Thirty-Four and a Half Predicaments: Rose Gardner Mystery #7 (5 page)

I stood behind her, beaming. “I’m sorry for trying to talk you out of this. You look like a model.”

Her smile was genuine, but it disappeared as soon as she glanced at her reflection.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, and looked into her eyes in the mirror, whispering, “Don’t you feel one bit guilty for bein’ happy, Neely Kate. You deserve it.”

Tears filled her eyes and she forced a smile. “Thank you, Rose.”

I gave her another squeeze and stood. “Come on. We’re gonna show your new hair off all around town.”

I followed Beulah to the register and gave her Mason’s credit card. She ran it through without comment, but as I signed the slip, she glanced at the name and raised her eyebrows. “Is there something you’re keeping from me?”

My heart leapt into my throat. What did she mean? Did she suspect I’d stolen Mason’s card? Or maybe that I was taking advantage of him? But a smile spread across her face. “Girl, are you marrying Mason Deveraux?”

Neely Kate’s head whipped around to look at me, her eyes wide with surprise.

I shook my head. “No. Nothing like that. At least not yet.”

“But this…” Beulah waved the card at me, and my face burned with embarrassment.

“I think you two make a lovely couple.” The voice behind me sent ice water through my veins.

I spun around and faced my least favorite redhead, although it was a very tight race with Deputy Abbie Lee Hoffstetter. “Hilary. I’m surprised to see you
here
.”

She glanced around, then smiled at the stylist. “Why, everyone knows Beulah is a miracle worker. In fact, I’ve bragged about her so much, I have friends from Little Rock and El Dorado who come here to have Beulah her work her magic.”

I stared at her in shock. While she’d moved to Henryetta to try to convince Joe to resume their volatile relationship, she’d made it perfectly clear that she considered the town equivalent to a third-world country. The fact that she would not only slum it by going to a Henryetta hair salon, but she’d tell her friends about it, was jaw-dropping. Although I had serious doubts she was capable of having friends.

“So are you and Mason Deveraux secretly engaged?” She grabbed my left hand. “Tell him to get you something simple. Probably a round solitaire, nothing too fancy—that wouldn’t fit you at all. A third of a carat would be good.”

Neely Kate put a hand on her hip as I jerked away from Hilary. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, considering
Joe
gave her a ring that looks exactly like that. Last I heard it’s in her underwear drawer, just waiting for her to change her mind.”

Hilary was still holding a fake smile in place, but it looked like the effort of holding it would give her a headache.

Neely Kate leaned closer. “Because we both know that Joe Simmons would marry her in a heartbeat. All she has to do is snap her fingers—” Neely Kate snapped hers, waving her arm with more sass than I’d seen her use in weeks, “—and he’d take her to the courthouse as soon as he could get her there. But then look at you, wearing an engagement ring you had to buy yourself because he’d rather set himself on fire than marry you.”

Every woman in the salon was watching our exchange with open mouths. Beulah could have sold tickets at twenty dollars a pop and she would have sold out in thirty seconds flat. But as Neely Kate had pointed out when we were looking for her missing cousin a month ago, the hair salon was the absolute best place to get caught up with the town’s gossip. And we sure were putting on a show.

Suddenly I realized something—rumors that I was playing both Joe and Mason were going to spread like wildfire. I grabbed my best friend’s arm and tugged her back. “Neely Kate.”

Hilary turned toward me, the look in her eyes saying she wanted nothing more than to stab me with a pair of hair scissors. “Were you engaged to Joe?”

I took a step back, the room closing in on me. No, it was the fifteen sets of eyes that were glued to me. “Not technically.”

The women began to murmur.

“Not
technically?
”

“He proposed, but I never said yes.”

I heard the bell on the door ring, signaling the arrival of yet another gawker.

“When?” Hilary forced out through gritted teeth. “When did Joe propose and give you the ring?”

“What does it matter, Hil-monster?” another familiar voice asked. “She’s the one he wants to marry, not you. That’s all you really need to know.”

Hilary stepped back and shot a glare at Joe’s sister, Kate, who grinned back like the Cheshire cat.

She’d shown up in town right after Christmas. Rumor had it she was taking up residence at the nicest motel Henryetta had to offer. I had no idea why, other than she seemed to be snooping around about anything that had to do with Joe. Violet, who had more contact with Joe than I did, said he was aggravated by his sister’s sudden appearance and had very little to do with her. She’d been in the nursery when Neely Kate collapsed. And although she’d been antagonistic before the trauma, she’d insisted on riding to the hospital with us in Joe’s sheriff’s car. She’d even stuck around to try and make me feel better in the waiting room. I hadn’t seen her since, but I’d heard she was still around.

Now Kate’s gaze was locked on my face. “Do you still have Joe’s ring?”

I started to answer, still in shock that this was happening, but then I came to my senses. What was Mason gonna think if he heard about this? “Neely Kate, we need to go.” I pulled on her arm, but she refused to budge.

Kate turned to my friend and picked up several strands of her newly colored hair. “Looks good on you, N.K. I could never pull off pink.”

Hilary put her hands on her hips, finally gathering herself enough to make a rebuttal. “What are you doing here, Kate? Are you following me again?”

Kate shrugged. “It’s a small town. I can’t help it if I keep running into you. This place is like a pinball machine.”

Hilary lifted her chin with a haughty air. “If you continue to harass me, I’ll be forced to file a restraining order against you.”

Kate smirked. “That shouldn’t be too hard, considering how friendly you used to be with the current Fenton County assistant district attorney.”

“What?” I gasped in horror.

Kate crossed her arms, a satisfied gleam in her eyes. “You don’t know about Hil’s history with your current boyfriend?”

I shook my head, finding no words, but Neely Kate had no such trouble. “What in Sam Hill are you talkin’ about?”

Kate tilted her head toward Hilary. “You should ask Hilary for the details. Everything I know is hearsay.”

Hilary’s mouth pinched into a tight line, making it clear she didn’t intend to say one word. I was grateful for her uncharacteristic silence; I had no desire to hear anything about Mason from her.

I took a deep breath and turned to face the gathered stylists and their clients, who were still very much watching us with bug eyes, not even pretending to do otherwise. “I’m very happy with Mason, and while I love him very much, we are not yet engaged—secretly or otherwise.” I grabbed Neely Kate’s arm and tugged. “Let’s go.” I didn’t so much as look back at Hilary or Kate.

She followed me this time, both of us silent until we were about ten feet away from the door.

“I’m sorry, Rose,” she gushed. “I don’t know what overcame me. It’s like all this fire has been building inside me for so long, and it just burst right on out. It was all I could do to not scratch her eyes out.” Tears filled her eyes again.

“Oh, honey, it’s okay.”

“No.” Her voice was hard, but it cracked with emotion as she pointed toward the beauty shop. “No it’s not. That horrible excuse of a human being is pregnant with a baby she’s only using as tool, while I lost…” Her words broke off and she started to cry. “It’s not fair, Rose.”

My throat burned as my chin quivered. “I know, honey. It’s not fair and I’d do anything to make it right.”

She sucked in a deep breath and pulled back her shoulders. “I’m done taking her crap, and I’m gonna do everything in my power to bring her down.”

The look in her eyes scared me a little. “What does that mean?”

She shook her head. “I’m still working on it, but I’ll let you know when I have a plan.”

I wasn’t sure revenge was a good alternative to despondency, but at least she had some fire in her. Then Kate’s implication hit me full force.

I turned toward the courthouse. “I have to talk to Mason.”

“No.” She looped her arm through mine. “I don’t trust Kate one bit more than I trust Hilary. She
wants
you to run to Mason. She
wants
you to question your trust in him.” She turned to me. “I’m craving a hamburger from Merilee’s.”

Her abrupt change in mood worried me, but I let her lead me across the street and into the café. We sat at a table and she ordered a hamburger while I sat in silence, reliving the nightmare at the Nip and Clip over and over again.

“She’s lyin’,” Neely Kate said as the waitress walked away.

“I’m not so sure.”

She leaned her elbows on the table. “Okay, so let’s say she’s tellin’ the truth. I can’t see Mason dating Hilary. She’s not his type.”

“She could be, for all I know. He’s barely told me anything about his old girlfriends.”

“It’s a good bet that his type ain’t crazy-ass witches.”

True, but the thought of Mason possibly dating Hilary—or even befriending her—made me sicker than the time Muffy ate a dead possum she’d found in the back yard.

“Look, you said Mason and Joe had history even before Savannah because they worked in the same sphere. Hilary was with the state police just like Joe was. If Mason knew her before coming to Henryetta, that’s probably how.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

The waitress brought Neely Kate her burger and I decided to tell her about my discovery. Though I’d been trying not to think about it, the memory kept resurfacing in my mind. “I stopped by Mason’s office before I came to see you. He wasn’t in his office, but Kaylee sent me in and I saw a file on his desk. One I wasn’t expecting.”

She stopped mid-bite. “What was it?”

“A file on Dora.”

She plopped the burger back down on the plate. “He’s working on her case? And he didn’t tell you?”

“No. And I looked inside it.” I cringed.

“Of course you did.” But there was no recrimination in her voice, only pride. “I’d expect nothing less.”

“I don’t think it’s an official file. He has handwritten notes in her folder, and he usually keeps his notes in documents on his laptop.”

“Do you think it’s because he might get in trouble with his boss for working on a case that’s so old?”

“No…” I looked up at her. “I think it’s because she might have been doin’ something bad.”

“Why would you say that?”

“His notes said she might have been part of a possible extortion scheme.”

“What did he say when you asked him about it?”

“I didn’t. I panicked and I stuck the file back on his desk when he came back. Then I figured it would be too obvious if I asked about her. I didn’t want him thinking I was snoopin’. Even if I was.”

“So what are you gonna do?”

I’d been asking myself that very question since leaving Mason’s office, and I’d finally reached a decision while sitting in the salon. “I’m gonna ask him about it tonight. Along with if he knew Hilary before he came to Henryetta.”

“Good idea.”

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out, my stomach tumbling to the floor when I read the name: SM

Skeeter Malcolm.

I hid my phone under the table as I sent the call to voice mail, but Neely Kate didn’t seem to notice. “I need to go to the restroom.”

Neely Kate gave me a strange look, my tone probably throwing her off. “Okay.”

“I’ll be right back.” I hurried to the one-stall bathroom and locked the door before hitting redial.

Skeeter answered on the first ring. “Lady. I thought you were avoiding me.”

“I couldn’t very well answer while I was sitting with Neely Kate in the middle of Merilee’s Café.”

“Good point. Long time, no see.”

Actually, longer than I’d expected. The last time I’d seen or talked to him was a month ago, the night he’d agreed to save Mason in exchange for my willing participation as the Lady in Black for six months. I’d worried Skeeter would utilize every moment of those six months. Then a new thought hit me—maybe he thought my indentured service would start at the time of his choosing. I planned to nip that idea in the bud right away. “I’m surprised you let a month of our six-month contract slip by.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you missed me.” I heard the grin in his voice.

“Hardly.”

“I need to see you soon.”

That’s what I was afraid of. “How soon?”

“Tomorrow night.”

My mind started to race over my schedule. “That’s more notice than you usually give.”

“Give and take, Lady. Give and take. Plus, I have more notice this time.”

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. “What do I need to do?”

“Sit in on a simple meeting with a few associates. Jed will pick you up at eight tomorrow night. Behind the Sinclair station.”