Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies
Page 101

He nodded, but he didn’t look happy as he sat back down. “He’s made contact. He made sure I knew where it was comin’ from.”
“Then Jed and I need to go. We handled Mick Gentry just fine.”
Skeeter snorted. “Just fine. I heard you pulled a gun on him.”
I lifted my chin. “And it worked out just fine.”
“Meeting Gentry wasn’t gonna be a church social. Expectin’ anything less would have been a fool’s errand.”
“We didn’t go into it with our eyes closed. Jed suspected two of your men, so I used my gift before we left the parking lot behind the station. It’s how we figured out they were turncoats.”
Jed shifted in his seat. “She forced a vision and saw them waiting for us.”
Skeeter scowled. “I heard. And I heard Merv handled the problem. Merv can help handle this one too. There’s no need for Rose to risk herself.”
I shook my head. “You know darn good and well that your new kingdom isn’t the only thing J.R. Simmons is after. He wants the Lady in Black.”
Fury flooded Skeeter’s face. “All the more reason for you not to go.”
“All the more reason I should go. He’s gonna want me to know exactly what he’s doin’ and all the pies he’s got a finger in.” I turned to glance at Mason. “I know you said a recording of the meeting wouldn’t do squat for us without a court order, but could your detective in Little Rock help us get one?”
Mason shook his head. “You’d be going as the Lady in Black.” He paused, as if still shocked by the sound of that statement. “You’re going to want to keep your anonymity, but your name would have to be on the court order. That’s if we could even get one. No court order, no wire.”
“What about Jed?” I looked across the table at him, then at Mason. “He’ll be with me. Maybe he could wear it.”
Mason looked Jed up and down as though appraising his ability to protect me.
“Jed’s not wearing a wire,” Skeeter said.
“Why not?” I asked.
“If he goes to the cops, he’s gonna have to tell him why he’ll be there, as well as a whole host of other things we don’t want public.”
“Then is this all for nothing?” I asked.
“No,” Skeeter said, his eyes hard. “This is between me and Simmons.” He shot a glance at Mason. “And if Deveraux wants a piece of his own revenge, I’ll let him join me.”
One look at Mason told me he was actually considering it.
“No.” I stood and banged my fist onto the table. “We need to at least try to make it happen my way.” I rubbed my forehead, trying to push away the dull ache in my head. “I’ll have a vision of Jed.”
Skeeter shook his head. “No.”
“Why?” I spat out, bracing my hands on the table as I leaned forward. “Because you’re afraid my plan will work and you won’t get to see blood?”
He didn’t answer.
“Look, you are central to what J.R.’s doin’, but he’s hurt all of us and so many more. He deserves to rot in prison for the rest of his days. Give him the same fate he wanted you and me to face. Force him to see his whole world go up in a dust storm. Murdering him would be letting him off too easy. Make him sweat. Don’t you think it’s time?”
He still didn’t answer, so I walked over to Jed and put my hand on his shoulder and closed my eyes. I stumbled for a second, trying to decide what to look for, so I asked to see what happened after the meeting. The room disappeared, and I was suddenly in a hotel room. There was a bed at my side, but I was standing behind Vision Rose in a Lady in Black outfit. She was seated in a faded pink chair, her legs crossed, her hands resting primly on her knees. Sitting across from her on a small pink sofa with a tiny white diamond pattern was J.R. and Mick Gentry. There were no other men in the room.
J.R. laughed. “Did you really think you’d leave here alive?”
Then, as if on cue, gunshots rang out, shattering the window to my left. Vision Rose fell to her side, blood splattered on the chair where she had sat. Pain shot through my arm and my chest, and I fell to my knees, taking one last gasp of air as I landed on the large pink and white diamond carpet. Then everything turned to black.
The vision ended, and I said, “We both die.”
The uproar from all three men was deafening, but my knees started to buckle, and Mason leapt to his feet to keep me upright. I grasped the back of Jed’s chair and pushed his hand away. If I showed any sign of weakness, they’d never let me go through with this. And something told me it was the only way.
“I told you.” Skeeter pointed his finger at me. “He’ll kill you.”
“He didn’t do it. It came from outside.” I described the vision to them in greater detail, and then said, “We can still make this work. We just need to keep changing the logistics until we get the outcome we want.”
“Rose,” Mason pleaded. “Can’t you see how crazy this is?”
“Yes, but I’m bound and determined to do it anyway.” I looked down at Jed. “I’ll do my best to make sure you’re safe, Jed. But I can’t guarantee you’ll make it out alive. I’m not sure I can live with that, so I think you should stay with Skeeter and let me go alone.”
His face reddened. “And if you think that’s gonna happen, you’re delirious. If you keep this meeting with J.R. Simmons, I’m goin’ with you.”