Thirty-Four and a Half Predicaments Bonus Chapters: Rose Gardner Mystery

by Swank, Denise Grover

  Still on the phone, Jed took one look at my face and stepped between me and the pushy blonde. “Neely Kate, we’ll let you know as soon as we hear something.”

  That only riled her up more. “If you think I’m leaving without any answers, you’ve got another think comin’!”

  Jed held up his finger with a look of exasperation. “Uh-huh,” he muttered into the phone. “Has she been officially charged? . . . Okay. Keep me posted.” He disconnected the call and looked me in the eye. “It’s true.”

  “What the hell is going on in this county?” I shouted, slamming my fist on the desk again, this time harder. “How did this get past us?”

  Jed sucked in a breath, worry in his eyes. “They kept it top secret. Only three people knew about it before it happened. The DA; Judge Berger, who issued a search warrant allowing the deputies to look for her on the premises if she didn’t come to the door; and Joe Simmons.”

  “That low-life weasel!” Neely Kate shouted. “I’m going to skin him alive!”

  I took several breaths. “We have to think this through.”

  “You have to get her out of there!” Neely Kate shouted, planting her hands on her hips again.

  “What’s Deveraux doin’ about it?” Jed asked.

  “He said he was goin’ to hire Carter Hale to defend her.”

  Jed snorted. “Hale hates Deveraux. He’ll never do it.”

  My chest grew tight and I grunted, “He’ll do it when I tell him to.”

  Neely Kate gave me a look of disbelief.

  “He’s on my damn retainer. He’ll do as I goddamn tell him.” I pulled out my phone and called him up.

  “Skeeter,” he answered. “Why do I have a feeling shit’s about to start raining from the sky?”

  “Because you’ve always been too perceptive by half. Rose Gardner is in the county jail awaiting arraignment. You’re gonna defend her.”

  “Rose Gardner?” he asked in disbelief. “You realize she’s Mason Deveraux’s girlfriend, don’t you? Why would you want to help her? You thinking he’ll get his job back and then owe you one?”

  “My reason for wanting you to defend her is my business and mine alone. In fact, you’re not to tell a damn soul that I asked you to do it. You hear me?”

  He groaned. “Deveraux just showed up at my door askin’ me to represent her and I sent him packing out of the sheer principle of me hating the man. This means I have to eat a damn slice of humble pie. And I fucking hate pie. This will cost you extra.”

  “I don’t give a shit if you have to eat every damn pie in Dena’s Bakery, you’re gonna represent her. Have I made myself clear?” My voice bounced off the walls and Neely Kate cringed.

  “Calm down,” Carter grumbled. “I already said I was gonna do it.”

  “Good. And when they announce bail, if she can’t pay it, I’ll take care of it.”

  “That’s a matter of public record, Skeeter. Do you really want your name tied to her?”

  “I know that, goddammit!” I took a deep breath. “This isn’t the first time I’ve posted bail! Use my Texarkana corporation to arrange it. No one knows it’s me. But let me make this clear—” I made sure my voice was harsh. “She’s not to spend a damn minute longer in jail than necessary, is that understood?”

  “Perfectly.” He knew there was more to the story, but he also knew better than to ask. “You know she’s a sitting duck in there . . . the girlfriend of the guy who put some of them behind bars.”

  Fuck. I hadn’t let my imagination go that far. My stomach cramped. “Get your ass to the courthouse and get her out tonight.”

  “I suspect she’s stuck there until Monday. I can’t see Judge Berger holding an arraignment over the weekend. But I’ll let them know I’m her attorney and petition for her to be placed in solitary confinement for her own safety.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll let you know when I have news.”

  After ending the call, I turned back to look at Neely Kate. “Hale’s takin’ her case. But she’s not safe in there. He’s working to get her out ASAP.”

  Fear filled her eyes, followed closely by resolve. “I’m paying a trip to Carter Hale myself. I want him to know that he’s gonna answer to me personally if anything happens to her.”

  I nodded. “Don’t be breathin’ a word to anyone I arranged this. Especially not the bail. I know she doesn’t have any money. She wouldn’t take any from me when I offered, and God knows, she wouldn’t accept this either. But she can’t stay in there.”

  “Okay.” She swallowed, her anger all burned up and replaced with fear. The fear had changed, though—she was afraid for Rose now, not afraid of me. “Thank you.”

  I gave her a brisk nod and Jed walked her out the door.

  When he returned about five minutes later, he found me pulling money out of a safe I had hidden in the floor.

  “Where the hell are you goin’?” Jed asked.

  I grabbed a bag out of the cabinet behind me and put my stash inside it. “I’m not stayin’ here like a sitting duck. I’m goin’ to take the bastard down myself.”

  “What bastard?”

  I grabbed my gun out of my desk drawer and slid back the chamber. “J.R. Simmons.”

  “Skeeter.”

  I added the gun to the stash and slung the bag over my shoulder. “You want to know where I was for six years? I wasn’t in Memphis like I told everyone. I was J.R. Simmons’ lackey. I was learning at the foot of the master until he sent me back here to build my empire, but I never escaped his clutches. When I used to leave for days at a time and put you in charge, I was working for him. But five years ago he asked me to do something so heinous, I refused to consider it. I quit. I was stupid enough to think he’d let me go, but he’s been plotting and planning all this time. Now he’s ready to unveil his scheme. But Rose is caught in her own web with J.R. Simmons and it has nothing to do with me.”

  “You think the older Simmons framed you for the murders and the younger one is helping him do it?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past either of them, but here’s what I know: The sheriff’s department is comin’ for me. I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled into the parking lot any minute. Because J.R. Simmons plays the long game, and he plans to make me bleed until there’s not one drop of blood left. He’ll destroy everything and everyone I care about and I guaran-damn-tee you you’re on his list too. So go hide out at our safe house and wait for me to contact you.”

  I grabbed my coat off the hook on the wall and headed for the back door.

  “Skeeter!”

  I looked back to face him.

  His uninjured hand was clenched at his side and his eyes were hard. “This here is our county and our turf. We’re not going to let someone steal what we rightfully earned.”

  I gave him a grin. “Damn straight we’re not. We’ve built our business from the ground up and some suit with a stick up his ass isn’t gonna get the best of us Fenton County hardscrabble boys.”

  He nodded gruffly.

  “See you in a few days,” I said, then bolted out the door.

  I skipped my own car in the parking lot and headed for an older pickup I didn’t recognize. The sheriff’s deputies would be looking for my car. A stolen truck wouldn’t last me long, but long enough to get out of the county.

  After I got it hotwired, I grabbed a cowboy hat off the seat and crammed it on my head, then drove out of the parking lot. As I headed toward Little Rock, a swarm of sheriff’s cars rushed toward me, heading in the opposite direction. My heart slammed into my ribs, but they sped past, pulling into the pool hall parking lot several hundred feet behind me.

  My cell phone rang and I answered it without looking at the screen, expecting Jed to respond. “Yeah.”

  “James.”

  Icy cold fear washed through my veins, quickly followed by the heat of rage. “J.R.”

  “I warned you that you’d regret crossing me.”

  “Don�
�t mess with me, J.R. I’m not the kid you took in years ago. I fight back now.”

  He laughed. “You think you can fight, but in reality you’re a man who’s about to learn a painful lesson.” Then he chuckled. “And I’m going to enjoy watching you learn it. I’m taking you down, boy.”

  Not if I got to him first.

  Thirty-Five and a Half Predicaments

  November 3, 2015