Up Shute Creek: Rose Gardner Investigation #4

by Denise Grover Swank

  His eyes narrowed. “Why are you interested?”

  Neely Kate started to answer, but I quickly cut in, “Nancy here’s just a little too nosy for her own good,” I said, dusting off the alias Neely Kate used whenever we went undercover. “You never mind her.”

  He didn’t look totally convinced.

  Neely Kate didn’t react to my interruption other than to give him a half shrug and say, “I’ve always had a fascination with true crime, ya know?”

  Now he looked even more suspicious. “Who said he was involved with a crime?”

  Well, crap.

  “Nancy,” I said, scooting across the booth seat. “We’re gonna be late for your haircut appointment.”

  “At the Cut and Curl?” our waitress asked as she plopped a bowl of chocolate ice cream on our table. Her name tag read Molly. She was young, though probably a little older than Nina.

  “Uh…” I said. “Yeah.”

  “Why are you bringin’ chocolate ice cream to go with apple pie?” Neely Kate asked.

  The waitress put her hand on her hip and asked with a sneer, “Why wouldn’t I bring chocolate?”

  “Chocolate ice cream and apple pie?” Neely Kate asked, sounding incredulous.

  Neely Kate was the queen of weird food combinations, so I wasn’t sure why she found that so preposterous. I needed to diffuse this situation. “I’m sure it would be quite delicious, but we really do have to go.”

  “Would you do me a favor?” Molly asked, reaching into her apron pocket. “Would you give this piece of paper to Imogene?”

  I turned to Neely Kate, wondering what she’d do. She reached out and took the folded white paper. “Sure. Which one is she?”

  The waitress looked as if Neely Kate had lost her mind. “Their only stylist after Nancy left her high and dry.”

  “She’s Nancy,” the big guy said, pointing a thumb at Neely Kate.

  “It wasn’t me leavin’ Imogene in the lurch,” Neely Kate said defensively. “There are plenty of Nancys in the world.”

  The big guy didn’t look entirely convinced.

  Neely Kate scooped the last piece of pie into her mouth and slid out of the booth, saying, “Beth Ann, pay the bill. I’ll meet you outside.”

  At least I think that’s what she said since her mouth was full of concrete pie.

  I almost stopped her from going out alone, but it seemed more prudent to separate her and the big guy.

  Offering the waitress a tight smile, I dug into my purse and said, “Sorry about not finishin’ the pie. How much do I owe you?”

  She waved her hand in dismissal. “You’re not the first person to leave their pie unfinished when Wilma’s doin’ the bakin’.” She pulled her order pad out of her pocket and flipped a couple of pages. “That’ll be $19.99.”

  “For an inedible slice of pie, one semi-edible slice, and two waters?” I asked in disbelief.

  “And two scoops of ice cream.” Then she shrugged and held out her hands. “What can I say? Wilma’s mighty proud of her pie.”

  The man in the next booth chuckled, and I suspected I’d been hoodwinked.

  I could have put up a fuss, but instead I rolled my eyes and slapped a twenty and a five on the table, feeling grumpy that I’d wasted twenty-five bucks on absolutely nothing…

  Well, that wasn’t entirely true. We’d found out that Emmitt Lincoln had disappeared around the same time as Sarah, and that he might have been conducting illegal activity. Still, that didn’t seem like much. It was one more mystery that likely wasn’t even connected.

  Standing, I asked, “Do you happen to know when Nina Maxwell will be workin’?” Might as well throw caution to the wind.

  The waitress snatched the money off the table and stuck it in her pocket. “Today’s her day off, but she’ll be working the breakfast and lunch shift tomorrow.”

  “Thanks.”

  I found Neely Kate in her car, tapping on her phone. She glanced up when I got inside. “Jed said Carly gave him the green light to work on her car and he thinks it will be ready to go on Wednesday.”

  “Did he say if he found out anything else about her?”

  “No.”

  I wondered if she was hiding something from me, then felt guilty for considering it. It was a sure sign we’d let too many secrets sneak between us. I planned to address that, but now didn’t seem the time.

  “Nina’s off today and will be workin’ the breakfast and lunch shift tomorrow,” I said. “I figured for twenty-five bucks, I might as well get something useful out of our visit.”

  “You don’t want to wait until then, do you?” she asked.

  “Shoot, no. I say we try her place, but what about your promise to Molly? Why’d you offer to give that paper to Imogene at the Cut and Curl?”

  Neely Kate gave me a big grin. “For the same reason we went there last November. To hear the latest gossip.” She held up the rectangular paper in her hand. “Now we have an excuse.” She opened the flap and frowned. “Only I can’t make heads or tails of it.”

  “You looked?” I asked in disbelief.

  “Well, of course I looked,” she said as though I were a fool.

  I leaned closer to get a look. “What’s on it?”

  She gave me a sly grin. She’d known I would cave. “Numbers.”

  Sure enough, four sets of numbers were listed on the paper. “Eleven, twenty-five, twenty-two, seven,” I read out loud. “I see why you’re confused.” I glanced up at her. “Lottery ticket numbers?”

  “I don’t think so,” Neely Kate said. “The Powerball’s six numbers, but they can be double-digit. Even if this was for the Powerball, she’d need more.”

  “Maybe they’re sharing a ticket,” I said. “Imogene and Molly each pick a few.”

  Neely Kate frowned. “Maybe. The jackpot is up to eighty million, and they draw on Wednesday night. But why not just text their numbers?”

  “Maybe one of them doesn’t have a phone.” I sat up straight, guilt eating at my gut. “What are we doin’? It’s none of our concern what those numbers mean. We had no business lookin’. We only need to deliver it.”

  Neely Kate laughed as she slipped the paper into a slot in her console. “Then Molly shouldn’t have given it to complete strangers.”

  I turned to her, brow furrowed. She had a point. “That is weird, isn’t it?”

  “It’s dadgum Fenton County. Weird is the county motto.”

  Chapter 10

  Nina Maxwell lived on a dirt road in a ramshackle house that looked like it was about to collapse. A rusty blue pickup missing a back tire sat out front, propped up by a stack of cinder blocks. A medium-sized gray dog was chained to a tree by the side of the house. It began to bark as soon as Neely Kate parked in the dirt-packed driveway behind the truck.

  The front door opened, and a young woman stood in the doorway, shooting a glare at us.

  “Not much of a welcome,” I muttered as I got out of the car and started toward the front door.

  Neely Kate followed behind me, but we both stopped in our tracks when the woman lifted a shotgun and pointed it right at me.

  “That’s close enough.”

  My heart hammering like a jackrabbit, I lifted my hands. “Nina?”

  “Whaddaya want?”

  “We’re not here to hurt you. I’m Rose and this is my friend, Neely Kate. We want to talk to you about Sarah.”

  She didn’t lower the gun. “What about her?”

  I wanted to gauge Neely Kate’s reaction, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off the woman and her gun.

  “Sarah’s mother gave us your name,” Neely Kate said. “She hired us to find out what happened to her.”

  The young woman slightly lowered her gun. “Why does she think I can help?” she asked, her tone marginally less aggressive.

  “She doesn’t know if you can,” I said. “But we’re talkin’ to everyone who was close to Sarah, trying to figure out what might have happened.”

  She stared at us f
or several long seconds, then lowered the gun barrel to point at the floor. “Come on in,” she said in a resigned tone as she disappeared into the house.

  Neely Kate rummaged through her purse and took out her gun.

  “Do you think that’s necessary?” I asked with my heart in my throat.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered. “What if she’s waiting to ambush us?”

  “Wouldn’t she have shot us out here?”

  “Not necessarily. She could get away with it if she shoots us in her house, but she’d likely be charged if she shoots us out here.”

  Neely Kate had a point. Still…

  “Don’t you think she’s more likely to shoot us if we walk in with our own guns out?” I shook my head. “I’ll go in and you wait. If she attacks me, then call Joe.”

  Neely Kate started to protest, but I bolted for the door and went inside. If I’d considered Nina a serious threat, I would have whisked Neely Kate away. But something told me Nina wasn’t the threat—she was scared spitless of something or someone, and I intended to find out who or what that was.

  The front door opened into a living room containing second- and third-hand furniture. There was no sign of Nina, so I headed through the door to the small kitchen, where Nina was standing in front of a sink washing dishes. The butt of the gun was on the floor in the corner, the barrel leaning against the wall.

  “What do you want to know?” she asked.

  I gestured toward the cluttered table pushed up against the wall. “Mind if we sit?”

  “I’ve gotta get this done before Stewie comes back. He’s gonna be pissed if the kitchen’s still a mess.”

  “Don’t you be takin’ crap from no man,” Neely Kate said from behind me. “Tell him to clean it up himself if he wants it cleaned so bad.”

  While I was thinking the exact same thing, confronting her with our opinions seemed like a bad idea. We needed her to cooperate.

  She turned around to face Neely Kate, anger washing over her face. “What did you just say to me?”

  Sighing, I stepped between them. “Nina, Neely Kate didn’t mean to sound so judgmental. She’s walked away from some difficult experiences with men, and it upsets her when she thinks other women might be going through what she did.”

  “We’ve all got our own cross to bear.” Nina’s bluster faded, and she walked back to the sink and picked up a dirty plate. “You two feel free to sit. I’m gonna keep workin’.”

  “That’s fine,” I said, shooting a look at Neely Kate. “We know we’re interrupting your day by showing up unannounced.”

  “Like I said, I’m not sure I can help you. I don’t know nothin’ about where she went.”

  I sat closer to Nina, and Neely Kate chose the chair closest to the door, but we would both be able to see her reactions depending on which way she turned her head. “Marsha says you and Sarah have been friends for years.”

  A soft smile warmed up her face. “We was. We met through our mommas when we were babies.”

  I caught her use of the past tense in reference to their friendship. The look in Neely Kate’s eyes clued me in that she’d caught it too.

  “Did you and Sarah go to school together?”

  She made a face as she took a plastic scouring pad to some food dried onto a plate. “Up until my junior year. My momma died, and I moved in with Stewie. I tried to finish up, but I needed to work too, and Stewie didn’t like it that I was gone at night. He likes me to be here when he’s home.”

  Neely Kate kept quiet at that statement, so I was surprised when Nina slowly turned to face us. “I know you don’t think much of me for puttin’ up with Stewie Frasier, but if it weren’t for him, I’d have been sent to a foster home or ended up on the streets.”

  I leaned forward with an earnest look. “It’s not our place to judge you or your situation, Nina. We’re only tryin’ to find out about Sarah. I’m sorry if you took Neely Kate’s previous statement as judgmental.”

  She nodded, brushing a tear from her eyes with the back of her arm. Her hands still covered in soap suds, she pulled out the middle chair and sat down, then picked up a rumpled towel on the table and dried her hands. “Sarah and I have been friends forever, but Stewie didn’t like her much.”

  “Why?” I asked softly.

  A wry grin lifted the corners of her mouth, and she looked over at Neely Kate. “Because she was a lot like your friend there. She didn’t like the way Stewie treated me and wanted me to leave him. I lived with her and Marsha for a few months before Marsha hooked up with Conrad… that’s Marsha’s live-in boyfriend. She’s deluded herself into thinkin’ he’s gonna marry her someday.” She shook her head in disgust and reached for a cigarette package on the table. “As if. His interests lie in other areas, if you know what I mean.”

  Neely Kate and I exchanged glances. I was pretty sure we did know, but just to be sure, Neely Kate said, “No. We don’t.”

  She shook out a cigarette and flicked her lighter, sucking in a deep breath, then blowing out the smoke. “He’s into sweet young things.” Her mouth quirked. “Old guy, hot newly turned seventeen-year-old girl with no family to throw a fit… So I left.”

  I was going to have to hold Neely Kate back when we interviewed this creeper. Heck, I’d have a hard time not shooting him myself. “Did he try it with Sarah?”

  She took another long drag, then let it out. “She never admitted it, but I’m pretty damn sure he did.”

  “Did Marsha suspect?” I asked.

  Nina released a bitter laugh. “If Marsha had caught him trying to screw her underage daughter…” She took a moment, staring at the wall. “I suspect she would have looked the other way. She wanted to have a fancy boyfriend, and Conrad checks all those boxes. He hasn’t put a ring on it, so she’s careful not to rock the boat. You know what I mean?”

  Only too well.

  “I think Sarah had finally had enough. She started beggin’ me to move out with her. She couldn’t afford to do it on her own, and she didn’t want to move in with Digger, not that he was askin’,” she said in disgust, then took another long drag and blew it out. “She pushed me hard after she got her new job. That vet was payin’ her ten bucks an hour.”

  “Marsha said Sarah broke up with Digger because of her new job,” I said.

  “Because Dr. Romano treated her well,” Neely Kate added.

  Nina flicked her ashes in an empty mug half-filled with coffee old enough to have developed a light brown skin. “I suppose that was part of it,” she said after a moment. “Dr. Romano treated her with respect, something no man had ever done before, and she was pissed enough at both Conrad and Digger to say she was done with the lot of ’em.”

  “Marsha says you ended your friendship with Sarah because she broke up with Digger.”

  Tears filled her eyes and she glanced down at the cigarette in her hand. “I suppose there’s some truth to that.”

  “What’s the rest of the truth?” Neely Kate pressed.

  “Stewie was madder than I ever seen him. Sarah told Digger that she was breakin’ up with him and she and me were movin’ in together. I don’t think she meant to tell him. It was one of those heat of the moment things, you know?” She took another drag from her cigarette.

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  Nina blew out a cloud of smoke. “Anyway. Stewie tore the house apart and found my secret stash of money, so that was that. No movin’ out. And he took my phone so I couldn’t call her. Then Digger told her I hated her guts and never wanted to speak to her again.”

  “Surely Sarah didn’t believe that,” I said.

  “She didn’t. I work the Saturday morning shift at the café, and Sarah came in the morning before she disappeared. She told me how sorry she was about spilling our secret to Digger and said she’d come into a stash of money that was big enough for the two of us to move anywhere we wanted. She said she was gettin’ it on Sunday and asked me to run off with her Monday morning after Stewie went to work. Only she never show
ed up, and then Marsha came around and said she was missin’.”

  “Do you think she ran off without you?” Neely Kate asked.

  She shook her head. “No way. She said we were sisters. She never would have left me here. Besides, she had no reason to bullshit me like that if she was runnin’ on her own. She would have just gone.”

  “Where do you think the money came from?” Neely Kate asked.

  “I dunno.” She took another lungful of smoke and dropped her cigarette into the mug. “It wasn’t hers,” she said as she exhaled. “I think she found it.”

  “Where?”

  She shrugged. “Conrad, maybe. Possibly Digger and Stewie.” She gave me a sideways look. “They’re both dealin’ drugs. She could have found their money, but I don’t think so. For one thing, she acted like she had a ton of money, and those two bozos never have that kind of cash, and for another, Stewie would be sweatin’ if she’d taken the money they owed Denny.”

  That piqued my attention. “Denny Carmichael? The meth dealer?”

  She made a face. “That’s the one. You don’t want to mess with him. Stewie and Digger are small fry. They don’t make much money dealin’, but Denny’s killed people for less.” She scoffed. “Stewie’s tryin’ to prove he’s big and bad so he can move up Denny’s food chain.”

  “You mean his supply chain?” Neely Kate said.

  She shrugged. “Same difference.”

  “How long have Stewie and Digger been good friends?” I asked.

  “A few years. They met in school, then dropped out together to work at the tire store. Sarah met Digger because of me.” Guilt covered her face. “Stewie didn’t like me hanging out with her. He didn’t like me doin’ anything without him. I thought it was sweet at first. What a fool.” She shifted on her seat as though squirming with embarrassment. “Anyway, I didn’t want to give up Sarah, so I figured we’d see more of each other if they were datin’.”

  “And it worked?” Neely Kate asked.

  “Yeah. She was miserable, but she loved me enough to put up with him until she got her new job. She saw workin’ for that vet as a way out of this hellhole.” She paused, her fingers twitching. “At least until she told me about that money.”