Thirty-Six and a Half Motives
Page 16

“We’re not goin’, but I’ll tell you about it later, okay? When I get home.”
Neely Kate narrowed her eyes. “How about I stick around to keep you company?”
“You deserve a night off,” I said, pulling her out of her seat and pushing her toward the exit. “Besides, Muffy’s probably dying to go pee.”
She broke free and turned around to look at me. “What’s goin’ on, Rose? What did Skeeter say? Did he threaten you?”
“Skeeter? Hardly. He’s full of a lot of bark and little bite.”
Bruce Wayne grabbed his coat off the coat rack, harrumphing. “Tell that to the guys who’ve gotten on his bad side.”
He had a point. “Fair enough, but that’s the way he is with me. I’m fine. I just need some time alone, okay? I’ll explain it all when I get home.”
Neely Kate sure didn’t look happy, but she took the truck keys from my outstretched hand. “If you’re not eating with Mason, then don’t stay in town too long. I’ll make a big pot of chili and some homemade cornbread.”
“Is this one of your special recipes?” She’d been experimenting with the most God-awful combinations of foods lately, like peppermint meatloaf and French onion cheesecake. None of us had the heart to tell her how bad they were, but I wasn’t sure I could choke down whatever she came up with tonight.
“No. I didn’t have time to come up with something original, so I’m using my granny’s recipe.”
I tried to hide my relief. “I won’t be too long.”
“But if I leave you, how are you going to get home?”
“I’ll have Jed bring me. He’s tailing me anyway.”
When her eyes bugged out, I added, “It’s all out in the open. I don’t see any reason for him to hide in the shadows.”
“True.” She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed. “Don’t stay too long. You need to be with the people who love you.”
I watched her as she headed for the front door. Did she know I’d broken up with Mason? Did she suspect?
Bruce Wayne stayed back, saying he’d forgotten something in the backroom that he needed to bring by the nursery the next morning.
I figured it was an excuse to grill me more about my encounter with Skeeter, so I wasn’t prepared when he gave me a sad look and said, “I heard about your sister.”
“How. . . ?” But as soon as the word was out of my mouth, I realized how.
“Anna.” He’d been helping out at the nursery a lot lately, and Violet’s assistant had taken a shine to him. “How much do you know?”
“Enough to know she’s goin’ to be gone for awhile. Do you need to take time off?”
I rubbed my hand over my forehead. “No. Not yet. Our Aunt Bessie is going to Houston with her, but I’ll probably go down after things die down around here.”
A wry smile twisted his lips. “Do things ever die down around here?”
“True enough.”
“If you need to take off, Neely Kate and I can keep things goin’.” He shifted his weight. “Neely Kate’s picking it up so fast, I’ll be out of a job soon.”
I laughed. “Hardly. Once the weather starts warming up, you’ll be working outside. We have so many jobs lined up, we’re going to have to think about finding more help. Do you know anyone who might be interested?”
He studied my face for a moment. “Do you care if he has a criminal record?”
“You have a criminal record, and I hired you.”
“Well, that was different. You knew I was innocent.”
“Of committing murder. But I knew you’d done the other things—possession of pot, stealing. You said you wanted to change, though, and I believed in you. If the guy you’re thinking about wants to change, too, and you think he’s trustworthy, then hire him and tell him he can start mid-March.”
Bruce Wayne looked shocked. “Don’t you want to interview him?”
“Nope. You’re a partner, Bruce Wayne. You interview him. You’ll be the one who’s ultimately in charge of him.”
“I’ll be his boss,” he said in shock.
I laughed. “And he’ll probably be the first employee of many. So get used to the idea.”
A grin spread over his face, and I felt genuinely happy for him. He’d grown so much from the scared, beaten-down man I’d met last summer.
I locked the door behind him after he took off and then jumped when the sound of my cell phone broke the silence. I hurried over to my desk, wondering if it was Mason. I missed him something fierce and would be tempted to answer.
But it was Joe.
“Hey.” I had to wonder if he was calling about Violet.
“I just wanted to give you a heads up. I suspect my dad won’t be in county jail for long. I hear an indictment is coming from Little Rock in the next day or two.”
“What will that mean?”
“It means they’ll move him up to Little Rock and keep him there until his first trial.” He paused. “Once we find other witnesses who are willing to attest to the things he’s done, you’ll be safer.”
“You really believe that?”
“I have to.”
I suspected I would never be safe from J.R. Simmons. I’d tricked him and trapped him using his own game, and he wasn’t the sort of man to let bygones be bygones.
Joe cleared his throat. “Have you felt threatened in anyway? Have you felt like you’re being watched?”
I hadn’t noticed either Jed or Merv before today, so I wasn’t too confident I could trust my skills of observation. And while I had noticed that strange man on Friday, I didn’t want to tell Joe about that. Not when it might mess up my current protective duty. “No. But I’m being careful.”
“Do you have your Taser?”
“Yeah, I keep it with me at all times. And there’s a gun at the house.” I didn’t mention Neely Kate had hers in her purse, along with her concealed carry permit.
“Be careful with that gun. Don’t go shooting the chief deputy sheriff when he shows up at your door makin’ sure you’re okay,” he said with a grin in his voice.
“I’ll try not to,” I teased, but now that I had him on the phone and in a good mood, I decided to press my luck. “Now that your father has been arrested, when can I get Dora’s journal back?”