Call Back: Magnolia Steel Mystery #3 (Magnolia Steele Mystery)
Page 36
Marci grabbed her purse and marched the walk of shame to the front door, nearly slipping a couple of times. When she passed us, she held up her head and kept her eyes on the door like she was Anne Boleyn marching to her beheading.
When the door closed, Neely Kate said, “Rose… I had no idea.”
Looking at the mess made me exhausted, and we hadn’t even started to clean it up yet. “We don’t have time to pick this up, but we can’t leave it like this either.” I set Muffy down, then grabbed my phone out of my pocket and called the nursery I co-owned with my sister. Violet was in Texas, recovering from her bone marrow transplant, but we’d found the perfect person to fill in until she came back. Maeve Deveraux answered on the third ring.
“Gardner Sisters Nursery, Maeve speaking. How can I help you?”
Hearing her cheery voice helped ease some of the tension in my back. “Maeve, I was wondering if I could borrow Anna for a bit. Are you too busy to turn her loose?”
“Of course I can spare her, Rose. But she’s really not dressed to be digging.”
“I actually need her in the office.” Then I filled her in on the details.
“Oh, dear. I’ll send her over right away.” Then she paused and lowered her voice. “I haven’t talked to you in over a week. How are you doing?”
“I’m great. Good.” And I was. Mostly. My ex-boyfriend Mason—Maeve’s son—and I had broken up four months ago, and he’d moved back to Little Rock. My heart had been broken, but I’d moved on. Mostly. Even if I still refused to consider dating anyone, much to Neely Kate’s dismay. “How about you?”
It was no secret Maeve had moved from Little Rock to tiny Henryetta to be closer to her only living child. She’d been lonely and eager to feel wanted and needed again. But she’d found a place for herself here, and despite Mason’s decision to leave, she’d stayed. Still, I knew she missed her son something fierce. I’d kept my distance, mostly out of guilt. I couldn’t help wondering if she secretly blamed me for him leaving.
“Good. I’m excited about Violet coming back.” But I heard the wistful tone in her voice.
While her position had only been temporary, she’d been working full-time for the past four months and seemed to love every minute of it. “You know, Violet won’t be back to one hundred percent,” I said. “It occurs to me that we’ll still need help. Would you be willing to stay on part-time?”
“Of course. I’d love to.”
It warmed my heart to make her happy. Maeve had been like the mother I’d always wanted. I missed her. “Well, then that’s settled. You’re an official permanent employee at Gardner Sisters Nursery.”
“I’ll send Anna right over. And Rose…thank you.”
“No, thank you. I have no idea what we would have done without you these last four months.” I hung up and stuffed my phone back into my pocket. “Anna’s on her way.”
“Well, now that this is taken care of…” Neely Kate said, brushing off her hands. “Let’s go talk to Raddy Dyer.”
I held up my hand, blocking the exit. “Hold up. We’re not going anywhere just yet.”
“But Anna’s coming to clean up, which means we can go.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“I’m really sorry about Marci,” Neely Kate said with a sigh.
“Everyone deserves a chance. I’m sorry if you’re in trouble with your aunt for firing her.” It was hard to hold this against my best friend. I’d met her aunt. I probably would have hired Marci too.
She waved it off. “I might get stuck with the burnt ends of Aunt Jackie’s raccoon roast next Christmas, but I’ll manage.”
I almost blurted out, raccoon roast? but I wisely kept my mouth shut. Neely Kate’s family was one of a kind.
She shuffled her feet and shifted her weight before giving me a hopeful look. “I checked the weather on my phone, and it looks like the rain won’t clear off until this afternoon…which means we have some time to talk to Raddy Dyer.”
And there it was.
I sighed. “Neely Kate—”
“Now, before you say no, let me plead my case.”
“Funny choice of words,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “I’m listening.”
Excitement filled her eyes. “You and I have solved cases before—” I started to protest, but she held up her hand, “—let me finish.”
“Okay.”
“I know we accidentally stumbled into some bigger things last fall and winter, but we got out of all of them, right?”
Stumbled into some bigger things was an understatement. But she was right. We’d uncovered who had been behind my kidnapping attempt, what had happened to her missing cousin, and who had tried to steal the throne of the king of Fenton County’s underworld. And every single instance had been dangerous. After last February, I’d vowed to leave danger behind and live a quiet life.
Only Neely Kate was bound and determined to make me live boldly.
“Neely Kate…”
She held up her hands. “You said you’d listen.” When I didn’t answer, she lifted her eyebrows. “Over the last four months, we’ve solved some mysteries that had nothin’ to do with us. Not to mention they were completely harmless.”
“We found a missing garden gnome, a lost dog, and figured out a dispute between two neighbors.” And I couldn’t deny I’d loved every minute of it.
“So why won’t you consider this?” she asked in frustration.
“This is different. From what Marci said, this man thinks his ex-wife is holding his grandmother’s jewelry hostage. It’s not a mystery. It’s a hostage negotiation. You should tell Carter Hale,” I said, referring to our defense attorney friend. “It seems more like a situation for a law shark, not two landscapers.”
“We’re not just two landscapers. We’ve solved mysteries before. You’ve worked with the crime lord of Fenton County, for Pete’s sake. Missing jewelry should be a piece of cake.”
“Neely Kate…”
“Let’s just talk to the guy, okay?” she asked, hope filling her eyes. “We can find out what he wants.”
“He wants us to get his jewelry back. His ex-wife has it. Where’s the investigation? Maybe he expects us to beat the jewelry out of her with our shovels.”
“Please?” She gave me a pout, then her eyes widened. “If it makes you feel better, you can have a vision. See how the meeting goes.”
She had to be really desperate to ask me that. I was capable of seeing visions, images of the future through another person’s eyes when I touched them, but after everything that had happened four months ago, I avoided having them whenever possible. But now that I wasn’t “forcing” them as I’d begun to do last winter, they were spontaneous again—coming out of nowhere. Seeing as how blurting out whatever I saw was part of my gift, it often put me in embarrassing situations.
Still, I had no desire to force one now.
I groaned. “Fine.” When she started to get excited, I held up my hands. “We’ll talk to him. That’s all. Then you and I will talk about it and decide where to go from there.”
Her head bobbed as she nodded. “Sure. Of course.”
I’d seen that look before. I suspected she’d already texted Raddy Dyer and accepted the case.
My phone began to ring and I pulled it from my jeans pocket, surprised to see the initials SM—Skeeter Malcolm—on my screen. I shot Neely Kate a glance before I answered.
“James, I haven’t heard from you in a while.” Several weeks, to be exact.
“Lady,” he said, his voice tight. “We’ve got a problem.”
FAMILY JEWELS
(Rose Gardner Investigations #1)
Also by Denise Grover Swank
Rose Gardner Investigations
FAMILY JEWELS (November 29, 2016)
FOR THE BIRDS (July 11, 2017)
Rose Gardner Exposed Novellas
TRAILER TRASH: Neely Kate
April 18, 2017
(Rose Gardner Investigations #1.5)
&nbs
p; Magnolia Steele Mystery
Center Stage
Act Two
Call Back
Curtain Call
(October 17, 2017)
Rose Gardner Mysteries
Novellas are bonus material
TWENTY-EIGHT AND A HALF WISHES
TWENTY-NINE AND A HALF REASONS
THIRTY AND A HALF EXCUSES
FALLING TO PIECES (novella)
THIRTY-ONE AND A HALF REGRETS
THIRTY-TWO AND A HALF COMPLICATIONS
PICKING UP THE PIECES (novella)
THIRTY-THREE AND A HALF SHENANIGANS
ROSE AND HELENA SAVE CHRISTMAS (novella)
RIPPLE OF SECRETS (novella)
THIRTY-FOUR AND A HALF PREDICAMENTS
THIRTY-FIVE AND A HALF CONSPIRACIES
THIRTY-SIX AND A HALF MOTIVES
SINS OF THE FATHER (novella)
The Wedding Pact
(Humorous contemporary romance)
THE SUBSTITUTE
THE PLAYER
THE GAMBLER
THE VALENTINE (short story)
Bachelor Brotherhood
Spinoff of The Wedding Pact series
ONLY YOU
UNTIL YOU (May 30, 2017)
ALWAYS YOU (October 2017)
Young adult contemporary romance
ONE PARIS SUMMER
Off the Subject Series
(New adult contemporary romance)
AFTER MATH
REDESIGNED
BUSINESS AS USUAL
The Chosen Series
(Adult urban fantasy)
CHOSEN
HUNTED
SACRIFICE
REDEMPTION
Complete CHOSEN Box Set
Emergence (short)
Middle Ground (short)
Homecoming (short)
Curse Keepers Series
(Urban fantasy)
THE CURSE KEEPERS
THE CURSE BREAKERS
THE CURSE DEFIERS
CURSE KEEPERS COLLECTION (box set)
On the Otherside Series
(Young adult sci fi romance)
HERE
THERE
About the Author
Denise Grover Swank was born in Kansas City, Missouri and lived in the area until she was nineteen. Then she became a nomadic gypsy, living in five cities, four states and ten houses over the course of ten years before she moved back to her roots. She speaks English and smattering of Spanish and Chinese which she learned through an intensive Nick Jr. immersion period. Her hobbies include witty Facebook comments (in own her mind) and dancing in her kitchen with her children. (Quite badly if you believe her offspring.) Hidden talents include the gift of justification and the ability to drink massive amounts of caffeine and still fall asleep within two minutes. Her lack of the sense of smell allows her to perform many unspeakable tasks. She has six children and hasn’t lost her sanity. Or so she leads you to believe.
@DeniseMSwank
DeniseGroverSwank
denisegroverswank.com