“Were you sleepin’ with him? Because Skeeter Malcolm wouldn’t be caught dead cooperating with the police. Unless he was doin’ it for a piece of ass,” she said with a leer. “I heard Skeeter really knows how to please a woman. Is it true?”
The blood left my head. A waitress at Merilee’s, a restaurant I used to frequent downtown, had asked me the same thing a month ago, albeit in a less tawdry way. I hadn’t taken to it any more kindly then.
“Rose sleepin’ with Skeeter Malcolm?” Neely Kate laughed like it was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. My cheeks flushed. Did she really think the idea of me sleeping with James was so preposterous? But she paid me no mind and pushed on. “Your delusions are getting worse, Leah. Maybe it’s time to up your antipsychotics.”
Leah’s face turned even redder.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree,” Neely Kate said with plenty of attitude. “And you’re so obviously trying to throw us off that I have to wonder what it is you’re hiding. Could it be that you really do know something about Raddy’s missing necklace?”
“It’s not his necklace!” she shouted. “It should be mine. But he gave it to the stupid bitch he pretended to marry. It’s mine, and I want it back!”
I stared at her in amazement, but Neely Kate’s previous amusement had taken a more pensive turn. “Maybe we can help you out.”
Leah looked suspicious. “What do you mean by that?”
I had to wonder myself.
“Do you know why Raddy really wants it?” Neely Kate asked.
“No,” Leah said hesitantly. “Why?”
I gave Neely Kate an exasperated glare. “We’re not allowed to tell you,” I said. “Client ethics.”
Leah barked a laugh. “Ethics? Neely Kate wouldn’t know ethics if the authors of the damn dictionary showed up and read her the definition.”
Neely Kate stood. I jumped to my own feet, reaching for my wallet—this was going south fast—but in my haste, my pepper spray fell out of my purse and onto the table.
“You’re gonna mace me?” Leah screeched, taking several steps back. Her friends were instantly on their feet and across the room.
“No,” I said, shaking my head frantically as I stuffed it back inside my purse and grabbed my wallet. “I’m just leavin’ money to pay our bill. Then we’re out of here.” I tossed more than enough money to cover the tab and grabbed Neely Kate’s arm. “Come on. Let’s go.”
“That’s right, Neely Kate,” Leah said, planting both hands on her hips. “Run away.”
Neely Kate shot arrows of hate from her eyes but let me drag her toward the door.
“Coward!”
Neely Kate stopped and looked me in the eye.
I shook my head. “Don’t do it.”
“You were always so big and bad when you had your cousin Witt with you,” Leah said. “But did you ever wonder why he stopped havin’ your back?”
Neely Kate whipped around to face her. “That was high school, Leah Dyer. You need to grow up and let it go.”
“Have you let it go?” Leah asked, taking a step closer. “Your cousin sold you out for a blow job.”
Neely Kate stood deathly still. For one split second, I thought she was going to call Leah a liar, but then she marched over to a table, grabbed a pitcher of tea, and dumped it over Leah’s head. “Maybe the sugar will do you some good.”
Leah released a scream loud enough to scare the occupants of the cemetery a quarter mile down the road, then started swinging at my friend.
Without hesitation, I called the one person I knew who could try to salvage this situation.
Chapter 16
“Jed, we need your help,” I said in desperation.
I scrambled out of the way as the two women moved in my direction. Leah had wrapped her arms around Neely Kate, and it looked like she was trying to pull her T-shirt over her head. They had garnered the full attention of the men at the bar.
One of them shouted, “Take ’em off! Show us your tits!”
A waitress rounded the bar holding a pitcher of what looked to be beer. She put her free hand on her hip and groaned, “Not again.”
Another man slapped some money on the bar. “I’ve got five bucks on the blondie.”
“No way,” his friend said. “That tall girl’s gonna kick her ass.”
“What the hell’s goin’ on?” Jed demanded over the phone.
“Neely Kate’s gettin’ attacked by Raddy Dyer’s sister.”
“Is she hurt?” he asked, his voice surprisingly tense.
“They seem to be in a tug-of-war with their clothes at the moment, but both of them are good and ticked.”
“Sit tight,” he said and hung up.
I hadn’t told him where we were.
But the door burst open seconds later. Jed marched over to the two of them without a word. He slipped an arm around Neely Kate’s waist and pulled her back, but Leah followed, grabbing a handful of her hair.
Now I was ticked. “Let her go, Leah!”
“That bitch is gonna pay! She ripped out one of my extensions!” Sure enough, a long strip of dark hair lay on the floor.
Jed tried to twist Neely Kate out of Leah’s grasp, but she wouldn’t let go of Neely Kate’s hair.
Neely Kate kept screeching, “I’m going to kill you, Leah Dyer!”
I rushed over to the waitress and gave her a sheepish look. “Sorry.”
“Hey!” she shouted as I snatched the pitcher from her. It made me feel a little better that I’d left enough money to cover the beer and a generous apology.
Leah and Neely Kate were so close together that there was no way I could only toss the beer on one of them. With a silent I’m sorry to Neely Kate, I tossed the liquid in Leah’s direction.
The effect was as immediate as pouring water on the Wicked Witch of the West. Leah screamed and dropped her hold on my friend.
“Rose! Let’s go!” Jed shouted, already dragging Neely Kate toward the door.
“Let me go, Jed Carlisle!” Neely Kate shouted, trying to pry his hand off her waist. “You have no reason to be here!”
I made a beeline to my truck, not even looking back to see if Leah or her friends were following. Jed had dragged Neely Kate over to his car, holding her off the ground as easily as if she were a rag doll.
He glanced over at me as he opened the back door of his car and unceremoniously dumped Neely Kate inside. “Go!” he said, exasperation on his face.
I wasn’t sure which one of us had earned his exasperation, but I suspected it might be both. I hadn’t told him where we were, so I also suspected he’d followed us. Had he been tailing me all day? I hadn’t noticed him, which told me I was majorly failing this PI gig. Maybe I could convince Neely Kate to pursue a different hobby. Like crocheting. Or sudoku.
My phone vibrated with a call, and I pulled it out of my pocket and answered without looking.
“Hey, Rose,” Joe said. “I’m just checking up on you and Neely Kate.”
Oh crap. “Hey Joe,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant as I put him on speaker.
“I tried calling Neely Kate twice. She didn’t answer, so I got worried and called you.”
“We’re just fine,” I said in a cheerful voice as I watched Jed’s car speed away from town. I wondered if he expected me to follow him or leave him and Neely Kate to their own devices, but given the way they’d been at each other’s throats lately, I wasn’t so sure that was a good idea.
I pressed the gas pedal down to catch up.
“Why isn’t she answering her phone?”
“Um . . . she’s in the bathroom.”
A car stopped at an intersection honked its horn as I passed, and I cringed.
“Is that a car horn?” Joe asked.
“Yeah. Somebody’s driving past the office and laying on their horn.”
“Uh-huh.” He didn’t sound convinced.
“Was there something you wanted, Joe? Or were you just calling to check on us?”
“Um . . . no. She had some tacos for lunch, and they’re not sitting well.”
“Is she okay?” He sounded concerned.
“She’s fine, just sitting on her porcelain throne.”
“Have her call me when she gets out.”
Jed hit the brakes and turned a corner onto a county road.
“Sure,” I said, turning the corner to follow Jed, but the phone slipped off my lap and fell to the passenger-side floor.
“What was that noise?” Joe asked, his voice muffled from under the seat.
“Bad connection,” I said. “Bye.” I could only hope he’d hung up since I couldn’t see the phone.
Jed turned off on another county road that went between two trees. He came to a stop in front of an oversized outbuilding that had two double garage doors on one end.
I parked the truck and leaned over the seat to find the phone on the floor, thankful Joe had actually hung up.
As I got out, Jed opened up the back door of the truck, and Neely Kate bolted out. With her long blonde hair flying everywhere and her hands clenched at her sides, she looked wild and ruthless and beautiful. Her white T-shirt was wet and plastered to her lacy black bra.
“What the Sam Hill do you think you’re doin’, Jed Carlisle?” she demanded. “This is kidnapping!”
“Me?” he shouted back. “You’re the one stirrin’ up shit in bars! What were you thinking?”
“How’d you even find out we were there?” she asked.
He just glared at her.
If I didn’t intervene, they would go at it all day. “Why did you bring us here, Jed?”
He turned his attention to me. “Skeeter thinks you two need to learn how to take care of yourselves. After walkin’ into that bar fight, I have to agree with him.”
“You think I can’t take care of myself?” Neely Kate asked with her hands on her hips.
“I dragged you away from a catfight!”
“I was holding my own!”
Rolling my eyes, I wedged myself between them. “I want to learn what he has to show us.” I paused. “But I don’t have much time. I’ve got to get back to work.”
Neely Kate shot me a glare that suggested she thought I was a traitor. I could only hope she’d see reason once she calmed down.
Jed had taken a step toward the building, but he stopped and seemed to take in Neely Kate’s appearance for the first time. The stupor on his face clued me in on the potential source of their bickering—Jed was attracted to my best friend.
Did she like him too?
That stare only lasted for a moment before Jed turned back to his car and opened the trunk. Moments later, he tossed a T-shirt in Neely Kate’s direction while trying not to look at her. “Put this on.”
She snatched it in midair, then looked down at her chest. A rare blush tinted her cheeks. For a moment, I was sure she’d refuse on principle, but she pulled her own shirt over her head, tossed it into the back of my truck, and changed into Jed’s shirt. All without saying a word.
Jed’s shirt hung down to her mid-thighs, but Neely Kate could wear a gunnysack and make it work.
Refusing to look at us, Jed led us into the building and flipped a switch by the door. Fluorescent lights flipped on overhead, and I was surprised to see a gym on one side and what looked like a shooting range on the opposite end. He led us to the shooting range first.
“Get out your gun,” he said, moving toward a cabinet and opening a door. “And put it on the table.”
He set a box of ammunition on the table. I almost asked him how he knew what to get, but then I remembered he was the one who’d given me my first gun. The exact model of the one I had now.
He gestured for me to sit down. “When I gave you the gun, I never had time to show you how to use it.”
“We’ve had target practice behind the house on Rose’s farm,” Neely Kate said defensively. “I showed her how to shoot.”
“You can never practice too much,” Jed said. “Rose needs to become so familiar with her gun that she can use it blindfolded.”
He spent the next ten minutes showing me about the gun, and then he had us both use the shooting range. Of course, Neely Kate made all her shots—in the head, in the heart, and then quite a few in the groin. My own shots were all over the place—but by the time we finished, I hit the target more often than I missed.
All that shooting must have bled some of the anger from Neely Kate because she was a lot calmer by the time we finished.
Jed walked us to my truck. “Next time we’ll work on some self-defense moves.”
“Next time?” Neely Kate asked.
He turned to her. “Skeeter wants her to be able to defend herself.”
Neely Kate started to protest, but I stopped her. “No, Neely Kate. They’re right. I’ve been in too many situations I didn’t know how to get myself out of.”
“Don’t sell yourself short,” Jed countered. “You’ve gotten yourself out of plenty of dangerous situations, but you can learn more.” Then he shot Neely Kate a smart-assed grin. “And maybe someday you’ll be as badass as NK.” Then he got into his car and left.
“What was that about?” I asked.
Neely Kate watched his car disappear. “Nothing.”
It was definitely something.
Chapter 17
I took Neely Kate back to One Eyed Joes to get her car. I half-expected Leah to run out and chase us down, but I didn’t see any sign of her or her friends.
Bruce Wayne, bless his heart, had texted to say he was already at the Hendersons’ and could replant the bushes on his own. Plenty of potential clients had contacted us for consultations, so I called a couple of them and set up appointments for the rest of the afternoon.
By six, I’d just finished the last client and was about to text Neely Kate when my phone rang. Henryetta Animal Clinic popped up on my screen, and my stomach twisted into knots. Should I answer?
I pressed accept before I chickened out.
“Rose, it’s Levi,” he said in a cheerful voice. “I’m calling partially to check on Muffy. How’s she doing?”
I felt like an idiot for worrying it would be a personal call. He was just a good vet, checking on his patient. “She seems to be the same. I haven’t seen her much today because I’ve been working on job sites, but I left her with a friend. However, last night and this morning she was pretty out of it.”
“That’s to be expected. Is she limping as much when you let her down?”
“No, she didn’t seem to favor it as much this morning.”
“Good. Why don’t you cut back on the dosage? Try a half pill twice a day instead of a whole one. But if she gets too frisky, we might have to move it back up to three-quarters.”
“Okay.”
“And how about you bring her in on Monday and let me reexamine her? If the swelling’s gone down, we can cut it back even more.”
“Thanks, Dr. Romano.”
“Levi.” He paused. “Remember how I said Muffy was partially why I was calling? I’m moving on to the next part now.”
My mouth went dry. “Okay.”
“I know we talked about your former boyfriends, but we didn’t go into details.” He paused. “I know you went through a bad breakup last winter.”
“Oh.”
“Like you said, the gossips love to wag their tongues in this town.”
Great. Had he also heard the rumor that I’d hooked up with the notorious outlaw Skeeter Malcolm?
His voice lowered. “But even if I hadn’t gotten the warning, I could tell you were being cautious. I respect that.” He hesitated. “I had a good time with you last night, and I’d like to go out with you again, but I also want to let you know that I’m willing to take this as slow as you want. No pressure. Okay?” For the first time, he sounded unsure of himself.
I leaned back in my truck seat. “Thank you.”
“So maybe when
you come in on Monday, we can discuss the possibility of a second date. Say, a movie up in Magnolia. Or bowling.”
I laughed. “I’ve never been bowling.”
“What? How is that possible?” he asked with a laugh. “Then we’ll have to go bowling.”
“Levi, you’re a really great guy—”
“Stop right there,” he said. “Don’t give me the dreaded but. Just take the weekend to think about it. We’ll talk on Monday, okay?”
I smiled. What could it hurt? He was easy company, and I could use fewer complications in my life. I wasn’t ready to commit to another date, but I also wasn’t ready to turn one down. “Yeah. Okay.”
“Good. In the meantime, I’m on call this weekend, so feel free to call me if Muffy needs any medical attention or if you have any questions at all—even if they’re personal in nature.”
I laughed. “It’s no wonder all the women are flocking to your office.”
“The offer only stands for you,” he said, then hung up.
My guts were all twisted up, so I sat in my truck for a moment, staring out the windshield as I tried to decipher my feelings. What was holding me back? My feelings for Mason? But that hadn’t stopped me from wanting to kiss James the other night . . .
There was no doubt about it. If I wanted to de-complicate my life, starting something with James Malcolm was the absolute worst decision I could ever make. A relationship with James would be like being in a category five hurricane while going through an earthquake.
So why didn’t that scare me like it should?
My phone vibrated with a text from Neely Kate asking me how much longer I’d be. I sent her a text telling her I was on my way to Maeve’s.
My last client’s house was less than five minutes from Maeve’s, so I wasn’t surprised when I arrived before Neely Kate. I considered waiting until she arrived to go in, but then I realized I was being silly. No need to act any weirder with Maeve than I already had.
But sadness washed over me as I walked up to Maeve’s front door. Maeve was the only loving mother figure I’d ever had, and I’d practically cut her out of my life.
She opened the door with a warm smile, but she took one look at me and worry filled her eyes. “Rose, is everything okay?”
Family Jewels: Rose Gardner Investigations #1 Page 18