Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies
Page 67

“This is Mason’s phone. The one that was stolen from his car when he was run off the road.”
“What?” Neely Kate ran over and took it from my shaking hands. “Are you sure?”
“That’s his start-up screen.” I pointed to it. “It’s a photo of the Arkansas University logo.”
“But plenty of people around here are Razorback fans.”
I took it back from her and entered his passcode. All his apps filled the screen. I opened the photos and pulled one up. “But how many people have a photo of me and Muffy?”
“Oh, my stars and garters,” she whispered, examining the photo. “You were not having a good hair day.”
“Neely Kate!”
“Okay, sorry.” She looked shaken. “What do we do?”
“I don’t know. Keep looking and take pictures of everything.”
Neely Kate picked up one of the slips. “M. M is for Mason. He also drives a dark sedan and was there for the fire at Gems. She’s been following him.”
I shook my head, fear washing over me in hot, sticky waves. “Why? Why would she do that?”
“You said so yourself. She wants you with Joe.”
I shook my head again. “But that’s just plum crazy. Why steal his phone? It has to be more than that. Was she the one who hired Eric? Did she hire Sam Teagen?” I started getting light-headed. “Was she the one who posted my bail?”
Neely Kate stepped in front of me and grabbed my hands. “I don’t know. But we need to keep lookin’ so we can get this figured out. She could come back at any minute. Why don’t you go over to the windows and keep watch while I search, okay?”
“But I should be the one lookin’.”
“You’re shakier than tassels on a belly dancer, and besides, one of us needs to look out. She’s obviously dangerous, so she can’t find us here. I’ll tell you what I see, okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”
She looked deep into my eyes. “We’re gonna figure this out. We’re gonna stop her.”
I nodded again, feeling dangerously close to losing it. I had had no idea what we’d find in Kate’s apartment, but it didn’t even come close to this. “We have to.”
“Then go watch the window, and I’ll keep looking and take some photos.” She released my hands and turned back to the table, leaving me to make my way to the windows. I picked up the binoculars and looked over at the courthouse. I could see Mason’s office in amazing detail, including his desk and the bookcases behind it. If she’d been watching for a couple of weeks, I had to wonder what she’d seen.
Neely Kate started flipping through another stack of documents. “These are court cases. And police reports.”
“What?” I asked, my voice shaking as I set the binoculars down.
“From Little Rock. They’re cases Mason prosecuted.”
“Why would she have those?”
“I don’t know, but she’s awfully interested in this one from five years ago. She’s got multiple highlights on the thing.”
“What is it?”
“It looks like a hit-and-run case. But it didn’t go to trial. The witness died.”
“Who was the witness?”
“A little boy.”
I gasped. “How did he die?”
“He drowned in a pond by his house.” She looked up. “It was an accident, but it happened a few days before the trial.”
“Why would she have that?” I shook my head. “It doesn’t make sense.”
She started taking photos. “We’ll show it all to Mason and see what he says.” She uncovered a large envelope and looked inside. “Hello, stalker.”
“What?”
“This is stuffed full of photos of Mason.” She scattered them across the table and quickly sorted through them. “And this one was definitely taken last summer,” she said, lifting it up. “Your hair was shorter.”
She turned it around to show me. It was a photo of me, Mason, and Joe on the courthouse steps. And the only time we’d ever been together there was right after Jimmy DeWade was arrested for the murder of which Bruce Wayne had been accused.
My blood ran cold. “Keep lookin’.”
I turned back to the window and scanned the square. There was no sign of Kate, but there was a duffel bag on the ground, so I knelt beside it, opened it wide, and started to riffle through the contents. It was full of clothes, but at the bottom my hand touched metal and plastic.
“She has a gun.”
“What kind?” Neely Kate’s voice was cold.
“I don’t know.” I pulled it out and held it up.
“Sweet baby Jesus. Where’d she get a Sig? She’s serious.”
She sounded equally impressed and horrified.
“Put it back and try to make it look like you weren’t in there.”
“I don’t remember how it was.”
“It’s fine,” Neely Kate murmured, taking more pictures. “Everything’s such a mess, I doubt she’ll notice.”
I put the gun back and replaced the clothing. As soon as I stood up, I noticed a figure hurrying across the street. “Oh crap.”
“What?”
“She’s coming back! And she’s in a hurry.”
I looked around to see if the apartment looked like it had obviously been disturbed, but Neely Kate was right. It all looked like a tornado had been through it. I had more immediate concerns. “We’re trapped. She’s almost to the door downstairs.”