Thirty-Two and a Half Complications
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I read the text out loud and glanced at Neely Kate. “Is that true?”
She rolled her eyes. “He’s callin’ your bluff. I’ve seen plenty of TV shows where the main character investigated a crime while the police were doing the same…and it always went just fine.”
“That was TV, Neely Kate. This is real life.”
“Seriously. It’s Joe. Do you really think he’s going to arrest us? And even if he does, there’s no way Mason will prosecute us.”
While Neely Kate had a point, I wouldn’t put it past Joe to do it just to prove he could and Mason…well, he wasn’t answering my calls. What did it mean?
Neely Kate pulled up next to a trailer with a stained white toilet stuck in the middle of the tiny yard. The pot was filled with dead plants. She shook her head, tsking. “At least they made an effort, sad as it is.”
“It might look cute with live flowers,” I said, for some reason feeling the need to defend the owner. Maybe it was because I saw the clay pots scattered around the yard, all filled with more dead plants.
“Samantha Jo is staying here, but the trailer belongs to her cousin, Carla. She was one grade ahead of me, so I know her. Let me do the talking.” Neely Kate tilted the rearview mirror down and reapplied her lipstick.
“Gladly.” After seeing Neely Kate in action in the bar on Friday night, it was apparent she had a knack for questioning.
We got out of the car and walked up to the front door.
Neely Kate climbed the rickety steps to the front door while I stayed put in the yard. The steps were too narrow for the both of us, never mind that they might not hold our combined weight.
The front door opened and I gasped.
Standing in the threshold, squinting down at us, was none other than David, Bruce Wayne’s best friend.
This mess was getting stranger and stranger.
Chapter Seventeen
“What on earth are you doin’ here, Miss Rose?” he asked.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
His face contorted into an annoyed grimace. “I’m visiting my girlfriend.”
“Samantha Jo?” While she wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the box, I was sure she wouldn’t resort to seeing a pothead with no job…or at least not a pothead with scraggly hair and a scrawny body. He was nothing like the hard-edged guy she’d been with at church.
“No.” He laughed. “Carla.”
It was Neely Kate’s turn to gasp. “You’re dating Carla?”
He jutted his head back. “Why do you sound so surprised?”
“It’s just—”
A cute redheaded woman with freckles dotting her face appeared behind David. “Neely Kate? Is that you?” she squealed, pushing past her boyfriend to nearly tackle Neely Kate with a hug.
“Carla!”
Carla pulled back, her eyes wide with excitement. “I heard you got hitched. Lemme see the ring!”
Neely Kate lifted her hand in a dramatic fashion, waving her fingers to show off her sparkly quarter-carat diamond.
“O.M.G.!” Carla squealed again, dancing in place. “It’s gorrrr-geous!”
“Ronnie got it at the pawn shop. He got quite a deal, which is why it’s so big. And it’s not cubic zirconia either.”
Carla shook her head, looking at Neely Kate with undisguised good-natured envy. “You are one lucky girl, Neely Kate.”
The brightest smile broke out across my friend’s face. “I know, right?” She patted her belly, tears in her eyes. “And I’m havin’ a baby.”
They squealed some more before Carla glanced at me, smiling. “And who’s this?”
Neely Kate reached an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, squeezing. “This here is my best friend Rose Gardner. Rose, this is Carla Mansfield.”
I smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
“Any friend of Neely Kate’s is a friend of mine.” Then Carla grabbed Neely Kate’s arm and started to tug her up the steps. “What are we all doin’ out here? Come on in and have some lemonade.”
Neely Kate glanced over her shoulder and I nodded as Carla dragged her though the door.
I followed them into the dark mobile home, which was filled with furniture that looked like it had been new when the trailer was…about half a century ago. The once cream and avocado tweed sofa was stained and the cushions sagged. Carla waved for us to sit as she went into the tiny kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. “So what’re y’all doin’ here, Neely Kate?”
David sat on the chair across from me and I stole a glance at him. David had a girlfriend? I still couldn’t get over it. David didn’t seem like the boyfriend type. I couldn’t help wondering why Bruce Wayne hadn’t mentioned it.
Neely Kate crossed her legs. “We saw Samantha Jo at church this morning and thought we’d stop by and say hello to both of y’all. I heard she’s been staying with you.”
“She was at church? That girl doesn’t go to church.”
“Well, she was there today.”
Carla grimaced and shook her head. “That girl’s a hot mess.”
“How so?”
Carla pulled an ice tray out of the freezer and put cubes into glasses. “She’s plum broke, for one thing. Lord only knows what that girl does with her salary from the bank.” She looked up at Neely Kate, an annoyed look on her face. “Paying me rent sure ain’t one of ’em.”