Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies
Page 19

“What happened?”
“He had me meet him in secret. I hated not telling you, especially since you were so upset I was keeping things from you, but I figured we could use all the help we could get.”
That disagreement had been a bad one. “What did he say?”
“He said his father knew I’d been poking around in Little Rock. Joe was worried that my investigation would irritate his father enough to put you in danger.” He paused. “But there was more.”
“Okay.”
“Joe’s father wanted him to back off on finding Mick Gentry.”
My blood ran cold. “Why?”
“His reasoning was that if Gentry was still on the loose, he would eliminate Malcolm.”
My stomach clenched. “Why would he want that?”
“The hell if I know, and Joe wasn’t in the mood to volunteer any ideas. The only theory I could come up with is that Simmons has some ongoing business here and Malcolm’s in the way.”
“What kind of business?”
“I have no idea, but there’s more.”
“More? Okay …”
“J.R. told Joe that I was pissing off the good citizens of Fenton County. Joe didn’t get into specifics, but I always suspected that meant J.R. knew who was behind the attempt on my life.”
“I’d bet money that person was Mick Gentry. Especially after the fire at Gems. We need to find Gentry to stop him from killing you both. And keep Skeeter from getting arrested for two murders he didn’t commit.”
Mason’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you care about Skeeter Malcolm?”
Crap. “Because Joe’s wanting to arrest him for something he didn’t do. His situation is no different than mine.”
He turned to me in disbelief. “His situation is entirely different than yours. Skeeter Malcolm has committed multiple crimes for which he’s never been arrested, and if he didn’t commit these murders, I’m sure he’s guilty of others.”
“Skeeter Malcolm is a person, criminal or not, and Mick Gentry is a despicable man.”
“How do you know Skeeter Malcolm isn’t an even more despicable man?”
Crap, oh crap, oh crap. “Look, all I know is that Skeeter took over Daniel Crocker’s place in the crime world and Gentry wants it.”
“How do you know that?” His words were more accusatory than his tone. If anything, he seemed genuinely curious. Besides, he was used to me knowing things, usually with the help of Neely Kate. “The part about Gentry wanting to take over has been purposely been kept out of the media.”
What could I tell him? Then it hit me. “Jonah and all his ties to the criminal element.” Jonah ran a support group for rehabilitating criminals at his church, which meant Jonah was more tapped into the criminal world than most people in town.
Mason was quiet for a long moment, and I had worked myself into a lather of worry by the time he spoke again. But he only said, “We need to figure out the significance of the key and get into that safe. They’re our best leads.”
I wasn’t sure if the change of topic was a good thing or a bad one. But now I worried about the ramifications of Mason getting caught doing something illegal. “Mason, when we get this all sorted out, do you want your job back?”
He shot me a quizzical glance. “Rose, the last thing I’m worried about right now is my old job.”
“Think about it, Mason. If you want your job back, you can’t risk getting caught trespassing and breakin’ into a safe. So do you?”
“Honestly, Rose, I’m not sure. For the most part I loved my job, but I love you a hell of a lot more. Now that I have you, I don’t want to pour all of my time into some office. I’ve been thinking about pursuing real estate law.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He shrugged. “I would rarely have to go to court, and it’s good money with more regular hours.”
“And you’d be bored to tears in ten minutes, and only because you’d spend the first five getting a cup of coffee.”
He didn’t answer, so I leaned closer and rested my hand on his arm. “You love what you do, crappy hours or not. And our relationship is only going to work if you’re happy with your career. I say we get this mess cleaned up, and then we work on getting your job back.” I sat up straighter. “Which means little or no criminal activity for you.”
“And no criminal activity for you, either. If you get caught doing something illegal, Joe won’t waste a second before tossing you back in jail.”
I purposely didn’t agree. There was no way I was going back there, but I’d do whatever I had to do to fix this mess.
“I have another idea for how we can get the key figured out.” He sounded hopeful.
“Oh?”
“I’ll go talk to Henry’s widow.”
“I’m not sure she’ll talk to you. She’s a grumpy old woman who makes Miss Mildred look like Mother Teresa. Besides, her daughter Beverly’s funeral is tomorrow. You might want to wait.”
“Dammit,” he grumbled. “So we’re back to square one.”
“No. Just delayed a few days.”
“We don’t have time to waste,” Mason said. I was surprised when he pulled up to the farmhouse—the drive had passed in a blur. “Your trial is in three weeks.” He cursed under his breath, then said, “You think they’d make some attempt to make this case look like it hasn’t been railroaded.”