Up Shute Creek: Rose Gardner Investigation #4

by Denise Grover Swank

  Some of James’s fight faded, but he didn’t look defeated. Just determined. “Nothin’ I can’t handle.”

  “I wasn’t tryin’ to undermine you, Skeeter,” Jed insisted.

  “I know. You were lookin’ out for your girlfriend.”

  “Just like you’ve been lookin’ out for yours,” Jed countered, getting pissed again. “How many decisions have you made with her in mind?”

  “What the hell does that mean?” James asked, red-faced.

  Jed looked like he was about to spout a list of grievances, and I had to admit he’d have plenty of fodder, but instead he narrowed in on the most bitter one. “You offered to make her a partner in your damn business if she’d use her visions to help you.”

  “She turned me down!” James shouted.

  Disgust washed over Jed’s face. “I’ve worked my ass off for you ever since you came back to town with nothin’ but a wad of cash and a whole lot of piss and vinegar. I stood by you and helped you build the business to what it is today. You never once offered to make me a partner.”

  “My business?” James’s eyes narrowed to slits and he took a step closer to the man he’d always considered family. “My reputation is shot to hell. I’ve never recovered from that damn auction, and working with law enforcement in February didn’t help. Then, just after we nipped Wagner and Reynolds’s little revolt in the bud, you jumped ship!”

  “Why don’t you give it up, Skeeter?” Neely Kate said. “Leave that life behind, just like Jed.”

  James released a bitter laugh, shaking his head from side to side. “Give it up. Just who do you think will run this county if I abdicate?”

  She watched him for a second, then hesitantly said, “Dermot?”

  James laughed again, but there wasn’t any humor behind it. “No, not Dermot. There’s a whole lot of scramblin’ goin’ on in the underworld right now, and Denny Carmichael’s about to make a power play. Do you have any idea what he’s gonna do to your pal Dermot?” His brows lifted. “He’s not gonna invite him over for a tea party, that’s for damn sure. And as for Jed…” James pushed out an exhausted breath. “He just traipsed to Carmichael’s front door with Dermot and Reacher in tow, lookin’ very much like a man aimin’ to make a power play of his own. How well do you think that’s gonna sit with that maniac?”

  Neely Kate’s face paled.

  James took several heavy breaths, then started for the parking lot. “I’m done. I’ve got to try to fix this.”

  “James,” I called out, following him.

  He didn’t stop, just kept bolting toward his car. He’d gotten the door open and was about to get in when I reached him.

  Without a word, I grabbed his arm and turned him to face me, wrapping my arms around his waist and burying my face in his chest.

  His body remained rigid for several seconds, but I refused to let go, which he must have realized because he let out an exhale and sank into me.

  “I knew it was bad, but not that bad,” I finally said.

  “I didn’t want to concern you,” he whispered into my hair.

  “This is the sort of thing you’d normally talk to Jed about, isn’t it?” I asked. “But now you can’t.”

  He didn’t answer, which was answer enough.

  I tilted my head back to look up at him. “Tell me.”

  “Rose.” Determination filled his eyes. “No. I’m not draggin’ you any further into this world than I already have. I’m tryin’ to save you.” But something about the way he said it gave me pause.

  “You think Denny Carmichael’s gonna come after me.”

  “I’ve got men sniffin’ him out. I hear rumblin’s I don’t like.” He hadn’t answered my question directly, but it was answer enough.

  “Why would he want me?” I asked taking a half step back but keeping my hands on his hips.

  He licked his lower lip, then stared out into the trees. “I’m pretty damn sure he has the missing file.”

  My heart skipped a beat. “The one Kip Wagner claimed he had on me?”

  He nodded.

  “What do you think’s in that file, James?”

  “Nothin’ good.”

  I could barely catch my breath. “My visions?”

  “I don’t know, but there’s likely evidence you’ve been workin’ with me since last November. Maybe more.”

  I let that sink in for a minute. “How long have you suspected he had it?”

  “Since a few days after the incident.” The incident being when Kip Wagner had nearly killed me while we were trying to clear a PI client of pending murder charges. James had killed him instead, but I’d taken responsibility for his death, telling the police (rightly) that it had been self-defense. We’d found all of his blackmail files… all but the file on me.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He leaned down and kissed me. “I didn’t want to worry you, and this is exactly why. I’ll take care of you, Rose. I swear it.”

  My hackles rose. “I don’t need you to take care of me, James Malcolm. I need you to help me take care of myself. I need to know what’s goin’ on.”

  “I’m takin’ care of it, Lady.”

  Lady. He didn’t call me that name as much anymore. But it was obvious Denny Carmichael wanted the Lady in Black, not little Rose Gardner. Too bad they just happened to be the same person. I decided to ignore the fact that he was being dismissive and get to the important question.

  “What exactly are you doin’?” I asked, my stomach in knots.

  His heated gaze returned to mine. “I swear to you, that man will never touch you.”

  Touch me? I felt like I’d been doused with cold water. The Lady in Black had worked almost exclusively for Skeeter Malcolm until I’d outed myself back in June and declared myself neutral. While we’d kept our current relationship on the down low, it wasn’t a huge secret that James had a soft spot for me. Denny Carmichael wouldn’t have to outright challenge James. All he had to do was pose a credible threat to me.

  “I’m gonna have a vision,” I said.

  He stared at me for a long moment, as if trying to decide if this was a good idea, then pulled my shaking hands from his hips and held them loosely in his own. “Good idea.”

  Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and asked if Denny was going to try to take over.

  The first vision was slow to manifest, and when it did, the colors appeared grainy and dull. I stood before a man who looked like he was in his forties based on the lines creasing his forehead and around his eyes. His hair was light brown and shaggy, and he wore a dirty T-shirt and jeans with grass stains on the knees. Dust covered his face. He stood in the middle of a field of patchy grass surrounded by a couple of houses, a barn, and some other buildings I didn’t recognize. A small group of men stood behind him.

  He took a blue rag out of his back pocket and wiped his face, taking his time about it as he looked to his right, away from me.

  “I don’t know nothin’ about it.”

  “That’s bullshit, and we both know it, Carmichael,” I said in James’s deep, threatening tone.

  A lazy grin spread across Carmichael’s face. “Prove it.”

  Then the vision shifted to the one I’d been thinking about for weeks. Vision Rose was lying on James’s bed and I was kissing my way down her naked stomach. An engagement ring, glittering with multiple stones, was on her left ring finger. I placed my hand over hers.

  “It’s gonna be okay, Rose.” My voice, James’s voice, was deep and full of emotion.

  “You don’t know that, James. Let me have a vision.”

  I shook my head. “No. We both know I have to do this, no matter how it turns out. I’d rather go into it not knowin’.”

  Tears filled Vision Rose’s eyes as she nodded. “Okay.”

  I placed a gentle kiss over her lower abdomen. “I’ll make sure you’re taken care of. I swear it.” I looked up into Vision Rose’s eyes. “I wish…”

  Twin tears streaked down Vison Ro
se’s face. “I know.”

  Then I was back in the recreation area by Shute Creek, staring up at James. “Carmichael told you to prove it.”

  I was shocked that was the part I’d blurted out, but also thankful. While I knew I needed to tell James about my second vision, especially since it was nearly identical to the one I’d had before, I didn’t want to tell him every detail.

  James’s jaw tensed and he took in a sharp breath, then released it. “So he really does plan to make trouble.”

  I gave him every detail I could think of from that part of the vision. “Any idea what you asked him about?”

  He shook his head. “It could be anything, although if I went to him directly, it had to be big.”

  “Bigger than this mess?”

  He hesitated, his lips pressed into a thin line, then nodded. “To go to him undermines my position even more than it’s already been compromised. I might meet him at a neutral location, but it sounds like I was on his turf.”

  “I suppose you would meet him if it concerned me,” I whispered more to myself than him, but he heard me.

  His eyes darkened. “I would move heaven and earth for you.”

  My stomach squeezed, and I knew I had to share part of the second vision with him. “There was more.”

  “Okay.”

  “I had another vision after that. Of you and me.”

  “Two visions?” he asked in surprise. “Did you ask two questions?”

  “No. Just one. But my visions have changed since I almost died.”

  “What do you mean they’ve changed?” he asked, his voice tight.

  “I’ve been having multiple visions at a time, one right after the other. Sometimes only two, sometimes more.”

  I could see the wheels turning in his head. The first vision I’d had after my near-death experience was the evening James had killed Kip Wagner to save me. He’d insisted he’d stay with me to explain it to the sheriff’s department, but I’d suspected it would go badly if he did. I’d forced a vision to see what would happen, only to see that he’d be arrested, found guilty in court, and then murdered in prison. I’d relayed the latter but hadn’t told him about the others.

  “You had more than one vision of me the night Wagner died,” he said, not sounding happy about it.

  I nodded.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  I couldn’t tell if he was hurt or pissed. Maybe both. “It didn’t seem important at the time. We were in a hurry to make a decision.”

  “That was nearly three weeks ago, Rose.”

  “I know. But I’m still not havin’ spontaneous visions and I haven’t forced many since that night.”

  “What else did you see just now?”

  I swallowed. “You and me. Lying in bed.”

  His mouth quirked up on one side. “So far that doesn’t sound half bad.”

  I gave him a small smile. “You were preparin’ to do something dangerous. I offered to have a vision to tell you how it went, but you said you had to go through with it either way, so you didn’t want to know.”

  He didn’t respond, just continued to hold my hands. After several seconds, he asked, “Any others just now?”

  “Not this time.”

  “Last time?”

  I took another breath to steady my nerves. “That night, I had multiple visions that led up to you being killed in prison. I don’t think those really matter. None of those things ever came to pass.”

  “And when you searched for what would happen if I left that night? The only thing you told me was you wouldn’t get charged for Kip’s death. What else?”

  “The same vision I just told you about. Nearly identical, but it went on a bit longer this time.”

  “And you didn’t think I needed to know about the previous ones?”

  “What good would it have done, James?” I said defensively. “We have no idea what you were about to do in that vision. Telling you wasn’t gonna change anything.”

  His eyes narrowed. “That’s not the real reason you kept it from me.”

  Crap. He really was too perceptive.

  “I’d rather not say. I…” I hesitated. “Let’s just say some things are better left to happen on their own.” But my mind was still reeling over the tender way he’d kissed my stomach. I was fairly certain I wasn’t pregnant now. I was on birth control, and even though I’d missed a few pills weeks ago, I’d had my period on schedule. My doctor had changed my prescription to stronger hormones after the last missed pills, but I’d need to be extra diligent to make sure I kept taking them on schedule. An accidental pregnancy was the last thing we needed right now.

  I could see the disappointment in his eyes, but there was no way I was going to tell him about the glittery engagement ring, let alone that I wondered whether I was pregnant in the vision. For one thing, Skeeter Malcolm was never getting married. He’d made darn sure that fact was pounded into my head before we took up with each other. I was certain James Malcolm never would either. His life was too dangerous for a family. And if he found out I was pregnant… I was certain he wouldn’t have tender feelings about it.

  Which meant the engagement ring must have come from someone else—a possibility that brought up an entirely new set of questions and concerns. One, who was the engagement ring from, and two, how did my future self justify being engaged to someone else and sleeping with James?

  I would never do such a thing. So what did it mean?

  “Anything else?” he asked, shaking me out of my musings.

  I blinked, trying to shake the feeling of dread that had washed over me. But he had a right to know this next part. “That night I also saw a vision of you talking to Carter Hale about being prepared for something. You said you needed to make sure she was taken care of. He knew what you were about to do.”

  The grim look on his face told me this wasn’t a huge surprise.

  “Have you already had that conversation with Carter Hale?” I asked.

  A smirk lit up his eyes. “Not that particular one.”

  “Care to be more specific?”

  “I have regular conversations with Hale,” he said. “I have an attorney on retainer for a reason.” I started to ask him to be more specific, but he released my hands and took a step back. “I can’t tell you anything else about Hale. What I can tell you is that I haven’t had a meetin’ about changin’ my will.”

  That only made me more curious—and nervous.

  “Lady,” he said, his voice gruff as he pulled me close again. “You don’t need to worry. I’ll make sure you’re protected.”

  But that statement was enough to ratchet up my anxiety.

  James Malcolm would likely hand over the keys to his kingdom to protect me.

  And for the sake of the county, I couldn’t let that happen.

  Chapter 13

  James gave me a deep, soulful kiss, then said, “I’ve gotta go. Call me directly if you feel threatened.”

  “I will.” I knew he wanted to order me to go into hiding, but he knew better than to try. The more nervous and powerless I felt, the more eager I was to take action. He’d asked me to look into the money Sarah had come into—not because he wanted me to take risks, but because he understood me and believed in me.

  He nodded, then got into his car.

  “James,” I said, holding the edge of his car door.

  Sitting in the driver’s seat, he looked up at me.

  I bit back the overwhelming urge to say I love you. While it was true, I wasn’t going to tell him when there was no hope of him repeating the words.

  “Be careful,” I said instead.

  He nodded and shut the door, then backed up and drove toward the road.

  Neely Kate and Jed were standing on the other side of the parking lot, both of them watching me with worried looks. Who knew how much they’d heard.

  I shook my head and got into Neely Kate’s car, trying to swallow my fear. It struck me that I’d chosen the worst possible time to
invite Violet and the kids to live at my house. Heck, there was a bigger chance we’d bring trouble to Carly’s feet, than that she’d do the same to us.

  Neely Kate got into the car a minute later, and Jed squatted next to the open door.

  “Rose,” he said, sounding uncertain. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “There’s nothin’ to say, Jed. It is what it is.”

  “You have to know I never held it against you that he wanted you to be his partner.”

  “I know, Jed,” I said softly, holding his gaze. “You made that clear when it happened. I never believed any differently. I still don’t.”

  “As for Friday… I never meant to undermine him.”

  “I know,” I said softly. “You did what you thought you needed to do. You had no idea about Denny.”

  He pushed out a breath, looking sick to his stomach. While James had claimed Jed was in personal danger, I knew Jed wasn’t worried about himself. He was worried about Neely Kate. And me. And, despite the way they’d talked to each other just now, James. “I think I should follow you girls.”

  I considered his offer and shook my head. “No. If we’re gonna do this, we can’t have a constant babysitter. Besides, Denny Carmichael’s not makin’ any kind of move right now and we’re both carryin’ our guns. I think we’ll be safer if we’re not followed. Otherwise, it makes us look more suspicious. Like we actually have a part in this power play.”

  “You have to know that Lady is involved in all of this,” Jed said. “You’ve made an appearance as her multiple times this summer. You’re in it, even if you’re an unwilling participant.”

  James had warned me before I showed up at a parley between him and Buck Reynolds and Kip Wagner last June that if I went through with it, I was declaring myself a player in that world, neutral or not. There was no backing out. I’d been certain at the time that it was the right decision. Looking back now, I asked myself if I would have made the same decision knowing what I knew now. But I was also certain I’d prevented a turf war. I’d saved lives. I couldn’t be sorry for that.

  “I know,” I said. “And I have to learn to stand on my own two feet.” I cast a glance at my best friend, who’d been surprisingly quiet. “But I realize I’m answering for Neely Kate. What do you want?”