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

by Denise Grover Swank

  Big Mo’s face turned red, and he looked like he was about to climb over the table to wring my neck, but I held his gaze, calm on the outside even though my heart was racing faster than a jack rabbit’s.

  “I would take a seat if I were you, Mr. Mo,” I said in a deceptively calm voice. “Skeeter’s quite protective of his assets, and I can assure you that if I go back to him with one hair out of place, you will face a wrath the likes of which you have never seen before.”

  “If you’re the Lady in Black, where’s Carlisle?” Tiny asked, still looking skeptical. “I hear the Lady don’t take a shit without him at her side.”

  “I never said I was the Lady in Black, but I can call Jed if you like. I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to come in and say hello.” I gave him a tiny smile. “Although he probably won’t be nearly as friendly as Neely Kate and me.”

  “What do you want?” Big Mo asked.

  I turned to face him. “Like I said, we want to know about Sam Teagen and his friend Marshal.”

  “How can we tell you shit when we’ve never heard of ’em?” Tiny asked, wearing a smart-ass grin and holding his hands out to his sides.

  “See,” I said, resting my hand on the table, “I don’t believe that. I know for a fact that Teagen brought his van here, not to mention that he picked the wrong side like you did. Only, you two fellows seem like you might have wised up and seen the error of your ways, and Teagen and Marshal still believe the Easter Bunny’s bringin’ them a giant basket full of chocolate eggs. So why don’t you help your case with Skeeter by tellin’ us what we want to know?”

  The four of us had a staring match for several seconds. Big Mo was the first to break. He cursed under his breath and said, “You swear you’ll put in a good word for us?”

  “Mo!” Tiny growled.

  Big Mo turned to him, his jaw set. “I’m tellin’ you, Tiny. I saw the Lady once, and she’s her.”

  “How can you tell?”

  He waved his hand toward me in exasperation. “I just can. She might not be wearin’ the hat and the clothes, but it’s her—the haughty attitude, the stare down. Veil or no veil, it’s her.”

  Tiny stared at me in open awe. “How the hell did the girlfriend of the assistant district attorney become the Lady in Black?”

  I gave him a cold stare. “I’m the one asking the questions here. Now are you going to tell us what we want to know, or do I need to call Skeeter?” I pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket and set it on the table, facedown. How much had Jed heard? It was a wonder he hadn’t burst in yet. I could only imagine how Skeeter would react to my stunt.

  Tiny cursed again, shaking his head.

  “We ain’t seen much of Teagen here at the garage,” John Paul said, his face a pale shade of gray. “Only when he brought his van in. But he went to the poker games.”

  Probably the same poker games Ronnie went to, but Neely Kate remained cool as a cucumber.

  “How many times did he go to the games?” I asked John Paul.

  “I don’t know, ma’am,” he said in a shaky voice. “I’m not invited to ’em, and that’s the God’s honest truth.”

  I turned back to Big Mo. “I’m sure you two went. Someone who is so poor at taking gambles would surely keep turning up, hoping to win his money back. Am I right?”

  The look on Big Mo’s face made it clear we weren’t going to be friends when this was all said and done.

  “Let me ask this again—how many times did Sam Teagen show up at your poker games?”

  Big Mo shot Neely Kate a hateful glare. “Ask your man, Neely Kate. He was there.”

  “Yeah, I’d do that,” she said in a dry tone. “If I knew where he was. So we’re askin’ you. How many times?”

  “You think I’m the man’s damn keeper?”

  I drummed my fingers on the table, pushing out a sigh. “You see, Mr. Mo. I don’t believe you.” I shrugged. “But then, maybe you don’t know. It’s pretty obvious you don’t have the wits to be a card counter. Maybe you simply can’t count that high.”

  “The only thing keepin’ me from rippin’ your head off right now is Skeeter Malcolm,” Big Mo spat out, spittle landing on the table.

  I gave him a bored stare. “Frankly, I don’t care about your impulse control issues, Mr. Mo. What I want is information about Teagen and Marshal. Now, John Paul was helpful enough to let me know Teagen attended your poker games, and I’ll be sure to tell Skeeter how cooperative he was.” I pursed my lips and gave a slight shake of my head. “So far you two aren’t getting a favorable report. Now you boys have three seconds to start talking, or I’m going to call Skeeter and inform him that you aren’t ready to be brought into the fold. The count starts now. One.”

  Both men shot daggers of hate at me. I was sure the fact that a woman had so much power over them was getting their goat.

  “Two.”

  John Paul looked like he was about to throw up, and Big Mo looked like he was close to having a stroke.

  “Three.” Disappointment rose through me as I picked up my phone and stood. Neely Kate got to her feet as well. “Gentleman, I wish you the best of luck,” I said.“You’re gonna need it.”

  Movement caught my eye as I turned to leave. Neely Kate whipped out her gun and trained it on Big Mo, who had pulled out a large pocketknife.

  “Mr. Mo,” I said, sounding like a disapproving schoolteacher. “That is disappointing. I suggest you sit yourself in that chair and place your knife on the table before somebody gets hurt.”

  “I don’t have to do a damn thing you say, you bitch,” Tiny said. “If you were her—hell, if you were anywhere close to being in Skeeter Malcolm’s back pocket—Carlisle would be on us like white on rice.”

  The back door slammed open, and Jed appeared in the opening with a gun in his hand and an expression on his face that made it clear that two of the men in the room were in deep shit. “Do as she says.”

  The men’s eyes widened as they turned to face their newest threat.

  Tiny lifted his hands. “I didn’t threaten her.”

  “Sit your asses in those chairs,” Jed snarled.

  Tiny sat down so fast he almost fell off the edge of his chair, but Big Mo stood his ground, the knife still in his hand, blade extended.

  Jed shook his head in disgust and shoved the table against the wall.

  “While Rose likes to take a genteel approach, you’ll find me much more direct.” He lowered the tip of his gun. “This is your last warning, Tompkins, or you’re losin’ a knee cap.”

  Cursing, Big Mo tossed the knife onto the floor and sat down.

  Jed shut the door he’d burst through and bent down to pick up Big Mo’s knife. He tucked the blade away with one hand, keeping his gun trained on the men as he moved closer to them. He motioned for John Paul to move his chair next to Big Mo’s so they were all facing him in a rough line.

  Neely Kate walked around them before coming to a stop next to Jed, her gun still in her hand. I joined them, and Jed handed me the knife, giving them a disappointing stare all the while.

  “Skeeter’s not going to be happy to hear about this,” Jed said.

  “We didn’t know she was the Lady in Black,” Tiny said. “Otherwise, we would have been more respectful.”

  “Yeah, see . . .” Jed drawled, “I’m not buying that. And neither will Skeeter.”

  Fear filled Tiny’s eyes, but Big Mo still looked furious.

  “Now we’re gonna try this again,” Jed said, cocking his head to the side. “Rose is gonna ask you questions, and the level of your cooperation will help when you plead your case with Skeeter.”

  “I’ll help,” Tiny burst out. “Teagen came to four poker games. He was the one who recruited us to work with Gentry.”

  That surprised me, but Jed and Neely Kate remained expressionless.

  “What did he say to convince you?” I asked.

  “He said Gentry may have lost the auction, but he had backing from some big wigs. He refused to tell
us who—he only said to think bigger than big. But Teagen didn’t work for Gentry. He said he worked for the woman who had the big wig’s ear.”

  “What did he want you to do?”

  He cast a glance at Jed before returning his attention to me. “Support Gentry.”

  “What exactly did that entail?”

  “Gentry planned to have some kind of turf war, but Teagen admitted that was just smoke and mirrors. The big guy and the woman were after four people,” he said, casting a glance in my direction. “Well, I guess it turns out maybe it was really three.”

  “So I’m guessing me and the Lady in Black count as two of them?” I asked.

  “Shut up, you idiot,” Big Mo spat out in disgust. “You’re as good as dead if you tell her.”

  I held Tiny’s gaze. “I give you my word that Skeeter won’t kill you. No matter what you have to tell me.”

  “He might not kill us, but he can still make us suffer.”

  “Then I promise that your punishment will be humane. Your fate depends on the level of your cooperation, as well as how repentant you truly are.”

  I cast a side-glance at Jed, and he gave a slight nod.

  “You can trust her word,” Jed said, although he didn’t look too happy about it. “She has Malcolm’s ear. He trusts her judgment.”

  Tiny hesitated before he said, “The other two on the list were Mason Deveraux and Malcolm himself, although Teagen set it up to make it look like Malcolm tortured Scott Humphrey and Marcus Tilton.”

  While we’d already figured that out, it was good to have confirmation, especially of Teagen’s direct involvement. “What do you know about the attempts on my life and Mason Deveraux’s?” I asked. “And don’t tell me you don’t know anything.”

  He squirmed in his seat.

  “I’ll work on getting you nearly full amnesty if you tell me everything you know.”

  “Rose,” Jed snarled. Leaning into my ear, he growled, “What are you doin’? I suspect these two pieces of trash helped try to kill you.”

  Putting my mouth to Jed’s ear, I whispered back, “I don’t want to turn myself in to J.R. tonight, so we’re running out of time to get a lead on Teagen. We need to find out as much as we can as soon as possible. Now you just told them Skeeter trusts my judgment. You need to do the same.”

  He grunted, clenching his jaw. “Fine.”

  I turned back around to face the two men. Big Mo looked no less angry than he had a few minutes ago, and a new wariness filled Tiny’s eyes.

  “Go on, Tiny,” I said. “You were just about to tell me what you knew about the attempts on my life and Mason Deveraux’s.”

  He shrugged and looked away. “I don’t recall.”

  “You’ve tried to kill so many people they’ve all just blended together?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  But he gave me a smart-ass grin.

  He’d just made his own bed with Skeeter, but that didn’t help me now. John Paul squirmed in his seat, making him look like a kindergartner trying to keep a secret.

  I turned my attention to him.“Tell me what you know, John Paul.”

  “Me?”

  “Who’s working with Teagen?”

  His eyes widened, and his gaze flickered to Neely Kate before returning to me.

  “Ronnie’s workin’ with him, right?” I asked. “And Tiny and Big Mo. Who else?”

  He swallowed, then said, “Al Moberly. He and Ronnie are with Teagen now.”

  “And Eric Davidson worked with him, too, correct?” I asked.

  He nodded, his eyes wide. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Teagen hired Eric to run Mason off the road. But Eric doesn’t work at Ted’s. How’d he get hooked up with Teagen?”

  He paused for a moment, shooting a sidelong glance at his two coworkers.

  Jed’s body tensed. “Your buddies aren’t gonna help you, kid. Your best bet is to answer the lady.”

  John Paul nodded, then looked down at his lap. “Eric was recruited after meeting Teagen at a poker game in early December. Eric told me all about it. He was still smartin’ after losin’ all that money at the auction, and ’cause Gentry had promised him all kinds of things. But even though Gentry was lookin’ to strike back at Malcolm, Eric didn’t have the stomach to go through another potential loss.”

  “Until he met Teagen,” I prodded. “What did he tell Eric to make him change his mind?”

  John Paul looked up at me. “He promised him money and power. He told Eric that his big wig lady boss was stringin’ Mick Gentry along, but if Eric just did a simple job, he’d be part of the inner circle when it was all said and done.”

  I stared him in the eye, and he dropped his gaze.

  “And that simple job was runnin’ Mason off the road?” I asked.

  He was shaking when he lifted his eyes to meet mine. “Eric knew I wanted an in with the poker games. He told me that if I got in tight with Teagen, I could earn the guy’s respect. That’s what he was doin’. Only he was pretty upset about his assignment. He didn’t want no part of killin’ the assistant district attorney.”

  “But Eric decided to go through with it anyway?” It seemed so hard to believe. The man I’d met hadn’t seemed like a cold-blooded killer.

  “Yeah, but he couldn’t do it in the end. He was supposed to run Deveraux off the road, steal his phone, and make sure he was dead, but Eric told me he couldn’t go through with it when it came time to pull the trigger. So he ran instead.”

  “Then Teagen killed him,” I said. “So he wouldn’t tell anyone.”

  John Paul nodded. “As a lesson to anyone else who was thinkin’ about not following orders.”

  “If I can guarantee that you won’t be charged with anything, will you give your testimony to Mr. Deveraux in exchange for protection?”

  Jed’s angry eyes whipped toward me, but I ignored him.

  “I don’t know,” John Paul stammered.

  “We’re gonna take care of this one way or the other, but I suspect this isn’t the life you want. You don’t look very happy workin’ with these two. Shoot, they won’t even let you come to their poker games. You can either turn to Skeeter for protection, or I can arrange for you to talk to the D.A. One way or the other, we’ll get you out of this mess.”

  “Rose,” Jed said in a low voice, “think about what you’re doin’.”

  Sure, I was working outside the law right now, but that didn’t mean I planned to totally disregard it. I respected Mason too much for that. Plus, I still wanted to believe in it.

  “How about we see how this plays out?” I suggested. “In the meantime, Jed, what can we do to make sure John Paul stays safe?”

  “We can put him under our protection.” He turned to the frightened man. “We can take you someplace safe, or you can stay here. Your choice.”

  John Paul swallowed. “Mr. Malcolm’s not gonna squash me?”

  “Now why would he do that?” I asked.

  He looked me straight in the eye. “Because I was the one who ran you off the road.”

  Chapter 21

  Jed started to lunge for John Paul, but I put a hand on his arm, holding him back.

  Big Mo and Tiny looked disappointed. I suspected they’d hoped to use the distraction to get away.

  “You’re the one who ran me off the road back in January, when I was in Mason’s car? Driving out to the farm?”

  He nodded, casting a fearful glance at Jed.

  “And the notes on the windshield?”

  He looked over at me, guilt in his eyes. “Teagen gave ’em to me to put there.”

  “Who’s Teagen work for?”

  “We didn’t know, but now we’re guessing it’s J.R. Simmons.”

  “And the woman?”

  “No idea. Never seen her, and Teagen doesn’t say anything about her other than to call her the boss lady.”

  I racked my brain trying to come up with more questions, but Neely Kate beat me to it. “So if you were following Rose around, leavin’ not
es on her car and runnin’ her off the road, why’d you stop?”

  His bony shoulders lifted to his ears. “I was just doin’ what I was told when I was told.”

  “Did you ever snoop around at her farm?” Neely Kate asked.

  “No, ma’am.”

  Neely Kate gave me an exasperated look.

  Jed slightly lifted the gun in his hand. “So who’s Marshal?”

  “Dunno. Never met him.”

  “But you’ve heard of him?”

  He nodded.

  “So what have you heard?” Jed asked.

  John Paul swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “I think he’s from someplace else because he just showed up last week.”

  I cast a glance toward Jed. Was Marshal one of J.R.’s men? Maybe one of his Twelve? I quickly cast the second thought aside. I’d seen him in action. He wasn’t smart enough to be one of J.R.’s twelve most important men in the state.

  Jed turned his attention to the other two men. “Do you two know anything about Marshal?”

  “Screw you, Carlisle,” Tiny sneered.

  “I think I’ll take a pass,” Jed said with a grin, then turned to face Big Mo. “Tompkins. Last chance to cooperate.”

  He leaned back in his chair and stuck out his legs, crossing them at the ankles.

  While we had confirmation of things we’d long suspected, we didn’t have any new leads to help us find Teagen or J.R.

  I turned back to John Paul. “When Teagen gave you orders, how did you communicate?”

  “He called me.”

  “So you have his number?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “His number is always blocked.”

  “Do you have any idea where he’s hiding out? Gentry was in Columbia County. Is he up there?”

  “I’m guessing he’s here in Fenton County, maybe down south. Teagen and Gentry didn’t get along, so I doubt they’d be anywhere close to each other. I think Gentry got his orders from Simmons, but Teagen got his from the boss lady.”

  “When was the last time Teagen called you?” Jed asked.

  “Yesterday.”

  Big Mo kicked John Paul’s chair leg. “Shut up, runt.”

  Jed’s face hardened and he moved closer, pressing the tip of his gun to Big Mo’s forehead. “Got anything else to say, Tompkins? Because the gentleman and I are having a conversation.”