Page 122 of Family Jewels

She gave me a look that said suit yourself and finished off the thigh she’d been working on.

When I pulled onto County Road 110, I drove past the road to turn onto their property and drove another mile to the old Sinclair station.

“Are you meeting Skeeter?” she asked in an odd voice.

“No. But we can hide out of sight here and still see the traffic.”

After I backed Jonah’s car behind the building, I turned off the engine and rolled down the windows. “We need to cancel our afternoon appointments.”

She was quiet for a moment. “This is hurtin’ the business.”

“We can reschedule.” But one of the clients had been insistent that we see her this afternoon. “Okay, this should take a half hour or less. We can still meet with the second client. We’ll just reschedule the first. And she was flexible, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Okay.”

I turned to face her. “Neely Kate, I’m not sorry we’re doin’ this. I’ll admit that I wasn’t all that excited in the beginning, but I’m all in now.”

“Because of Skeeter Malcolm,” she said, giving me a look.

“Is that so bad?”

“I knowyoutrust him, but I’m not so sure. I still say he wants that necklace for himself. We still don’t know why he was with Raddy in the barn.”

I shook my head. “Why would Skeeter want that necklace?”

“Because it’s worth a fortune. And more importantly, he knows how much Buck Reynolds wants it.” She watched me for a moment. “You need to set aside whatyouknow about Skeeter Malcolm and take a moment to think about what everyone else knows. Can’t you see that it’s a possibility?”

My traitorous mind found something, and it must have shown on my face.

“What?” she asked. “What is it?”

I fought the panic rising in my chest. “James wouldn’t let me force a vision of Raddy. When I asked him why afterward, he said it would have been too dangerous. That since Raddy knew me, I couldn’t risk blurtin’ out some secret he didn’t want known. But I didn’t quite believe it. I wondered what he didn’t want me to see.” I was more relieved than I cared to admit that Buck had basically admitted to killing Raddy, but what was James hiding? Could Neely Kate be right?

“Rose.”

A black and white streak on the highway caught my eye, and I realized it was Homer’s Jeep heading west. I’d almost missed it. “That’s Homer.”

Neely Kate’s gaze moved to the road. “He’s early. Are you sure that was him?”

“Yep, I recognized the white front fender. Let’s go.”

I started the car and pulled out onto the highway.

It was time to start getting real answers.

Chapter 26

Iwasnervous as we drove down the Dyer driveway. Were we crazy to expect Mable to tell us anything? I cast a glance at Neely Kate and wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or worried that she looked just about as nervous as I felt.

The barking dog greeted us as we pulled up, and I wasn’t surprised to find Mable was standing in the doorway.

“You know,” I said, “There’s one possible problem to our plan.”

“What’s that?”

“What if Homer told Mable he was going to meet us at the factory?”

“Well, crap . . .”