Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies (13 page)

I
was putting
the finishing touches on the soup when Neely Kate came into the kitchen. She still looked groggy as she sat down at the table.

“Maybe you should stay home tonight,” I suggested.

“Not a chance. I just need to wake up is all.”

I ladled her a bowl of soup and set it in front of her. “I saw Joe.”

Her gaze jerked up to mine. “What?”

“I took Muffy outside and she headed into the barn. The next thing I knew, he was inside there with me.”

“What in tarnation was he doin’ there? Spyin’ on you?”

“I never got a satisfactory answer. He said he was checkin’ on me. That he’s tryin’ to keep me safe.”

“Keep you safe? Did you confront him about arresting you?”

“Oh, you bet I did. He said he did it to protect me from J.R. And he claims that’s why he took the journal too.”

“That makes no sense whatsoever.”

“I know.” Yet in his own twisted logic, perhaps it did. Still, if Joe really was trying to protect me, he sure was going at it the wrong way. “We got into a huge fight—nothing unusual there—and I threatened to tase him if he didn’t leave.”

“The nerve of that man!”

“I know.” I scooped myself a bowl of soup too, grabbed some leftover homemade bread from Maeve, and sat down at the table. “Mason is spending the night in Little Rock, so I won’t have to worry about explaining our absence to him.” I filled her in on what he’d discovered, and we sat in silence for a moment.

“I have to admit,” she said, sinking her spoon into her bowl, “it sounds like it might be scary for him to be up there.”

“Agreed. The sooner he gets home, the more relieved I’ll be. I also figured out the identity of the guy with the belt buckle.”

She gave me a smug grin. “I told you it would be easy. We can check him out later. We just won’t tell Mason.”

I pointed my spoon at her. “No. We’re not confronting him or following him, or whatever you want to call it. I already sent the name to Mason, and he’s going to have Deputy Miller look into it.”

Neely Kate made a face, but she didn’t say anything.

“Besides,” I said, “this meeting with Mick Gentry is enough for us to worry about.” I grabbed a piece of bread and began to slather it with butter, then put it back down. My stomach felt like a bag of popcorn popping in the microwave. “I’m not telling Jed you’ll be there until we drive up, but he’s gonna pitch a fit. So be prepared.”

Her eyebrows rose. “I can handle Jed.”

“No. You let
me
handle Jed. If you go shootin’ off, he’s gonna think you’re a loose cannon.” And I had to wonder whether there was something to that. I half considered sneaking off without her, but I knew I’d royally pay for it later if I tried. “Jed is in charge. Say it.”

Her mouth puckered around her spoon.

“Neely Kate. This isn’t some game. In fact, this is probably the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done.”

“Yet you’re still doin’ it.”

“I don’t trust what’s goin’ on in Little Rock. If I were sure something would come of Mason’s meeting tomorrow, I’d call this off in a heartbeat. I would postpone, but Mick Gentry isn’t the kind of guy to take being blown off lightly. If I ever want a shot at talking to him—and J.R.—I have to follow through with this. But you—” I pointed my spoon at her “—
you
don’t have to go at all. So I strongly suggest you reconsider.”

She studied me for several seconds. To my relief, I could see she was giving it serious consideration. Finally she spoke, all sass gone. “We’re a team. We stick together.”

“Neely Kate.” My voice broke. “I don’t know if I could live with myself if something happened to you because of me.”

“You’d live with yourself just fine. Do you know why? This is my choice. My decision. For all my life, I’ve tried to make myself into someone other people want me to be. I did it all through high school—why do you think I was popular? I even do it with Ronnie. But I’m tired of trying to follow everyone else’s rules. I want to follow my own. And I’m goin’ with you. My choice. My decision. If something happens, you’ll know I died doin’ exactly what I wanted to do.”

I swallowed, the soup in my stomach now a lump weighing me down. “Nobody’s dyin’ tonight. You hear me?”

She gave me a soft smile. “Yes, ma’am.”

I grinned. “Did you just call me ma’am?
Just how old do you think I am?
”

She laughed. “Sorry, miss.” She stood and picked up her bowl. “Now let’s get ready to go.”

It didn’t take us long. All I had to do was put up my hair and put on some bright red lipstick and pack my bag of clothes. Neely Kate had been known to spend over an hour getting ready, but tonight she appeared in my bedroom doorway within fifteen minutes. She had pinned up her long blond and highlighted hair and pulled on a sleek black wig. It gave her full bangs that brushed over her mascara-darkened eyebrows, and the length hit just below her chin. Her eyes were dark and smoky, and her lip color was a pale pink. She wore black pants, a long-sleeve black silky shirt—buttoned just at her cleavage—and black boots.

“Well? What do you think?” She stood in front of me, her face expressionless.

I shook my head in amazement. “If I didn’t know better, I never would have guessed it was you. Not in a million years. You look like one of those butt-kickin’ women in the movies.”

She grinned. “See? No one’s gonna mess with me.”

On the contrary, Mick Gentry’s men might want to mess with her, but not in the way she was suggesting. She looked super sexy. In fact, I suspected most of the men would be watching her instead of me.

Maybe that was a good thing.

“I wish I could find some way of concealing my appearance without this hat.” I picked it up off the bed. “It’s so cumbersome.”

“What about a mask?”

“That seems too superhero-y, don’t you think?” I tossed the hat on the bed next to my black dress. “Besides, I’ve told them all I wear the veil because I have a scar. I can’t very well start parading around without it.”

“True …” She jutted out her hip and studied my face. “Let me give it some thought. Maybe we can come up with something different for next time.”

With any luck, we’d be meeting with J.R. next time, and I suspected I’d want the veil to hide from him. A wig and some makeup wouldn’t fool J.R. Simmons.

She looked me up and down, taking in my jeans and sweater. “Aren’t you gonna get dressed?”

“No. I wouldn’t put it past Joe to pull me over. If he or some other deputy does, it would be easy for them to put this all together. I’ll change behind the Sinclair station.”

Her eyes widened.

“But you’ll be fine. You can just wear a hat and your coat, and no one will think a thing about it.”

She nodded. “Yeah, that’s smart.”

I shrugged, trying to act nonchalant even though I was practically buzzing with nervous energy. “I’ve done this a time or two. You ready?”

“Almost.” I followed her down the hall to the front bedroom. She slipped through the open door and strapped on a gun holster over her shoulder, then put on her regular coat and slung a sleek black leather coat over her forearm.

“Where’d you get that?”

“This coat?” She shrugged as she stooped over her purse and pulled out the gun from her closet, which she put into her holster. “I bought it online.”

“I was talkin’ about the holster, but now that you mention it, none of these clothes seem like
you
.”

She grinned and grabbed another gun from her bag—this one the older weapon from the safe. “I bought them last week.”

“Is this the new you? Are you reinventing yourself?”

“No.” She slipped the second gun into the waistline of her pants at the small of her back and turned to look at me, cold fury in her eyes. “This is me waiting for you to let me help the Lady in Black.”

“You’ve been planning this?”

She snorted. “
Please
. I’m insulted you would think I
wouldn’t
. I wouldn’t have done anything dangerous while I was pregnant, but now I can take all kinds of risks.” She brushed past me and headed down the stairs.

I followed behind, wondering if that was what this was really about. Was she taking unnecessary risks because she’d lost her babies and had been told there was no hope of her carrying any more?

But there wasn’t time to think about it. I grabbed my truck keys, and we took off toward the Sinclair station, both of us unusually quiet.

Jed was waiting for us when I pulled up, sitting in the driver’s seat of his car with a deep scowl on his face. He was out of the car before I pulled to a full stop. He yanked my door open with his uninjured arm.

“What the hell, Rose? You think I’m not enough backup? You went and hired someone else?”

I glanced back at Neely Kate. She had already shed her hat and replaced her coat with the leather one. A huge grin spread across her face as she climbed out the passenger door.

“Jed, it’s Neely Kate,” I said as I slid out of the truck. Without waiting to gauge his reaction, I opened the back door and dug into the bag holding my Lady in Black clothes.

She walked around the front of the truck, stopped next to me, and struck a saucy pose. “Hey, Jed.”

“
What?
” His voice was loud enough to wake the dead, and I thanked my lucky stars we were out in the middle of nowhere. “Why in the hell would you bring her?”

“Look, I tried to get her to stay behind, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.” I pulled my sweater over my head and tossed it onto the seat.

A moment of panic filled Jed’s eyes as he took in my nearly naked torso, but he switched his gaze to her, his face hard. “Then let
me
say it: No.”

Neely Kate cocked her head. “I’m goin’, Jed. And you can’t stop me.”

“The hell I can’t!”

“I’ll just follow you,” she said in a smug tone. “Rose knows I’m dead serious.”

I sighed, stepping out of my jeans and into my dress. “I tried my best to talk her out of it, Jed. She’s bound and determined to go.”

Jed glared at my best friend. “No. I’m scared enough putting Rose at risk.”

“I know how to shoot better than most of my cousins, and I know how to fight.” She turned to me and made a face. “And that fight with Tabitha doesn’t count. She’s a girl.” She put her hand on her hip. “I broke my cousin Witt’s nose and Alan Jackson’s collar bone.”

Jed’s mouth dropped. “You met Alan Jackson?”

I rolled my eyes. Several of Neely Kate’s cousins were named after country music singers. I zipped up my dress and stepped into my heels. “Not the one you’re thinkin’ about, but he’s a big beefy guy. Neely Kate’s scrappy.”

“I’m goin’,” she said, then walked around to the passenger side of Jed’s car and tugged on the handle. “Open up.”

Jed shot me a look.

I lowered my voice. “Look, I’m nervous about her comin’ too, but something about it feels right, as crazy as it seems.”

“Crazy is right, Rose. We’re goin’ to see Mick Gentry himself. He’s gonna have his best and his brightest guys there, and they’ll be expectin’ trouble.”

“I told her you’re in control and she’s to follow your orders.”

“Then I order her to stay here.”

I grabbed my hat out of the bag and shut the truck door. “You’re wastin’ your breath. Maybe we can have her wait in the car.”

He snorted. “You really believe that?”

“No, but it’s worth a shot.”

He shook his head and opened the back door of the car. I started to get in, but he blocked my path. “Wait. I want you to carry some protection.”

“I was gonna bring my Taser, but I don’t know where I’d carry it.” I didn’t typically bring a purse when I posed as the Lady, and now didn’t seem like a good time to start. Mick’s guys would probably be worried about what was inside.

“I want you to wear this.” He pulled out a black elastic circular strap and stretched it open with both hands, grimacing from the effort. “Step your left leg into this.”

“What is it?”

“Just do it,” he barked in frustration.

I could have protested, but I figured I’d given him enough grief. I needed all of us to be on our A-game. I stepped out of my black heel and put my foot through the elastic. He pushed it up past the hem of my dress, continuing until it was high up on my thigh.

“Sorry,” he murmured. My skirt was still splayed up, but he was trying to glance down. “Does that feel snug?”

“Yeah. What is it?” Were we recording the meeting? It wasn’t a bad idea, so long as we didn’t get caught.

He ignored my question and pulled on the elastic. “It’s good that it’s snug. The weight will pull it down.”

“The weight of what?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small handgun.

My eyes flew open. “No.”

His eyes found mine, his jaw tight. “Yes. Either you wear this gun or we don’t go at all.”

“But you have yours, and Neely Kate has hers. Why in the world do I need one?”

“Because they might take ours, but I doubt they’ll ask to frisk the Lady in Black. You might be the one to save all three of us. Do you know how to use it?”

“No.”

His gaze found mine again. “Yes, you do. You shot Daniel Crocker in the heart.”

“How did you know that?”

He groaned. “
Everyone
knows that.”

“That doesn’t mean I know how to use it. I was plumb lucky.”

“Then let’s hope you have more plumb luck tonight if this thing falls apart.” He handed the gun to me and stood. “Get a feel for it. It’s small enough for you to comfortably hold, but accurate enough for you to get the job done.”

My hand shook as I thought about what
getting the job done
might entail. I pointed the gun out into the field behind the building. “I wouldn’t even know when to use it.”

“You’ll know. You said your gut told you to bring Neely Kate. Listen to your instincts—they’ll tell you if you need it.”

I took a deep breath and blew it out. “Okay.”

“Now tuck it into the holster.”

I lifted my dress and looked down at the strap.

“Slide it into the sleeve on your inner thigh.”

I did as he asked, but the foreign feeling of the cold lump of metal against my thigh sent a jolt of uneasiness through my body.