Frowning, I cast a glance at the little dog. Muffy had seen her share of violence over the past year, but I hated the idea of someone purposely hurting her. And if Branson found her and thought she belonged to me, he’d torture her and kill her in retaliation. “We’ll have to head out even sooner if we drop her off at the nursery,” I said. “Let’s just take her with us. I’m sure she’ll behave.”
He gave a quick nod, donned a pair of gloves, and pulled out Chad Manchester’s laptop.
My phone buzzed with a text, and I pushed out a sigh of relief when I saw it was from Rose.
We’re in Shreveport about to have lunch. Any word on Kate?
I sent a text back. None, but Joe, Jed, and I have some information to sift through to help. I’ll let you know if I hear something.
I immediately saw the bubble pop up in the text box.
Joe knows about Jed???
I hid my grin from my brother and texted back: It was just as tense as you would expect, but they reached a truce to protect me from Kate and some leftover Ardmore mess. But don’t worry. I’m fine.
We should come back.
I quickly sent back: No! Please don’t come back. I’ll only worry if you’re here. I know you’re safe if you stay.
If you change your mind, say the word. We’ll be on our way. Aunt Bessie wholeheartedly agrees.
Skeeter agreed? We weren’t exactly friends, and I suspected that he partially blamed me for Jed leaving his fold, but from what I could see, Rose had the man wrapped around her little finger. If she wanted to come back, he’d likely ask how fast he should drive.
“Everything okay?” Joe asked in a worried tone. Even though my back was to him, he could see me hovering over my phone.
“Yeah, it’s fine. Rose texted that she and her aunt are in Shreveport about to have lunch. She’s worried about us and I had to talk her out of coming back.”
“Shreveport is the best place she could be right now,” he said absently, leaning over the computer screen. “I was worried it was Kate sending directions to her noon surprise.”
“No such luck.”
I turned my attention back to the flash drive’s memory and started to randomly open folders and files. I clicked on a folder labeled audio files, which was buried in a file labeled ring tones. An audio file appeared with a single name and labeled with Tuesday’s date.
Branson Desoto
I glanced back over my shoulder and found Joe concentrating hard on his computer screen, so I decided to vet the file before I alerted him. Grabbing my headphones out of my desk drawer, I plugged them in, then clicked on the first file.
“Hey man,” said an unfamiliar male voice. “You got a light?”
“Sure,” another man said.
I sped up the audio, zooming through worthless chitchat until I heard a man say, “Branson.”
Scaling it back to normal speed, I heard the first man say, “What kind of entertainment do y’all have around here? Got any titty bars?”
The other man laughed, and I would have recognized that laugh anywhere. I’d heard it more times than I could count when Branson would hand me off to a man who’d paid to screw me. Panic swept through me and I struggled to catch my breath as Branson said, “Sure do, man, although it’s gone downhill lately. Big turnover in the girls and the pickin’s are slim, if ya know what I mean.” Then he laughed again.
“Huh, maybe I’ll check it out. You headed there tonight?”
“Nah, my old lady’ll kill me. She used to dance there, and she’ll think I’m goin’ to screw one of the dancers.”
“You can screw ’em?” asked the first guy, who was presumably Neil Franken.
“Well…” Branson said in a sly tone. “What the manager don’t know don’t hurt him.”
There was a long pause, then Franken asked, “So your old lady is a stripper? What’s that like, man? You got a pole in your bedroom?”
He chuckled. “My old lady’s in no shape to be dancin’ on a pole. She’s so high most of the time, she’d fall right off on her ass.”
There was a moment’s pause, then Franken said, “Rumor has it there’s a guy who can sell you a night with a hot blonde with great tits. You know anything about it?”
The blood rushed from my head to my feet, and I grabbed the edge of my desk.
Branson waited a few seconds to answer. “Nope. Don’t know nothing about it.”
“That’s too bad,” Franken said. “I was hopin’ he could hook me up. I got a few thousand bucks and a thing for pretty blondes.”
Branson changed the subject to the weather, and I could see that there was another forty minutes to the recording, so I sped it up again. Franken was buying Branson drink after drink, until Branson’s words were slurred and he was obviously drunk. About five minutes from the end, I heard Franken say in a chipmunk voice, “Man, I’d really like to fuck me a gorgeous blonde.”
I slowed it down to normal speed.
“There’s lots of blondes around here,” Branson said, the words running together. “Go screw one of them.”
“See,” Franken said. “I’ve got this particular one in mind. This seems like a small town. Check out the photo. Maybe you know her.”
“Holy shit,” Branson said. “That’s Neely Kate.”
“Neely Kate, you say. So you know her?”
“Yeah, I used to know her.” He sounded nervous. “But she’s long gone.”
“Where’d she go?”
“Dunno. I’d guess she went back to Arkansas.” He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice trembled as though he was forcing out the question. “How do you know ’er?”
“A buddy of mine. Maybe you know him.” Another pause. “Pearce Manchester.”
So Franken knew about me before he’d talked to Branson or Beasley. How had he made the connection?
Branson mumbled a bunch of incoherent words, then said, “That’s that guy from Dallas, ain’t it? That oil guy who disappeared.”
“So you do know him?”
“Nah, I don’t know him,” Branson said in a rush. Any fool could have seen he was lying, and I was pretty sure Franken was no fool. “Everybody and their brother knew about that fifty-thousand-dollar reward.”
“His daddy sure does want him back,” Franken said. “Dead or alive.”
“Why would his daddy want him dead? Shit. That’s creepy as fuck.”
“A funeral, man,” Franken said. “He and his wife are beside themselves with grief, even after all this time.”
Neither one of them spoke for several seconds. Then Branson said, “So just out of curiosity… you know, hypothetically…” His tone grew bolder. “What if he’s dead, and what if someone knew where he was buried?”
“Are you askin’ if the reward still stands?” Franken asked. “You bet your ass it does. Happen to know where Pearce Manchester is buried, Branson?”
“Me? Nah… how would I know?” His anxiousness was back. “But I might know someone who does.”
“Really? That would be great. Do you think you could hook me up?”
“He’s pretty shy, but I could probably find out from him and then take you out there myself.”
“That sounds like a deal, buddy. Now about that blonde… I really want to screw her. There might be a finder’s fee for her too.”
“Yeah,” Branson said in a smug tone. “I can find that out for you too.”
The recording ended, and I stared at the screen in horror.
Chapter 16
Something touched my arm and my heart burst out of my chest. Bolting upright in my chair, I shrieked as I spun my chair to the side to face my attacker, punching Joe in the chest. When I realized what I’d done, I jerked my earbuds out of my ears. “Oh my word! I’m sorry!”
He rubbed his left pec as he stood upright. “I didn’t mean to scare you, but I called your name twice and you didn’t hear me. What were you listening to?”
I couldn’t bring myself to immediately answer. “Uh…”
“Whatever it was scared the shit out of you. Want to tell me in the car while we head to the diner?”
I nodded, then looked over at Muffy’s bed to call her. “Where’s Muffy?”
Joe’s eyes flicked to the floor at my feet. Muffy was sitting next to me, fully alert as though she was guarding me.
I bent down, scooped her up, then nuzzled my face into her neck. “You’re the best dog ever.”
She licked my face, then looked into my eyes as though she was telling me she wouldn’t let anything happen to me. I almost believed her.
I closed the laptop lid and shoved it into my oversized purse. “We’re bringing this.”
Joe locked up, and once we were in the car and on our way out of the downtown area, Joe asked, “What did you find?”
“An audio recording of Franken talking to Branson Tuesday night.”
He turned to me in shock. “What did he say?”
I took a shaky breath, then said, “I think you should listen to it.”
“Okay.”
Opening the laptop, I rewound the recording to the point where Franken said he wanted to screw a gorgeous blonde. Joe listened in silence, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly the leather squeaked.
When the recording ended, I turned it off and shut the laptop lid.
“Was there a photo of you on the phone?” Joe asked. “Before or somewhere in the Ardmore pics?”
“No,” I choked out.
“He could have deleted it, or he could have found a photo of you online.”
“You mean like Facebook?” I asked.
“Yeah. You don’t post much, but there’s a few photos he could have used.”
“Joe, my profile says I live in Henryetta.”
He pushed out a breath. “Yeah.”
“And Stella stopped by Miss Zelda’s Wednesday afternoon saying they were coming into money, then she left her baby with her last night and she hasn’t come back to get her. She mentioned the coming into money the day after Branson talked to Franken.”
He shot me a glance. “It’s a sure thing, then. They’re comin’ to find you.”
As though I needed any more trouble. “If Franken knew where I was, why contact Branson?”
“I don’t know. To get confirmation that you were who he was looking for? I’m pretty sure Branson gave it to him. Maybe he also wanted to get confirmation Branson was part of it. But how did Franken find out about you or if he told anyone?” Joe gave me a grim look. “As for Branson, Carlisle was going to look into him. We need to tell him about this latest development.”
I frowned. “You want me to tell him?”
“Honestly, no. I don’t. But like I said before, it’s plain as day the guy is head over heels in love with you, so I trust him to do everything in his power to protect you.”
His comment about Jed being in love with me hurt, but I shoved it down. Now was not the time to think about my feelings. “Thanks, Joe. That means a lot to me.”
“But when this is all said and done, I won’t be so understanding, so don’t see this as me accepting him with open arms.”
“I wouldn’t trust you if you said you had.” I texted Jed and told him we had news about Branson meeting Franken in Ardmore. When he didn’t answer, I sent another text telling him that Joe and I were headed to the diner and would let him know what we found out.
The diner parking lot was crowded when we pulled in at 11:50, but it was a popular place known for its home cooking, so I wasn’t surprised.
“There’s no way we can see what’s goin’ on out here,” Joe said in frustration. “I’m going to have to go in.”
“Why you?” I asked in an accusatory tone.
“We can’t leave Muffy in the car, and I’m sure as hell not sendin’ you.”
“You want me to sit in the car by myself?” I asked. “Aren’t you worried Kate’s goin’ to snatch me while you’re inside?”
“Yeah,” he said, sounding irritated. “I am. We should have dropped Muffy off with Maeve.”
“It was my suggestion to bring her.”
He scrubbed his face with his hand. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take this out on you, of all people. You’re the…” His voice trailed off.
“The what?” I asked, getting pissed. “The victim?”
“Neely Kate,” he pleaded. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“The hell there’s not,” I said. “I did plenty of stupid things to get me in this situation, so don’t ever call me a victim again.”
He turned to face me with a serious expression. “First of all, whatever you think you did will never justify what happened to you. Do you hear me?” When I didn’t answer, he raised his voice. “Do you hear me?”
Tears sprang to my eyes and I nodded.
“As for the victim part.” A twinkle filled his eyes. “I’d like to remind you that I never said the word. You did.”
I smacked his arm and he laughed.
“You’ve got a lot of power in that tiny arm.”
“Tiny arm my behind,” I said. Then I saw a man in my peripheral vision. “That man looks familiar. Who is it?”
Joe leaned forward and squinted. “Well, I’ll be damned. That’s Brox Collard.”
“One of those mountain men?” I asked.
“I guess you could call him that. His father is Gerard Collard, and before Mason hightailed it out of here the first time, we were both workin’ to put him away.”
“First time?” I asked. “Mason’s only left once.”
His face hardened. “And if I have my way, he’ll be leaving the second time soon enough.”
“Why are you after the mountain men?” I asked.
“Rumor has it that Gerard has a weapons stash that could arm the entire Arkansas National Guard three times over.”
“Is there some law about how many weapons a person can own?”
“No, but there’s plenty of laws against possession of illegal firearms. Rumor also has it he’s got plenty of high-powered weapons civilians aren’t supposed to have. But Gerard thinks he’s entitled because he considers himself and his boys a militia.”
“Where’d he get the guns?” I asked, regretting it as soon as the words left my mouth.
He gave me a dark look. “A reliable source tells me he got ’em from Skeeter Malcolm.” He paused, then said, “I think it’s only fair to tell you that Mason’s goin’ balls to the wall trying to take Gerard down. And he’s bringin’ down whoever sold him those weapons.”
“Jed,” I whispered.
“Don’t get too attached to him, Neely Kate, because I’m not sure how long he’ll be around.”
I stared at Joe in horror. “No. You have to stop Mason.”
“Neely Kate, Gerard Collard is a dangerous man.”
“Then arrest him and leave Jed out of it.”
“Neely Kate.”
“He’s changin’, Joe. Just like you and me. Please.”
He gave me a long look. “Seems to me that the both of us have paid for our mistakes, you a few times over. What has Carlisle sacrificed?”
I stared at him, unsure how to answer.
His face softened, then he turned to see Brox Collard walk into the diner. “We’ll talk about Carlisle later. Brox Collard showin’ up at the same time Franken was meeting someone is a little too coincidental for me. I need to go check this out. Lock the doors and call me if you run into trouble.”
He opened the driver’s door and got out, leaving the car running.
I spun around to face Muffy in the backseat. “He’s just gonna leave us out here?”
Muffy barked.
“Yeah,” I said. “You’re right. We’re take-charge women and we don’t sit around waitin’ for any man. Even my brother.” I picked up my purse off the floor and set it on my lap. “How do you feel about bein’ a purse dog?”
I hadn’t expected her to actually understand me, but to my surprise, Muffy jumped onto my lap and hopped inside my purse. Leaning
over, I turned off the engine, then snatched up the key fob as I got out, carefully slinging my purse strap over my shoulder.
“This isn’t Walmart,” I told Muffy as I locked the car and strode toward the diner’s entrance. “So no hoppin’ out of my purse onto a counter this time. You have to stay put.”
She looked up at me through the purse opening with a look that suggested I’d insulted her. To get her point across, she let out a silent but deadly fart.
“Oh, my stars and garters, Muffy,” I choked out as I waved away the fumes in front of my face. “Never mind. Point taken. Now stay out of sight.”
I walked through the entrance, scanning the dining area for Joe and not finding him anywhere. Brox Collard was at the counter by himself and perusing a menu, but it was the guy in a booth in the center of the dining room that caught my attention.
My cousin Witt.
He looked downright pissed when he saw me, but I realized he could be my cover. “Long time no see, cousin,” I said when I reached the corner of his booth.
“What are you doin’ here, Neely Kate?” He sounded annoyed.
“Well, hello to you too,” I said, sliding into the bench seat across from him. “Gettin’ lunch the same as you.”
His jaw tightened. “I’m meetin’ someone, which means you have to go.”
I shot him a playful look. “Who are you meetin’?”
“I’ll tell you later. Now go.”
Just about to tear into him, I stopped as a horrible thought filled my head. Witt had a criminal record, but since he’d come home from prison, he’d insisted he was neutral in the criminal world. But lately Rose and I had been draggin’ him back in. He’d spent more time than I’d realized with Jed lately, and he’d also spent time with Dermot and his men. After the mechanic shop where Witt had worked suddenly shut down, he’d gotten it in his head that he wanted to open his own shop. But Granny had said his funding had fallen through, and last I heard, he still didn’t have a job. What if he’d gone back to the criminal life?
What if he was meeting Franken?
In High Cotton: Neely Kate Mystery #2 Page 16