Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies (19 page)

The woman shook her head. “Yer two weeks too late. I done rented that apartment to someone else.”

Neely Kate waggled her eyebrows. “Is it a single guy? Is he cute?”

“Nah. It’s a woman. Kind of surly. But she’s only staying for two months. If you can hang on for another month, it’s yours.”

“You don’t say?” Neely Kate said. “Any chance I can see it today? If I like it, I’ll leave a deposit.”

“Well, I’m not supposed to let you in on account of that other woman’s things.”

“Oh, come on,” Neely Kate egged her on. “I bet you have a key. I’ll just pop in to take a peek and then pop right back out. I’ll only be a few seconds.”

“I don’t know …”

“Is there a light bulb that needs changing or something?” Neely Kate gave her a big smile. “I can do it for you, and then we’ll kill two birds with one stone. You can tell her I’m your maintenance woman if she asks questions.”

“Do you know how to use a wrench?” the woman asked. “Miss Prissy Pants keeps griping about a leaky faucet in her bathroom.”

Neely Kate shook her head, then waved her thumb toward me. “Not me, but my friend here is a wiz at it. She’s got one of those old farmhouses that’s always needing work done. She can fix it for you.”

Oh mercy. I barely knew which end of a wrench was the one you used, let alone how to fix a leaky faucet, but Neely Kate’s plan was pure genius.

The woman looked us over, then gave a quick nod. “Okay, but you better make it quick. And don’t touch nothin’ and definitely don’t steal nothin’.”

“Deal.”

Neely Kate and I followed her to the counter, where she opened the cash register and pulled out a silver house key. She started to hand it to Neely Kate, but pulled it back at the last minute. “You have ten minutes.”

Neely Kate leaned over and snatched the key. “Then we better get goin’.” She bolted for the door, leaving me to follow.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Neely Kate stopped in her tracks and turned around.

The woman held out a wrench. “Yer gonna be needin’ this.”

I laughed, hoping it didn’t sound as forced as it felt. “Silly me. I thought maybe it was already up there.”

I walked back and grabbed the outstretched tool, but the woman held on tight.

“Why do I smell some funny business here?”

I tried to look confused instead of nervous. “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”

She gave me a long look.

I lowered my voice. “I’m just here to support my friend. That’s all. This apartment, the
Mayflower
chair. It might be exactly what she needs to move on with her life.”

I was laying it on a bit thick, but the woman let go. Forcing what I hoped was a friendly smile, I hurried out the front door after Neely Kate.

“What was that all about?” she asked, stopping at a door a few feet away from the antique store entrance, then inserting the key into the doorknob.

“She’s suspicious, so we need to hurry.”

Neely Kate grinned. “We don’t need much time for what I have in mind.”

Oh, crappy doodles.

A
s Neely Kate
and I headed up the stairs, it occurred to me that Kate might have come home while we were visiting Carter. I was about to warn Neely Kate, but she already had the key in the lock.

I cringed as I followed her into the apartment, debating whether to call out Kate’s name as warning, but once I saw the space, I realized it wouldn’t be necessary.

Neely Kate hadn’t been exaggerating about the apartment being in bad shape. It was a loft—if you could call it that. The far wall was the brick exterior of the building, and windows lined the walls facing the street and the alley. The wall attached to the connecting building was a bare lathe wall—minus most of the plaster—and the floor was of unfinished wood.

“What the Jiminy Cricket?” Neely Kate gasped when we walked in and saw the bathroom that was tucked in behind the door. Multiple shower curtains were suspended from a rod attached to the ceiling. The curtains currently hung open, revealing a grody toilet, a cheap oak cabinet and sink topped with an oval mirror that hung from the lathe slates over it, and a clawfoot tub.

“Where’s the kitchen?” I whispered.

“Over here?” But it was more of a question. She was pointing to a six-foot-long run of cabinets equipped with a sink and a two-burner hot plate. A half-sized fridge stood at the end, and a tiny microwave was on top.

The room was mostly devoid of furniture. A mattress lay on the floor, and a big kitchen table with two mismatched chairs on either side sat in the middle of the space. The table was strewn with papers. The mattress was covered with sheets and a blanket and a couple of pillows. A duffel bag and a pile of clothes lay next to it.

“Well …” Neely Kate sighed. “This explains why she looks like a homeless person most days.”

I thought “homeless person” was an exaggeration, but not by much. I set the wrench on the kitchen counter. “Let’s see what those papers are about and get out of here.”

We reached the table at the same time. I couldn’t make heads or tails of the mess. Multiple slips of paper—each the width of a normal sheet of paper, but only about two inches high—were marked with dates, times, and one-line sentences.

M seen in black sedan with mark

Ten minute phone call, subject unknown.

Fire destroyed evidence
.

The papers were rumpled, as if they had been folded over and over and stuffed into something.

“What are these?” Neely Kate asked in dismay.

“I don’t know.”

Neely Kate walked over to the window and let out a low whistle. “She’s definitely spying on the DA’s offices. You can see Mason’s desk from here. The DA’s too.”

I looked up at her, cold dread settling at the base of my neck. “That could be a coincidence.”

She squatted and held up a pair of binoculars. “And I’m sure these are for star-gazing in Henryetta Square.”

I looked down at the table again, and this time I saw something under one of the papers. Trying not to disturb anything, I lifted it and pulled out a cell phone. I touched the power button, and the blood rushed from my head the moment the screen came to life.

“This is Mason’s phone. The one that was stolen from his car when he was run off the road.”

“What?” Neely Kate ran over and took it from my shaking hands. “Are you sure?”

“That’s his start-up screen.” I pointed to it. “It’s a photo of the Arkansas University logo.”

“But plenty of people around here are Razorback fans.”

I took it back from her and entered his passcode. All his apps filled the screen. I opened the photos and pulled one up. “But how many people have a photo of me and Muffy?”

“Oh, my stars and garters,” she whispered, examining the photo. “You were
not
having a good hair day.”

“
Neely Kate!
”

“Okay, sorry.” She looked shaken. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know. Keep looking and take pictures of everything.”

Neely Kate picked up one of the slips. “
M
. M is for Mason. He also drives a dark sedan and was there for the fire at Gems. She’s been following him.”

I shook my head, fear washing over me in hot, sticky waves. “Why? Why would she do that?”

“You said so yourself. She wants you with Joe.”

I shook my head again. “But that’s just plum crazy. Why steal his phone? It has to be more than that. Was she the one who hired Eric? Did she hire Sam Teagen?” I started getting light-headed. “Was she the one who posted my bail?”

Neely Kate stepped in front of me and grabbed my hands. “I don’t know. But we need to keep lookin’ so we can get this figured out. She could come back at any minute. Why don’t you go over to the windows and keep watch while I search, okay?”

“But I should be the one lookin’.”

“You’re shakier than tassels on a belly dancer, and besides, one of us needs to look out. She’s obviously dangerous, so she can’t find us here. I’ll tell you what I see, okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”

She looked deep into my eyes. “We’re gonna figure this out. We’re gonna stop her.”

I nodded again, feeling dangerously close to losing it. I had had no idea what we’d find in Kate’s apartment, but it didn’t even come close to this. “We have to.”

“Then go watch the window, and I’ll keep looking and take some photos.” She released my hands and turned back to the table, leaving me to make my way to the windows. I picked up the binoculars and looked over at the courthouse. I could see Mason’s office in amazing detail, including his desk and the bookcases behind it. If she’d been watching for a couple of weeks, I had to wonder what she’d seen.

Neely Kate started flipping through another stack of documents. “These are court cases. And police reports.”

“What?” I asked, my voice shaking as I set the binoculars down.

“From Little Rock. They’re cases Mason prosecuted.”

“Why would she have those?”

“I don’t know, but she’s awfully interested in this one from five years ago. She’s got multiple highlights on the thing.”

“What is it?”

“It looks like a hit-and-run case. But it didn’t go to trial. The witness died.”

“Who was the witness?”

“A little boy.”

I gasped. “How did he die?”

“He drowned in a pond by his house.” She looked up. “It was an accident, but it happened a few days before the trial.”

“Why would she have that?” I shook my head. “It doesn’t make sense.”

She started taking photos. “We’ll show it all to Mason and see what he says.” She uncovered a large envelope and looked inside. “Hello, stalker.”

“What?”

“This is stuffed full of photos of Mason.” She scattered them across the table and quickly sorted through them. “And this one was definitely taken last summer,” she said, lifting it up. “Your hair was shorter.”

She turned it around to show me. It was a photo of me, Mason, and Joe on the courthouse steps. And the only time we’d ever been together there was right after Jimmy DeWade was arrested for the murder of which Bruce Wayne had been accused.

My blood ran cold. “Keep lookin’.”

I turned back to the window and scanned the square. There was no sign of Kate, but there was a duffel bag on the ground, so I knelt beside it, opened it wide, and started to riffle through the contents. It was full of clothes, but at the bottom my hand touched metal and plastic.

“She has a gun.”

“What kind?” Neely Kate’s voice was cold.

“I don’t know.” I pulled it out and held it up.

“Sweet baby Jesus. Where’d she get a Sig? She’s serious.”

She sounded equally impressed and horrified.

“Put it back and try to make it look like you weren’t in there.”

“I don’t remember how it was.”

“It’s fine,” Neely Kate murmured, taking more pictures. “Everything’s such a mess, I doubt she’ll notice.”

I put the gun back and replaced the clothing. As soon as I stood up, I noticed a figure hurrying across the street. “Oh crap.”

“What?”

“She’s coming back! And she’s in a hurry.”

I looked around to see if the apartment looked like it had obviously been disturbed, but Neely Kate was right. It all looked like a tornado had been through it. I had more immediate concerns. “We’re trapped. She’s almost to the door downstairs.”

Neely Kate took one last photo, then started stuffing the pictures back into the envelope. “Lock the front door.”

I rushed over it and threw the deadbolt as she adjusted a few papers. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Go?
Where?
”

“Out the window.”

“What?” But she was already moving toward a back window. It was then I noticed the fire escape.

She grabbed the window and tried to lift it. “Karma Chameleon!” she cursed. “It’s painted shut!”

I tried to tug it open with her, but it refused to budge. “Try the one next to it, and we’ll climb over.”

She moved on to the next window without questioning me. This one was stuck too, but she gave it one last tug and it scooted up, sending Neely Kate flying backward onto her backside.

I gasped in alarm. “Are you okay?” She was still supposed to be taking it easy after her surgery. So much for that.

Her face contorted in pain, but she grabbed my outstretched hand. “I’ll whine about it later. We have to go.”

I climbed out the window first. It was a couple of feet away from the fire escape, the top railing of which was a little higher than the bottom of the window. I leaned out the window and reached for the railing, resting my knees on the windowsill. When I had a good grip, I climbed to my feet and swung first one leg over and then the other, landing with a thud.

“Shh!” Neely Kate was already climbing out behind me, but she was moving with more grace. She landed on the fire escape floor with barely a thud. “You have longer arms. You shut the window, and I’ll lower the ladder.”

I leaned over and grabbed the side of the window, precariously unbalanced as I leaned my body over the open space, trying to push it shut. “It’s stuck again! I need to get more in the center of it,” I whispered in a panicked voice. I heard the soft moan of metal from the fire escape ladder.

“Push harder!”

I leaned over more and pushed all my weight into the bottom of the window. The window gave way and jerked down with a soft thud just as the apartment door opened. The panel hid the tenant from me. Or, more aptly in this case, me from her. But I had a millisecond to register this as my body’s downward momentum started to pull me over the railing.

Neely Kate grabbed my jacket and pulled me up and back, then immediately guided me down to the grate floor. I stared up into her terrified face.

“You’re stronger than you look,” I whispered, trying to catch my breath and recover from my near-death experience.

“They say adrenaline does funny things.”

I heard the click of heels on the wood floor inside. “What are we gonna do?” Both of us were crouching now, but if Kate happened to look out one of the windows near us, she would probably see us.

“Let’s wait a minute to see if we can hear anything,” she whispered. “If not, we’ll slide over to the steps and carefully make our way down.”

“Okay.” But I really didn’t want to stick around. I felt liable to jump out of my skin. But staying was a good idea, my feelings aside. We might hear something useful.

After about thirty seconds, it was apparent we weren’t going to hear anything helpful—Kate wasn’t rushing to call anyone, and she didn’t seem to have a habit of talking to herself—so Neely Kate started scooting toward the ladder.

If anyone had been watching from below, we would have looked a sight, but the alley was blessedly empty. When we reached the bottom, Neely Kate frowned. “We need to get the ladder back up, but it’s gonna creak.”

“Maybe we can create a diversion out front.”

Her face lit up. “Good idea. You wait here, and when you hear a commotion, push the stairs up. Then head to the landscaping office, and I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay.” The antique store was the next to last store on the street, so Neely Kate walked down the alley and around the corner. About thirty seconds later, I heard yelling and banging.

“I’m gonna sue!” Neely Kate hollered. “How can they just put a trash can there!”

I pushed the ladder up as carefully as I could, cringing when I heard a soft clanging noise. Then I took off for the landscaping office like Miss Mildred after a door-to-door salesman.

As soon as I unlocked the back door and stumbled inside, someone bumped into me. I screamed, imagining the worst.

“Rose!” Bruce Wayne shouted. “It’s me. What on earth is goin’ on?”

I took a deep breath and braced my hands on my thighs, trying to catch my breath. “Neely Kate’s coming. I’ll tell you everything when she gets here.”

My legs were shaky as I made my way to my office chair. Neely Kate burst through the front door seconds later, a blast of cold air coming in with her.

“Did you get the ladder up?” she asked as she shut the door behind her.

“Yeah.”

“Good, because Kate was watching me make a spectacle of myself.”

I cringed. “That can’t be good.”

“No. If she figures out someone was in her apartment, she’s gonna tie it back to us.” She shook her head and held her lower abdomen, looking pale as she took a seat in her own chair. “Not my finest moment.”

“Are you okay?”

“I will be. I just need to rest a minute.”

“You’ve had an eventful couple of days.”

“I’ll say,” Bruce Wayne said dryly as he stared out the window and down the street. “What with the two of you becoming criminal masterminds and causing public disturbances left and right.”

“Listen to you,” Neely Kate said, sounding snippy. “Gettin’ all sassy.”

He glared at her. “I’m not the one makin’ deals with criminals.”

“Both of y’all stop.” I rubbed my forehead, feeling a headache brewing. “We need to focus on what we just discovered. Neely Kate, will you send me the photos?”

She stuck out her tongue at Bruce Wayne, then pulled out her phone. “Sure.”

I shook my head. My heart rate was returning to normal, and I felt like I was thinking more clearly. “We need to figure out why Kate was so interested in Mason’s Little Rock cases and the police reports from Little Rock.”