Thirty-Six and a Half Motives: Rose Gardner Mystery #9 (Rose Gardner Mystery Series)

by Denise Grover Swank

  I opened the wide mouth to my purse, showing her the contents.

  “He gave you a gun?” She looked up at me. “The gun Jed gave you?”

  “Shh.” I closed my purse and looked around the short tunnel before heading for the door to the jail. “It’s a different gun, but he said he thought it would be best for me to have a familiar model.”

  Jed’s eyes hardened. “While I’m all for you carrying protection, we don’t want you caught with an illegal weapon.”

  “He got me a concealed carry permit.”

  “How?” Neely Kate asked. “He’d have to break the rules to do that.”

  I gave her a half-shrug and then started walking, not surprised when they followed. I needed to keep moving, anything to help me stop thinking about Mason breaking more rules for me. “What did you find out about Hilary?”

  “She’s not at home,” Neely Kate said. “She’s volunteering at the food pantry at Jonah’s church.”

  “Hilary? Volunteering at a food pantry?”

  “Giving back to the less fortunate and undeserving is part of the socialite life,” Neely Kate said in a fake genteel drawl. “She’s keepin’ up appearances.”

  “Well, if she’s keepin’ up appearances, maybe she’ll be forced to be nice to us.”

  “Does that mean we get to keep all of the cupcakes?” Neely Kate asked.

  “You know Dena didn’t trust us with those cupcakes in the first place. If we don’t give them to Hilary, she’s likely never to sell us cupcakes for bribery purposes again.”

  Neely Kate grinned. “Are you sayin’ we’ll need to bribe people in the future?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Let’s just say I’m not ruling anything out.”

  “I’m gonna take that as a positive sign.”

  “You girls are gonna drive me to drink,” Jed grumbled. “I’m goin’ to get the car. You two stay inside the jail entrance. Surely you’ll be safe waiting for me here.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Mason thought it was safe to leave me in the reception area of the sheriff’s office, but I was kidnapped from there at gunpoint. And not a single person noticed.”

  “Well, try not to get snatched this time.”

  Neely Kate gave him an ornery grin. “We’ll do our best.”

  “Tell me again why she’s here,” Jed said dryly, but with the hint of a grin.

  “Because she’s actually pretty useful when she’s not being a pain in the backside. You go on. We’ll come out when you pull up.”

  Jed took off, grumbling under his breath that being confined to a work camp in Siberia was starting to sound pretty good, and left us in the empty reception area of the county jail.

  “You shouldn’t give him such a hard time, Neely Kate,” I admonished. “You’re gonna give the man an ulcer.”

  “Pfft, he loves it. Besides, you give him plenty of grief.”

  She had a point.

  “Well, let’s try to be nicer for the rest of the day. It’s the least I can do after he’s saved my life so many times.”

  Neely Kate’s smile faded as her eyes focused on something outside the front door. “What do you think would happen if Joe happened to find you standing here?”

  “Nothing good.” I tried to look around her and out the door. “Is he coming in?”

  She gave me a shove. “You go hide in the tunnel, and I’ll try to keep him busy. When I say something about galoshes, it’s the signal that you can slip past and get in Jed’s car when I say something about galoshes.”

  “Galoshes?”

  She gave me another hard shove. “Go!”

  I dashed around the corner as I heard her say in a cheery voice, “Why Joe Simmons, fancy meeting you at the county jail.”

  “Uh . . . I’m the chief deputy sheriff. It’s part of my job.”

  “Oh, that’s right. Silly me.”

  “Cut the crap, Neely Kate. What are you doin’ here?”

  “Well . . . I wanted to come check on the status of your daddy breakin’ out of jail. My best friend is a fugitive from the slime ball, after all. I wanted to see if he was back in custody yet.”

  “No, not yet.”

  “Well, why are you standing here then?” she asked, sounding belligerent. “Why aren’t you out there tryin’ to catch him? Unless you want him to go free.”

  “I can’t believe you’re standing there accusing me of that, when I was the one to lock him up.”

  “Well, you didn’t really lock him up, now did you? You just sent him to the Henryetta hospital. Then he ran off, free as a bird.”

  “Does this have a point?” he asked, starting to sound pissed. Not that I could blame him.

  “Oh, my stars and garters,” she exclaimed. “Are all those photos on the wall men you’re lookin’ for?”

  “Well, not just me. They’re men who have warrants out for their arrest.”

  “Where’s your father’s photo? He’s running around like a sailor on shore leave after six months at sea. Why isn’t he up there?”

  “Because he just broke out last night. We’re hoping to have him back in custody before we need to put his photo up.”

  “Hmm . . .” she said, her voice growing fainter. “Speaking of a sailor on shore leave, do you think those men are running from lockup because they’re worried about the lack of female company?”

  “What?” He sounded genuinely puzzled.

  “I’ve heard that they . . . you know . . . get together themselves when they’re behind bars. Do you think that’s safe? Do y’all provide them with galoshes?”

  And that was my cue. I peeked around the corner and saw Joe and Neely Kate standing in front of a bulletin board plastered with wanted posters.

  “What?” Joe asked, shaking his head.

  I started for the front door, glancing back over my shoulder to see if I was going to get caught.

  Neely Kate tapped a photo of a bald guy with tattoos running from his neck to his jaw. “That guy right there. He looks like he should have a case of ’em.”

  “A case of what?

  “Condoms.”

  “What the hell are you talkin’ about?” poor Joe asked, but I was already slipping out the door and running toward Jed’s car, parked parallel to the street.

  “Rose!” Joe shouted after me.

  Oh, crap.

  Ignoring him, I opened the back door of the car and practically dove in, slamming the door shut. “Go!”

  But Jed had already figured that part out. He was pulling away from the curb and driving down the street before I got even that one-syllable word out.

  “What about Neely Kate?” Jed asked, watching me in the rearview mirror.

  “We’ll let her assess the damage, and then we’ll figure out where to pick her up.” I pulled out my phone and sent her a text.

  Is he coming after me?

  She immediately typed back. No. A good thirty seconds later she sent: But he’s good and ticked. A good minute after that she sent: I’m walking to our office. I’ll let you know when the coast is clear.

  “Would he arrest you?” Jed asked. We didn’t have a destination, so he started driving in a big square several blocks around the courthouse.

  “No. He wouldn’t have any grounds to, would he?”

  “If he knew you were anywhere around that shed, he could arrest you for impeding an investigation.”

  Hell’s bells. Jed was right. For all I knew, Joe might try to pull such a gambit to keep me from his father. “Well, he tried it once, and I didn’t take it well. It almost cost us our friendship. I hope he’d have better sense this time.”

  Jed didn’t answer.

  We drove past the nursery, and the sight of a sheriff’s car parked out back made my heart stop. Even though Mason had told me Joe was investigating the matter, it felt different to see the evidence of it in front of my face. Had Bruce Wayne and Anna really been kidnapped? I’d thought Bruce Wayne had been kidnapped before, but both times he’d left of his own free will. Maybe
this was a similar situation. I could only hope.

  I called Maeve.

  “Oh, Rose. It’s just horrible. I’m sure you’ve heard, but Joe thinks Anna and Bruce Wayne may have been kidnapped.”

  “I heard Joe came by?” I asked.

  “Yes. He didn’t say anything about what he found, but he said he was sending a deputy over to do a formal look-over. They’re out back now.”

  “What happened, Maeve?”

  “I don’t really know. Bruce Wayne was working out back, shoveling a fresh batch of mulch. We were all caught up inside, so Anna went to check on him, although you and I both know it’s probably because she likes him.”

  “Yeah, and he likes her,” I said. “So they were both out back. Did you see anything?”

  “I saw a dark van turn onto the side street next to the nursery. I remember it because it was moving so slowly. I was sure it was going to turn into the parking lot, but then it sped up and went around back.”

  “Do you remember what time that was?”

  “Um . . . about nine thirty.”

  “Did you see the van again?”

  “Yes. It came back on the same side street and turned right, heading south.”

  “Did you see who was driving? Was there someone in the passenger seat?”

  “Yeah, a younger man, maybe in his twenties, wearing a gray stocking cap.”

  Sounded a lot like Sam Teagen. “And the passenger?”

  “An older guy, black coat. No hat.”

  Marshal. This didn’t sound good. “Did you hear any shouts or anything?”

  “Not a peep. I went back there to check on them at around ten. They were gone, but both of their cars are still here.”

  “Do you remember anything about the van?”

  “It was black with darkened windows in the back. Like those old conversion vans. I saw an image on the passenger side that looked like it had been covered with black spray paint.”

  “Could you tell what it was?”

  “Just the top was still showing. It kind of looked like wings. Large ones.”

  “No license plate or anything?”

  “No, but I wasn’t looking. I only paid attention because it was moving so slowly and the two guys looked into the shop. Oh, wait! There was something else. It had one of those things on the hood that all the street cars have, you know with all the pipes. Only they looked defective. The ones in the middle were shorter than the ones on the ends.”

  “Thanks, Maeve. That’s really helpful.”

  “I hope they’re okay.”

  “Me too. We’re looking into it. Can you give me a call if you think of anything else?” I asked.

  “Of course . . . Rose?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I talked to Mason this morning.”

  “He told me.”

  “You talked to him, too?”

  “Yeah.” I saw no reason to elaborate.

  “I know you have bigger things to worry about, but he regrets so many things.”

  I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to get into it right now.

  “I know I told you this once, but it bears saying again. No matter what path you choose, I’ll still be here for you.”

  My voice broke. “Thanks, Maeve.”

  “There’s one more thing,” she said, with hesitation. “Skeeter Malcolm came by the shop looking for Anna and asking questions. Twice.”

  My back stiffened. Was she going to demand answers? “That’s what I heard from Mason.”

  “I didn’t tell him much. Mason told me to keep everything to myself and share it only with Joe and you.”

  Mason was looking out for me. While he might trust Skeeter to keep me safe, that didn’t mean he trusted him with information.

  “Thanks, Maeve.”

  “Now you be safe, okay?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I hung up and stared out the window. The day was much too bright and sunny to be so full of sadness and despair.

  “Nothin’ usable?” Jed asked.

  “Actually, there was.” I described the van to him, strange pipes, covered-up wings, and all.

  “An air cooler on a conversion van?”

  I shrugged. “That’s what Maeve said.”

  “That should be easy to spot.”

  “I’ve never seen it before.”

  “Maybe we can ask around at a couple shops, see if they know anything about Teagen and Marshal.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath, and Jed’s gaze lifted in the mirror. “Ted’s Garage, where Neely Kate’s husband works. Her cousin works with him, and he said some of the guys there pledged themselves to Mick Gentry. Teagen’s working for Kate and J.R., so he might have gone there.”

  Jed looked furious. “Looks like we need to drop in and pay them a visit.”

  “You can’t do that, Jed,” I said in disbelief. “Nobody’s goin’ to tell you anything.”

  “Believe it or not, I’ve actually done this a time or two.”

  “How do you know they won’t just tell you what they think you want to know?”

  “I have ways.”

  I shuddered when I thought about what his ways might encompass. “How about you let Neely Kate and me try first, and if we don’t get anywhere, you can come in and work your magic?”

  To my surprise, he didn’t fight me on it. “As soon as we pick up Neely Kate we’ll head to the food pantry, then Skeeter’s accountant’s office to drop off your paper, then to Ted’s Garage.”

  “What’s Skeeter doing?”

  He remained silent.

  It was probably just as well that Skeeter was off doing his own thing. This kind of scurrying around seemed beneath the Fenton County crime lord, and he had such an intimidating presence that he’d probably scare off everyone we tried to talk to. Jed was bad enough.

  Neely Kate texted a few seconds later, asking us to pick her up at the hardware store.

  Jed gave me a weird look when I told him where she was, but he remained silent. He was definitely learning.

  She was waiting outside on a bench, sitting under a scrawny maple tree with a plastic bag in her lap. When she saw us, she hopped up and made a beeline for the car.

  “That was close,” she said as soon as she slid into the car, bag in hand. “Joe was madder than a cat thrown into the bath water.”

  “Did he say why?” I asked as Jed took off.

  She laughed. “He was mad at me for tricking him, and he yelled something about how he thought we’d moved past this stage of our relationship, as though we have one,” she scoffed. “Mostly he was mad at you for running around like a first-grader set loose on her first school field trip.”

  I grimaced.

  “He threatened to arrest me for tricking him, but someone told him he couldn’t keep me, so he let me go. The last thing he said was for me to tell you to go to Mason’s office and stay put.”

  “We learned some things while you were gone.” I shared everything Maeve had told me. “Jed thinks we might be able to get a lead on Teagen or Marshal if we can figure out where they had that air intake system put in.”

  “Ted’s Garage,” she said matter-of-factly. “They had a special on them a couple of months ago. They were screwed up and nonreturnable. Vern had a good deal on them. We need to go there and ask around.”

  I gaped at her. “Are you sure you want to go?” I’d already mentioned the idea to Jed, but I hadn’t been prepared for Neely Kate to so readily accept the idea.

  “Why? Because of Ronnie? Maybe we can get a lead on him so I can serve him the divorce papers.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Why wouldn’t I be? I already told you I wanted a divorce.” She shook her head in dismissal. “So Hilary first, then Ted’s?”

  I explained the stop we were planning to make at Skeeter’s accountant’s office.

  Neely Kate nodded. “If we pick up food at Big Bill’s before we head to the garage, we might be able to butter the guys up,” she said.

 
“Good idea.”

  “I hope you don’t expect me to pay for it,” Jed grumbled. “I ain’t feedin’ a bunch of turncoats.”

  “I’ll pay for it,” Neely Kate said in a snit, but I seriously wondered if she had enough money to cover it.

  “So what’s with the bag?” I finally asked.

  She reached into the opening. “Bungee cords.” She set a package of six bright pink cords of various sizes on the seat between us. “Duct tape.”

  “Nice print,” I said as she set the pink and white polka-dot tape on top of the cords.

  “Some rope and some zip ties.” She lifted them out next—all of them pink.

  I pointed to the pile and joked, “You have the tools for a kidnapping there.”

  She lifted her chin and grinned. “Exactly.”

  My eyes bugged open. “Just who are you plannin’ on kidnapping?”

  “J.R. Simmons, of course.”

  Chapter 17

  I was too shocked by Neely Kate’s pronouncement to give much thought to the fact that Jed had just pulled into Jonah’s church parking lot, but then he slammed the brakes so hard, Neely Kate’s kidnapping kit fell onto the floorboard.

  “Jed!” she shouted.

  He shoved the gearshift into park and then spun around so fast that surely he was going to need to see a chiropractor to have his spine realigned. “What the hell are you talkin’ about?”

  She rolled her eyes as she grabbed the items off the floor and stuffed them back into her bag. “Come on, Jed. What’s our endgame here? What are we gonna do once we find him?”

  “I’m sure as hell not wrapping him up in pink and white polka-dot duct tape!”

  “Nobody asked you to. Rose and I will do it.”

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to be included in that part of her crazy scheme, but it didn’t seem like a good time to contradict her. Besides, I couldn’t help thinking she had a point. We needed an endgame plan, but we needed information first. “Before we can do any such thing, we have to get close to J.R. Simmons, and right now, he might as well be holed up in the North Pole, workin’ in Santa’s workshop. So let’s talk to Hilary to see if she knows anything about Roberta.”

  “She might even know how to find the big guy himself,” Neely Kate said, grabbing both boxes of cupcakes—which had somehow survived the abrupt stop.