Taking a breath to steady my nerves, I said, “I’m surprised to see you here.”
“You thought I’d just leave you here alone?” he asked, setting the coffee on a table beside him.
“No. I might go snoopin’ into your secrets if you did that.”
“Other than the house itself, there’s not a single secret here.” He shot me a quick glance before turning back to his screen. “I can’t risk Sandra finding out who I am.”
“So there’s nothing personal here?”
“This whole house is personal. It’s my refuge. But there’s not a single thing to tie it to my name. Not even the title.”
He’d told me once that no one knew he owned several properties, including the recycling business, around town. A dummy corporation in Texarkana owned it. But I wasn’t up to discussing his properties at the moment. “Did you have Raddy Dyer killed?”
He slowly closed his laptop and looked up at me, his face a blank slate. “Do you think I killed Raddy Dyer?”
“So you’re not surprised to hear he’s dead?”
His eyes darkened. “Are you insinuating that I know he’s dead because I ordered it?”
Criminal or not, my gut told me to trust him, and my instincts had served me well in plenty of dangerous situations. Sometimes it was all I had to go on. “No. You know what’s goin’ on in this county, and if you knew there was a fight at a bar last night, you’d sure as heck know about the murder of a man you were talkin’ to at three a.m.”
His shoulders relaxed—not much, but enough for me to notice.
“So this means I’m safe,” I said. “I can go about my business.”
“It doesn’t mean shit. My man found him dead, lying face down on the hood of his car with a bullet to the back of the head. Who knows what they got out of him before he was shot?”
“They were lookin’ for the necklace.” But even as I said it, I wasn’t so certain.
“What if he offered them information in exchange for his life? Just like he did with me?”
I pushed his legs to the side of the wicker ottoman, and he swung them to the floor as I sat in front of him. “Let’s think this through,” I said.
“What the hell do you think I’ve been doin’?”
I shook my head. “Stop blowing your stack and listen.” When I was sure I had his attention, I said, “Look, it wasn’t any secret that you and I were working together last winter. Shoot, I woke up in the hospital and found you sitting in a chair next to my bed. Not a single person has bothered us about that. Why is this any different?”
He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his thighs, his face a foot from mine. I tried—and failed—to ignore the butterflies in my stomach.
He shook his head. “No one knew I was in your hospital room. I paid a nurse handsomely to keep her mouth shut. And as far as working together, it was business, and we made sure to spread the word that you’d played your part and were done.”
“And the criminals in this county believed that?”
“The fact that you and I were never seen together confirmed it. So did the disappearance of the Lady in Black. We let it be known that you were working as a free agent to bring down J.R. Simmons and help your boyfriend. As far as everyone in this town was concerned, you meant nothing to me. You were a means to an end. I had no further purpose for you, so to take you and use you as a bargaining chip would be an exercise in futility.”
My eyes widened as the truth hit me. “Oh my word. The very act of showing up yourself last night . . .”
“Proved you meant far more to me than anyone would have suspected.”
“So why come yourself? Why didn’t you send Jed like you usually do? He might have asked you to shift him to a different duty, but you know he would have come. You could have pulled him off the bar fight for a half hour.”
“Because I didn’t trust anyone else.”
That was new. I’d spent far more time with Jed last winter than I had with James.
“What are we gonna do?” I asked quietly.
“My men are trying to find out what Wagner and Reynolds know.”
“Your men know about me and you?”
“No. I have them snooping into what Dyer said before he was snuffed.”
“So I’m hiding out here?”
“No. I need you to go about your life as though nothing’s happened. If you disappear, it will confirm that I’m protecting you. If you go about your business, it will give them a moment of pause, because if you were mine, I’d never risk letting you gallivant in public at a time like this.”
The air stuck in my lungs. Was he trying to convince me that I meant nothing to him? But there was no way he’d let me loose unless he was practically guaranteed I was safe. “So who’s watchin’ over me?”
A small grin tipped the corners of his mouth. “Jed.”
“But Neely Kate—”
The grin was gone. “I don’t give a damn if those two were goin’ at it with bayonets. I don’t know what’s goin’ on with Wagner and Reynolds, and there’s no one else I trust to protect you like Jed will.” He studied my face, and his expression softened. “You good with that?”
He’d done this for me. He knew I felt safer with Jed than I would with someone else. The knowledge sent a shiver down my back. I tried to convince myself that it meant nothing. Last winter he’d made sure to put his most trusted man in charge of protecting me, but at the time he’d been protecting his business asset. What was he protecting now? “Other than you, there’s no one else I trust more with my life.”
His eyes changed, and I saw a longing that hadn’t been there before. My nerves tingled. He was going to close the distance between us and kiss me; I was sure of it. But that poker face of his slid into place again. He gave me a small nod, then stood and moved to the doorway. “You’ll need to drive your truck to your office, but it’s been moved. Now that you’re up and ready, I’ll tell Jed to come get you in fifteen minutes. Once he takes you to your truck, you’ll need to head to your office. You’re usually there around nine, and if you’re out at your farm changing clothes, people will notice you’re straying from your normal schedule.”
I stood too. “Can I take a quick shower?”
“You don’t need one,” he said, his voice low. “You smell—” But he cut himself off and stalked into the house.
“James.”
He turned around to face me. “Take fifteen minutes, but then we have to go. Your life depends on it.”
I shook my head. I’d spent months living in jeans and a T-shirt, with ponytails and no makeup. Why worry about what I looked like now? The forecast for today was hot and sunny, so if I was working outside, I’d be sweating long before noon. “No. Just tell Jed to come get me.”
Because the only person I wanted to impress was walking away from me.
Boy, was I stupid or what?
Chapter 23
Neely Kate looked up in surprise when she saw me walk through the office door. “Hey.”
Muffy was curled up on her dog bed next to Neely Kate’s desk. I made a beeline for her, then knelt beside her and rubbed behind her ears. “Hey, girl. Did you miss me?”
She was wagging her tail so hard I worried she’d dislocate something.
“I gave Muffy half her medicine,” Neely Kate said. “She seems more alert today.”
She did look a little perkier. “Thank goodness.”
“I’m surprised to see you here.”
I ran a hand down Muffy’s back. “We decided it would be safest for me to go about my business.”
“So Skeeter did kill Raddy.”
I shot her a glare. “No. He swore he didn’t. And what would that have to do with anything?”
“If he was protecting you because of what Raddy knew, and one of his guys took care of the problem, then he eliminated any threat. You don’t need to be under twenty-four watch. Besides,” she continued, “if that man cares about you half as much as I suspect he does, then he wouldn�
��t let you out of his sight if he thought you were in danger.” She searched my face. “Did you ask him if he killed Raddy?”
“Yeah, and I already told you that he told me no. His guy found Raddy facedown on his car, shot in the head.”
“So how is it that you’re here now? He wouldn’t leave you alone.” By sheer coincidence, that was the exact moment three raps landed on the back door. Her brow furrowed. “No.”
“Now, Neely Kate . . .” I said as I moved to the back.
“That better not be who I think it is.”
This was about to get ugly.
I stood in front of the steel back door and looked out the peephole at Jed’s distorted face. I let him in and then closed and bolted the door behind him.
Jed pushed past me, all business as he stood in the short hallway and scanned the office space. “I’m going up to the roof to make sure nothing’s amiss up there.”
“Okay.” I set to work on the padlock on the door to the spiral staircase. The original lock had opened with a key, but I’d switched it to a combination lock for easier access. Working with the seedy underbelly of the Fenton County criminal world had taught me to always have an accessible escape route—more than one if possible. Once I had the door open, Jed slipped through the opening, but I grabbed his arm. “If you’re going out onto the actual roof, there’s a padlock up there bolting the door closed.” I rattled off the combination, and he gave me a curt nod before slipping into the dark stairwell.
“We don’t need him here,” Neely Kate said as soon as he disappeared. “We did just fine yesterday when Homer showed up.”
I headed toward my desk. “We do need him, and you know it.”
“Why him? Why can’t Skeeter send Merv or the guy he sent yesterday?”
I sat down on the edge of her desk and studied her. “What happened between you and Jed?”
Her face turned a soft shade of pink, and she turned back to her computer. “Nothing.”
“That’s a bunch of malarkey if I ever heard it. Try again.”
She looked up at me, and her mouth opened and closed a few times like a fish trying to breathe on dry land before she started to say, “A month ago—”
“The roof’s all clear,” Jed said in a no-nonsense voice I wasn’t used to hearing from him. He’d set aside the formality early in our time together.
“Why are you inside our office, Jed?” Neely Kate demanded. “Why can’t you wait in your car and watch the front like you usually do?”
“Two reasons. One, I feel like I’ll have you two covered better inside; and two, I have work of my own to do.” He lifted the bag hanging from his shoulder to demonstrate.
“Work?” Neely Kate scowled. “What kind of work could you have in that bag?”
His gaze held hers. “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”
She held her hands out from her sides. “Then let’s go, Mr. Big Talk. I can take you.”
I slid off the desk. “No one’s havin’ a go at anyone.” I pointed to the table we kept in the back corner for the few customer consultations we held in the office. “Jed, you can sit back there if you want. We have a folding screen we can set up to block view of you from the street.”
A nod was his only response. I started to walk toward the back to grab the screen, but Jed was already headed back there.
“What’s your schedule for the day?” he asked as he set up his work space.
“I need to work on some designs and estimates, and then we have to go to a few houses and draw up some plans. Our first appointment is at 10:30, so we need to leave in forty-five minutes.”
“Is Neely Kate planning to go?” he asked.
“No, she’s staying—”
His mouth pressed into a tight line. “She’s going now.”
“You don’t get to boss me around, Jed Carlisle!” she shouted over her shoulder.
The look Jed gave me insinuated he’d throw her over his shoulder if need be.
Pushing out a long sigh, I sat down at my desk and turned on my computer.
This was going to be a long day.
Neely Kate must have thought so too because she hopped to her feet after all of five minutes. “I’m going to get coffee from The Daily Grind. Do you want something, Rose?”
I hadn’t had any coffee at James’ house, and my head was beginning to protest the lack of caffeine. “Yeah, my usual.” When she started for the door, I called after her. “Aren’t you goin’ to get anything for Jed?”
She stopped with her hand on the knob. For a moment, I wondered if she was going to ignore me, but she turned and called out in a saccharine-sweet voice, “Would you like something, Jed?”
His response was short. “No.”
Without a word, she stomped out, slamming the door behind her.
There was no way I could deal with this all day. I walked back to Jed’s makeshift work space and put my hands on my hips. “What on earth is going on with you two?”
He continued to study the laptop he’d set up on the table. “Nothing.”
I slammed the lid and shot him a glare. “Don’t you nothing me. She started to tell me before you came back down from the roof, so I know there’s something. Now tell me.”
He leaned back in his chair, crossing his own arms and giving me a hard look. “It’s not my story to tell.”
“Then whose is it?”
“Neely Kate’s.”
What on earth? I dropped my arms and put a hand on my hip. “Did you two have an argument?”
Silence.
“When did you see each other to have an argument?”
More silence.
“Did she do something to upset you?”
Something like guilt flashed in his eyes before it was completely replaced by impassiveness. I wondered if he and James had practiced their poker faces together growing up.
What could have possibly happened? I dropped my hands to my sides. “Well, you two need to make up before you drive me crazy!”
I stomped back to my desk and started to text James that this was never going to work. But I stopped before hitting the send button. I was a grown woman—too old to be tattling and complaining. Besides, Jed had played babysitter for Neely Kate and me often enough. I could suck it up for one day.
I’d just sat down when my phone rang. Given what had happened the previous night, I wasn’t all that surprised to see Joe’s name on the screen. I steeled my back and answered, “Hey, Joe. How’s your search goin’?”
“What do you know about Raddy Dyer’s death?”
“Well, good morning to you too.”
“That didn’t answer my question.”
“If you’re asking if I had anything to do with it, you’re barking up the wrong tree. I had no idea he’d been murdered until I woke up this morning.”
“Why am I having a hard time believing that?”
Probably because I’d been evasive with him a half-million times before. “I don’t know who did it, but I suspect it’s because of the necklace.”
“No shit,” was his terse reply.
“Do you want me to tell you what I know or not?”
I could practically hear his teeth grind before he said, “Go on.”
Obviously I couldn’t tell him the full story, but I could condense it. “Raddy called me in the middle of the night and told me he’d had a run-in with Buck Reynolds.” Basically true.
“Buck Reynolds? What do you know about Buck Reynolds?”
“Honestly, not much. Only what Raddy told me.”
“You never had a run-in with him last winter?”
This was the first time Joe had ever asked me for any specifics about my time working for James as the Lady in Black. I’d admitted the truth to him about a month ago, but I’d refused to give details. Until now, he hadn’t pressed. “No. Was he one of Mick Gentry’s guys?”
“You’d be in a better position to know than me.” I was surprised there was no antagonism in his voice.
<
br /> “I only met the top guys. I never saw the lower ones unless they were standin’ guard, in which case I wasn’t introduced. They were just there.”
“Do you know what Reynolds is up to now?”
I hesitated, then said, “I’m Switzerland, Joe. All information that comes from either side stays with me. I don’t tell James what I learn from you and vice versa.”
I expected him to argue, but instead he said, “What can you tell me?”
“Raddy admitted that the necklace he was looking for was stolen. He’d stowed it with his grandmother’s jewelry, which he’d given to Rayna. His plan was to let it sit and cool off before he tried to sell it.”
“Let me guess. He stole it from Buck Reynolds.”
“Yeah.”
“So why did he call you last night?”
I couldn’t very well tell him that part. “Obviously he was desperate. Maybe he’d gone through his Rolodex of friends and was down to the slim pickin’s at the bottom of the barrel.”
“Huh.” He didn’t sound like he believed me. “Do I need to come home early?”
My heart sank. “I take it you haven’t found Ronnie yet?”
“No, but I have one more place to check.”
“We’re fine,” I said. “Keep looking.”
“You wouldn’t admit if you needed help, would you?”
“Would it make you feel better if I told you we’re bein’ protected?”
He paused. “Malcolm.”
“I’m fine. We’re fine. Find Ronnie.”
He hung up and I cast a glance down at the screen, realizing Jed had heard my side of the conversation. Well, I’d done nothing wrong, and I had nothing to hide.
Neely Kate popped back into the office a few minutes later and handed me a to-go cup. “Did I miss anything?” she asked in a chipper tone. I almost did a double take. Maybe she was pretending Jed wasn’t sitting in the back.
“Joe called.”
“Uh-oh.”
“He’d heard about Raddy, of course, and asked if he needed to come home early. I told him we were fine.”
Family Jewels: Rose Gardner Investigations #1 Page 24