outside my front door, looking down the street while talking to an elderly man. Great. If Officer Ernie was working the case, the police were just as likely to offer Teagen a job as they were to arrest him. The elderly man pointed toward the courthouse, and then the two of them walked out of my view.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out, not surprised to see Mason’s name. I considered not answering, but I couldn’t do that to him—especially because I suspected I knew why he was calling.
“Hey, Mason,” I said quietly, hiding in the hole under Neely Kate’s desk.
“Where are you?” Worry sharpened his words.
“We broke up, Mason.” I sounded as weary as I felt.
“Rose, there was a shooting by your office. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “I’m fine, but it’s not your job to worry about me anymore.”
“I’m not supposed to worry about you anymore because you broke up with me four hours ago?” he asked, incredulous. “My feelings for you are supposed to switch off just because you say so?”
“No.” I pressed the palm of my hand into my forehead. “I don’t know. Mason, no matter how much we love each other, we just don’t work right now.”
“Right now? Are you saying this is temporary?”
“I don’t know. You can’t deal with what’s goin’ on in my life, and I understand that. I really do. But I can’t put that horse back in the barn. All I can do is step away. I’m trying not to involve you any more than I already have.”
“Rose, I can handle it. I think I proved that at the cabin.”
“No, you didn’t. Not really. You were forced to be there . . . you left me the first chance you got.”
“How can you say that? I left to get Joe. To get you out of your charges.”
“I know.” I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to keep my tears contained.
He was right. But so was I. It ripped Mason’s conscience apart to straddle the law, and there was no denying that I was the reason for his straddling. While I was devastated over losing him, I knew I couldn’t make him choose between the law and me. If he chose me, deep down he’d resent me for it, but if he didn’t choose me, he’d regret it for the rest of his life. I had to be strong. For him.
“We don’t work right now, Mason,” I said again. “You know that. That’s the real reason why you left me last Friday.”
“I just needed time to think, Rose.”
I leaned my head against the metal back of the desk. “I understand, I really do, but when were you planning on comin’ back?”
He was silent for a moment. “I don’t know.”
“And that right there is your answer. Love is stickin’ with someone in the good times and the bad. Love is being there.”
“Are you claiming I don’t love you?”
“No. I know you love me. Just not enough.” I shook my head. “No. That’s not right. You love the me you knew with all your heart. But not the Rose I turned out to be.”
“Sweetheart, there’s only one you.”
I used to think so, too. But it was never actually true, I used to be two people—the Rose everyone knew and the Lady in Black—three, if you counted the fearful person I had been before Momma died.
Last week, those separate selves came together. I no longer knew where I stopped and where the Lady began. We’d merged, and I wasn’t sure what Mason thought of this new part of me. From the reaction I’d seen last week, he didn’t like it one bit. I couldn’t blame him for that. My cooperation with Skeeter went against everything he believed in.
“I love you, Mason, but what I’ve done is unfair and selfish. I need to get myself out of this thing—without you—so I don’t drag you in any deeper.”
“What gives you the right to make that decision for both of us?” he asked, sounding angry.
“You made it, Mason,” I said quietly. “You made it last Friday when you walked out of my office. I could understand if you’d left for one night, but you’ve been gone five days. You made the decision that we were done.”
“That’s not true.”
I was on the verge of breaking down, and I couldn’t risk that. Not with Merv bleeding in my bathroom and the police gathering outside my door.
“I can’t do this right now. I have to go,” I said.
“Will you at least agree to meet me in person to discuss this?”
I heard voices outside, which meant whoever was out there would be able to hear me, too. “Yeah. I’ll let you know when,” I whispered and then hung up.
I took several breaths to calm down. I needed to have my wits about me. I could fall apart later.
Crawling out of my hole, I moved to the edge of the desk, peered around the edge, and then gasped. Detective Taylor—the man who had a personal vendetta against me—was talking to Kate, of all people. I hadn’t seen her since my kidnapping. She wore dark jeans with black boots and a canvas jacket. The light of the street lamp highlighted the blue streaks in her dark hair. I strained to hear what they were saying.
“. . . and the suspect . . . corner?” Detective Taylor asked.
Kate had her back to me, but she turned and pointed in the opposite direction of the antique store. “He ran that way.”
Detective Taylor wrote something in his notebook. “Can you give me a description?”
“Yeah,” Kate said. “Really tall.” She lifted her hand over her head to indicate a giant that would have dwarfed Sam Teagen. “Red jacket. Khaki pants. He looked like a kid, maybe seventeen.”
“And you’re sure you saw a gun?”
“I saw him shoot it toward the courthouse. Like he was aiming for a tree.”
Kate was lying. A lot. Why would she lie?
Oh, my word.
Kate was working with him. The first time I’d seen Sam Teagen, he’d run toward the antique store—same as he’d done tonight. Kate lived above that antique store.
I’d bet ten bucks he was hiding there now.
I pulled out my phone and called Skeeter. “I have something,” I whispered.
“What?”
“Kate Simmons told Detective Taylor she saw the shooter, but she’s lying about what Sam Teagen looks like and which way he went. Both tonight and Friday, I saw him run toward the antique store and disappear. Kate’s apartment is over the antique store—so I bet he’s hiding there.”
“Whoa. Back up a step. You said you saw him Friday?”
“Yeah, I saw him lurking around, but when I went to confront him, he took off toward the antique store and disappeared.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he shouted.
“Shh!” I hissed, moving further behind the desk. “Stop yelling!”
“Where the hell are you?” he demanded in a lower voice.
“I’m hiding behind Neely Kate’s desk. Detective Taylor and Kate Simmons are on the sidewalk in front of my office.”
“Where’s Merv?”
“He’s still bleedin’ in my bathroom.”
“Very bad?”
“Well, I’m no judge of gunshot wounds, but Jed bled a lot more from the one to his arm.”
“Then Merv’ll be fine,” he said dismissively. “What else is goin’ on?”
“You’re not gonna tell me to run to the back and hide?”
“Why in the hell would I do that?” he demanded. “What’s going on now?”
“Kate and Taylor are still talkin’.”
“Can you see anyone else?”
“No . . . oh, wait. I see Joe and several deputies walkin’ over to them. Detective Taylor doesn’t look very happy.”
Skeeter chuckled. “I’d love to see that.”
“I suspect most of the Henryetta police officers are here, and it looks like there are four sheriff’s deputies if you count Joe. Why
would so many law enforcement officers show up to check out a couple of gunshots? The Henryetta P.D. is so territorial, I can’t imagine why they’re letting Joe and his deputies be part of this.”
Skeeter was silent for a moment. “Shit. They’re moving Simmons to the county jail. What’s Simmons Jr. doin’?”
Joe was yelling at two of his deputies, and two more deputy cars pulled into the street. “Something’s goin’ on, Skeeter. Joe looks pretty ticked.”
“Simmons is up to something.”
I could see Joe pointing down the street, away from the courthouse. He was still yelling, but he’d switched the focus of his yelling to the detective. “Right now he’s yelling at Taylor.”
“Not that Simmons. His father.”
Oh, crappy doodles. “He’s not doin’ what I think he’s doin’, is he?”
“Make a jailbreak? Yeah, I think he is. They must have a stack of evidence so high he knows he’ll never crawl out from under it. Did Teagen see you?”
“Yes.”
“Then that confirms it. We’ve got to get you out of there as soon as possible.”
I gasped. “Surely he won’t try something with all those police officers and deputies outside.”
“I wouldn’t put anything past that bastard,” Skeeter growled. “Can you get to the roof?”
“Why?” I asked, my heart skipping a beat.
“That shit scraper can just walk in and snatch you is why.”
“But the police—”
“Shit. Why didn’t I see it before?”
“What?” I asked, starting to panic.
“It’s all about distractions, Lady. Two pipe bombs went off about fifteen minutes ago. One by the ice cream shop and the other close to your friend’s church.”
“Jonah?”
“They’re trying to get the police and the sheriff’s deputies as frazzled as a mother with a houseful of toddlers. It’ll give J.R. the perfect opportunity to not only slip out of custody, but also to pick up a package along the way.”
“Me.”
“Exactly. So you need to hide. Now. I’m positive it’s all about to happen. So answer my question. Is there a way to the roof?”
Terror washed through my head, making me lightheaded. “There’s a staircase in the back, but it’s locked.”
“Do you have a key?”
“Yeah, but what about Merv? I don’t think he can climb the stairs.”
Thirty-Six and a Half Motives: Rose Gardner Mystery #9 (Rose Gardner Mystery Series) Page 7