Up Shute Creek: Rose Gardner Investigation #4 Read online

  I nodded. “Agreed.”

  “Let me know if you run into any trouble,” Jed said.

  “We will,” Neely Kate said, then hung up. She pushed out a breath. “I need to see what Joe knows.” She pulled his name up on her phone screen and pressed send.

  “Everything okay?” he asked after a couple of rings.

  “I don’t know, Joe,” she said in a tight voice. “You tell me.”

  Silence hung over the line for a beat. When he answered her, he sounded resigned. “What did I do now?” Under less dire circumstances, it would have tickled me that they’d already established such a typical brother-sister relationship.

  “We’re investigating a missing persons case that the sheriff’s office refuses to investigate.”

  “I’m not aware of a recent missing persons case.”

  “I’m not sure who the mother talked to, but they told her that they couldn’t help because she lives in Sugar Branch.”

  Joe groaned. “Shit.”

  “What the heck, Joe? She wants to find her daughter, and the Sugar Branch police refuse to help her.”

  “I don’t know a thing about it, I swear, but it’s a complicated situation with Sugar Branch, Neely Kate. Part of the reason the town hired a police force is because half the citizens are none too happy with sheriff deputies. It could go from bad to ugly if we insist on encroaching on their investigation.”

  “They don’t have an investigation!” she insisted.

  He groaned again. “My hands are tied. If I intervene, the sheriff will have my head.”

  “So you’re just gonna let her stay missin’.”

  “It sounds like you and Rose are handlin’ it,” he said.

  “We wouldn’t be if somebody was doin’ their job.”

  “Come on, Neely Kate,” he cajoled. “You know you and Rose will do a heck of a lot better job lookin’ into it than the Sugar Branch police. I hear they’re about as incompetent as the Henryetta force. And we all know you live for these cases.” When she didn’t answer, he said, “I’ll help you in any way I can behind the scenes, but I can’t be actively involved in this. That’s something, right?”

  This was a total one-eighty from when we’d investigated our first missing person case nearly a year ago. Joe had nearly had a stroke when he found out we were playing like we were PIs.

  Her face scrunched up with suspicion. “You’ll help us?”

  “You’re gonna be lookin’ into it anyway, right?”

  “Well, yeah…”

  “Is it dangerous?”

  “We don’t know yet,” she said, her tone softening. “We just interviewed the mother. Her nineteen-year-old daughter left to spend the day with her friends at Shute Creek and never came home. Sounds like she was on the outs with her friends at the time, and they all claim they didn’t have plans with her. She’s been missin’ for a little over a week.”

  “You think she ran off?” Joe asked.

  Neely Kate glanced at me, and I lifted my shoulders into a slight shrug.

  “We don’t know yet,” Neely Kate said. “It’s too soon to tell, but nothin’ feels dangerous at this point.”

  “You’re lookin’ into this with Rose, right?” he asked.

  “I’m not leavin’ her alone, if that’s what you’re askin’,” I piped up.

  “That’s exactly what I’m askin’,” he said. “If she’d let me, I’d lock Neely Kate up in the farmhouse until this is resolved. The moment either one of you see a hint of danger, you contact me immediately, you hear?” he said, his voice tight with worry.

  “We hear,” Neely Kate said solemnly.

  Joe was silent for a second before he asked, “Have you got your gun?”

  Neely Kate flashed me a worried look. “Yeah.”

  “Rose?” he asked.

  I involuntarily glanced at my purse. Did I want to admit it? But I had a permit… “Yeah.”

  “Good.”

  Now I was really alarmed. If Joe wanted us to carry our weapons, he must be really worried.

  “How are you doin’, NK?” Joe asked. “After… everything this weekend?”

  “I’m okay,” she said with a tight smile. “And besides, we’ve got Bruce Wayne followin’ us as backup.”

  “Bruce Wayne better not be carryin’ a weapon,” he grumbled. “There’s enough attention on this mess with Kate that I won’t be able to bail him out of trouble if he’s caught carryin’ one while protectin’ you.”

  Fresh worry gnawed in my gut. “We’ll make sure he stays out of trouble.”

  He was silent, but I knew what he was thinking—Bruce Wayne wouldn’t do us a lot of good if he wasn’t carrying a weapon. If anything, he was putting himself in danger.

  “Before you go,” he said. “I talked to Maeve a little while ago.” His tone softened. “Violet’s movin’ in with you girls?”

  “And the kids,” I said past the lump in my throat.

  “Things not goin’ well with Mike?” he asked.

  “She wasn’t specific,” I said, “but that’s the gist I got. Would you mind comin’ over and helpin’ me figure out how to make the downstairs office into a bedroom for her?”

  He was silent for a moment. “I’ll come over tonight and take a look. I can’t imagine it will take much work to get it ready. We’ll need to move out the office furniture and install some curtains over the glass doors.” He paused for a second. “But she could move in upstairs first,” he said. “Then she won’t have to wait on us.”

  “I thought about that,” I said, “but we all know she’s comin’ to my house to die.” My voice grew tight. “I’m torn about puttin’ her upstairs and movin’ her down when she gets really sick. It will feel like I’m movin’ her to her literal deathbed.”

  He was silent again for several seconds, and when he answered, his voice cracked. “I’ll be over tonight. Probably not until seven or later.”

  “Okay,” I said, relieved he was making this a priority. “Thank you, Joe.”

  “Of course,” he said. “For the next couple of days, I want regular check-ins, okay? I want to know you girls are safe.”

  “Okay,” Neely Kate said.

  “I love you, Neely Kate.” Joe’s voice was husky with emotion. “Please be careful.”

  “I love you too, Joe,” she said, her eyes pooling with tears. “I will.”

  Oh, how times had changed. A week or two ago, she would have been irritated at him for keeping tabs on her. In a strange way, Kate had bonded her brother and sister together.

  We sat in silence for several seconds after Joe disconnected the call.

  I cast a worried glance at Bruce Wayne’s car. “I’m inclined to agree with Joe. I’m not sure it’s a good idea for Bruce Wayne to be following us. If there’s trouble…”

  “Yeah, I know.” She didn’t sound happy about it.

  “We should give him another job,” I said. Then I gasped. “What if we have him look into Carly?”

  “What? That’s a terrible idea.” A dark look crossed her face. “I can’t believe you and Jed are checkin’ her out in the first place.”

  “And with everything else goin’ on, I can’t believe you’re against it,” I countered.

  “Leave that poor woman alone. She’ll tell us what she’s up to when she’s darn good and ready.”

  “She’ll likely be several states away before she’s ready.”

  “Which means it won’t affect us at all.”

  “Except she’ll be stayin’ with us,” I countered.

  Neely Kate looked stricken. “You don’t want her to stay with us?”

  “That’s not it, Neely Kate,” I said, letting exhaustion creep into my voice. “Of course I want to help her, but what if she brings her trouble to our front door? You have to admit it would be better to get a warning of what might be blowin’ in instead of lettin’ it surprise us. Not to mention we have plenty of trouble of our own. We could be puttin’ her in danger.”

  She frowned as sh
e mulled it over. “Bruce Wayne’s not gonna be happy about this. He wanted to help us.”

  “He might take it better if we pitch it as a way to protect you.”

  She let out a long sigh. “Okay. You’re right.” She reached for her car door handle. “It’s my mess. I’ll take care of it.”

  She hopped out and was heading toward Bruce Wayne’s car before I could ask her what she planned to say. When she reached his car, she opened his passenger door and climbed inside, shutting the door behind her.

  I pulled out my phone and placed a call to James.

  “Rose?” he asked, sounding anxious. “Is everything okay?”

  I could understand why he was concerned. I was breaking our agreed-upon rule not to call each other during the day unless there was trouble. “I’m sorry. I’m fine. Everything is just so unsettled… I needed to hear your voice.”

  “What’s goin’ on?” he asked in a husky voice that sent a thrill through my blood.

  I took a breath, preparing to tell him about Violet and Carly and our soon-to-be full house, but there was nothing he could do to help me with either situation. When it came down to it, I’d rather tell him in person. “We have a new case. A missing woman from Sugar Branch.”

  He paused, then said, “A new case? You think that’s a good idea with everything else goin’ on?”

  “I doubt it’s related to the Fenton criminal underworld. It’s a missing nineteen-year-old woman, and I suspect her friends know something about it. Nothing too dangerous.”

  “Just because it doesn’t involve organized crime doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous.”

  I sighed. “You’re right, but it feels like small potatoes compared to everything else we’ve dealt with lately. And Kate. I have my gun and so does Neely Kate. We’re protected. Have you found out anything else about Hardshaw movin’ in?” James had started asking around as soon as he heard about Neely Kate’s kidnapping.

  “No. Not a peep, but everything’s eerily quiet since Deveraux came back to town.”

  “He’s makin’ people nervous?”

  “He’s out for blood, and I’m at the top of his list. It makes people reluctant to share information.”

  That caught me by surprise. “Why?”

  “They’re afraid I’ll turn on ’em tryin’ to make a deal.”

  I sucked in my breath. Was it wrong that I wished James would turn on someone to save himself? To leave this life behind? But despite all his bluster about not being a man of his word, I’d learned Skeeter Malcolm was honorable with the men he ruled. He was fair. “So you think something’s goin’ on that you don’t know about?”

  “I don’t know,” he grumbled, “but Jed picked a hell of a time to strike out on his own. It doesn’t look good with everything else goin’ on.”

  “Like he thinks you’re about to turn traitor?”

  “No.” He paused. “It’s more like a no-confidence vote.”

  My blood turned to ice. “James, I need to see you.”

  “Lady, it’s not all that dire.” But his tone lacked his usual confidence.

  “I still need to see you.” I needed to tell him about my vision of Neely Kate and Ronnie. “I need your opinion on something.”

  “Then come over to my house tonight.”

  I groaned. “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because Neely Kate and I have a house guest.”

  That caught his attention. “Who?”

  “I’d rather not get into it on the phone.”

  James wasn’t as eager to let it go. “You can’t mean Jed. He’s stayed over plenty of times. Is it your sister?”

  I sighed. “Not tonight, but I need to talk to you about that too.” This was stupid. I felt like a clingy girlfriend—despite all the responsibilities heaped on my shoulders, or maybe because of them—I wanted to be with him. But I sure as hell didn’t want him to know that. Play it cool, Rose. “Maybe I can get away tomorrow night, but I’m not sure yet.”

  “Rose.” His voice was husky again. “I want to see you too. If I’m honest, I want to see you too damn much. We’ll figure something out.”

  He hung up and I stared at the phone, realizing I was digging myself deeper and deeper into this relationship. Neely Kate had told me I wasn’t capable of having a fling, and come to find out, she knew me better than I knew myself. I was going to get my heart broken one way or the other, but it was too late to worry about that now. My more immediate concern was the news about James’s status in the underworld. The criminal world wasn’t much into honor, yet they couldn’t abide a snitch. If they really thought James would turn, his life was in danger.

  It felt like a goose walked has across my grave as I thought of Maeve’s premonition.

  Chapter 9

  I glanced up in time to see Neely Kate getting out of Bruce Wayne’s car. She wasn’t exactly smiling as she walked toward me, but she didn’t look upset either. She climbed inside and picked up her sparkly notebook.

  “How’d it go?” I asked as Bruce Wayne drove past us toward the street. He gave me a little wave.

  “Good.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “That Jed’s worried about Carly’s connections to Dallas, and we’d like his help checkin’ her out. He was more than happy to change jobs.”

  It occurred to me that I’d kept Bruce Wayne out the periphery of all our messes to protect him, but now I could see that he wanted to feel needed. I felt like a terrible friend. “Good. Who knows, maybe he’ll find something.”

  “Yeah,” Neely Kate murmured with a small grin, nodding absently as she flipped open her notebook.

  “That doesn’t bother you?”

  “That he may find something?” she asked, scanning the notes in her notebook. “Why would it?”

  “You seemed opposed to researching Carly before.”

  She glanced up. “I’m opposed to snoopin’ on her, but I also understand. And Bruce Wayne seems like the least invasive way to go about it.”

  I frowned. What did she mean by that? Did she think he wouldn’t be as effective? I secretly hoped Bruce Wayne found as much or more than Jed, even though Jed had better resources.

  Before I could ask, she turned to the notes she’d taken inside and pointed to the middle of a page. “I think we should meet with Nina first. Sarah’s best friend should know something. And Levi should be easy for us to get an interview with,” she said. “He’ll be open to talkin’ to you.”

  I wasn’t too thrilled about seeing Levi, but there was no avoiding it. He might know something her mother and friends didn’t. Still, I didn’t see any reason to rush over to the vet’s office.

  “I say we hold off on Levi for the moment and concentrate on her friends, especially Nina. She’ll be able to tell us about Sarah’s relationship with her mother… and Conrad,” I added.

  Neely Kate’s face darkened. “Agreed.” She peered at the page again. “Nina works at the Sunshine Café in Sugar Branch.” She gave me an ornery smile. “I hear they have good pie.”

  I snorted. “You don’t know anything about the Sunshine Café.”

  “Hey,” she said, putting the car in drive and pulling out of the parking space. “It’s hard to screw up pie.”

  “Boy, were you wrong,” I said a half hour later. Neely Kate and I sat across from each other at a small table at the Sunshine Café. “This pie’s like a chunk of concrete.”

  We had yet to see Nina, but we’d ordered pie hoping to catch a glimpse of her. The pie had shown up—apple for me, lemon meringue for Neely Kate—but Nina still hadn’t appeared.

  I tried to cut into my pie with my fork. A piece shot across the table and hit a bald guy who was seated behind Neely Kate in the back of the head.

  He turned around and shot me a glare. He was younger than I’d expected, but pretty tough looking with his neck tattoos. The irritation in his eyes suggested he didn’t suffer insults well.

  “Sorry,” I said with a cringe.
/>   He continued to glare for a second, then his face softened. “Wilma’s makin’ pies today, and she don’t know shit about crusts. I’ve told her to use cold butter and not to overwork it, but she thinks she knows better.” He leaned closer. “You need ice cream.”

  “Uh…” I said as I struggled to adjust to his abrupt attitude shift. “Thanks.”

  He lifted his hand and shouted across the half-full café, “Wilma! Your pie crusts are shit today. Bring this little lady two scoops of ice cream!”

  An elderly woman’s face appeared in the window behind the counter. Her eyes darted daggers at the bald man, and she looked rough enough to be carrying actual daggers in her apron pocket. “Who don’t like my pie?”

  Based on the food covering the tables in the small restaurant, there had only been two recent pie orders. Her gaze narrowed in on Neely Kate and me in a heartbeat.

  Neely Kate took a bite of her pie and shoved it in her mouth. “Mmm…”

  “Traitor,” I mumbled under my breath. Then I lifted my fork. “I didn’t say I didn’t like your pie.”

  “I believe the word ‘shit’ was used to describe them,” the older woman said, now brandishing a butcher knife through the window.

  “I never said that!” I protested.

  “I said they were shit,” the burly guy said. “She was too nice to say so.”

  Eyes wide, I shook my head.

  The guy wasn’t about to let it go. “She damn nearly killed me when a chunk of hard-as-rock pie crust hit me in the back of my head. It was like Washington getting’ shot in the head seeing that burlesque show.”

  Neely Kate leaned back toward him and said over her shoulder, “You mean Lincoln? And I don’t think it was a burlesque show.”

  “Lincoln?” the guy asked in shock as he turned in the seat to face her. “Lincoln got shot?”

  Her face went blank as she stared at him. “Abe Lincoln? The former president of the United States?”

  He blinked in confusion, then said, “I thought you were talkin’ about Emmitt Lincoln. He done went missin’ and nobody’s seen hide nor hair of him for over a week.”

  Neely Kate shifted in her seat to get a better look at him. “Exactly how long ago did people last see him?”