Family Jewels: Rose Gardner Investigations #1 Page 4

  “Five hundred dollars.”

  Neely Kate shook her head. “A thousand.”

  My mouth dropped open. Was she crazy?

  But to my shock, Raddy grumbled, “Fine. This is what it looks like.”

  He took out his phone and pulled up a photo of a gaudy necklace with translucent yellowish stones. The big oval stone in the center was surrounded by multiple smaller round stones.

  Neely Kate gasped as she leaned forward for a closer look, then pulled out her phone and snapped a photo. “How much is this sucker worth?”

  “Dunno. I need to get my hands on it to know for sure, but my buddy says it’s probably worth twenty large.”

  Neely Kate’s mouth dropped open. “Twenty thousand? And you had it slidin’ around in your underwear drawer?”

  “I didn’t have it in my underwear drawer,” he protested. “It was in my junk drawer.”

  “Even better,” she muttered.

  “Hey! I didn’t know it was worth anything. But I need it back. So are you gonna look for it?”

  Neely Kate glanced over at me, and I could tell she really wanted to find it, although only the Lord knew why. While the landscaping business wasn’t rolling in money, things were looking up, and it was pretty clear she had a dim view of Radcliffe Dyer. Maybe it was just the thrill of the chase. But if Joe came back from New Orleans with news that Ronnie really was shacking up with some woman, I wanted Neely Kate to have this. So with great reluctance, I gave a slight nod.

  She turned back to him and held out her hand. “Raddy Dyer, you’ve just hired yourself the services of Sparkle Investigations.”

  I started to cough, while Raddy made a look of disgust. “Sparkle? What am I gonna tell the guys?”

  I found myself in the unfortunate position of agreeing with our new client.

  “You’re not gonna tell them anything,” I said, grabbing Neely Kate’s arm and giving it a slight tug. “But if we’re doin’ this, we’re gonna need a deposit.” Raddy had the look of a runner all over him.

  “Fine.” He reached into his wallet and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. “Here.”

  Neely Kate snorted. “You think we’re fresh off the turnip truck? We’re gonna need more than that.”

  “Like four hundred and eighty dollars more,” I said. “Half down. Half when we turn it over.”

  “But what if you don’t find it?” he asked, wide-eyed.

  “Then you’re outta luck,” I said. “We’re not doin’ this for our health. We’re takin’ time from our payin’ customers at the landscaping office to look for your misplaced jewelry. So five hundred—even if we don’t find it, and five hundred more if we do.”

  He shook his head. “No deal.”

  I lifted my shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. “All righty then.” I tugged Neely Kate toward the exit.

  “What are you doin’?” she whispered in a panicked tone.

  “Trust me.”

  To her credit, she gave me a sideways glance and kept right on marching. Sure enough, Raddy was calling us back five seconds later.

  “Okay. Okay. I’ll pay it.”

  I gave Neely Kate a smug grin before I turned around to face him. “Can you pay all five hundred now?” I asked, sounding all businesslike.

  “No.”

  “Bring it by the office when you get it, and then we’ll start searching.”

  “That’s not gonna work,” he whined. “Today’s Tuesday and Buck says I gotta have it to him by Friday night or no deal.”

  “Deal?” Neely Kate screeched. “You said you don’t know what it’s worth.”

  “I don’t. But Buck says he’ll pay me five grand for it. He wants to give it to his woman.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Why would you take five grand for a necklace that might be worth several times that?”

  “A bird in the hand, Rose Gardner,” he said.

  “Did someone say Rose Gardner?” a woman’s voice echoed from what sounded like several aisles over.

  Raddy’s eyes flew open wide, and he gave me a shove. “You have to get out of here.”

  Neely Kate shook her head and dug her heels into the concrete floor. “Not until you give us the down payment.”

  “I already told you. I don’t have it.”

  “Lucky for you there’s an ATM machine up front,” she said with a smug grin. “We’ll wait.”

  He groaned and looked as frustrated as Muffy got when she saw a squirrel taunting her on the other side of the screen door.

  “We’re not lookin’ until you pay up,” she said sweetly. “Which means you might not meet your Friday deadline. Tick tock.”

  Raddy released a string of curses that would have made his mother blush, but Neely Kate just stood there with her feet planted wide, giving him a condescending smile. She waited until his language petered out, then said, “Now that that’s out of your system, are you gonna pay up or not?”

  “Fine.” He pointed at me. “But she has to wait outside.”

  Neely Kate gave a me a glance that read, See you when I’m done, but there was no way I was leaving until I got all the information I wanted.

  “Nope,” I said. “I have a few questions first. Then you can get the money, and we’ll get out of your hair.” My eyes lifted to the orange mess on top of his head.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Who else besides your mother and Rayna knew about the necklace?”

  “My brother Newton and my sister Leah . . . and my Aunt Tildie.”

  “Did Newton or Leah seem interested in it?” I asked. “Was your aunt upset that you got the jewelry instead of her?”

  “Aunt Tildie never even knew I had it. My grandmammie gave it to my mother. And yeah, she was upset, but Momma’s had it since Grandmammie passed away eight years ago.”

  “What about your friends?” Neely Kate asked. “Sounds like you told a few of them.”

  “I told Buck and Lionel. And Tucker.”

  Neely Kate snorted. “So basically half the county.”

  “They found out after Rayna said she didn’t have it,” he protested.

  “Anything else to help us look?”

  He gave me a look of disgust. “If I had all the answers, what would I be payin’ you for?”

  In all fairness, he had a point. It wasn’t a lot to go on, but it was a start.

  The overhead speaker crackled, and a woman said in a bored tone, “Raddy, we need you at the loading dock.”

  “I have to go,” he said, looking worried.

  Neely Kate held out her hand. “Money.”

  He dug out his wallet again and opened a secret compartment, from which he pulled out four crisp hundred-dollar bills. Then he handed her four more grubby looking twenties to add to the one he had in the front compartment.

  I was shocked when Neely Kate took the money without commenting on his lie. She stuffed it into her purse. “We’ll be in touch.”

  “You better find something,” he grumbled. “That’s my poker money.”

  Neely Kate’s face blanched—Ronnie had kept a regular poker night—but she quickly recovered and sneered, “Maybe if you’d spent less time playin’ poker and more time with your woman, you wouldn’t be in this situation, Raddy Dyer.” Then she spun around and stormed out of the store.

  I trailed after her, wondering how much of that speech had actually been meant for her absent husband.

  Chapter 4

  Neely Kate was already out the door by the time I reached the registers. I was so caught up in my thoughts about Neely Kate, Ronnie, and that darn necklace that I physically flinched when I heard someone shout, “That’s Rose Gardner!”

  “What?” a second woman screeched.

  I stood at the exit, watching the rain come down in sheets. Neely Kate was halfway to the truck huddled under her umbrella, and two angry-looking women were bearing down on me.

  I took off running for the truck, stepping into a puddle deep enough to drench my already damp jeans. I climbed into the
truck and glared at Neely Kate, who had set her purse down in the middle seat and was fluffing her hair.

  “Why didn’t you wait for me with the umbrella?”

  Surprise filled her eyes. “I’m sorry. You didn’t want to share it before.”

  It hadn’t been raining cats and dogs before, but I let that go and moved on to my next issue. “I thought you said they weren’t mad at me.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked in confusion.

  “I was chased out of the store with a pitchfork!”

  She rolled her eyes and waved a hand in dismissal. “It couldn’t have been that bad.”

  I pointed to the door and gasped. “Look! Now they have a literal pitchfork!” The two employees stood at the door, glaring at my truck. A customer stood next to them with a shovel in one hand and a pitchfork in the other, presumably waiting for the rain to let up.

  Neely Kate sighed. “I could have sworn they were over it. And you made it out just fine. That’s what counts, right?”

  I scowled as I started the truck and pulled out of the parking lot, heading back toward our office.

  “Look on the bright side,” she said. “We just made five hundred dollars.”

  “And guess where part of that five hundred dollars is gonna go?” I said in a smug tone. “We’re gonna need to hire two guys from Jonah’s temporary work program so we can get those bushes planted while we’re traipsing around looking for a necklace.”

  Her smile fell. “Oh. I hadn’t considered that.”

  I sat back in my seat, feeling like a terrible friend. Wasn’t this supposed to be about cheering her up? “Hey, that’s a bonus, right?” I said with a grin. “Did you want to be plantin’ bushes in the mud?”

  She grinned back. “No.”

  I pushed out a big breath. “Okay, let’s look at what we know. So Raddy has this necklace that he and his pseudo wife thought was costume jewelry. Then Rayna kicks him out, he finds out it’s worth something, and suddenly it’s gone. We need to talk to Rayna.” I turned toward her. “Do you know where we can find her?”

  “She works at Walmart. We can stop by and see if she’s there.”

  I turned at the next corner and started driving toward Walmart. “But first we need to call Jonah.”

  I grabbed my phone. Jonah was a semi-famous televangelist and pastor at the New Living Hope Revival Church. His non-denominational church had a band that played praise songs instead of hymns, and his uplifting sermons were the exact opposite of the fire and brimstone speeches I had listened to at the Henryetta Southern Baptist Church since before I could remember. It was no wonder he’d won over a good portion of the churchgoers in Henryetta after moving to town at the end of last summer. But he’d also started a controversial Onward and Upward program for ex-cons and teens at risk, part of which was his day laborer program for men who had trouble finding work because of their non-violent criminal records. I was counting on him having a couple of men available for the afternoon.

  “Rose,” he said warmly when he answered the phone. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after church on Sunday. How are you doing?”

  “Oh . . . things have been better. Say, do you have a couple of guys from your work program available this afternoon? I need them to plant a few bushes.”

  “Today?” he asked in surprise. “It’s still raining.”

  “It’s supposed to let up soon.”

  “Won’t it be too muddy?”

  He had a point, and part of me wondered if it would be easier to admit defeat and just give the Hendersons a refund. “Maybe, but if they could at least get them in the ground, I can go fix them when it’s dryer. I can pay them each fifty dollars.” I gave him the address and simple instructions, and he promised to supervise the job.

  Neely Kate was surprisingly silent on the rest of the drive to Walmart, but as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, she opened her car door and popped open her umbrella. She waited for me at the end of the truck, but I waved her off again.

  “I’m already drenched.” The rain had let up again, but there was still a light drizzle.

  We hurried for the entrance, and once Neely Kate had shaken the rain off her umbrella, we headed into the store. She grabbed a cart and tossed her umbrella inside. “We might as well get a few things while we’re here. Muffy’s almost out of dog food.”

  But she headed straight for the personal hygiene aisle. A box of tampons went into the cart, followed by some shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste.

  I gave her a look. “I thought we were here to talk to Rayna Dyer.”

  “We can’t just march up to her and start interrogatin’,” Neely Kate said, picking up a curling iron from a display and opening the clamp. “We need to make it look like we’re shopping, so I might as well get these things while we’re here.” She glanced up at me. “Weren’t you saying you needed new socks? Why don’t you head over there and pick some out? I’ll meet you in the dog food aisle; then we’ll go find Rayna.”

  “What department does she even work in?”

  “Housewares. But I’ll meet you by the pet supplies.”

  Shaking my head, I headed toward the shoe department, only to realize once I got there that the socks were by the women’s lingerie. I started to walk across the aisle when I heard my name.

  “Rose?”

  I spun around to see who it was, shocked to see Dr. Levi Romano, the new vet in town. Neely Kate and I had met him a few weeks ago. We’d gone looking for a lost dog, but we’d found another animal first. “Dr. Romano. I’m surprised you remember me.”

  He grinned, his blue eyes dancing. “It’s hard to forget a woman who brings in a lost pig.”

  I self-consciously reached my hand up to my hair. “And I look even worse today than I did then.” I’d been just as drenched and mud-logged the day I’d visited his practice.

  Oh, mercy. What had prompted me to comment on my looks? Perhaps it was the way his gaze had swept over my face, his grin staying put. Or maybe it was because Dr. Romano was even cuter out of his doctor’s coat. He was wearing well-fitting jeans and a light-blue button-down shirt that made his eyes look even bluer. His light brown hair was a little more unkempt than when I’d met him in his office. He’d been battling the rain too, only it had made him more attractive rather than less.

  “You look just fine,” he said.

  “I look like a drowned rat.”

  “As someone who’s been through veterinarian school and seen an assortment of animals in a wide variety of situations, I can assure you that you look nothing like a drowned rat.”

  I laughed. “What are you doing here on a weekday morning? I thought you’d be at your office.”

  He pointed behind him. “I need wading boots, but since they seem to be out of stock, I’m picking out rain boots instead.”

  “Are you going fishing?” I asked.

  “In a manner of speaking. I’m headed out to the Baxter farm to deliver a calf, but I can’t find my boots, and I really don’t want to destroy another pair of shoes.”

  “You’re delivering a calf?” I asked in awe. “That must be so amazing.”

  “I can’t lie,” he said with a grin, “it’s a little messy, but it’s a wonderful experience.” He paused, looking like he wanted to say something but couldn’t figure out how to start.

  “Well, I should let you get going.”

  He took a step backward. “Actually, I could use your help.”

  “I don’t know the first thing about birthing a calf,” I said.

  He laughed. “Well then, it’s a good thing I was going to ask you to help me pick out which boots to get.”

  I felt my cheeks go hot. “Sure. Which ones are you lookin’ at?”

  He held up two pairs. “This green pair seems to fit better, but the navy pair will do a better job of hiding the mud.”

  I glanced up at him. “Do you really care if the boots blend in well with mud?”

  “Good point.”

  �
��The green pair, obviously,” I said. “If you’re gonna be standing around helping deliver a cow, your feet should at least be comfortable.”

  He set the blue pair on the shelf. “Excellent advice. And it doesn’t hurt that the green pair matches your eyes.”

  My face, which had felt hot anyway, was fixing to combust.

  He laughed. “You’re even prettier when you blush. And if you ever want to learn how to birth a calf, you let me know. I’m your man.”

  I couldn’t think of a single blessed thing to say.

  “You have a good day, Rose.”

  “You too, Dr. Romano.”

  As he brushed past me, he winked and said, “Call me Levi.” Then he headed toward the front of the store.

  “Oh my word,” said Neely Kate. Levi had me so out of sorts I hadn’t even noticed she was heading toward me. There was a pile of shopping in her cart. “Was that the new vet?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “What did he say?” she asked excitedly.

  “He offered to teach me how to birth a calf.”

  “He what?”

  I laughed and shook my head. “He said he was getting the green boots because they reminded him of my eyes.”

  Her mouth twisted as she studied me. “Sounds like he needs just as much practice at this dating thing as you do.”

  “Dating? What are you talking about?”

  “Rose . . .” She shook her head. “He obviously likes you.”

  While I’d halfway suspected that, my first reaction was to gape at her in disbelief.

  She winked and pushed her cart forward. “Let’s get Muffy’s food and then corner Rayna.”

  “You mean talk to her.”

  “Yeah. That.”

  We stopped by the pet department, and I wondered once again if I should pick a new dog food to try resolving my poor dog’s flatulence issue or get the brand she liked. I grabbed the one she liked. So my dog farted a lot. That was part of her charm.

  As if she were reading my mind, Neely Kate said, “You know, you could take Muffy to see Dr. Romano about her bowel issue.”