Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies
Page 22

I sat down in the rocking chair. “Hopefully, it won’t come to that. Where is Skeeter anyway?”
Jed was quiet for several seconds. “He’s taking care of some personal business.”
“Does it have to do with J.R. Simmons? If so, he needs to pool his information with ours. We all need to team up.”
“We are teaming up. What the hell do you think we’ve been doing?”
“No. With Mason.”
“You think we’re gonna work with the Fenton County ADA? Have you lost your mind?”
“Jed—”
“No.”
I needed to choose my battles, and I had a bigger one to wage at the moment. “Fine. I can accept that. For now.” I took a deep breath, ready for a fight. “I need to set up a meeting as the Lady in Black.”
“Who with?”
Goodness, he was awfully grouchy. I was about to make him even more so. “Mick Gentry.”
“What the actual hell, Rose?” His voice boomed out so loud I had to hold the phone a few inches from my ear. “Now I know you’ve lost your mind. Get some sleep and call me tomorrow.”
“Jed. Think this through. Mick Gentry had to be the one who set Skeeter up for those murders. Not to mention the fact that I know he wants to kill Mason.”
“Which is why you can’t meet with him! He’s dangerous!”
“Jed! I’ve already set this up. I told Scott Humphrey that I wanted a face-to-face with Mick. And in my vision, Mick was open to meeting with me after Skeeter was out of the picture.”
“What excuse could you possibly use to see him?”
“What if I play it like I want to be on the winning side? I’ll meet him, show him I’m serious, and then insist on meeting J.R. What if I record J.R. saying he wants to kill Mason? And get him to admit to other criminal activity as well?”
“That’s a whole lot of what-ifs. You have no idea if Simmons would agree to meet with you. Or if he’s even directly involved.”
“We both know he’s involved. And who knows, maybe I’ll get all the information I need from Mick Gentry.” When he was silent, I knew I had him. “We just need to make sure it’s admissible in court.”
“You should ask your boyfriend,” he said, his voice laced with sarcasm. “I’m sure he’ll think it’s a great idea.”
“Or maybe we can ask Carter Hale,” I added, trying to sound cheery.
“I already know the answer,” he grumbled. “We would need a court order for it to be admissible, and seeing as how no judge in this county is going to issue one to the Lady in Black, it’s a moot point.”
I had worried that might be the case, but if I could actually get J.R. to meet with me as the Lady in Black, then I’d deal with the logistics later. “We can still use whatever we find out to save Skeeter and Mason. It’s a good idea, and you know it.”
“Skeeter will skin us both alive.”
“Skeeter Malcolm’s not here,” I retorted, working myself into a snit. “He ran off to do God knows what. It’s up to us, and I say we do this. You know it’s a good idea.”
He didn’t argue.
“I gave Humphrey a fake number to call. Will that piss off Mick?”
“Maybe, maybe not. But not enough for him to refuse a meeting.”
“So you think he’ll want to?”
“I think he’d sell his grandmother to a traveling circus to meet the Lady in Black.”
“Can you set it up? Do you guys have some sort of a bat signal to let each other know when you want to talk?”
He chuckled. “No. But we have other ways.” There was a pause at the other end of the line, and when he spoke again, his tone was more serious. “I can’t believe I’m asking, but when do you want to do this?”
“As soon as possible. I have no idea what I’ll tell Mason, but I’ll come up with something.”
“Like you said, Mason is still on someone’s hit list. You’re both in plenty of danger.”
I took a breath. “I know.”
“I’m stayin’ at our safe house. I’m sending Merv to bring you here too.”
I snorted. “You know I’m not gonna do that. I have too much to do, and I’m not leaving Mason.”
“If things keep heatin’ up, you may not have a choice.”
“I’ll deal with that if the time comes.”
“But in the meantime, pick up a burner phone tomorrow and send me the number. Skeeter should have gotten you one weeks ago.”
“Okay.” I waited a beat. “Jed, about the factory … I’m sorry you got hurt on account of me.”
“I failed you, Rose. I was there to protect you, and I put you at risk. I should have just taken the bitch out without showing myself, but I knew you’d never approve of that.”
I smiled. “Well, thank you for that. It means a lot to me, Jed.”
“Don’t be expecting it to happen again. Next time I’ll just shoot first to avoid any unnecessary risks.”
I hoped to God there wouldn’t be a next time, but I was in so deep that it was probably a pipe dream.
“I’ll put out feelers for Gentry,” he said, sounding gruff. “I’ll let you know when I hear anything.”
“Thanks.”
I hung up and realized the water was still running, so I went into the bathroom and turned it off. The steaming water was tempting. I’d told Mason I was going to talk with Neely Kate while taking a bath. No reason not to follow through on both. I stripped and climbed into the warm water. Resting my head against the high back of the tub, I grabbed my phone off the floor and called Neely Kate.