Come Rain or Shine: Rose Gardner Investigations #5 (Rose Gardner Investigatons)

by Denise Grover Swank

  It struck me that the three underworld figures who’d offered me allegiance weren’t the only powerhouses on my side. I had Neely Kate too. I’d been foolish to think she’d leave me.

  I shook off my dread that something big was coming. “I just got a call from Wendy, the woman I saw in the doctor’s office yesterday. She says she needs help and wants me to hide her.”

  “She called Lady?” she asked in disbelief.

  “She called Rose,” I said in a grave tone, “but she was sure I could help her. She heard I’m neutral.”

  “Sweet damnation,” she said with a smile. “You’ve finally merged your alter ego with the real you.”

  I wasn’t sure that was something to celebrate, but that was a discussion for another time. “She wants me to hide her from James.”

  Her face paled. “Oh, my stars and garters. That was one thing this summer with Marshall, but things are more tense now, and with Skeeter…”

  “You don’t have to help me do this,” I said gravely. “I’m not sure where I stand with him right now. I’m not sure what Jed’s told you, but James didn’t react well when I told him I was pregnant. He wanted me to have Jed set up an abortion. He was deadly cold, and then not fifteen minutes later, two of his men nearly killed me. Now, the two incidents are very likely unrelated, and I don’t for one second believe James would kill either of us, but that’s my assessment to make. You need to make your own.”

  She squared her jaw and her eyes looked fierce. “I’m helpin’.”

  “You didn’t even stop to think about it.”

  “I don’t need to. I’m helpin’.”

  “But—”

  “But nothing,” she said dismissively. “We’ve been workin’ toward this for months. We’re not stoppin’ now because Skeeter Malcolm has his undies twisted in a bunch.”

  I’d been angling to establish myself as a neutral entity since June, with Neely Kate as my second. It seemed that had finally gotten some traction. Sure, I’d given Wendy my card, but she’d heard about me and had taken the initiative to call.

  Still, I paused to consider how this was unfolding. Given my grand jury testimony tomorrow, the timing stunk, but I wouldn’t turn my back on her. Unless…

  “What if this is a trap?” I asked.

  Neely Kate frowned. “How could it be a trap?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “But the timin’…”

  “Does it feel like a trap?”

  I mulled over her question. “No. She sounded like a woman desperate for help. And she certainly didn’t seem to be in a good state when I saw her yesterday.”

  “Then we help her. You and me,” she said. “So where do you plan to hide her? I don’t think the farm is a good idea. We need to put her where no one else would look.”

  “I already have an idea,” I said, “and I doubt anyone will think to find her there.”

  “Where?”

  “Momma’s old house.”

  CHAPTER 24

  We decided to take Neely Kate’s car to pick up Wendy since my truck had the RBW Landscaping logo emblazoned on the side. It also helped that her windows were tinted enough to hide Wendy’s identity in the back seat.

  I called Wendy and told her to be on the lookout for a dark sedan. The second we pulled up, she burst out of the laundromat as though her pants were on fire, then opened the back door and practically dove in.

  Neely Kate gave me an amused grin but said nothing as she pulled out of the parking lot.

  “Where are you takin’ me?” Wendy asked as she got situated in her seat.

  “To a safe house,” Neely Kate said, looking pretty pleased about it. “We stopped to get you some necessities to tide you over for a few days. They’re in the trunk.”

  “Where have you been hidin’?’ I asked.

  She shot me a nervous look. “Around.”

  “You said you’re hidin’ from Skeeter Malcolm?”

  “He sent those guys after me. He wants the last round of prescriptions Dr. Arnold was supposed to give me. The doc didn’t even tell me he was runnin’ off, but Skeeter don’t believe me. He thinks I stole the scripts for myself. He’s ready to bash heads, and my name’s at the top of his list.”

  I shot Neely Kate a nervous glance before I asked, “What list?”

  “His list of people to eliminate.”

  “You truly believe he’d kill you?” I asked in disbelief, but deep in my gut, I already knew the answer. She wouldn’t have called me if she didn’t fear for her life. And considering the two men in the pharmacy had been willing to kill me for being a witness, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.

  What are you doing, James Malcolm? I pleaded in my head. What dangerous game was he involved in? What deal with the devil had he struck?

  “He’s already tried,” Wendy said. “His men tore up my house and nearly killed Stinkerbell.”

  Neely Kate frowned. “Who’s Stinkerbell?”

  “Her cat,” I said. Then I shook my head, scrunching my eyes as I tried to focus on the convoluted mess I’d landed myself in. “Her neighbor’s cat.”

  “How’d you know that?” Wendy asked in confusion.

  “Long story,” I muttered, feeling sick to my stomach.

  My old neighborhood wasn’t far from the laundromat, so it was only a few minutes before Neely Kate turned down the street to Momma’s house. It technically belonged to Violet, but she wasn’t using it right now and she’d asked me to take charge of it after she died. My plan was to fix it up and either sell it or rent it out to bring in income for the kids.

  Neely Kate took a few purposeful wrong turns to ensure we weren’t being followed, then pulled into the driveway of the small, two-bedroom bungalow. When she stopped, I turned around to face Wendy. “You stay in the car until I get the door unlocked. Then we’ll bring you in.”

  She stared at me with wide eyes. “Okay.”

  I grabbed my keys, thankful I still had the house key on my ring, and quickly unlocked the kitchen door on the side of the house. The interior smelled stale from being locked up for so long, but everything looked in order other than a thick layer of dust. I was pretty sure no one had been in here for a good two months, but the water, electricity and gas were still hooked up.

  When I went back outside, Neely Kate and Wendy opened their car doors. I intercepted Wendy and escorted her inside as Neely Kate popped the trunk to get the two bags of necessities we’d picked up to tide her over for a few days.

  I gave Wendy a short tour of the small house, and Neely Kate was setting the bags on the kitchen table when we returned to the kitchen.

  My gaze landed on the table, and for some reason the memory of Joe breaking up with me at that very table slightly over a year ago rushed into my head. It had felt like my life, the one I’d only just reclaimed, was over. Little had I known what I would get myself into.

  What would Rose of a year ago think of Rose now?

  I rested my hand lightly on my belly. Did it matter? I was living in the here and now. Dwelling in the past was dangerous.

  I realized Neely Kate had finished showing Wendy the supplies we’d purchased. She glanced up at me as though acknowledging I’d mentally checked out for a few seconds and had just rejoined them.

  “I was tellin’ Wendy she can’t leave the house or answer the door,” Neely Kate said, giving me a worried look. “Anything you want to add?”

  I needed to pull myself together. I’d promised to keep this woman safe. I mentally put on my Lady hat. “I need to know how you got involved with Dr. Arnold and Skeeter Malcolm.”

  Wendy’s mouth dropped open. She started to say something but cut herself off.

  “You’re here because you’re scared that Skeeter will kill you if you don’t give him those prescriptions, and you’re worried you’ll be in danger until that’s resolved. So the only way out of this is a truce or compromise of some kind.”

  “Or I could run,” Wendy said, wide-eyed, and I wondered if she was on s
omething again. It likely wasn’t wise to leave her here, but I didn’t like any of my other options any better.

  “You could run,” I admitted, “but you didn’t. You’re still here. So that means you’ve got a reason to stay or you lack the means to get away. Which is it?”

  “I need money and a car,” she said. “I just need to get ahold of my sister in Memphis. Only she won’t answer the phone.”

  Maybe she’d had enough of her drug-addicted sister. Neely Kate gave me a knowing look, confirming she was thinking the same thing. Also, Wendy could have taken a bus, but if she lacked money, she couldn’t afford a ticket, let alone living expenses when she got to where she was going.

  “You can’t stay here indefinitely,” I said, “which means you need to come up with some kind of truce with Skeeter Malcolm or run. If I’m gonna help you work out a truce, I need to know everything.”

  “You’re gonna intercede with Skeeter Malcolm for me?” Wendy asked in disbelief.

  The look in Neely Kate’s eyes suggested she was just as shocked. “Rose…”

  “I don’t have time to get into this right now,” I said. “But I’ll come by in the mornin’ to find out what you’ve decided. If it’s a truce you want, then you need to be prepared to tell me everything.”

  Wendy gaped at me like I’d just told her she was about to become a colonist on Mars.

  Neely Kate sucked in a deep breath, then said in a stern tone, “Lady is allowin’ you to stay here out of the goodness of her heart. If you steal anything to sell it for drugs, I will hunt you down and make you hand over every last cent, and if you’ve spent any of it, I’ll take it out in blood and flesh.”

  It was my turn to be shocked. Wendy’s drug problem had occurred to me as a problem, but I hadn’t been sure how to approach the subject.

  “Two,” Neely Kate continued in her stern tone. “No doin’ drugs here. Three, no invitin’ your friends over. If you have friends you trust that much, you should have gone and hidden with them. If you so much as let another person step foot in this house, we’ll toss you out on your keister faster than you can blink. Four, this place better look just as neat and tidy when we come back tomorrow.” Neely Kate ran a fingertip across the kitchen table, then looked at the dust on her finger. “Only you’ll have nothin’ but time on your hands, so you can dust. Any questions?”

  Wendy stared from me to Neely Kate then back again, still in disbelief. “Do you really think you can work out a deal with Skeeter Malcolm?”

  My heart sank a little. I’d been hoping she’d choose to run. “I can’t promise anything, but I’m willin’ to try.”

  “Rose,” Neely Kate said more insistently.

  “We’ve got to go,” I said. “Obviously you have my number, so call me if there’s trouble, otherwise stay hidden until we come back in the morning.”

  Neely Kate grabbed my arm and practically dragged me out the door.

  “What are you doin’, Rose?” she hissed as she continued to tug me to the car. “You can’t be makin’ deals with Skeeter.”

  “What else are we gonna do with her?” I shot back.

  “I don’t know,” she said in exasperation as she dropped her hold and walked around to the driver’s door. We got into her car and she continued where she’d left off. “Do you think you should be contactin’ him at all? Let’s forget the whole grand jury situation, the man is furious with you over this baby. Do you want to risk riling him even more?”

  “What do you think he’s gonna do, Neely Kate? He’s no threat to me.”

  She shook her head, regret and sympathy on her face. “Oh, Rose. You’ve only seen the man you want to see. You don’t see what everyone else does.” She reached over and grabbed my hand. “I’m scared for you.”

  “James would never hurt me.”

  “Maybe not,” she said solemnly, “but Skeeter Malcolm might. You need to give him a wide berth. Do not be bringin’ Wendy’s issues to his doorstep. I don’t think you’ll like the consequences.”

  I started to protest when a face appeared in Neely Kate’s window simultaneously with a loud knock on the glass.

  We both jumped, and while I released a shriek, Neely Kate already had her revolver out of her purse and pointed at the driver’s window.

  Miss Mildred shot me a glare, unaffected by the gun in her face, separated only by a plate of glass.

  “What the Sam Hill are you doin’?” she shouted.

  Neely Kate set her gun in her lap. “I’m gonna have to lower the window, aren’t I?” she grumbled.

  “Yeah,” I conceded, none too happy. My cranky ex-neighbor was the last thing I wanted to deal with, but she could cause trouble if she got suspicious about the house. Better to appease her curiosity now.

  Neely Kate rolled the window down halfway and said in a cheery voice, “Miss Mildred, this is an unexpected surprise.”

  The older woman’s gaze landed directly on me. “What are you doin’ here?”

  How much had she seen? She considered herself the president of the neighborhood watch, so there was a chance she’d started watching the moment we’d pulled into the driveway. “Checkin’ on Violet’s house, of course. She’s too sick to check on it herself.”

  Her expression immediately softened. “I’ve missed seein’ her.”

  “I’m sure she’s missed you too,” I said, meaning it. While our neighbor had never cared for me because she considered my visions to be evil, she adored my older sister.

  Miss Mildred paused, licking her upper lip as she considered us with nervous eyes. “Do you think I could drop by and see her?”

  Her question caught me by surprise. My first reaction was to tell her heck no, but Violet loved her and vice versa, and I reminded myself this wasn’t about me. It was about surrounding my sister with people who cared about her.

  “Of course,” I said, my tone softening.

  “How’s she doin’?” she asked in a shaking voice.

  I started to answer, but unshed tears clogged my throat.

  Neely Kate knew me well enough to understand I needed her help without my saying so. She turned to face the older woman. “Not well. They’ve called hospice in.”

  Miss Mildred pushed out a sigh. “It’s not fair. It’s not right. She’s much too young.”

  I didn’t respond. What could I say? She was right.

  “Give Rose or me a call,” Neely Kate said. “We’ll let you know when it’s a good time. Violet sleeps a lot now and we all try not to disturb her during her naps.”

  “Of course,” Miss Mildred said, grabbing a wadded tissue from her housecoat pocket and dabbing her eyes. “She needs all the rest she can get.”

  She started to walk away, but I called out, “Miss Mildred?”

  Turning back, she waited.

  “I hope you find the time to come see her. It would mean the world to her.”

  She nodded and started to say something, but just then a man called out, “Millie! What’s goin’ on over there?”

  An ear-to-ear grin spread across Neely Kate’s face. “Millie?”

  I twisted in my seat to look out the back, my mouth dropping open when I saw an elderly man I recognized standing in Miss Mildred’s open doorway. He wore a worn blue bathrobe covered in white flowers, which he held closed over his gut with a fisted hand. A parrot sat on his shoulder.

  “Dammit, Millie!” the parrot squawked.

  “Is that Mr. Whipple?” I asked in shock. We’d found his lost parrot for him a few months back—in Miss Mildred’s backyard. I’d thought there were sparks between the two of them, but I was still shocked to see such undeniable evidence.

  “Where?” Neely Kate demanded, leaning out her open window. When she looked back up at Miss Mildred, her shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter. “Miss Mildred, are you havin’ a nooner?”

  The older woman’s face turned beet red. “It’s well past noon, not that it’s any of your business!”

  She hurried across the street, and Mr.
Whipple walked out the door to meet her. He stumbled on a crack in the sidewalk and lost the grip on his robe. The sides flapped open, revealing a pair of skintight, bright red boxers, before Miss Mildred reached him and pulled the robe closed.

  “Hide yourself, Boomer!” Miss Mildred shouted.

  “Dammit, Boomer!” the parrot squawked.

  “What the heck just happened?” Neely Kate asked with a giggle.

  I grinned at her. “I don’t think we want to know the details. Hurry before Mr. Whipple shows his undies again.”

  Neely Kate pulled out and headed toward Jed and Witt’s shop. I still needed to talk to Jed, but I could see him in the waiting room talking to a customer. Our interlude with Wendy had already eaten up half an hour. That was thirty minutes less time that Violet got to spend with her kids. My chat with Jed could wait.

  I reached for the door handle of Neely Kate’s car but didn’t open it yet. “Do you want to ride in my truck to pick up the kids or follow me in your car?”

  “Actually,” she said, keeping her gaze on the steering wheel. “We still need to talk.”

  My heart started to race.

  She turned to face me with an earnest look as tears filled her eyes. “I didn’t react well to your news last night, and I owe you an apology so big you couldn’t fit it in Witt’s hollow leg.”

  My mouth dropped open, but I quickly recovered. “Neely Kate, no. You were entitled to your reaction and so much more. You have no idea how much it hurt me to hurt you. I’m so sorry.”

  She shook her head with a stern look. “Stop that right now. I had a night to revel in my pity party, but it’s done.” She grasped my hand. “I love you so much.”

  “Oh, Neely Kate,” I choked out through my own tears.

  Her hand tightened around mine. “I’m here for you. Every single step of the way, I’m here.”

  I started to cry harder. “I’m so scared, Neely Kate. My baby won’t have a daddy.”

  “You can do this, Rose. And you won’t be alone. I’ll be here as much as you need me to be, and I know I’m not the only one who feels that way.”