Thirty-Six and a Half Motives: Rose Gardner Mystery #9 (Rose Gardner Mystery Series) (21 page)

“There are a couple of bank account numbers and balances, but the translator made a note on the side that she has no idea what banks they’re with or who they belong to.”

“If they have a routing number, wouldn’t she have been able to figure it out?” Neely Kate asked.

“My people know I value my privacy,” Skeeter said. “Unless I specifically asked her to look for the banks, she would never have thought to do it.”

I gave the paper a tiny shake. “There are two sets of numbers for each of them. Some of which are the same. I’m guessing those are routing numbers, so we can ask, right?”

“Yes.”

“The real trick is finding out who owns the accounts,” Neely Kate said. “If they’re even still open.”

“That will have to wait.” Skeeter caught my eye in the rearview mirror. “First we need to search a barn.”

S
ince we would drive
past our current safe house, I convinced Skeeter to stop and pick up Muffy so she wouldn’t be all alone.

“It’s a damn dog, Rose,” he grumbled. “They’re used to being alone.”

“Not Muffy. She’s all by herself in a house she doesn’t know. She’s bound to be scared.”

“We’re wasting time.”

“As far as I can tell, there’s no timetable here,” I said in a snit. “We’re on a wild goose chase. If I’m dying tonight, at least let me spend a few hours with my dog.”

“
Nobody’s dyin’ tonight!
” he boomed loud enough to make Neely Kate jump.

He stopped at the safe house, of course, but that didn’t stop him from grumbling about me and my damned priorities all the way to my farm.

When he pulled down the drive, I told him to park in front of the house. “If something’s hidden in the barn, I bet we’ll need the key we found in the warehouse to open it.”

I dug out my house key and opened the front door while Muffy ran around like a crazy dog in the front yard.

Skeeter watched in horror as she started rolling around on her back in the grass. “Does she always do that?”

“She’s happy to be home,” I said, stepping inside. An immediate feeling of relief and belonging washed over me, as welcoming as the smell of fresh-baked cookies.

Neely Kate brushed past him and laughed. “You don’t have any pets, do you?” she asked, but she didn’t wait for an answer before heading upstairs to use the bathroom.

Muffy ran in through the open door, but Skeeter lingered on the porch with a wary look on his face.

“You can come in, James,” I said, holding the side of the open door. “All this domestication isn’t catching.”

His eyes found mine. “I don’t think I belong in there.”

“That’s bull crap if I ever heard it. Get your butt inside. You’re letting the cold in.”

Something about his demeanor changed as he crossed over the threshold. It was like some of the wildness bled out of him.

I shut the door behind him, then led the way to the office’s French doors. “The key is in Mason’s desk drawer.” I pushed one of the doors open and hesitated. “He still has paperwork here. Maybe you should stay out of this room.”

He gave a sharp nod as he came to a stop outside the office. “You inherited this house,” he said, surveying the living room décor.

“That’s right. But I only found out about it last June. I moved in after the whole Crocker mess.”

He smirked. “
Which
Crocker mess?”

I grinned as I opened the drawer and pulled out the key. “Good point. The one in November.”

His smile fell, but his eyes were sharp. “You and Deveraux escaped and eluded Crocker and his men in the woods. In a snowstorm.”

“Until we were caught,” I murmured, clutching the key in my hand as I closed the drawer.

“But you held your own. You killed the bastard.”

I walked to the door and stopped next to him. “I didn’t hold my own at first. He almost . . .” I shook my head. “I only killed him to save Mason.”

“And yourself.”

I didn’t like thinking about the day I killed Daniel Crocker. A shiver ran through my body.

“What happened in that house, Rose?” he asked quietly.

My breathing sped up. “Why are you asking me this?”

He ignored my question. “You said you didn’t hold your own at first. What happened?”

“He dragged me out of the closet, and he . . .” I closed my eyes. “And then Joe showed up.”

“And Deveraux was locked in the closet.”

I wasn’t surprised he knew the details. The real question was why he was asking me to retell them. I opened my eyes, glaring at him. “What’s your point, James?”

“How did you feel when Crocker dragged you out of the closet? Before Joe showed up?”

Fear made me lightheaded. “Do you really need to ask me this?”

“
Yes.
How did you feel?”

A list of emotions rushed through my head. “Scared. Helpless.”

He nodded his acknowledgment. “And how did you feel last week at Gentry’s house? When you were facing down Simmons. Did you feel helpless then?”

“No.”

He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “J.R. Simmons is a hell of a lot scarier than Daniel Crocker and ten times as deadly. Simmons doesn’t just want to kill us. He wants to make us suffer on a scale that not even a sadistic son of a bitch like Crocker could have envisioned. There’s only a fifty-fifty chance of us coming out ahead. And that’s generous.” His eyes turned serious. “If we find ourselves in a defensive position, you need to remember that you aren’t the scared woman who walked into my pool hall last summer. You’re a fighter. You’re a survivor. You are
not
helpless. The best way to get J.R. Simmons’s goat is to not only survive, but to show bravery and courage. Show him no fear. Just like you did last week.”

My stomach churned with nausea. “This won’t end well, will it?”

His face hardened. “Someone’s goin’ down before this is all said and done. We need to make sure it’s not us.”

I nodded, swallowing bile.

“You two ready to search the barn?” Neely Kate asked from the bottom of the stairs, her hands on her hips.

Taking a step back, I spun to face her. After Skeeter’s little
pep talk
, looking through a barn that had been searched many times over suddenly seemed like a waste of time. The fact that Skeeter was on board with the scavenger hunt was the only thing that convinced me to go through with it.

“Mason and I have looked through that barn multiple times, and neither of us found a blessed thing. I’m worried whatever used to be there is gone.”

“The only way to find out is to start searchin’,” Skeeter said. “Let’s get to it.”

I headed into the kitchen and grabbed two flashlights out of junk drawer. Although it was mid-afternoon, the sparse lighting in the barn made it difficult to see into the nooks and crannies. We needed all the assistance we could get.

I told a disappointed Muffy that she had to stay in the house, but I was worried she’d get in the way, especially since she was being more attention-seeking than usual. I led the way to the barn, trying to ignore her forlorn barks. At least I couldn’t see her face pressed up against the glass. Instead, I cast a glance at the fence posts Neely Kate and I had used for target practice the week before. The gun Mason had given me was in my pocket, and I suspected I was going to need it sometime soon. Too bad I wasn’t very good at shooting.

When we reached the barn, I started to open the heavy door, but Skeeter swung it open instead, then motioned for Neely Kate and me to enter.

He started to close it behind him, so I said, “We’ll be able to see better if we open both doors.”

He shook his head. “We don’t want to clue anyone that we’re back here.”

“But your car’s out front,” Neely Kate said.

“The chances of anyone finding us are slim,” Skeeter said. “They would have already looked for you at the farm. If someone drives up, we’ll hear the car. Keepin’ the doors closed will buy us more time because they’re sure to start at the house.”

“Like when Crocker came,” I said. “Mason and I hid in the barn, then went out the back door and escaped into the woods. But we didn’t go straight into the woods. We skirted the back property line before going in further south. To throw them off our trail.”

It was surreal that I was back in a similar situation. Just a different megalomaniac.

Neely Kate studied me with curiosity. I hadn’t shared much about our escape, and uncharacteristically, she hadn’t pried.

Skeeter flipped on his flashlight. “Smart move.”

As I turned on my own flashlight and moved toward the beat-up pickup I’d inherited with the barn, I considered confessing that it had been Mason’s idea, but Skeeter had already moved on.

“Tell me what you know about this barn. How old is it? What was it used for?”

I rubbed my temple. “I think it was built in the early 1900s. I know my grandparents kept horses. There are a few beat-up stalls over there.” I pointed to the left. “I think they sold the last of the horses about thirty years ago. I’m not sure what else they’ve used it for. I know this truck has been here for decades.” I patted the rusty side.

“And where have you searched?” he asked as he swung the flashlight into a corner by the front doors.

“I’ve only snooped around trying to find out more about my birthmother and my grandparents. Mason was the one who did a thorough search.”

Skeeter walked the length of the wall, shining his flashlight on the crack where it met the dirt floor. “And what did he find?”

“Absolutely nothing. He was out here for hours last week. The night I was released from jail. He’d hit another dead end and was frustrated. I think he was doin’ what we’re doing—searching to keep us busy because there’s nothing else we can do.”

“I can’t speak for the counselor’s intentions,” Skeeter said derisively. “But that’s not why I’m here.” He stopped and turned to look at me, his back stiffening. “If you thought the shorthand on the page said the information was in a shed, why would Deveraux spend so much time looking in the barn?” His voice was steady, but I heard an undercurrent of accusation.

“He was desperate. We had three weeks until the trial. I’d just told him about finding the journal under the baby bed. Maybe he thought he’d find something out here.”

“In the barn. Where’d you get the translation that told you it was a
shed
?” The accusation in his voice was clearer this time.

My blood turned to ice. “His mother.”

Without a word, he continued following the wall with his flashlight beam, but his shoulders had tensed.

I planted my hands on my hips. “Spit it out, James. You don’t think Mason has my best interests in mind.”

Skeeter stopped and slowly turned around. “I don’t know the man like you do, so you tell me—do you think he’s really so shiny and clean?”

“Joe thought he was using you,” Neely Kate said quietly. “Remember? To get even.”

Skeeter’s voice was deceptively calm. “To get even for what?”

Neely Kate turned to him. “Joe was certain Mason stole Rose from him in retaliation for Joe’s role in Savannah’s death.”

Anger burned in my gut. “First of all, no one
stole
me. I have something called free will, and Joe had already broken up with me. But more importantly, Mason would never do such a thing. He loves me. He’s proven that time and time again.”

“He left you when you needed him more than ever,” Skeeter said in a harsh tone. “He left you defenseless.”

“He didn’t leave me defenseless,” I said in exasperation. “He called
you
to make sure I was watched.”

He took a step toward me, his eyes glittering with menace. “Why would he call
me
—a man he’s sworn to put away—to watch after his own girlfriend?”

I pointed my finger at him. “You stop that right now, James Daniel Malcolm. You know darn good and well why he called you.” I snuck a glance at Neely Kate, hoping to find support there, but she was frowning. Trying to regroup, I returned my gaze to Skeeter and started over in a calmer voice. “You and I were the ones to instigate the plan to bring down J.R. Mason knew you had a vested interest in me as Lady. He knew you would protect me.”

He shook his head and took two steps closer. “No. He knows that Simmons wants us both, and how convenient—we’re here together. To prove my point, Deveraux knows how I feel about you, and he still asked me to keep an eye on you. What man would do that?”

I crossed my arms. “A man who loves unconditionally.”

“But he
didn’t
love you unconditionally,” Skeeter continued, taking another step. “He left you.”

I shook my head, getting angrier by the second. “What are you saying, James? I want to hear you say the words.”

“I think Deveraux’s been using you and is betraying you even as we speak.”

I dropped my hands to my sides and clenched my fists, livid. “Have you plum lost your mind?”

“What if he’s right?” Neely Kate asked. “What if he’s setting you up for J.R.?”

I spun to face her. “That’s crazy, Neely Kate! That man loves me. You saw how devastated he was when I was in jail.”

“What if it was an act?” Skeeter countered. “You insisted on reaching out to Deveraux before sending him that video of your supposed death. You said he’d be good at playing along. And he was.”

My eyebrows nearly shot to my hairline. “Are you saying he was in on that, too?”

The muscles on his jaw line tightened. “I think we should be suspicious of everyone and everything right now.”

I looked at Neely Kate.

She gave me a sympathetic grimace. “He has a point.”

“
Neely Kate!
”

She reached for me, but I took a step back. I could barely see her face through the pool of unshed tears in my eyes.

“Rose. I know you love him, but you have to put aside your feelings for him and look at the facts. I’ve had to do the same with Ronnie.”

I found myself in too much shock to do anything other than nod my head.

Skeeter moved up behind her.

“We knew that J.R. was the one who sent him here to Henryetta,” Neely Kate said.

“We can only speculate that,” I said.

Skeeter’s hard eyes sought mine. “You knew damn good and well it’s true.”

Neely Kate grabbed my hand. “Mason hates Joe. And he hates J.R. for sending him to Fenton County in exile.”

“And both those things contradict your speculation,” I said in a firm voice. “What you’re suggesting would mean he’s working with J.R. He would never do that after discovering J.R. was behind his sister’s murder. On top of that, why would J.R. want to hurt Joe?”

“You
know
why. Punishment,” Skeeter said matter-of-factly. “To teach him a lesson for not following orders. For picking the wrong woman again. J.R.’s just going to keep upping the stakes for his disobedience. And Deveraux just discovered J.R.’s involvement in his sister’s death.” He paused. “Maybe Simmons convinced him I’m lying. Maybe he convinced him that
I
was the mastermind behind it.”

I shook my head, trying not to cry.