“Because Kip Wagner did something to Marietta?” I asked, my words coming out in a breathless whisper.
“He said Patsy would be next.”
“What happened to her, Calvin?” I asked with more force.
“Nothin’ good.” He picked up the gun, and I was suddenly grateful I’d brought my own, not that it would do me much good. Calvin could shoot me before I ever got mine out.
“So Kip started the escort service a year ago?” I asked, deciding to let the issue of what happened to Marietta sit for a bit.
“No. He offered me special services—‘as a friend,’ he’d always say—but then a few months ago, he told me he’d started branching out. He wanted to open a club on the north part of town. I told him he was crazy. If he wanted a club, he needed to put it out of city limits like Malcolm’s Bunny Ranch, but he wouldn’t listen. He said he was better than Malcolm, and he was gonna make it happen . . . with my help.”
“A gentleman’s club?” I found it difficult to believe it was a coincidence that Carol Ann had wanted to open one too.
“Yep.” He punctuated the word by finishing his drink and pouring still more liquor into the glass. “But it never made it to a council meeting. Wagner refused to face the embarrassment of getting his club shot down like his first attempt at the zoning for the pawn shop. He told me he’d wait until I had more council members in my pocket before he filed the paperwork. But he got impatient.”
“He threatened you?”
“Not exactly. He embarrassed me. He started sending prostitutes to my office.”
So June hadn’t been wrong.
“Patsy found out and sicced June on me as a watchdog. Patsy knew her from the real estate office, but there’d never been any love lost between them, so I was kind of surprised at Patsy’s choice.”
“You didn’t turn the women away?” I asked.
He shrugged, the movement sloppy. The slurring of his next words proved the alcohol had started taking effect. Or maybe he’d gotten a head start. “They were already here.”
“Where does Carol Ann fit into all of this?” I asked.
“All of what?”
“This mess with Kip Wagner?”
He shook his head and took another drink. “As far as I know, she doesn’t.”
“Are you sure about that? Really sure?”
He studied me for a moment. Then his brow lifted slightly. “I’d had a few conversations on the phone with Wagner while she was with me.” He shrugged. “She could have put things together.”
“Does he know you were sleepin’ with her?”
“What?” he protested in mock outrage. “How can you suggest I would do such a thing?”
“You already told Neely Kate and me this morning, Calvin,” I said in disgust. “Are you drunk already?” Then I narrowed my eyes. “And as an elder at the First Baptist Church, what are you doin’ drinkin’ in the first place?”
“The first rule of bein’ a church elder is knowing that what you do outside the church has nothin’ to do with your duties inside.”
Apparently that was his excuse for all of the adultery too. “How long?”
“About a month.”
“Do you know how long she’d been back in town?”
“A month? She called me and told me she needed to see me. So I met her at a motel down in Big Thief Hollow.”
“And you slept with her then too,” I said, trying to keep the judgment from my voice.
He gave me a salacious grin that just looked gross on him. “There wasn’t any sleepin’ involved.”
It took me a second to ask, “What was her excuse for askin’ you to meet her?”
“She didn’t need an excuse. This wasn’t the first time.”
That caught me by surprise, although I wasn’t sure why. “When was the first time?”
“Back in high school. Carol Ann got a little thrill knowin’ she was sleepin’ with her cousin’s boyfriend.”
That sounded sad and pathetic, but it also explained her using her grandmother’s fried chicken recipe against Patsy Sue at the picnic. I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn Patsy liked to rub her success in other people’s noses. “How many times did you sleep with her after that?”
“Pretty much every time she came back to town.”
“Does Kip Wagner know you were sleeping with Carol Ann?” I repeated. When he gave me a blank look, I said, “She was strangled with your tie, Calvin. He could have set you up as punishment for not pushing hard enough for his club.” And maybe got her out of the way at the same time.
He waved around his glass, sloshing liquid onto his blotter, and then set it down unsteadily. “Well . . . shit.” The cops clearly hadn’t told him that part.
Another thought occurred to me. “Calvin, are you sure you haven’t heard from Patsy since yesterday?”
He shook his head, then nodded it. “No, I mean yeah . . . I mean I haven’t.”
“Is that odd? She’s in trouble. Is she so independent she wouldn’t contact you? Is it possible she suspects you?”
He shook his head, tears filling his eyes. “I don’t know.”
“And you have no idea where she could be?”
He shook his head.
“Calvin,” I said, wondering if this was a good idea or a bad one. “Could Kip Wagner have snatched Patsy to punish you? Maybe Carol Ann was the warning?”
He glanced up at me, tears spilling over his lower eyelashes.
“You have to tell the sheriff,” I said. “Patsy’s life may be on the line.”
He shook his head. “I can’t.”
“Calvin!”
He poured himself another drink. “You can’t tell them either.”
“If you expect me to keep this to myself when they could be questionin’ Wagner—”
“No,” he said firmly. “I told you I was only sayin’ it once.”
“Then you leave me no choice, Calvin,” I said as I stood, gripping my phone tight in my left hand. “I’m telling the sheriff’s department myself.”
He picked up his gun and pointed it at me. “I can’t let you do that, Rose.”
I tasted bile. I was being held at gunpoint for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, but in all honesty, I was more scared of getting shot by Calvin. His shaking hand made him a wild card. I considered trying to reach for my own gun, but I suspected I’d never pull it out in time.
“I’m walkin’ out of this office, Calvin, but I won’t head straight for the sheriff’s department. I’ll give you an hour to do the right thing, and if you haven’t, I’m tellin’ them everything I know.” Then, without waiting for an answer, I headed for the door.
Chapter 20
I didn’t waste any time making a beeline out of his office.
June yelled at me as I walked past her, then hopped up and ran inside to check on Calvin. I heard her shouting Calvin’s name as I hurried through the outside door.
I made it to my car, then drove out of the parking lot, half-expecting Calvin to shoot at me from his office window. When I was several miles away, I pulled into the parking lot of the Chuck and Cluck and called Neely Kate.
“Any luck finding Becky yet?” I asked, not ready to spill my guts yet—metaphorically or otherwise. She and Jed had been looking all day. Surely they had something by now.
“We just talked to the manager,” she said. “He says he’s seen her, but he only deals with Bubba. Jed convinced the manager to tell him where Bubba works, so we’re headed there now to ask him about Becky.”
“Could she be hiding in her apartment?”
“The manager wouldn’t let us in, but after Jed convinced him that Becky might be in danger, he did a walk-through and confirmed she wasn’t there. I’m just hopin’ Bubba will talk.”
“Good thing Jed’s gonna be there to help convince him.”
“Yeah,” she said, sounding more optimistic than when I’d first called. “Have you made any progress?”
“I talked to
James, and he knew about Carol Ann’s business. Turns out she approached him about helping her fund a new gentleman’s club.”
“Why didn’t Jed know about it?” she asked defensively.
“He said she came in while you two were in Oklahoma.” When she didn’t respond, I said, “But I just found out that Kip Wagner was wanting to open a club too.”
“Skeeter knew about that?”
“No. Calvin did.”
“Witt got away already to meet you?”
“No. I went on my own—but before you start scolding me, let me tell you what else I found out.” I told her everything that had transpired, including walking out of Calvin’s office with a gun trained on my back.
“He could have shot you in the back, Rose!” Neely Kate protested.
“I know,” I groaned.
We were both quiet for a moment, before she asked, “Are you really gonna wait an hour to tell Joe?”
“No.” Jeanne’s murder had been a painful reminder that I wasn’t qualified to make these life or death decisions. I couldn’t handle feeling responsible for Patsy’s possible death too. “I can’t wait that long. It could mean the difference between saving Patsy’s life.”
“And Becky’s.”
“Yeah, her too.”
“Joe’s gonna be pissed,” she warned.
She had a point. “Then I’ll call Deputy Miller. I need to find out if the camera tip paid off.”
“Be careful, Rose.”
“I plan to.” As soon as she hung up, I searched my phone for Randy’s number. He didn’t answer, so I left a message for him to call me back ASAP. I was about to suck it up and call Joe when a call from Dermot showed up on my screen.
What was I going to do about his offer?
“Hey, Dermot,” I said when I answered.
“I had an interesting chat with Malcolm earlier.”
So much for pleasantries first. “He mentioned it.”
“Are you open to an agreement?”
I decided to stall. “What did you have in mind?”
“If I send my men to stand with Malcolm’s tonight, you work for me for a month.”
“A month?”
“I’m riskin’ a lot, Lady. I’m takin’ over Reynolds’ position, and I’m runnin’ the risk of lookin’ weak if I stand with Malcolm. It might come across as me followin’ Malcolm’s orders. I know he rules the land, but we still have autonomy.”
I was getting irritated. I liked Dermot well enough, but I suspected he was taking advantage of the situation for his own gain. “There’s no way in Hades I’m workin’ for you for a month.”
“Let me remind you that I came when called to operate on that kid. I could have charged you for that.”
He had a point, but there was no way I was agreeing to a full month. “When you say work for you, what do you have in mind?”
“You know,” he said, but he didn’t sound as sure of himself.
“I want to hear you say it.”
“Your visions thing.”
My heart sank. He did know. “Just so I’m understanding this correctly, you want me to have visions for you for a month? How do you plan to make that work?”
“How does it work for Malcolm?” he asked in defiance. “I’ve given this a lot of thought since the night Chapman died. When the Lady in Black was in Malcolm’s meetings last winter, you were reading his men and his enemies.”
Crappy doodles. Why had I acknowledged that I had visions? How much should I tell him now? “You realize very few people know about this?”
“You mean your talent? I figured. I’ve never heard anyone mention it. I put things together when Malcolm was trying to warm you up after the . . . meetin’. Then his brother spilled the rest while he was helpin’ me clean up.”
Clean up meant dispose of the body and erase any trace that a murder took place. “What did he tell you?”
“Enough. I know you were havin’ a vision for Merv when I shot him. You got stuck in it.”
Well, crap on a cracker. “How many people have you told?”
“No one. I’m not stupid. If everyone knows about your talent, it’s no longer as valuable.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, but I wasn’t off the hook yet. “Why didn’t you mention it when you were at my house a couple of nights ago?”
“Because sometimes you have to bide your time. I knew you’d need a favor. The question was when I’d make my proposal.”
“I still don’t understand why you didn’t make your request two nights ago. I needed your help and you wanted mine.”
“Because you weren’t really askin’ me to help you. You were askin’ me to help the kid. I needed to wait until you really needed something.” He paused and I heard the grin in his voice. “And it’s finally happened.”
“No, thank you,” I said.
It took him a full second to ask in disbelief, “Excuse me?”
The fool obviously didn’t know me very well. I would have been much more inclined to make a deal to help someone else than to save myself. “Did I not make myself clear? I do not accept your offer.”
“You’re not gonna negotiate?”
“Here’s the thing, Mr. Dermot: I’m a businesswoman. I may be new to the whole business world, but I do my homework. I’ve been reading a lot of business books, and one thing I’ve learned is that if someone presents you with an offer so outrageous that it’s insulting, you don’t counter. You ignore it, which means you’re lucky you got a ‘no, thank you.’ I should have just hung up.”
“I’ll tell everyone your secret.”
“And who’s going to believe you? I’ll deny it until I’m blue in the face, and so will Skeeter Malcolm. Besides, if you hope to change my mind, you won’t want the secret out.”
He was silent again for a good five seconds. “Well played, Lady. Well played.”
I didn’t respond. No need to gloat.
“I’d like to rescind my offer and make a new one.”
“I’m listening.”
“Five visions. No time limit.”
That was more reasonable, but it still made me nervous, especially since I still wasn’t sure I could pull off what I was offering. “Before I’d ever agree to such a thing, measures would have to be taken to ensure my safety and to keep my secret.”
“What kind of measures?” he asked, sounding leery.
“I’ll need a bodyguard of my own choosing.”
“Why?” he asked. “I’ve seen you handle yourself, and I plan to be there every time I use you.”
I sure as Pete didn’t feel like telling him that I was momentarily out of it whenever I had a vision, let alone that I always blurted out something about whatever I had seen. As my bodyguard, Jed had always found ways to help cover for me. “I’ll only agree to this if Jed Carlisle is with me.”
“Carlisle? I thought he quit Malcolm.”
“He did, but he was my bodyguard when I was Lady last winter, and I trust him implicitly. No Jed, no chance of me entertainin’ a deal.”
He was silent for a moment. “How the hell will I explain him bein’ there?”
“Your problem, not mine.”
“So you’ll agree to five visions?”
“What do you plan on havin’ me see?”
“What did you see for Malcolm?”
“What I did for James is between me and him, just like my visions will be between me and you if I agree to do this.”
“And Jed Carlisle,” he added with a sneer. “There might be things I don’t want him seein’ or hearin’.”
“Not my problem.”
“Then I’m not sendin’ any men to help you.”
“That’s your choice, Dermot, especially since I never said I’d agree to a deal in the first place. I only wanted to hear your terms and for you to know mine.”
After five seconds of silence, I realized he’d hung up. And I hadn’t had a chance to ask him if Carol Ann had approached him for money.
I started to c
all Randy again, but the last thing I needed was the department on my back. I decided to make the call anonymous. While I still needed to talk to him about the camera, I could call about that later.
The convenience store across from the abandoned fertilizer plant still had a functioning pay phone, so I headed that way. Once I was parked, I grabbed a couple of quarters and walked over to the phone on the side of the building.
After I dialed the anonymous tip line, an automated message directed me to leave a message. I lowered my voice an octave in an attempt to disguise it. “I have some information about Patsy Sue Clydehopper. See if Kip Wagner knows anything about her disappearance as well as Carol Ann Nelson’s murder.” I quickly hung up, wondering if I’d taken the right route. Would the sheriff’s department take my call seriously? Would they give it more weight if I’d called Randy or Joe directly?
Still mulling it over, I walked back to my truck, trying to decide what to do next. I should have asked Dermot if Carol Ann had approached him about the club, but it was too late now.
Maybe it was time for me to follow up with Carol Ann’s cousin in Big Thief Hollow. Too bad I didn’t have anything to go on other than the first name Charlene.
After I got my truck started, I sent Neely Kate a text.
Can you give me the full name and address of Carol Ann’s cousin on her daddy’s side?
She called seconds later.
“Rose, Jed and I can go when we wrap things up here.”
“Are you still trackin’ down Becky’s boyfriend?”
“Yeah, but he’s not at work, and when we showed Becky’s picture around, no one recognized her.”
“So none of them have ever seen her? Did they know she was livin’ with him?”
“The guys who work next to him know he has a new girlfriend, but that’s about it. The receptionist said he’d been arrested for domestic abuse with his previous girlfriend. In fact, the receptionist was a little afraid of him.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. “Do they have any idea where Bubba could have gone?”
“None. Apparently it’s unlike him to miss work, let alone not call in.”
Hell in a Handbasket Page 22