Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies
Page 104

“But if he sticks with us, I can’t imagine he’d leave me alone that close to meeting J.R. Simmons.” I looked Skeeter in the eye, choosing to ignore the realization that he was probably in love with me. If I acknowledged it in any way, I risked wounding his pride, and as crazy as our friendship was, I didn’t want to lose him.
“You don’t know that, Rose,” Jed said. “He knows we’d protect you, and we’re gonna need someone in charge at the house. That’s the more dangerous location. He might plan to be there, waiting.”
I didn’t answer. “I’m going to have another vision of the meeting.”
Jed nodded, and I reached over and grabbed his shoulder, focusing on the meeting this time.
Vision Rose was sitting in an upholstered chair, and I was standing behind her. We were in a dimly lit living room with enormous windows overlooking a lake.
Simmons and Gentry walked through the front door, but Vision Rose remained seated.
“Nice to see you’ve made yourself at home,” Gentry sneered, striding into the living room.
“This place has potential,” Vision Rose said. “I’m thinking of relocating. I’ll be more than happy to buy it from you since you won’t be needing it anymore. At a greatly reduced price, of course.”
“You’re not getting my house!” He looked like he was about to strangle her.
“Keep your distance, Gentry,” I said, making sure he had a good look at the gun strapped to my chest.
Gentry backed up, his hands fisted.
“Enough, Gentry,” Simmons said, sounding annoyed as he moved closer to Lady.
She stood and reached out to shake his hand, but he lifted it to his lips instead. “I’m looking forward to finding out what you have hidden,” he murmured.
And then he winked.
The vision faded away, and I blurted out, “He wants to know what I’m hiding.”
Nausea roiled up in my throat, but I swallowed it down so I could tell them what I’d seen. “This one was entirely different. Why?”
Skeeter sat up. “He thought you were an amateur before. But the way you changed the location on him made him reassess.”
“I need to come up with a list of things to ask him. Even if we can’t get a court to use it, we’ll have some solid leads on what to dig up to find irrefutable proof.”
“That sounds like a job for you and your boyfriend,” Skeeter grumbled. “I’ll go along with your plan, but if he gets off, I’ll go for his jugular. Make no bones about it.”
I nodded. I was grateful he’d made as many concessions as he had. “At some point, I need to get my Lady in Black clothes. Maybe I can get Neely Kate to bring them.”
“Rose,” Jed said, getting to his feet. “You can’t do that. Neely Kate thinks you’re dead.”
I grimaced. How had I forgotten? A new wave of anxiety hit me. I couldn’t let her keep thinking I was dead. “Let me call her and tell her the truth. Then she can bring my clothes.”
“You can’t,” Skeeter barked. “If you tell anyone—even her—this will all blow to kingdom come.” When he saw my distress, he added, “Then take comfort in the fact that you have no say in the matter.”
“Are you telling me I’m actually your hostage?”
“The damned locked door didn’t already tell you that?”
I sat back down, tears welling in my eyes.
“Right now we’re more worried about the fallout of Deveraux going missing,” Skeeter said, scrubbing a hand over his head. “I got the latest from Merv. They think you’re dead and he’s gone.”
“They don’t think he did it, do they?” I asked, worried.
“No. They think he’s met with foul play too. But they’re wondering where your body is. They found the burning cabin with the bodies, but none of them was yours.”
“Is that a problem?” I asked.
Jed headed for the door. “I’m gonna go check on Deveraux.”
I watched him walk toward the door, wondering why he had left so suddenly.
“No,” Skeeter drawled, leaning an arm on the table, “but it does give you an option you hadn’t considered before.”
“What?”
“You don’t have to go through with this at all. Let them think you’re dead. I can set you up with a new identity by the end of the day. You could go anywhere and be free of all this.”
“And Mason?”
He frowned and lifted one shoulder into a shrug. “It’s up to him.”
“But then I’d just be runnin’ away from the problem.”
“You’d be free.”
I shook my head. “No, I wouldn’t. Not really.”
Skeeter lowered his voice. “If money’s a problem, I’ll give it to you. The smart thing to do is run. There’s no shame in it.”
“But I’d lose everything. I’d lose my family and friends and my business. I’d leave you and Jed to deal with this mess.”
“We can handle it.”
“I know you can. You’ve been handlin’ it for years, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it alone.” I gave him a soft smile. “It’s been a hard lesson for me to learn too, but guess what, Skeeter Malcolm? You do have friends, whether you like it or not.”
He sat upright and gave me the saddest smile I’d ever seen. “Arrogance may be J.R. Simmons’ downfall, but having friends will end up being mine.”