“Kate knew?” I asked in a matter-of-fact tone.
She looked startled by my reaction and sat up straighter. “Yeah… I think so.”
“That was why she castrated him.”
She nodded.
If Kate was intent on hurting my best friend, then why would she avenge her like that? Had she really done it as an act of twisted allegiance to Neely Kate? “And she killed him because of it too?”
Neely Kate hesitated. “Basically.”
“And Stella? You knew her from Ardmore?” I was proud of myself for sounding as cool as if I were interviewing someone during an investigation.
She nodded. “I met her through her grandmother, who lived in the trailer next to the one my momma and I lived in when I was a kid. Miss Zelda took me in after I got to town, and Stella helped me get a job at the strip club.”
“And Branson? How are he and Stella connected?”
She looked away, but not before I saw the tears in her eyes. “The club.”
“The strip club? Did he work there?”
“He was a customer. I ended up going out with him, and at first he seemed nice. Sweet.” She glanced up at me, looking so small and broken. “I just wanted someone to finally love me, Rose. I was so stupid,” she said with a wail.
I rubbed both her arms. “You weren’t stupid, Neely Kate. You’re the furthest thing from stupid. You trusted him and he took advantage of your trust. That is on him, not you.” I inwardly steeled myself to show no reaction as I asked, “How long did that go on?”
Wiping the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand, she said, “Six months or so. There’s something else I need to tell you.”
There was more? Horror threatened to break me, but I locked it up tight and said in a strong voice, “Okay.”
She glanced down at the ground, breaking down into tears again. “Toward the end, not long before I killed Pearce Manchester, Stella figured out that I was pregnant.” Her face lifted. “She took me to Oklahoma City to get an abortion.”
I couldn’t hide my sorrow as the pain in my chest nearly made me gasp.
“You think I killed my baby,” she said in a confrontational tone.
No, but I was certain she thought so.
Be strong. Be firm. But the look on her face weakened my resolve. It wasn’t in my nature to take in a story like this without feeling it in every bone of my body. I was a nurturer like Maeve. “Neely Kate,” I said with a shaky voice. “You did what you had to do.”
“Did I?” she challenged in a confrontational tone. “Or did I take the easy way out? Stella had a thing for Branson, and she led me like a lamb to the slaughter. My baby was the sacrifice.”
I hate that she blamed herself for this. My eyes felt hot with held-back tears, and I felt on the verge of falling apart. Of bawling. How could I be strong for her when I felt so broken?
The answer came to me in a flash. The Lady in Black.
I needed to be strong like the Lady in Black. My attitude changed instantly, as though I’d put the black hat and veil on my head. My back straightened again, and I asked in a direct tone, “Would you really want to have a baby in that situation? What in Hades do you think that man—no, that monster—would have done to a baby?”
She looked down. “I don’t know.”
“Your baby would likely have been hurt or killed before it was even born.” I took a breath. “Stella convinced you this was the best way to handle it?”
She nodded.
“And did you see another way?”
She broke down again. “No.”
“Don’t you dare sit there feelin’ ashamed, Neely Kate Rivers,” I admonished in a strict tone. “You did what you thought was necessary and best for all involved.”
“Did I?” She pulled away from me, hopping off the table. “I did it to protect me! I was workin’ on a plan to get away, but Stella convinced me that Branson would find out about the baby and hunt me down. I was a coward.”
I stood too, channeling the stern Lady in Black with every ounce of strength I had left. “And what do you think he would have done once he found you, Neely Kate?” When she didn’t answer, I said, “A monster like that would have been out to hurt you for leaving him. He would have used your baby as a tool to hurt you.”
She started to cry again.
“But you knew that, Neely Kate. You knew deep down that he wouldn’t rest until he hurt that baby.” I grabbed her shoulders and held on tight, forcing her to look at me. “You sacrificed the one thing you want most in the world to protect your baby from the pain it was bound to suffer. That’s courage, Neely Kate Rivers. That’s love.”
She broke into sobs, collapsing on me. I wrapped my arms around her as gut-wrenching sobs wracked her body. I knew what she was thinking—that her infertility was her punishment for her having an abortion, but I also understood why she’d done it. She’d spent her life wanting someone to love her because of the abuse and neglect she’d suffered, and she’d never wish a childhood like that on her baby. Right or wrong, she’d made her decision, and I wouldn’t be her judge and jury, although I knew plenty of people would volunteer for the job. They were wasting their time. Neely Kate had punished herself far more over the last five years than any judgmental fool could.
When she settled down, we sat on the table again. She told me the full story of Pearce Manchester. She’d planned to escape with the help of another dancer, but at the same time Branson had been working out a deal for her to “service” a big client from Dallas. A man who’d openly admitted he planned to inflict pain and physical abuse on her. Branson had caught on to her escape plans and dragged her to the meet.
She didn’t say much about her experience with Pearce Manchester, only that she’d felt sure he was going to kill her. She’d strangled him instead, with the rope he’d used to bind her hands.
Branson’s brother had shown up out of guilt, and found her with the body. He’d convinced her to bury the body rather than report the crime, and she’d agreed, knowing that the court of public opinion would convict her based on her profession alone—a stripper kills a wealthy Dallas businessman, and the son of a prominent oil baron to boot. Beasley had gotten into an accident on the way back into town. He’d been arrested for driving while intoxicated, and Neely Kate had caught the first bus back to Fenton County.
When she finished, we were silent for a full minute before she asked, “Still think I’m brave and strong?”
I reached for her hand and squeezed tight, shoving all my pain and horror down deep. “I think you’re even braver and stronger than I realized.”
She turned to me in shock.
“What?” I asked. “You thought that story was going to make me think less of you? It’s the exact opposite. You’ve lived through absolute hell, yet you’re the cheerful, optimistic person sitting next to me. What you lived through would break most people, Neely Kate, but it only made you stronger.”
She looked speechless.
“While the whole J.R. mess was goin’ on and I was keepin’ the Lady in Black from Mason, James told me something that has stuck in my memory.” I scooted to the side to face her better. “He told me that I’m not a hothouse rose, but a wild rose, and I thrive on hardship. It makes me stronger.” I squeezed her hand. “You and I are so much alike. We had crappy mothers. We want to be free of the pain of our past. But most importantly, whenever we face hard times, we get back up and keep right on fighting. We keep goin’ because we’re survivors.”
Tears filled her eyes again. “I wasn’t a fighter when Branson kept me as his sex slave. I gave up, Rose.”
My brows shot up. “You were held captive for six months? And how long did you give up? Maybe half that time? Three months, Neely Kate. Three months out of the twenty-five years you’ve been alive. I gave up years ago and never found the gumption to break free until I was twenty-four, so don’t you try to convince me that you’re weak. You’re still the strong one between the two of us. I don’t see you a
ny different.”
She started to cry again, and this time I held her close, gently rocking her as I stroked the back of her head. As I let my guard down, my horror at what had happened to her rose up. I may have dared to compare my pathetic life to hers, but her misery and pain far outweighed my own. Against my will, my mind’s eye conjured images of what she’d endured under Branson Desoto’s abuse, something that horrified me even more.
Neely Kate’s biggest worry was that I would treat her differently, and I had to admit she’d had a legitimate concern. It was going to take everything within me to pretend she’d never told me any of this, otherwise I was going to baby the crap out of her.
I heard the crunch of gravel coming down the lane from the county road. I realized I’d left my purse in the car—along with my gun and my phone—and I was pretty sure Neely Kate’s phone was attached to the charging cord in the console.
We both sat up in full alert, and I was about to bolt for the car when James’s car pulled to an abrupt halt in front of us.
“What in Hades is he doin’ here?” Neely Kate asked as she wiped her face with her hands.
I shook my head slightly, staring at him in astonishment. “I have no idea.”
How’d he even find us?
His car door flew open and he was out in a flash, dressed as I’d left him this morning. His body was rigid, making his arm and chest muscles stretch his T-shirt even more than usual. He looked livid. “Why aren’t you answering your damn phones?”
I gave a tiny gesture toward Neely Kate’s car. “I guess we forgot them in the car.”
“What the hell are you doin’ out here?” he demanded as he slammed his car door shut.
“We were about to look for clues in our investigation.”
He looked incredulous. “You haven’t even started yet?”
Neely Kate stood. “What does that mean? How’d you even find us?”
“Jed found you!” he shouted. “He saw you’d been parked here for over an hour and you wouldn’t answer your damn phones! We thought…” His voice trailed off, leaving what they’d thought to our imaginations.
“How’d Jed know where we were?” I asked. “I thought he didn’t have anyone following us.”
“He doesn’t, but he put an app on Neely Kate’s new phone so he could find her in case she went missin’.”
“He’s been spyin’ on me?” she shouted.
I stood and put a hand on her arm. “Can you blame him, Neely Kate? He’s worried sick that you’ll get snatched up again, and if we’ve been here longer than an hour…” I turned to face James. “What time is it now?”
“It’s damn near close to three thirty!”
We hadn’t checked in with Jed since one, and we sure hadn’t told him what we were doing out here. I couldn’t blame him for being worried.
It struck me that James had gotten here before Jed had. I walked over to him and grinned. “You were worried about me.”
“Of course I was worried about you!” he shouted, then narrowed his eyes. “Why’s that so damn amusin’?”
I reached up on my tiptoes and kissed him. “It’s not,” I said with a grin.
“Then why are you still smilin’?” he asked, his voice full of accusation.
“I still don’t get why you’re here if Jed was the one trackin’ me,” Neely Kate said.
“He called me to see if I knew where you were,” he said, sounding irritated again. “And since I was already down in this area, he sent me the coordinates.” Talking about Jed must have made him realize his friend was still worried, because he pulled his phone out of his front pocket and placed a call.
“I found ’em,” he said. “They’re safe and sound. They said they were here to investigate their case, but I found ’em sittin’ on a damn picnic table.” He paused. “Yeah, I’ll still be here.” He hung up and stuffed his phone back into his pocket.
“Is Jed comin’ here?” Neely Kate asked, sounding outraged.
“When he couldn’t reach you, he lost his shit,” James said. “Of course he’s on his way.”
“You know where I am, why’s he still comin’?”
“For the same damn reason I’m still here!” he shouted, although it was obvious he wasn’t really mad at her.
I put a hand on his shoulder and rubbed lightly. “Okay. We’re here. We’re safe. Neely Kate and I should have checked in. We hadn’t planned on stayin’ here nearly this long, but with everything else goin’ on, we should have considered that you both might be worried.” I stared up at him. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
His jaw worked as though he wanted to say something, but the look in his eyes suggested he was at a loss.
“I had no idea that Skeeter Malcolm could be rendered speechless,” Neely Kate said with a tiny laugh. “Imagine that.”
He shot her a look that said he’d found something to fill the void—an argument—but we heard the sound of another car speeding down the lane.
James instantly moved in front of me and Neely Kate, his body tense, but he relaxed as soon as the car broke the clearing. Jed’s car pulled up next to Neely Kate’s.
Jed didn’t waste time on accusations, just got out of the car and swept Neely Kate into his arms.
“I’m sorry I worried you,” she said, holding on to him. All her protests and annoyance had faded upon seeing him—maybe because he’d known exactly how to handle the situation.
“What were you doin’ here so long?” he asked.
She leaned back and stared up at him. “I told Rose everything about Ardmore.”
His eyes widened, his gaze shifting to me. “Everything?”
Neely Kate leaned into him. “Everything.”
“I’m done at the garage for the day,” he said. “Why don’t you come with me and let Rose drive your car home?”
She jerked out of his arms as though he had jabbed her with a white-hot poker. “We’re in the middle of an investigation, Jed!”
He didn’t tell her she sounded exhausted, though she did. He simply held his ground and said, “I think you and I need to sit down and discuss the Carly situation.”
She put a hand on her hip and pointed a finger at him. “Jed.”
“With everything else goin’ on, we need to look at her and this Austin Kelly more closely. She could be dangerous.”
My stomach cramped. “What’s your gut telling you, Jed? Do you think either of them are with Hardshaw Group?”
Jed grimaced. “I’m not sure, and that worries me.”
“Who the hell are Carly and Austin Kelly?” James asked in a short tone.
I pushed out a breath. “It’s a long story, but the short version is Neely Kate and I found Carly broken down on the side of the road this morning and called Jed to have her car towed to his and Witt’s garage.”
“What does she have to do with this Austin Kelly and Hardshaw?” James asked.
“She’s from Dallas,” Jed said. “She claims she got lost off Interstate 30.”
“Interstate 30?” James asked in disbelief. “That’s a good hour’s drive away.”
“She said her phone died and she got turned around,” Neely Kate said defensively.
“But she hasn’t given any of us a last name, and her story about where she’s headed doesn’t line up,” Jed said.
James’s back stiffened. “You have her car in your shop right now?” he asked. “Was it rigged to break down?”
“No.” Jed took a few steps closer. “That’s just it. The car’s old and it looks like it hadn’t been driven in years until recently. A broken belt is what killed it. It looks like a natural break, plus there’s damage to the engine from the oil that’s been sittin’ in it for years. Someone poured new oil on top of the old oil, and frankly, it’s a wonder it got this far if she really drove it from Dallas.”
“Or maybe they rigged it up, hoping it would last long enough to get the girls’ attention,” James said.
“We found her about five miles down the road
from Rose’s house as we were heading into Henryetta,” Neely Kate said. “That’s seems pretty far-fetched. Why go to so much trouble?”
James studied her for a moment before turning back to Jed. “I take it you looked into who owns the car?”
“The license plate has a current tag, but a little diggin’ shows it’s not registered to the car in our garage.”
“She stole it?” James asked.
“I’m not sure,” Jed responded. “The paperwork for the 95 Escort in my garage is registered to an Austin Kelly, but the license plate on the car is for a brand-new BMW in Austin Kelly’s name.”
“Do you happen to know where this woman is now?” James asked.
“Actually,” I said, “we do.”
He swung his gaze to me. “Go on.”
“She’s workin’ for Maeve at the nursery.”
He stared at me as though I’d just turned into a unicorn, but he quickly recovered. “How the hell did that happen?”
“She’s runnin’ from something,” Neely Kate said. “And we’re helpin’ her.”
“Did she tell you that?” he asked.
“We don’t know much more than what Jed has just told you,” I said.
James shifted his weight as he studied me and Neely Kate in confusion. “Let me get this straight. You know absolutely nothing about this woman other than she’s supposedly from Dallas and her car broke down on the side of the road.” His forehead wrinkled. “Then you helped her get her car towed to Jed’s garage… Fill in the blanks for me. How does that turn into a job interview?”
I pushed out a frustrated breath. “Look, I know it seems crazy, but she’s worried about payin’ to fix the car. She wanted to stay in a motel that takes cash. It’s obvious she doesn’t want to leave a digital footprint, which means she’s hidin’. While she could be here for devious reasons, I’m inclined to agree with Neely Kate. I believe she’s runnin’ from something.”
James studied me for several long seconds. “So you gave her a job to keep an eye on her?”
I didn’t hide my surprise. “Yeah, and if she really needs money, I’m helpin’ her. Either way, we know where she’s at and what’s she doin’.”
Up Shute Creek: Rose Gardner Investigation #4 Page 12
