My face caught fire. “Well…”
“Of course she can stay. The boys will love it.”
“Thank you. I’ll pick her up around lunchtime if that’s okay.”
“Have fun. But not too much fun.”
I blushed again. I only wished I was going to be having fun with Joe. Tomorrow night couldn’t get here fast enough.
I headed home, figuring out what I needed to do. Pack a bag and check into a motel. Violet had all the probate paperwork—I just needed to show up at the courthouse at ten in the morning.
How was I going to tell my sister that I was leaving Henryetta? Could I really leave her alone? Before, I thought she’d have Mike, but now she needed me more than ever. And she wanted me to go into business with her. The idea of owning a nursery had filled me with more excitement than I cared to admit.
What about Joe?
I forced the tears burning my eyes to go away. I didn’t have to make a decision tonight. Joe was coming tomorrow and I’d tell him everything. He’d help me figure out the right thing to do.
Instead, I thought about the new evidence and how it wasn’t enough to change Bruce Wayne’s case. Neely Kate had said the trial would probably be over on Wednesday. While I might have more information, I’d failed Bruce Decker. I consoled myself with Joe’s suggestion that Bruce would have gone to prison for breaking and entering anyway. Anything else I found out could be used in an appeal. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best I could do.
I unlocked the side door and turned on the kitchen light, but was greeted by darkness. I flipped the switch several times. Nothing. Déjà vu swept through me. I told myself I was being silly. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d changed the light bulb. The light was burnt out was all. Nevertheless, I hurried toward the living room, eager to get my things and get out.
I bumped into the side table in the living room and the lamp crashed to the floor. With a groan, I turned to head back to the kitchen when I saw a dark figure in the hall.
Someone was in my house.
I screamed, running for the still-open side door. The intruder was faster. He shoved me into the kitchen table and pushed the door closed.
My heart hammered against my ribs. I had to get out. Stepping backward, I threw two kitchen chairs into the center of the room. I turned and ran for the front door, the sound of screeching wood behind me. I had a good head start, but my fingers fumbled with the stiff deadbolt.
A body slammed me into the door, pushing the air from my lungs.
“I wish you’d stayed out of it.” The man growled into my ear.
My chest heaved as I fought to catch my breath. “I’m sorry! I promise I’ll stay out of it.”
“It’s too late for that.” His fingers dug into my arm and he yanked me away from the exit.
He was dressed in black and wore a hood over his head. He wasn’t much taller than me.
This was the person who killed Frank Mitchell.
Panic erupted and I instinctively tried to jerk out of his grasp.
His hold tightened and I cried out in pain. He was stronger than me, which meant I needed more than strength to get away.
“Look, I’m really sorry,” I gushed. “I don’t know anything. I don’t even know who you are. If you just leave, I won’t tell anyone.”
“It’s too late for that now.” He dragged me toward the hall and I grabbed the upholstery on the sofa, screaming. The couch scooted across the floor as he continued pulling.
His free hand hit my arms, trying to break my hold. “Let go!”
It took him several whacks before he loosened my hands. I reached around and scratched his face under the hood.
His arms dropped, freeing me. I ran for the kitchen and tripped on the chairs in the middle of the room.
“Stop!”
I threw a chair at him and lost my balance, falling into the counter. He grabbed a handful of my hair and jerked me backward.
“Help!” I screamed. “Somebody help me!” My hands skittered across the counter, seeking out any kind of weapon, and settled on a long cylindrical object.
My rolling pin.
Wrapping his arms around my chest, he pinned my arms to my sides and dragged me backward toward the hall.
I kicked his legs and screamed, my throat burning. The rolling pin was clutched in my fist, but I couldn’t raise my arms.
He lifted his right hand to cover my mouth. “Shut up!”
I bit hard on his finger and he cursed, shoving me down.
I rolled to my side and scrambled to get up. “Help!”
He reached for my arm and I swung wildly with the rolling pin, connecting with his side.
He grunted and let go, then hit me across the face.
Fuzziness filled my head, but I tried to hit him again when he whacked my arm. My weapon rolled across the hardwood floor.
“Leave me alone!” I screamed, kicking his legs.
“Rose!” A male voice shouted, followed by pounding on the front door.
The intruder fell on top of me, crushing me and covering my face with his hands, cutting off my breath. I bucked trying to throw him off while opening my mouth and biting him again.
His hand slipped and I gulped air.
“Help me!”
My attacker’s fist hit my cheek and my vision faded. I fought against it, knowing I needed my wits about me to get out of this.
The banging on the door grew louder. “Rose!”
The man stared at the door, then wrapped his hands around my neck and squeezed.
Glass shattered behind me, but everything was fading. Suddenly, the pressure was gone and I gasped for air.
I rolled to my side and struggled to get to my feet, too dizzy to stand. A figure approached from the front window.
Panic flooding my head, I crawled into the kitchen, my limbs slow to react.
“Rose!”
Arms wrapped around me, pulling me off the ground.
I fought against him, my screams sounding hoarse.
“Rose, it’s me. You’re safe.”
I looked up into Mason Deveraux’s shadowy face, then fainted.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I came to on my front porch. Red flashing lights slipped through my cracked eyelids. I heard Mason’s terse voice. “Are they searching out back?”
“Yeah.”
My eyes fluttered open. I was lying on the porch and something soft was under my head.
“Send someone to pick up Skeeter Malcolm now.” Mason paced in the yard in front of my porch, running his hand through his hair.
“We both know it’s a waste of time.” I recognized the voice, and my hazy vision confirmed it was Detective Taylor. He stood to the side, watching Mason with a guarded expression.
Mason stopped pacing and faced the detective, and although his back was to me, I knew he had an arsenal of snotty looks at his disposal. I suspected he was using one. “Just do your goddamned job for once,” Mason spat through gritted teeth.
The policeman looked like he was about to strangle the assistant district attorney.
I tried to sit up. Pain pierced my head at the movement, and I groaned.
Mason spun around and was next to me in two steps. “Don’t try to get up.” His hand pushed gently on my shoulder. He looked up, his eyes wild. “Where’s the ambulance?”
“I’m fine. Let me up.”
“You lost consciousness and you have an obvious head wound. You need to lie down.” Mr. Stuffypants was back.
I brushed his hand away. “No I’m fine. I pass out when I get really scared. Well, and probably from being strangled. But, really. I’m okay.”
His eyes widened and he held me down. “Someone give me a flashlight!”
“I’m not dying and I’m not bleeding.” I felt blood trickle down my cheek. “Okay, I’m not bleeding to death. I’m sure it’s just a scratch. Let me up.”
He looked doubtful but helped me sit.
I winced at the throbbing in my face.<
br />
“Rose, please—”
I swung my legs over the side of the porch and smiled, even though it pulled the sore muscles in my cheek. “See? I’m fine.”
A crowd had already begun to gather in the street. The good folk of Henryetta could count on Rose Gardner to put on a neighborhood show. Before tonight, my events had been restricted to the weekend. Apparently, I was branching out into weekday shows now. I needed to start selling tickets.
“You are far from fine. What the hell were you doing here? You promised you wouldn’t stay here. You gave me your word, Rose.”
“Calm down. I wasn’t stayin’. I was just grabbin’ some stuff to take to a motel.”
“A motel? You were going to stay alone?”
While I appreciated his concern, his attitude was irritating. “You never said anything about not being able to be alone.”
“You told me you were going to your sister’s.”
“And I was goin’ to until she told me earlier this evening that her husband was leaving her.”
Officer Ernie walked over with a long flashlight and narrowed his eyes at me.
Mason took the flashlight and flipped it on. “I want to look you over, but the light’s going to be bright so you might want to close your eyes.”
“Mr. Deveraux—” A blinding light made my eyes squeeze shut. “Is this really necessary?” I asked, irritated.
“Yes.” He grunted. After several seconds the light left my face and I felt him lift my hand. I opened my eyes to find him examining my arm.
“I’m fine.”
He put my arm down with a gentleness that surprised me. Over his shoulder, he shouted, “Where is the ambulance?”
“It was on another call,” someone shouted back.
“Where’s the other ambulance?”
“It’s in the shop. It hit a deer this morning.”
Mason grumbled, then turned back to me. “Are you dizzy? Do you feel like you’re about to pass out?”
“No. I keep telling you I’m fine.”
He paced again, more agitated than I’d ever seen him. “If they don’t keep you at the hospital, we have to find somewhere for you to stay tonight. I’ll have Taylor put you under twenty-four-seven guard.”
“Mr. Deveraux, stop overreactin’.”
He stopped and turned to face me, his eyes burning with anger. “Overreacting? Overreacting?” He pointed to the front door. “Your bathtub was full of water, Rose. He was going to drown you!”
“What?” I felt lightheaded and began to sway.
He hurried over and sat next to me, wrapping an arm around my back. “I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have blurted it out like that.”
“Mason.” I looked up into his face. “I’m okay. See?” I wasn’t sure why I was so surprised about the tub full of water. The man tried to strangle me on my living room floor.
“I almost didn’t stop to check on you. I almost didn’t go to the door.” His voice hitched.
“Why were you here?”
“I came to check on you. I called you a couple of times to make sure you went to your sister’s, but you didn’t answer. So when I left my office, I drove by and saw your car in the driveway. I kept thinking you were mad and you’d be even more furious if I showed up. I figured that you probably wouldn’t answer the door. I almost left when I heard you shout that you wanted to be left alone.”
Fatigue surged through me with a ferociousness I wasn’t prepared for and I rested my head against his shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m not mad.” Neely Kate’s earlier statement came back to memory. He wanted to be friends. As foreign as the concept had seemed at first, it sounded nice. Mason Deveraux III was an egotistical man, but he had moments when he let his guard down. I liked the man I saw when that happened.
“I…sometimes what I say…it just doesn’t…”
“Shh. It’s okay. Thank you. You saved my life. That makes up for anything you didn’t mean to say.”
His arm tightened around my back, as though the intruder was waiting for Mason to let his guard down so he could snatch me away. He rested his cheek on top of my head. “You scared the hell out of me. If I’d been here two minutes later…”
“But you were here. See? All’s well that ends with the bucket in the well as my grandma used to say.”
“Uh, I don’t think that’s right.”
“Wisdom according to my grandma. She was the oracle of LaFayette County. What she says goes.”
He turned to look into my face, confusion in his eyes, when Joe’s angry voice made me jump. “What the hell is going on here?”
Oh dear. This had to look bad. Mason was sitting next to me on the porch in the dark, his arm around my back, leaning into my face and probably looking like he was about to kiss me.
Mason sat up, dropping his arm and looking guilty. “It’s not what you think.”
“Try me.” Joe stood six feet away in my yard, hands clenched at his sides, chaos swirling around him.
My anger let loose. “You walk up and find half the Henryetta Police Department in front of my house and the first thing you notice is that it looks like the assistant district attorney is sitting too close to me?”
He didn’t say a word, but the anger I’d seen in his eyes faded.
Mason stood. “Rose had an intruder in her house. The police are here investigating.” After my reaction to his blurting out the drowning intent, Mason must have decided to ease his way into it with Joe.
“And you didn’t think to call me?”
“Joe, calm down.” I stood up and my legs gave out. Mason grabbed me before I hit the ground, but Joe walked over and shoved him out of the way.
“Get the hell away from her, Deveraux.”
Mason backed up. “I assure you, Detective Simmons, it’s not how it appears.”
“When you told me you’d keep an eye on her, I didn’t know what you really meant.”
“Joe!” I’d seen Joe jealous before, but nothing like this. “If it wasn’t for Mason Deveraux, I’d most likely be dead in my bathtub right now, so you treat him with respect. He saved my life.”
His body stiffened. “What are you talking about?”
“If you would stop jumping to conclusions I could tell you. Someone was in my house when I came home from the Garden Club meeting and attacked me. He meant to kill me. Mason showed up and scared the guy off.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“And what were you doing here?” Joe asked.
Mason had recovered, his condescending attitude returning. “I was here making sure she’d gone to her sister’s like she promised me earlier in the day. But I’m sure you know how stubborn she is.”
“I’m very acquainted with her stubbornness.” Joe angled his body, making his statement a challenge. “Why did you make her promise to stay with Violet?”
“I felt responsible for giving her name to Skeeter Malcolm. And when he put that threatening note on her windshield this morning—”
Joe took a step forward, shouting, “Why the hell would you give her name to Skeeter Malcolm?”
I put my hand on Joe’s arm. “Joe, this is my fault, not his. He showed up at the pool hall and saw that Skeeter had me cornered and he helped me get away but accidentally called me Rose.”
“What the hell were you doing with Skeeter Malcolm in the pool hall?”
I’d never seen Joe so angry and took a step backward. “You know who Skeeter Malcolm is?”
“Of course I know who Skeeter Malcolm is. Who the hell doesn’t?”
Apparently, I was the only one.
“Detective Simmons,” Mason said, his hands clenched at his sides. “She’s been through hell tonight and she doesn’t need the stress at the moment.”
“Excuse me?” Joe challenged.
“Joe, please.” I tried to sit down, but my head spun and I started to fall.
“Rose?” Joe’s voice softened, his arms around me.
�
��Where the hell is the ambulance?” Mason shouted. “This is goddamned Henryetta, not some metropolis.”
“Ambulance?” Joe asked, the word sounding strangled.
“She was attacked, Simmons,” Mason seethed. “Which part of that do you not understand?”
“She said she was fine.”
“And I suspect she’d say that if she had a gaping abdominal wound. She needs medical attention. If you would stop having a fit and look at her, you’d see she’s not fine.”
Joe led me to one of the chairs on the porch and helped me sit down.
A light flipped on inside the house, spilling through the open front door. Joe gasped, staring at me.
“I’m fine, Joe. Really.”
A police officer stepped out the front door. “Mr. Deveraux, we have the lights set up. Do you want to walk through the crime scene with us?”
Joe flinched.
“Coming.” Mason glared at Joe, his face hardening. “I suspect you want to go in?”
Joe glanced over his shoulder at the front door, then back at me. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”
I groaned. “Will you just go already? I’m sick to death of tellin’ everyone that I’m fine. I’m fine!”
Mason asked Officer Ernie to keep guard. “If she needs anything, call me.”
Officer Ernie nodded, sterner than usual. After Joe went inside, the policeman moved closer, his gaze on the yard. “I checked on the ambulance. They got a flat tire but should be here soon.”
“I don’t need an ambulance. Everyone’s overreactin’.” I sighed, leaning my head into my hand. The pounding had gotten worse.
“Do you want me to get you something? A glass of water?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Five minutes later Joe burst out the front door. “Rose, where’s Muffy?”
“She’s next door with the neighbors. I left her there since I was going to go to a motel.” I looked out into the crowd. Sure enough, Heidi Joy and her husband Andy stood at the edge of the crowd. I bet they were rethinking their decision to move in next door.
“Thank God. After…I was…”
“What did you find in there?”
“Rose, for once let the police take care of it.”
My back stiffened. “That’s my house, Joe. This happened to me. I have a right to know.”
RG2 - Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons Page 26