Hell in a Handbasket

by Denise Grover Swank

  I chewed on the information she’d shared. “What does Jed think? Could Bubba be tied up in the robbery or the file?”

  “He says it’s too soon to speculate.”

  I glanced at the time. It was nearly three o’clock. “So what are you and Jed plannin’ to do now?”

  “Bubba’s supervisor gave us the address of Bubba’s parents. We’re gonna go talk to them. What are you gonna do?”

  I twisted my mouth as I stared at the clock. I was supposed to meet Mason in an hour or so, and my stomach was in knots. “I was thinkin’ I could go see Charlene by myself if you’re still tied up.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go alone. Let’s do that together tomorrow.”

  “I thought you were workin’ on findin’ Becky?”

  “I am, but it feels like we’re about to hit a dead end. We’ll go to Big Thief Hollow together.”

  “Okay,” I said, running a hand over my head. “Maybe we could bring Jed. I’d like to pay Charlene’s dealer a visit too. See if Carol Ann asked him for money.”

  Neely Kate was quiet for a moment. “That’s a good idea. I’m sure he’ll agree.”

  “In the meantime, how about I go to Patsy’s real estate office and question them with the new information I’ve gotten?”

  “What new information?”

  Crap. I hadn’t told her about my meeting with James or any of the information he’d given me. “I’ll tell you tonight, but I’m not sure when I’ll get back to the farm. I’m meeting Mason at the office sometime after four.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea, Rose? You were pretty upset talkin’ about him this morning.”

  “I think I need to, Neely Kate. I need to see him without all the freaking out and crying.”

  “Yeah, I understand. I’ve spent many a late night thinkin’ about what I’ll say if I ever see Ronnie again, and in all of the scenarios I’ve come up with, I’m cool as a cucumber when I calmly tell him off.”

  I sighed. “I know I handled it all wrong.”

  “That’s not what I’m sayin’, Rose. I’m sayin’ that in my head, I’m super cool and collected when I confront him because it’s a daydream. But if I ever ran into him out of the blue, I doubt I’d be so calm. You’re prepared this time. You can say all the things you wish you’d said yesterday. Just be careful with your heart. You’ve spent months gettin’ over him. Don’t let him steal your progress.”

  * * *

  No one was happy to see me at Clydehopper Realty. For one thing, they were all in a tizzy over the fact that Patsy Sue was still missing, and they were struggling to pick up the pieces of her ongoing business deals. And for another, I was asking harder questions than Neely Kate and Jed had asked the day before.

  “I don’t like what you’re insinuating,” Bobby Tucker, Patsy’s most senior realtor said. He’d pulled me aside upon realizing my line of questioning wasn’t necessarily beneficial to the firm. I’d asked some of the other realtors about Patsy’s lawsuit and how appraisers were assigned in real estate deals.

  “I’m not sure I understand,” I said, playing innocent. “I’m merely askin’ questions about the real estate business.”

  He narrowed his eyes, not buying my act. “I thought you and Neely Kate were tryin’ to clear Patsy’s name, not run it through the mud.”

  I cocked my head. “How is askin’ questions about how she does things runnin’ her name through the mud?”

  He stammered, realizing he’d backed himself into a corner.

  “I promise you, Mr. Tucker, I have a reason for my questions, and I also promise that Neely Kate and I really are trying to find out who killed Carol Ann.” Even if it turned out to be Patsy.

  He nodded, but he still didn’t seem very happy.

  “I know that Patsy upset a few people. Do you think you could get me a list of people who might have been upset enough to do something drastic?”

  “Like what?”

  “Patsy might be in danger,” I said. I truly was worried that Kip Wagner might have snatched her to get to Calvin, but I still felt like we needed to pursue this angle too.

  “The sheriff’s deputies never mentioned it. They hardly asked any questions at all.”

  “That’s because we’re goin’ at this from different angles, so I’d really appreciate it if you could get me that list.”

  “I’m about to go to a closing,” he said. “The Lebowskis have had their closing moved twice. They’ll never stand for a third change, especially if it’s of my doin’. The soonest I can get a list to you is tomorrow morning.”

  “I suppose that will have to do.” I gave him my card and told him to email me the list, then walked out to my truck. I pulled my phone out of my purse to see if I’d missed any calls and saw a text from Mason.

  I can be at your office at 4:30. Does that work for you?

  Part of me wanted to tell him no, that I’d changed my mind. But I went with my gut. I needed to see him. I needed the closure.

  See you then.

  I was only ten minutes from my office, so I had plenty of time to go by the coffee shop and get a cup of coffee. Since I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, I needed the caffeine boost. But first I called Deputy Miller.

  “Rose,” he said when he answered. “I’ve been meaning to call you. Thanks for the tip about the camera.”

  “So you found one?”

  “No . . . but we found the telltale signs that one had been there. It adds a whole new dimension to the case.”

  “Come up with a cause of death yet?” I asked. The obvious answer was that she’d been strangled with Calvin’s tie, but nothing about this case had gone as expected.

  He was silent for a moment. “Strangulation.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Is that it?” he asked, and I could tell he was interested in what I might have. “Any other questions?”

  I pulled into a parking space in front of the landscaping office. I was dying to know if anyone had given any serious attention to my anonymous tip, but obviously I couldn’t ask. “There’s an appointment I need to get to. Thanks for the chat.”

  “Rose. Wait.”

  I turned off the engine and sat back in my seat. “Okay.”

  “Have you heard any whisperings of Kip Wagner’s involvement in all of this?”

  I couldn’t help smiling, but I kept my voice neutral. “In regard to Carol Ann’s murder? No. But I did hear his pawn shop was robbed. Do you think the two are related?” Had they made a connection before my call? Or had my message spurred this new line of thought?

  “No,” he said, keeping his voice neutral too. “We got a tip we’re running down, but if you’d heard anything to help us . . .”

  “I haven’t heard anything that can help you tie them together,” I said, which I told myself wasn’t really a lie. I did know things about Wagner, just nothing that explicitly tied him to Carol Ann. Well, nothing but a hunch, and I’d already shared that with them anonymously. “And don’t worry. I’ll keep the tip to myself too.”

  “Thanks.”

  I still had a few minutes, so I hurried down to the coffee shop. Just as I opened the door to go in, I heard Joe calling my name from across the street.

  “Rose!”

  I let go of the door and turned to face him, my stomach turning flips. Had he figured out that I’d made the anonymous call about Kip Wagner? I decided to play innocent. “Hey, Joe.”

  He headed across the street to join me, and the serious expression on his face only worried me more. “How’s Neely Kate?”

  Some of the worry bled out of me. He was still upset over Neely Kate. “She’s still mad, but she’s keepin’ busy with our investigation.”

  “How’s that goin’?” he asked, but I could see there was something else he wanted to tell me. He was working his way up to it.

  “Slow.”

  He nodded. “Randy’s sayin’ the same thing on his end, although he told me he got an interestin’ lead
that might prove more helpful than we could ever dream.” He swallowed, then lowered his voice. “Rose, there’s something you need to know.” He shook his head. “Maybe you already know, but I wasn’t sure, and I don’t want you to be blindsided.”

  I braced myself. “What?”

  “Mason’s in town.”

  I stared up at him in disbelief. Joe was warning me that Mason was back? The worry in his eyes told me that he was sincere. He didn’t want me to accidentally run into him. “I know.”

  He gazed at me for a second, looking a bit chagrined. “I’m sorry if I overstepped.”

  I shook my head. “No. I didn’t know he was comin’. I found out exactly how you hoped to keep me from finding out—by running into him yesterday afternoon.” I put my hand on his arm. “Thank you for tryin’ to protect me. It means more than you know.”

  He smiled down at me, but his eyes were sad. “I know how much he hurt you when he left.” He leaned closer. “He was a fool, Rose, and you deserve better than that.”

  His words stunned me. There was no gloating in his statement. Only sorrow and empathy. I would have thought he was using this to make another go at restarting a relationship with me, but he was dating Dena. “You don’t even know why he left.”

  “Because you embarrassed him,” Joe said in a tight voice. “He was the assistant district attorney, and you were playin’ with criminals behind his back.”

  I glanced away, unable to face him. Joe had it half right. “Does everyone think that?”

  “I don’t know what everyone thinks, but I know Mason Deveraux.” He paused as though he was weighing his words. “He’s here on official business. Did he tell you that?”

  I nodded. “But not what.”

  He paused, glancing back at the imposing stone courthouse before turning back to face me. “He’s here to rip this place apart, brick by brick.”

  My breath caught in my throat. “What does that mean?”

  “He’s got a solid foothold in the attorney general’s office, and he definitely has the man’s ear. He knows enough about how this county is run that he’s presented a case to his boss to start a formal investigation into the county government. He’s about to start burnin’ it all down to the ground.”

  I stared back up at him. “You mean he’s gonna expose the corruption?”

  “That and more.”

  A cold chill washed through my body. “What does that mean?”

  His dark gaze held mine. “He’s about to go after the crime world too.”

  I swayed, not realizing I’d become dizzy until Joe grabbed my elbow to steady me, holding my gaze the entire time. He was watching me for a reaction, and I’d just given him a doozy of one.

  “I have no idea what your part is in that world. I’ve heard rumors that the Lady in Black has resurfaced, and we both know your role as Lady last winter wasn’t just a pretense to bring down my father.”

  The Lady in Black had fallen on the law enforcement officials’ radar since the day after Thanksgiving, when rumors had floated around that a woman in a black dress paired with a hat and veil had shown up at the auction to decide the fate of who ran the criminal underworld in the county. Everyone knew she’d stood at Skeeter Malcolm’s side. I’d heard whispers of it from Mason and his team of officials. They’d been intent on finding her.

  And now Mason was back in town with the full knowledge of my true role as Lady, and the knowledge that James and I were friends.

  He’d seen the prescription with Dermot’s name.

  I stared up at Joe, wide-eyed. “Do you think he’s comin’ for me?”

  His mouth gaped in shock. “Why would he come for you?”

  I took a step back, trying to think things through, but I was so thrown off I no longer felt capable of logic.

  His mouth closed and the skin around his eyes tightened. “You think he’d come after you to hurt you?”

  Would he? I shook my head. “No. He told me he’s sorry for how he ended things. He told me he wants me back.”

  He blinked, obviously taken aback. “Do you want him back?” Then he shook his head, his jaw tight. “No. Don’t answer that. I have no right askin’. I’m sorry.”

  I didn’t answer. I was still trying to process what he’d told me.

  “So then you already know he’s movin’ back.”

  “What?”

  “Oh.” He looked pained. “I figured he would have told you.”

  I shook my head. “No. You must’ve gotten it wrong. He told me he was staying until Thursday morning, and he only told me that because he wanted to talk to me again before he left.”

  Joe didn’t say anything.

  He had to be wrong. “Maeve told me she was considering moving to Little Rock to be closer to him. She told me this morning after havin’ breakfast with him.”

  Pain filled his eyes, and I realized I should have softened that piece of news. Joe and Maeve had formed a special friendship last fall. He had been her daughter’s boyfriend over a year ago, although they had never met before. Joe had broken up with Savannah to go back to his toxic on-again, off-again girlfriend Hilary. When Savannah had announced she was pregnant, Hilary had convinced Joe it was a lie she’d made up to get him back. J.R. Simmons had had Savannah killed to make sure he didn’t lose control of the situation.

  Although Joe hadn’t known her murder was his father’s doing until last February, he’d always blamed himself for her death. Maeve had offered him something he couldn’t seem to give himself—forgiveness—and he’d latched onto it and her like a drowning man.

  He swallowed, his eyes glistening, then cleared his throat. “Maybe he didn’t share his plans with her. In fact, he acted like he wasn’t plannin’ on stayin’ until about an hour ago, but knowin’ Mason, I figured it was an act. That he’d maneuvered the conversation to make it look like it was the mayor’s idea, not his.”

  “What are you talkin’ about? What happened an hour ago?”

  “The mayor asked him to work with a county task force, which means he’ll need to be here full-time. Mason said he had to clear it with his boss, but they were so eager to clean up the corruption, he was sure the attorney general would approve.” He was still holding my arm, and his grip tightened. “Rose, maybe you should sit down. You look pale.”

  So much for being the Lady in Black. She never would have felt like passing out over a dramatic situation with an ex-boyfriend. But this was more than Mason moving back to Henryetta.

  This was Mason going after Skeeter Malcolm.

  I knew it in my bones. In Mason’s eyes, James had done this to me. To us. He’d forced me into this role, and now he was going after the man for ruining both our lives.

  I opened my mouth to say something, but then I closed it. I couldn’t talk openly with Joe. Not about that.

  “Rose, you’re really worryin’ me. Let’s get you back to your office, okay?”

  I nodded dumbly. I needed to get myself together, but my mind was racing over all the incriminating information Mason had on both James and Jed.

  There were reams of it.

  Chapter 21

  Joe held my arm until we were in my office. The afternoon had heated up, but I hadn’t realized it until the air-conditioned air hit the beads of sweat on my skin. But then again, the sweat was just as likely from nerves as it was from the weather.

  I shook him free once we were inside, and I headed for my office chair.

  Joe disappeared into the back, then squatted in front of me with a cold bottle of water. “Here. Take a sip of this.”

  The fridge in the back was a new addition. Neely Kate had bought it from a woman whose son had refused to go back to college in the fall. I’d given her the twenty bucks from the business account, figuring it might be nice to store food and drinks. Joe had helped Neely Kate move it in back when things had been better between them.

  He started to unscrew the cap for me, but I took it from him, irritated with myself for acting so helpless. “I can
do it, Joe,” I said softly.

  After I took a sip, he asked in a soothing tone, “What has you worried, Rose? What does Mason have on you?” Down on one knee, he was a little shorter than eye level.

  “Everything.”

  “Everything you did as the Lady in Black last winter?”

  I stared at him wide-eyed. Joe was my ex-boyfriend and now my friend, but he was also the Chief Deputy Sheriff of Fenton County. I’d do best to remember that.

  But he must have read my thoughts in my eyes. “I’m here as your friend right now, Rose. I’ll help you.”

  “You’ll help me against Mason?”

  His eyes hardened. “You bet your ass I will.”

  Why would he do this? If Mason was really on a witch hunt like Joe suspected, he could potentially dig up dirt on him too. Joe had plenty of skeletons in his closet up in Little Rock, and they had always irritated the snot out of Mason. If Joe helped me, he could be putting himself in the line of fire.

  I shook my head. What was I thinking? This was Mason, my sweet Mason who had been so gentle and tender with me, even after he’d discovered my awful secret, even when he’d ripped my heart to shreds by ending us.

  Mason would never hurt me.

  Right?

  I took another sip of water, then lowered the bottle to my lap. “I think we’re overreactin’.”

  “You do?” he asked, his disbelief evident in his eyes.

  “Why would he pretend he wants to get back together if he’s plannin’ to prosecute me?”

  “He might be usin’ you for information, Rose.”

  “This is Mason we’re talkin’ about, Joe. Mason.”

  “You didn’t see the man I saw in Little Rock, Rose. He wasn’t the man you know now.”

  My heart stuttered. “How so?”

  “Little Rock Mason was cold and calculating. No defense attorney wanted to deal with him in the courtroom. When you started dating him, he became a gentler version of himself. More compassionate.” He paused. “But the man I saw in that meeting this afternoon was more like the Little Rock version of Mason Deveraux. Ruthless. Driven.”

  A shiver ran down my back. He’d told me that before, but Mason himself had admitted that I’d softened him. Surely he hadn’t reverted to his old ways so quickly. “No. I don’t believe he would hurt me. He said he still loves me. I think he might go after everyone else, but he would never intentionally hurt me.” But I had no doubt he would go after James and Jed, and if he used what he knew from last winter, I wasn’t sure there was any way to untangle me from the mess.