Thirty-Six and a Half Motives
Page 46

“I have ways.”
I shuddered when I thought about what his ways might encompass. “How about you let Neely Kate and me try first, and if we don’t get anywhere, you can come in and work your magic?”
To my surprise, he didn’t fight me on it. “As soon as we pick up Neely Kate we’ll head to the food pantry, then Skeeter’s accountant’s office to drop off your paper, then to Ted’s Garage.”
“What’s Skeeter doing?”
He remained silent.
It was probably just as well that Skeeter was off doing his own thing. This kind of scurrying around seemed beneath the Fenton County crime lord, and he had such an intimidating presence that he’d probably scare off everyone we tried to talk to. Jed was bad enough.
Neely Kate texted a few seconds later, asking us to pick her up at the hardware store.
Jed gave me a weird look when I told him where she was, but he remained silent. He was definitely learning.
She was waiting outside on a bench, sitting under a scrawny maple tree with a plastic bag in her lap. When she saw us, she hopped up and made a beeline for the car.
“That was close,” she said as soon as she slid into the car, bag in hand. “Joe was madder than a cat thrown into the bath water.”
“Did he say why?” I asked as Jed took off.
She laughed. “He was mad at me for tricking him, and he yelled something about how he thought we’d moved past this stage of our relationship, as though we have one,” she scoffed. “Mostly he was mad at you for running around like a first-grader set loose on her first school field trip.”
I grimaced.
“He threatened to arrest me for tricking him, but someone told him he couldn’t keep me, so he let me go. The last thing he said was for me to tell you to go to Mason’s office and stay put.”
“We learned some things while you were gone.” I shared everything Maeve had told me. “Jed thinks we might be able to get a lead on Teagen or Marshal if we can figure out where they had that air intake system put in.”
“Ted’s Garage,” she said matter-of-factly. “They had a special on them a couple of months ago. They were screwed up and nonreturnable. Vern had a good deal on them. We need to go there and ask around.”
I gaped at her. “Are you sure you want to go?” I’d already mentioned the idea to Jed, but I hadn’t been prepared for Neely Kate to so readily accept the idea.
“Why? Because of Ronnie? Maybe we can get a lead on him so I can serve him the divorce papers.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Why wouldn’t I be? I already told you I wanted a divorce.” She shook her head in dismissal. “So Hilary first, then Ted’s?”
I explained the stop we were planning to make at Skeeter’s accountant’s office.
Neely Kate nodded. “If we pick up food at Big Bill’s before we head to the garage, we might be able to butter the guys up,” she said.
“Good idea.”
“I hope you don’t expect me to pay for it,” Jed grumbled. “I ain’t feedin’ a bunch of turncoats.”
“I’ll pay for it,” Neely Kate said in a snit, but I seriously wondered if she had enough money to cover it.
“So what’s with the bag?” I finally asked.
She reached into the opening. “Bungee cords.” She set a package of six bright pink cords of various sizes on the seat between us. “Duct tape.”
“Nice print,” I said as she set the pink and white polka-dot tape on top of the cords.
“Some rope and some zip ties.” She lifted them out next—all of them pink.
I pointed to the pile and joked, “You have the tools for a kidnapping there.”
She lifted her chin and grinned. “Exactly.”
My eyes bugged open. “Just who are you plannin’ on kidnapping?”
“J.R. Simmons, of course.”
 
 
Chapter 17
 
 
I was too shocked by Neely Kate’s pronouncement to give much thought to the fact that Jed had just pulled into Jonah’s church parking lot, but then he slammed the brakes so hard, Neely Kate’s kidnapping kit fell onto the floorboard.
“Jed!” she shouted.
He shoved the gearshift into park and then spun around so fast that surely he was going to need to see a chiropractor to have his spine realigned. “What the hell are you talkin’ about?”
She rolled her eyes as she grabbed the items off the floor and stuffed them back into her bag. “Come on, Jed. What’s our endgame here? What are we gonna do once we find him?”
“I’m sure as hell not wrapping him up in pink and white polka-dot duct tape!”
“Nobody asked you to. Rose and I will do it.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to be included in that part of her crazy scheme, but it didn’t seem like a good time to contradict her. Besides, I couldn’t help thinking she had a point. We needed an endgame plan, but we needed information first. “Before we can do any such thing, we have to get close to J.R. Simmons, and right now, he might as well be holed up in the North Pole, workin’ in Santa’s workshop. So let’s talk to Hilary to see if she knows anything about Roberta.”
“She might even know how to find the big guy himself,” Neely Kate said, grabbing both boxes of cupcakes—which had somehow survived the abrupt stop.
“Santa?” I asked hopefully.
“Yeah, right.”
I started to open the car door, but then stopped. “Jed, I think you should stay out here.”
“I already figured that part out. I doubt Teagen or Marshal are gonna be helpin’ at the food pantry. I plan to make a few calls while you’re inside.”
I climbed out and followed Neely Kate, who was already halfway up the steps to the front door.
“Neely Kate! Wait!”
She kept going until she reached the top step, then turned to stare down at me with a determined look in her eyes.
“Look,” I said as I climbed the last few steps. “You know her. We can’t just waltz in there and ask her anything we want. We have to warm her up.”
“Hello.” She lifted the small cupcake box. “That’s what this is for.”
“But shouldn’t we at least have some kind of plan?” I asked, starting to panic.