Page 127 of Family Jewels

“I don’t know. Maybe we can convince him to help us. In my vision, he was upset with his brother for stirrin’ up trouble. Or maybe we can find out something about Kip we can use to negotiate. We have to dosomething.”

“I know.” She patted my hand. “It actually might not be a bad idea. But you’re not plannin’ ongoin’there, are you?”

I ignored her question while I dug out my phone from my jeans pocket. I still hadn’t figured out the answer myself. “I should give Jed an update,” I said as I pulled up my speed dial numbers. “But we’ll never be able to negotiate without that necklace.”

“Finding that necklace was a long shot,” she said sadly. “How are we gonna stop them now?”

“Let’s pray Hugh gives us something,” I said as I sent Jed a text telling him we’d come up with a big fat nothing. “I think goin’ to his shop to see him is too risky. Let’s call him.”

We were still parked in front of our potential client’s house, and she was watching out of her front door and giving us strange looks. I decided to head toward the office until we figured out where else to go.

Jed sent back a reply as I pulled away from the curb.

You tried. Now tell me where you are. We need to get you out of the line of fire.

Jed and James were preparing for battle. I had to put a stop to this.

Neely Kate took my phone and read the message. She glanced up at me and said, “Like Hades we will.”

Relief washed over me.Wehad to put a stop to this. This whole scheme could crash and burn, but at least she and I were united.

“I’m gonna look up the number for Ripper Pawn,” she said, huddling over my phone. When she found the number, I pulled over in the parking lot of a strip mall. Then she placed the call and put it on speaker.

“Ripper Pawn.”

It was Hugh’s voice. I pushed out a sigh of relief and nodded to Neely Kate.

“Hugh?” Neely Kate asked in the higher-pitched voice she’d used when we’d visited the store while undercover. “This is Nancy, and I’ve got Beth Ann with me.”

As she uttered those words, my stomach sunk. I should have warned her.

Buck knew about my alias. And so did Kip.

“Hey!” he said in a strained voice. “If it isn’t my two favorite customers of the week, Nancy and Beth Ann. Only, I know your names are Neely Kate Colson and Rose Gardner.”

Neely Kate’s eyes widened with shock, but I was too distracted by a sudden worry to comfort her. We’d asked Hugh about his business when we were at Ripper Pawn. What if he thought James had sent us? “We weren’t there spyin’ on you, if that’s what you’re thinkin’, Hugh. We were only tryin’ to find the necklace for Raddy.”

“You two work for Malcolm.” While he sounded less friendly, he didn’t spit out James’ name the way an enemy would.

“No.We don’t,” Neely Kate said. “We’re PIs. We run Sparkle Investigations.”

I shot her a glare, but now didn’t seem like a good time to protest.

“You haven’t happened to come across the necklace we were looking for, have you?” I asked. It was a long shot, but it was worth asking. For all we knew, Kip kept him in the dark.

His humorless laugh proved me wrong. “If I did, don’t you think I’d have given it to Buck already? He’d rip me a new one if I found that damn thing and didn’t return it to him.” Then he hastily added, “Excuse my language.”

We needed to assume he knew everything.

Neely Kate lifted her eyebrows. I wondered if she was thinking what I was thinking: Hugh sounded scared of Buck and more than a little bitter.

“Hugh,” I said, my voice sounding more resolved than I felt. “We need your help.”

“What do you need help with?”

I took a breath. “You know that Raddy’s dead—Buck told me this afternoon that he was the one who killed him—but Buck still expects Neely Kate and me to find the necklace for him. If we don’t turn it over by eight tonight, we’re in big trouble.”

“I haven’t seen it. I swear.”