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

by Denise Grover Swank

  He unpacked the two containers and set the bowl in front of me. “Why do I think there’s an ulterior motive here?”

  I opened the lid to my soup and sighed. “Given the last few months, I can see why you would think that.” I reached for a plastic spoon.

  He opened the lid to his container and grinned. “Meatloaf and Merilee’s garlic mashed potatoes. Exactly what I needed right now.” He scooped a forkful of potatoes and shoved it into his mouth.

  “How’s the search for your father going?”

  He stopped his fork midair and then scowled as he cut off a piece of his meatloaf. “Is that why you asked me here? You could have asked about my father on the phone.”

  “No, that’s definitely not why I asked to see you. I assumed you’d tell me what you can when you can.”

  His eyes widened. “I’m surprised to hear you say that.”

  I nodded. “Which is why I thought we should talk.”

  A wary look filled his eyes. “I’m listening.”

  After taking a couple of slurps of soup, I put my spoon down, suddenly unsure where to start or what to say. “I hate that we’ve come to this—the fighting and distrust. We’ve both said we want to be friends, but it seems like we’re adversaries more than anything else.”

  “Rose.” He set his fork down.

  I put my hand on his. “Joe, just listen to me first. I want to be your friend. We’re business partners, and now that Violet’s goin’ to Texas for who knows how long . . . well, I’m going to need you more than ever. But I need you to respect me. I need you to see me as a grown woman and not the scared girl you met on your front porch last May. I know you think I’m foolhardy, but I know what I’m doin’. You wouldn’t even begin to imagine the things I’ve done the last several months.”

  He looked me in the eye. “Like the Lady in Black?”

  “Do you think the woman you met last year could actually be the Lady?”

  He shook his head. “No.” I tried to curb my disappointment, but he continued. “Because you’re not the woman you were last year. You’ve changed. While you made quite an impression on Crocker in that warehouse last summer, that woman was nowhere close to the woman who faced my father last week. I barely recognized you.”

  I cocked an eyebrow. “Is that good or bad?”

  He gave me a sad smile. “It’s neither. It just is.”

  We ate in silence for another half-minute before Joe said, “I loved you, Rose. It’s important you believe that.”

  I put my spoon down and searched his eyes. “I’ve never doubted that for a minute.”

  He grinned, but there was something sad about it. “I believe you’ve said a few things to contradict that.”

  “I think we’ve both said a few things we regret.”

  We were silent for a moment before Joe said, “I’ve thinking about last week, that night in your barn. Everything you said . . .”

  “I was angry, Joe.”

  “But you meant every word.”

  I couldn’t deny it.

  “When I thought you died, I kept replaying that conversation over and over in my head. And I realized you were right. I was so desperate to hold onto you that I lost sight of everything.”

  “I know you loved me, Joe, but I can’t help thinkin’ you loved the idea of you with me. Joe McAllister living in a small town and living a simple life.”

  “No, Rose,” he said quietly. “I loved you.”

  I looked into his eyes. “Loved? Past tense?”

  “You’re not the woman I met and fell in love with. That woman is gone. I think my desperation to hold onto you has been part of my grief over that.”

  While part of me was relieved to hear him say that, it was also like a knife to the heart.

  “Rose, when I lost you, I thought I had nothing left.”

  “That’s not true, Joe.”

  He shook his head. “No, it actually was. I’d made you my entire world. But right after Thanksgiving, Maeve said something to me that left an impression. She told me I had to find peace and strength in myself before I could find happiness with someone else. It took awhile for that to really sink in, but after our conversation in the barn . . . well, I think I get it now.”

  “So what about Hilary?”

  “I don’t want to get back together with her, but like I said on the phone, I’m making an effort to get along. We’re having a baby, and I want to be a part of his or her life. The problem is that Hilary can’t see the possibility of us being friends. For her, it’s an all or nothing deal, and she got it into her head that you were the reason we weren’t together. But now that I’ve started making more of an effort, she’s acting less paranoid and seems to have leveled out.”

  “How do you feel about the baby now?”

  “To say I was unhappy about the baby is an understatement, but now that I’ve gotten used to the idea . . .” He frowned. “Neely Kate’s miscarriage really shook me up, and after I found out about Savannah, I realized I do want the baby. I want a family, Rose. I’ve never made a secret of that. And while it’s true that I’ll never have a traditional family with Hilary, I think I’ll be a damn good dad.”

  I smiled. “I know you will, Joe. You’re nothing like your father.”

  He grimaced.

  “I talked to Kate about an hour ago.”

  Joe momentarily froze, then stabbed his meatloaf. “How did that go?”

  “It was rocky, but she confided a few things.”

  “Are you sure we’re talking about my sister?”

  “Yeah,” I said, chuckling. But then I sobered, reminded that he had another sister. I hoped he wouldn’t reject her when he discovered the truth. I wasn’t sure Neely Kate could handle any more rejection.

  Joe leaned forward, resting his elbow on the table. “And what did Kate confide?”

  “That she was in love with a man named Nick Thorn.”

  He shook his head. “Kate told you that? I find that hard to believe.”

  “She didn’t share it willingly,” I confessed. “There may have been some bargaining involved. Did you know about him?”

  “No.”

  “Really?”

  “Rose,” he sighed. “When you and I were together, I told you that Kate and I were never close. Our relationship was turbulent at best. But she’d been making an effort before she took off a couple of years ago. She hinted that she was seeing someone, and she seemed . . . happy.”

  “And then she disappeared?”

  “Yeah, which is why I was especially worried. She’d been happier than I’d seen her since she was a kid.”

  “Joe, I asked her what happened to Nick, and she said your father didn’t approve of him. She says he tried to pay him off with hundreds of thousands of dollars, but her boyfriend turned him down. So your father had him eliminated.”

  His face paled as he sat up. “Oh, God. Why didn’t she tell me?”

  “I don’t know, but she said that when she found out about me, she thought I might have a shot at standing up to your father—hence her obsession with getting you and me back together.”

  He looked lost in thought. “If she wanted us back together, then Mason would have been a roadblock.”

  Oh, my word. Why hadn’t I thought that part through? “Road block enough to hire Sam Teagen to hire Eric Davidson to run Mason off the road?”

  His eyes narrowed. “What?”

  “I’m 99% positive Kate hired Sam Teagen to do her dirty work.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Rose?”

  I put my hand on his. “Joe. Listen to me. You know Neely Kate and I saw those files in Kate’s apartment—”

  “But there was nothing there when I went to check.”

  “That’s because she moved them.”

  “Moved them where?”

  “To the shed on top of the antique store. The one that burned.”

  He cocked his head and gave me a suspicious look. “And how would you know that?”

&
nbsp; “I saw them in there.”

  He gave me a dubious look.

  “Not to mention I heard Sam Teagen talking. He said he was hired by a woman to kidnap me, then kill Mason.” Which brought up another issue. She’d obviously hired Teagen, but he also answered to J.R. How did that work? Was she planning to double-cross him?

  “When and where did you hear him talking?”

  “I . . . uh . . .”

  “Rose. Quit playing games and answer the question.”

  What were the ramifications of telling him everything? “When I was kidnapped, I reached up and scratched the cheek of my capturer. Then I saw a suspicious character watching me last Friday. But I thought I was paranoid. Until I saw Sam Teagen yesterday with healing scratch marks on his face.”

  “How do you know his name?”

  I couldn’t bring myself to tell him everything. “I heard his friend call him by name.”

  “And he just happened to confess to kidnapping you?”

  I cringed. “It was last night. I was in my office when I saw Sam Teagen outside the front window with a gun in his hand. I think he was there to kidnap me and take me to your father. His friend told him they wouldn’t have to have been there if Teagen had gotten it right the week before.”

  Joe sat back in his seat with a pained expression. “Shit. How’d you get away?”

  “The explosions scared them off.” Not exactly true, but I didn’t want to drag Merv into this. “But not before he told his friend he was hired by a woman—a woman who wasn’t happy with the way things were going. They knew about the files in the shed, Joe. The same files that were in Kate’s apartment.”

  Joe got a far-off look in his eyes, then rubbed his mouth with the side of his hand. “You realize you’re accusing my sister of some very serious crimes?”

  “I know, Joe, and I’m sorry, but there’s more.”

  He shook his head. “Go on.”

  “Before Kate left this afternoon, she mentioned how much she hated Hilary. We asked her about Roberta, and she said she hadn’t been sorry to see your housekeeper go. Hilary was devastated when Roberta left, so that made Kate happy.”

  “She said that?”

  I nodded. “Then she said that Hilary was going to get what was coming to her.”

  “That could mean anything.”

  “I know, but I really feel like we need to warn Hilary. I’d do it myself, but she’ll think I’m trying to trick her. Will you talk to her?”

  “Yeah.” He ran his hands over his head, still looking dazed. “I guess I should talk to my sister again, too.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shook his head.

  “This isn’t your fault,” I insisted.

  But he looked devastated. “My father’s a piece of shit. My mother is a manipulative bitch. My sister . . .” He looked into my face. “I have no one, Rose.”

  I ached to tell him about Neely Kate, but it wasn’t my secret to share. At least not with him. Instead, I covered his hand with mine. “No. That’s not true, Joe. You and I may not be together, but I’m still your friend. I care about you. And you have other friends. People who would do anything for you.”

  He stood and grabbed his coat and shoved his arms into his sleeves. “I need to go.”

  “Thanks for taking the time to talk to me.”

  A sad smile lifted the corners of his lips. “No. Thanks for this. It’s given me the closure I needed to move on.”

  I stepped toward him and pulled him into a hug. “Thank you seems so inadequate. When we met, you saw the potential in me that no one else could see.” I pulled back and smiled even though my eyes burned. “You were with me when I started this crazy journey.”

  He grinned. “You and your wish list.”

  I wiped a tear from my cheek. “There were so many firsts with you, Joe.”

  “You have no idea how much I loved watching you break free.” He wiped another of my tears. A soft smile lit up my face “You gave me the courage to believe I could be happy and free from my father. I will always love you for that, Rose, but I’m ready to let you go.”

  I nodded through my tears, shocked at how much this hurt.

  He pressed a lingering kiss to my forehead, then stepped away. “Lock the door behind me. And please, for the love of God, go sit with Mason in the courthouse. I have a feeling something big’s going down tonight, and I don’t want you to be in the middle of it.”

  I nodded again, then pushed past the lump in my throat, “Be careful, Joe.”

  Joe walked out the front door, and I followed behind and turned the deadbolt. As hard as that had been, I knew it was only the prelude to the big finale.

  Chapter 29

  I sent Neely Kate a text to let her know that Joe had left. When she still hadn’t responded a full minute later, I was starting to get worried, but then I heard banging at the back door.

  “Rose!” Neely Kate called out, her voice muffled by the door. “Let us in!”

  I ran to the back door and unlocked it. Neely Kate and Jed tumbled in, and I shut the door behind them. “What in tarnation are you two doin’?”

  “We’ve been digging in the Pelgers’s office,” Neely Kate said.

  “Without me?”

  Jed grinned. “Don’t sound so disappointed.”

  “Did you find anything?”

  “Yep. Twenty-five years ago, the Pelgers rented the apartment and the storage building to Allen Steyer.”

  I tilted my head. “Why would the owner of the fertilizer plant rent an apartment on the square? Wouldn’t he own his own house?”

  A smug grin spread across Jed’s face. “Skeeter thinks he rented it for J.R.”

  “What?”

  “Your momma’s journal said he stayed somewhere,” Neely Kate said. “Skeeter says it makes sense that J.R. wouldn’t rent a place under his own name. But one of his Twelve could rent it for him.”

  “That’s great and all,” I grumbled, “but again, it’s not very useful for tonight.”

  “I disagree,” Skeeter said, strutting in through the back door like he owned the place. “You can never have too much information. You never know when you’re gonna discover something that will save your ass later.”

  I knew he had a point, but it still felt hopeless. “So we’re just walking into a trap?”

  “No.” The amusement bled from his face. “I’ve got men surrounding that barn even as we speak. I’ll have my own show of force waiting for the bastard.”

  “And what?” I asked. “They’ll ambush them?”

  “No, they’ll let Simmons do his thing, but I’ll be prepared to face him.”

  “Just you?” I asked.

  His eyes hardened. “This is between him and me. I’ve always been one to cut through the shit, but we know J.R. likes pomp and circumstance.”

  “You know it won’t be that easy.”

  “Nothing worth fightin’ for ever is.”

  Neely Kate’s cell phone started to ring. She dug her phone out of her coat pocket and pressed it to her ear. “Hey, Granny.” She was silent for several moments, then said, “Okay. See you soon.” As she hung up, she glanced over at me. “Her second fortune-telling appointment cancelled.”

  “And she didn’t see that coming?” Jed asked, his face splitting into a grin. “What kind of fortune teller is she?”

  Neely Kate put her hands on her hips. “She can only read other people’s futures, not her own. And besides, she has to look for it. With tea leaves. We’ll have her read your future before we leave her house.”

  “Me?” He sounded horrified.

  “You might as well come inside with us,” she teased. “And Granny loves doing tea readings.”

  “Do her predictions ever come true?” Jed asked, sounding fearful. Smart man.

  “Sometimes.” Neely Kate’s eyes clouded over. I knew she had to be thinking about her granny seeing the miscarriage of twins—even though Neely Kate’s doctor hadn’t seen her ectopic pregnancy in her ear
ly ultrasound.

  Skeeter grinned. “Jed, you take the ladies to see Neely Kate’s granny, and I’ll head out to the barn to check on things.”

  The thought of him going out there alone scared the bejiggers out of me, but then, he wouldn’t really be alone. He’d have the company of his gun-toting loyal employees.

  Jed nodded and motioned for us to head toward the front door, but I looked back at the man still standing larger than life in my short hallway.

  “James, be careful.”

  His grin widened. “You don’t have to tell me to be careful, Lady, or wish me luck. I make my own luck.” Then he took off out the back door.

  “Cocky bastard,” Neely Kate murmured.

  I grinned. She was right, but he had the brute strength, both his own and his men’s, to back it up. His cockiness gave me confidence.

  Neely Kate’s granny lived southwest of town. I had never been to her farm, although I’d heard plenty about it. Neely Kate’s cousins ran the cattle she kept there, but from everything Neely Kate had told me, they could have been more profitable if they’d put some gumption into it. If the Rivers family had been known for trouble when Jenny Lynn Rivers had haunted the county, they were better known for their laziness now. While they did stir up plenty of trouble, they were just as likely to let someone else do the dirty work for them.

  With that in mind, I wasn’t all that shocked to see that Granny Rivers’s farm looked like an abandoned homestead rather than a working farm. It was hard to see it all in the dark, but the shoddily mended fences lining the gravel drive were proof that Neely Kate’s cousins only did what they absolutely had to.

  “Your grandmother lives here?” Jed asked in disbelief, parking the car in front of the worn one-story house. While my farmhouse had a wrap-around porch, this one had a stoop without even an overhang to protect against the rain. So little remained of the white peeling paint that the house looked brown from the underside of the clapboard siding.

  “Yeah,” Neely Kate grumbled as she climbed out of the car. “Let’s get this over with.”

  We followed her to the door, and I heard a dog howl in the distance. I flinched and Jed glanced down at me, not looking very relaxed either. I held my purse tight to my side, and then as an afterthought, I pulled out my gun and put it in my pocket. Something didn’t feel right, even if I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Jed caught the movement, lifting his brow, but Neely Kate was too focused on knocking on the door to pay me any mind.