Thirty-Four and a Half Predicaments
Page 45

I closed my eyes and concentrated on Mick Gentry and how Scott Humphrey tied in with him. The tingling in my head started immediately and the vision swept over me. I was sitting at a bar, a beer bottle in my hand. Mick Gentry sat next to me, a ball cap pulled low over his forehead.
“How’d it go?” Gentry asked.
“That woman was there. You’re right. She’s more involved than I expected.”
“What’s her end game?”
“She insists she’s not screwing Malcolm and I didn’t feel any chemistry between them. At least on her end.”
“Again, what’s her end game?”
“She says it’s an investment for her. She wants to meet with you.”
His eyebrows rose in surprise. “You don’t say.” He glanced across the room, then back toward me. “She seems pretty involved for it to be a simple investment.”
I shrugged. “Your call. I can’t imagine Malcolm would go for it, but she says he’s given her free rein. She can do whatever she sees fit to strengthen his empire.”
Gentry’s mouth pursed and he looked deep in thought for several seconds. “What have you learned about Malcolm’s schedule and his men?”
“He had Jed keeping an eye on Lady, but Malcolm was on his own.”
“So he might be easy to take out?”
“Time it right, and yeah.” I leaned against the bar. “So you gonna meet with her?”
“Timing is everything. Let’s deal with Malcolm, then we’ll deal with her. And we haven’t gotten the green light to snuff him yet.”
“Who hired you for the hit?” I asked.
“You don’t need to worry about that part. All you need to know is that we take care of Malcolm first…then we move onto the next name on the list.”
“You show me the money and I’ll wipe out the whole damned town.”
The vision ended abruptly. My head cleared and I blurted out, “You’d take out the town.”
Humphrey glanced over his shoulder as I pulled my hand away. “What?”
My vision scared the living daylights out of me and left me with a sharp headache. I walked over to Skeeter’s desk as though I had a purpose to do so, trying to hide my shaking hands. I had to cover for my post-vision word-vomit. “I asked if you were from out of town.”
He turned in his seat to watch me, confusion in his eyes. “No. Born and raised in Fenton County.”
Yet he had no qualms about killing its citizens if it turned him a tidy profit. I scratched a fake phone number onto a small notepad on Skeeter’s desk. I wasn’t about to give my real number. Based on what I’d seen in the vision, Gentry wouldn’t meet with me until after Skeeter was dead, and I had no intention of letting that happen. I ripped off the paper and walked toward the door. “This has been enlightening, Mr. Humphrey.” I held out the slip of paper. “Tell Mr. Gentry to contact me if he wishes to meet. Thank you for your time.”
He stood and approached me, then took the fake number. “We’re done?”
“We’re done.” I opened the door and found myself face to face with Jed. “Could you take Mr. Humphrey back to Mr. Malcolm? I need to see to something.”
Jed gave me a quizzical glance. I was sure he was confused by my request, but I wasn’t ready to face the other criminals hanging out with Skeeter. The shock of what I’d just seen through Humphrey’s eyes had me feeling uneasy and then some.
I shut the door and locked it, then sat on the edge of Skeeter’s desk. Maybe I shouldn’t have sent Humphrey back to join Skeeter. What if he decided to kill him now instead of waiting? I took in a deep breath. We’d all known Gentry had it in for Skeeter, but apparently that wasn’t the extent of his interests. He had a hit list, and the big question was who was on it? Skeeter was first, but there were more. Mason was likely on the list. After what happened at Gems, I was sure of it.
Several minutes passed before the doorknob jiggled, then the door opened seconds later. Skeeter entered, stuffing his keys into his pocket, with a contrite-looking Jed following behind him. “What the hell were you thinking?” Skeeter’s voice boomed.
“Are they all gone?”
“Yeah.”
Pushing out a sigh of relief, I pulled the pins out of my hair and tossed the hat next to me. “I was trying to do my job.”
He stopped in front of me, looming over me. “You were supposed to tell me if something was off and let me put things into motion.”
I looked up at him and rolled my eyes. “And if I’d said something about him made me suspicious, you would have asked me to bring him in here and question him. Why not just get right to it?”
Anger filled his eyes. “Why the hell would you come in here alone with him? Do you have any idea what Scott Humphrey is capable of?”
“After my vision, I have a fairly good idea.”
Some of the anger left his face. “So you got something.”
I nodded. “He’s definitely working with Mick Gentry, in spite of his little performance out there.”
He walked over to his whiskey decanter and poured himself a glass, then saw the two glasses on the table between the chairs. “You gave that snake my good whiskey?”
“I had to.” When he started to protest, I said, “Do you want to know what I found out or not?”
He downed the liquor in his glass and slammed it down on the console table. “What did you find out?”