I saw no reason to agree. “I’m not your responsibility, James. Not anymore. When I was Lady, you had a vested interest. That’s over.”
“Don’t make me go there, Rose.”
I rested my elbow on the door and rubbed my temple to stave off the headache I could feel coming on. “I’m not. But I’m pointing out that you’re putting your most valuable guy on what is now a very low-priority job. It doesn’t make business sense.”
“Fine. Call me next time.”
I released a laugh. “You’re gonna come runnin’?”
“I’m gonna assess the situation and determine what resources to allocate.”
“James, why do it at all?”
“Because we’re friends. If the situation were reversed, would you come help me?”
“Of course, but you’re not calling me all the time to do it.”
“Not true. I used your resources last winter, often with little notice and at great personal burden to you. Hell, I called you just a couple of days ago.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “You said we’re friends. You told me once that you don’t do friends.”
“I was an idiot. Now are you safe?”
I checked the rearview mirror again. “Yeah.”
“If you hear so much as a tree branch scrape your window, you call me straightaway. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Rose. Be safe.”
I was going to try my best, but trouble seemed to find me, even when I wasn’t looking.
How long until Buck Reynolds showed up on my doorstep?
Chapter 19
Neely Kate was already in her room with the door closed when I got home. She’d sent a text earlier saying she was going to bed early and she was taking Muffy with her.
I was having an uneasy, nonsensical dream about James, Raddy Dyer, and Buck Reynolds when I awoke with a start and realized my phone was ringing. I didn’t recognize the number on the screen. Who was calling me at 2:39 in the morning?
“Rose, I need your help,” a man pleaded after I answered.
“Raddy?” I asked, bolting upright in my bed.
“If you don’t help me, he’s gonna kill me.”
My breath caught in my throat. “Who’s gonna kill you?”
“I can’t tell you on the phone. You have to come to me.”
“No,” I said. “Call the police. Call a friend. I’m not coming.”
“He’s gonna get Malcolm.”
That got my attention. “Who’s gonna get Skeeter Malcolm?” Oh my word. Was he talking about Buck?
“Meet me at the fertilizer plant in thirty minutes, and I’ll tell you then. Come alone. If I see anyone with you, I’m leaving.”
“No,” I said in a harsh tone. “You’re not gonna coerce me into meetin’ you with some vague threat. Someone’s always out to get Skeeter Malcolm. What makes you think I care about him anyway?”
He released a harsh laugh. “I’m not sure how much you care about him, but I saw how he was with you in the barn—he’s got it bad for you. Right now it’s my secret. But if you don’t come, you have no idea who I’ll tell.”
I was already scrambling out of bed. This was James’ nightmare come true. “I’m coming.”
“That’s what I thought.” He sounded happy with himself. “But if he or one of his guys comes even close to the place, I’m gonna tell everyone I know.” Then he hung up.
I grabbed a pair of jeans out of the closet and pulled a T-shirt out of my drawer. My heart hammered in my chest as I pulled on the clothes. Should I call James? After our conversation several hours earlier, I wasn’t sure he’d condone this outing since it was specifically about him. Still, he’d been right. I couldn’t meet Raddy without letting someone know what I was up to, and there was no way Neely Kate would let me go alone.
Grabbing my phone, I crept down the hallway and then the stairs, avoiding a few of the wood boards I knew to squeak. My keys were in my purse in the kitchen, so I grabbed it off the table and slipped out the back door.
The night was cool for early June, and I wished I’d grabbed a jacket, but I couldn’t risk going back inside for one. Raddy had said I had to be there within thirty minutes. I didn’t plan on being late.
The fertilizer plant was on the southwest end of town, but the quickest way to get there from my farm was to go through town. At least I wouldn’t need to worry about traffic at this time of night.
When I was less than five minutes from the plant, I figured it was as good a time as any to give James a heads-up. I drew up his number and hit the call button, then put it on speaker and rested the phone on my lap.
He answered on the second ring, his voice tense. “Rose.”
“I’m okay,” I said. “But I’m about to do something that I might need help with.”
“Anything at three a.m. is bound to be trouble.”
“You’re right . . .” I hesitated, trying to figure out the best way to say this without embarrassing either one of us. “I’m meeting Radcliffe Dyer.”
“What the hell for?”
“He says he needs my help.”
“Then tell him to go fu—”
“James. He’s going to tell people that you . . .” I forced myself to continue. “He says he knows you care about me because of how you acted in the barn.” And just then it occurred to me that I’d never tried to dispute it. I could attribute my stupidity to the fact that I’d been roused from a deep sleep, but that one slip of judgment might cost both of us more than we were willing to pay.
“When and where are you supposed to meet him?” His voice was calm and cold, but a slight hitch told me he was furious.
“He told me I had thirty minutes, which means I have ten. I’ll have about five minutes to spare.”
“You turn around and go home. Just tell me where you’re meeting him, and I’ll take care of it.”
“No,” I said, my voice rising. “What are you gonna do?”
“I’m gonna take care of it.”
I knew exactly what that meant. “No. I’ll take care of it.”
“By talking to him?” he asked, sounding incredulous. “By having a vision?”
That pissed me off. “You sure as hell appreciated my visions and my negotiatin’ skills last winter.”
“That was different!” he barked in my ear.
“How the hell was it different?”
“If Dyer spreads this around, you’ll have a bull’s-eye painted on your back. You’ll be my Achilles’ heel. When you were working as Lady last winter, no one knew who the hell you were.”
“James—”
“This is deadly serious, Rose. If this gets out, I’ll have to claim you to protect you.”
“You claimed me before,” I huffed. “When I first started working for you. You said you claimed me to protect me then.”
“That was different. I claimed your business. This time I’d have to claim you.”
“And would that be so bad, James?”
“It would be a goddamned disaster.”
Tears stung my eyes. I was about to give him a stinging retort, but I saw flashing red lights in my rearview mirror. “I’m getting pulled over. I have to go.”
“By Simmons?” I was surprised he sounded hopeful.
“No, I’m still inside the city limits.” Although barely. I’d already skirted around downtown and was on the road leading to the plant. I was probably less than a mile away. “I wasn’t speeding. I don’t know why I’m getting pulled over.” I slowed down and turned on my blinker.
“That damned Henryetta Police Department is full of a bunch of idiots. Now where the hell is your meeting? We can’t let that fool Dyer spread the word.”
“James, I have to go.”
“Keep the damn phone on. Don’t hang up.”
Setting the phone on the seat next to me, I came to a stop on the shoulder of the two-lane road. I watched in my rearview mirror as a lanky officer climbed out of his patrol car, hitched up his pants, an
d started to meander toward me.
“It’s Officer Ernie.” Lord only knew why he’d seen fit to pull me over, but I hadn’t been on his radar for months. Maybe he’d missed me.
I rolled down the window as he approached.
“Rose Gardner,” he drawled in a confrontational tone. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Officer Ernie, what seems to be the problem?”
“What are you doing driving around in the middle of the night?”
“I don’t see that it’s any of your business, but if you must know, I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to take a drive.”
He started whirling his hand around in circles. “Just drivin’ around at three in the morning.”
“Like I said, I wish I could be sleepin’,” I said. “But it begs the question, what are you doin’ up? I thought you worked days.”
“There’s trouble afoot, Rose Gardner, and where there’s trouble, you’re usually not far behind.”
“Trouble?” I asked innocently. “What kind of trouble?”
“Don’t you go sassin’ me, little missy.”
I took a deep breath. “Officer Ernie. I’m not up to any trouble. Like I said, I couldn’t sleep. I’m driving around trying to sort out a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
I resisted the urge to tell him again that it was none of his business. “I’m worried about my sister.”
“Violet?”
The genuine concern in his voice sent a pang of guilt through me. “She’s supposed to come home in a few weeks, but she might be coming down with a cold. It could turn into something serious because she’s immunosuppressed.”
“I’m sorry. Violet’s a sweet woman. She’s been in my prayers.”
My mouth dropped open in shock.
He took a step back and gave me a curt nod. “You go on with your drive, but be careful. There was some trouble up at the Trading Post earlier tonight, a big fight with some gunshots fired. We haven’t figured out who’s behind it yet.”
I gasped, truly in shock. The Trading Post? The coincidence wasn’t lost on me. “Oh my word. Thanks for the warning.”
“You headin’ back to your farm now?”
“No,” I said, still reeling from the news about the shooting. “But I’ll head back soon.”
I rolled up the window as he walked back to his car. He was clearly waiting until I pulled back onto the highway, so I started driving and hoped he didn’t follow me. How would I explain pulling into the abandoned fertilizer plant? But he did a U-turn and headed back into town.
I pushed out a loud sigh of relief, then realized I’d forgotten that James was still on the phone. “James, what do you know about the shootings at the Trading Post?”
“I wasn’t part of it, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“That’s where Crocker’s men hang out. It’s also where Raddy met the guys he plays poker with. I bet the shooting has something to do with Raddy and that stupid necklace. That’s why he’s so desperate for help.”
“Which makes him dangerous. So where the hell are you going?”
“I can’t tell you. If you or anyone else shows up, he says he’s going to blab.”
“If you let me go, I’ll make sure that never happens.”
“No. No violence.”
“Rose, he’s threatening you. He’s threatening your life. He’s already brought violence into it.”
“He just wants my help. He asked me to come and help him, and I told him no. Then he pulled out his threat to get me to come. Alone.”
“He didn’t want Neely Kate to come too?”
“No. He asked me to come alone.”
“Something’s not right here. He’s up to something—and it’s nothing good.”
“I can’t not go.” The fertilizer plant came into view, and my heart thudded wildly against my chest. “I’m about to turn into the place. I need to hang up.”
“No. Do not hang up.”
His voice was so commanding I jumped in my seat. “James, I’m not telling you where I’m meeting him.”
“Just keep me on the line and let me hear what’s going on. Then if you feel like you need me, I’ll step in, but I have to know where you are so I can be ready. Otherwise, I might not get there in time.”
“You won’t come in unless I tell you to?”
“You’re calling the shots, Lady.”
Did I believe him? He’d trusted my judgment when I was the Lady in Black, and he hadn’t lied to me yet. “I don’t know how carefully he’s watching, so you can’t get too close. There’s a gas station across the street where you can park.”
“Fine. Agreed.” I heard the ding of his car as he opened the door. “Now tell me where.”
“I’m meeting him at the fertilizer plant, but I’m not sure where yet.”
“You got your gun?”
I glanced over at my purse. “Yeah.” I turned the corner onto the cracked asphalt and headed toward the small complex of buildings. Raddy hadn’t told me where to meet him, but I wasn’t surprised to see an old car parked out in front of a smaller office building. “It looks like he’s hanging out in the old office.”
“It makes sense. If he’s paranoid, he’s gonna want a more controlled environment so he can see who’s coming and going. But he didn’t take into account the fact that he’s basically trapped.”
“You’re not gonna come storming in, are you?” I asked.
“Not unless you ask me to, but try to get him to meet you outside. If you go in, you could become a hostage. Or worse.”
As I pulled up behind the old car and parked, I didn’t want to let my mind wander to or worse. But I was sure as shooting going to take my gun. I checked the clip, then said, “I’m about to go in. I’m going to put the phone in my jeans pocket so you won’t be able to talk to me.”
“We need a code word,” James said. “For when you want me to jump in.”
I thought for a second. “Blue cheese,” I said. “I’d never say that otherwise.”
“Blue cheese it is.” I heard a grin in his voice. “Jed usually picks something like ace of hearts, or 1957 T-bird.”
“I’ll remember that for next time,” I said as I stuffed the gun into the back of my jeans, hoping there wouldn’t be a next time. I’d worn a fitted T-shirt, and the bulge at the small of my back was noticeable. I only hoped it was dark enough that Raddy wouldn’t see it. “I’m getting out now,” I said. “So you need to stop talking.”
“Rose,” he said, his voice insistent. “Be careful.”
“I will.”
Chapter 20
I grabbed my phone and stuffed it into my front pocket. Heading toward the entrance, I glanced around to see if anyone was lurking in the darkness. “Raddy!” I called out. “I’m here and alone, and I got here before your deadline.”
The only response was silence.
“Raddy Dyer, I’m tired and cranky, and I really want to go back to bed, so get your booty out here and tell me what you want.”
“Did you bring him with you?” Raddy called out from the shadows.
“Bring who?” I turned toward the direction his voice had come from—the front door of the small office building.
“Malcolm. Your bodyguard.”
“You told me to come alone, so I came alone. Now what do you want?”
“Come inside and I’ll tell you,” he said.
“No way. I have no idea who’s in there, and I’m not stupid. I don’t owe you a thing other than to help you find your stupid necklace. So if you want to talk to me, you’ll have to do it with me standin’ out here.”
“I ain’t comin’ out there,” he said in a belligerent tone. “I’m not stupid either.”
I groaned. “I came alone, Raddy, just like you asked. Now tell me what in the Sam Hill you want from me, or I’m goin’ home.” I pointed my finger toward the door. “And you won’t tell a soul a blessed thing about Skeeter Malcolm. You said you’d talk if I didn’t come. Well, I�
��m here, so you better keep your trap shut unless you want me to hunt you down myself—if Skeeter doesn’t get to you first.”
He stepped into the doorway, his face beaming. “So I was right? You and Malcolm are a thing.”
“No. We are not a thing.”
“Then what’s going on between you two?”
“That’s none of your cotton-pickin’ business. My personal life is none of your concern, Radcliffe Dyer. You have no right to be snoopin’ and pryin’.”
“And I want to keep my personal life private too, but people are snoopin’ and pryin’ like crazy. All my skeletons are fallin’ out of the closet.”
“Then you shouldn’t have shoved so many in there,” I snapped back, getting good and ticked. “Now what do you want?”
“Malcolm really does have feelings for you. I’m right, huh?” He seemed pretty pleased with himself. “That’s why you showed up.”
Something about the way he kept hounding on this topic felt off. “What happened tonight at the Trading Post?”
“How would I know?” His hasty response didn’t fool me one bit, but I could circle back to that question. First I needed to understand his fascination with my relationship with James. It wasn’t idle curiosity. I suspected he planned to use it as a bargaining tool. “Why ask just me to come out? And why couldn’t I bring Neely Kate?”
“Because you’re the one with the ties to Malcolm. Better to leave Neely Kate out of it.”
I had to agree with him on that. “All right. You got me here, so tell me what you want. We keep beatin’ around this bush, so just tell me.”
He paused. “I want you to put in a good word for me. Tell Malcolm that last night was a misunderstandin’.”
“Why?”
“Because I need him. He’s the man who rules this county. I want an in with his men. I want his protection.”
“Sorry to bring you bad news, but Skeeter Malcolm doesn’t respond well to blackmail.”
“He doesn’t have to know about the threatening part. Just get him to help me.”
“You’re plum crazy if you think Skeeter Malcolm is gonna help you just because I asked him to. I’m nothin’ to him.”
Family Jewels: Rose Gardner Investigations #1 Page 20