Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies
Page 103

Jed ignored him. “Gentry’s charges have been dropped, but he hasn’t gone back home, and he won’t. Not until he’s taken care of me and Skeeter. He knows we want revenge.” He grinned. “Meeting him in his own house is like a big F-you from Lady. You took his business. You took his life. He’s been sent into hiding since the auction. Now he’s about to lose Fenton County to you. He thinks Simmons is coming to eliminate us—and he’s probably right if your vision is any indication—but part of him has to worry. If we meet him at his own house, it’s going to make him agitated and foolish.”
“That seems like a dangerous thing to me,” Mason said.
“It would be to our advantage,” Skeeter said, grudgingly. “It’ll make him sloppy.”
“And maybe even more dangerous,” Mason said. “Rose’s safety comes before everything else.”
“No,” I said, swinging my gaze to Mason. “I like it.”
Skeeter banged the table. “It’s another goddamned fool’s errand.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” I reached for Jed’s hand.
“Wait,” Jed said, looking into my face. “We won’t tell him the location when we send him the message. That’s important to know before you have the vision. We’ll do a bait and switch like Gentry did on Tuesday night.”
“He’ll never go for it,” Mason said, sitting in my empty chair. “He’ll change his mind and leave.”
“Not if we tell him it’s a one-time offer,” Jed said, looking past me at Mason. “He wants to meet her. Bad. I can taste it.”
“No,” Skeeter said. “I forbid it!”
“Just let me have the stinkin’ vision!” I shouted, then turned back to Jed and took a deep breath. “What place will we give for the original location?”
“The Days Inn,” Jed said without hesitation. “We’ll give him the room number and watch them enter with hidden cameras. Then we’ll notify him that the location has changed and tell him to come without all his men.”
“He’ll never do it,” Skeeter said.
Jed looked him in the eye. “He will. And you know it. He wants her bad enough to do something rash.”
A shiver ran down my back. “Why? Why does he want to meet me so badly?”
Mason laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “Rose. Do you really not know?”
I looked over at Skeeter and suddenly I did.
Chapter 29
I turned back to Jed, refusing to acknowledge what I’d figured out, but the blood rushed to my face as I considered the implications. I couldn’t deal with this right now. Our lives were on the line. “It doesn’t matter why J.R. Simmons wants to meet me, only that he does. We need to focus on how to survive this. I’m going to force another vision.”
“Try to hone in on what will happen if we tell him to meet us at the Days Inn, then switch the meeting place to Gentry’s house,” Jed said quietly. “Let’s see if he goes for it.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
I closed my eyes, and we were in the back of Jed’s car. I was in the driver’s seat, and Vision Rose was in the backseat with Skeeter. There was no sign of Mason. We were parked on a neighborhood street, but nicer houses were lined up on either side of us.
I held up my phone, and Skeeter leaned forward as we watched a live feed of Simmons in the hotel room. He was surrounded by four men, while Gentry stood to the side cursing.
“Send the text,” Skeeter said, his voice tight with nerves.
“Sent,” Vision Rose said.
I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, about to jump out of my skin with nerves, as I watched Simmons pull out his phone. “It’s a direct line to the big man himself,” I murmured in Jed’s voice. “No middleman.”
“You were right,” Skeeter said as we watched Simmons type on his screen, but he didn’t sound happy about it.
The phone in the backseat vibrated with a text.
“He’s agreed,” Vision Rose said.
A huge grin spread across J.R.’s face as he looked directly into a tiny camera.
“He’s too damn cocky,” Skeeter mumbled. “I don’t like it.”
“His arrogance will be his downfall,” Vision Rose said.
The scene faded, and I opened my eyes to stare into Jed’s face. “He agreed to go.”
We all sat in silence for several seconds. “Okay,” I finally said. “Now what?”
“I need some air,” Mason said. When Skeeter started to protest, he held up his hands. “I swear to God I’m not going to run off. I just need a clear space to think.”
Skeeter nodded, and then walked outside himself. He was gone for several minutes, and when he came back, he held the door open. “You have ten minutes.”
Mason burst out the door like he was on fire.
“Where’s he goin’, Rose?” Skeeter asked, coming back to sit down.
“When he gets upset with me, he usually has to go for a walk. He’s not runnin’ to tell anyone. He would never risk my safety.”
“Is he comin’ back?”
“He swore he would.” I swallowed. “But he may not help tonight.” I told them about my vision.
“That doesn’t mean he’s out,” Skeeter conceded. “I’d prefer it if we all split up.”