Page 37 of Family Jewels

“Then where the hell was it when I walked up, Neely Kate? He had his hands on you. He could have pulled his knife out and stabbed you at any moment!”

“I was about to pull it out when you showed up and played the hero!”

Jed wasn’t backing down. “If you pulled out that gun while he was holding you, he would have wrestled it out of your hand and likely shot you in the process!”

I sat between the two of them, my back pressed against the seat in an impossible attempt to get out of the way.

“And then,” he continued, still shouting, “I had the damn situation under control, and you pulled out your gun and shot at him.What the hell was that?”

“I don’t answer to you, Jed Carlisle!”

Jed took a breath and ran his hand over his head. “What in God’s name were you two doing talking to Homer Dyer?”

“We weren’t there to talk to him,” Neely Kate said. “We wanted to see Mable. I thought Homer would be working his shift at the aluminum factory.”

“Dyer lost his job two months ago after he took a swing at his boss.” He seemed to have calmed down a bit now that the danger was behind us. “He was an angry guy before, but now he’s a ticking time bomb. There’s a very real chance he would have hurt you, Neely Kate.”

“How the hell was I supposed to know?” she demanded.

Jed took several seconds before he said, “You still didn’t tell me what you were doing there.”

“I had no idea we were supposed to run everything we do pastyou,” she said in a snotty tone.

What in the world was going on? Neely Kate was usually happy to have Jed as backup. He’d saved my life on more than one occasion, and I was sure he’d saved hers too.

I let out a long sigh and leaned between them. “Okay, enough of this nonsense. I’m not sure why you two are at each other’s throats, but it’s not helping anything.” I glanced at Neely Kate. “I asked Jed to come, and I’m glad he did. Jed’s right. That man was dangerous.”

“I could have handled it, Rose,” Neely Kate protested. “We’ll never be taken seriously if we keep calling Jed for backup.”

Jed released a loud groan. “Istilldon’t know what you were doing there.”

“We were asking Mable questions,” I said, turning to face Jed. “Raddy Dyer asked us to find a necklace he’d given to his wife—I mean his fake wife. She says she turned all the family jewelry he gave her over to his mother, but according to him, one of the necklaces was missing. Raddy claims it’s made with white sapphires, but Rayna thinks all the jewelry’s fake, and his momma just told me the same thing.”

“So he’s been hoodwinked?” Jed asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said. “She had an owl brooch with red stones for the eyes. Rayna took it to the pawn shop. The clerk told her it was fake, but—”

His eyes widened. “Whichpawn shop?”

Oh crap. I didn’t want James to know I’d been anywhere near Kip Wagner. “Rainy Day Pawn.”

Some of the tension left his shoulders.

“But we also—” Neely Kate started to protest, and I elbowed her in the ribs.

“We found the pin, and it has real rubies for the eyes.”

Jed looked skeptical. “Who told you that? The same clerk who told her they were fake?”

“No,” Neely Kate said in a huff. “I know a thing or two about gemstones.”

“So you think that means the necklace is real too.”

“I don’t know what to think,” I said. “Mable says the jewelry’s worthless. According to her, she didn’t even notice the necklace was missing before she gave the whole stash to her daughter.”

“She lied,” Neely Kate said. “I saw several pieces Raddy told us about in Mable’s bedroom.”

“What?” I asked, twisting at the waist to face her.