Page 68 of Family Jewels

What was I doing? Why hadn’t I called Randy Miller and told him about Trixie? But Randy didn’t know about my visions. I could tell Neely Kate, of course, and I would, but I wanted someone else to know what was going on. Someone who could help. I could only think of one person, but I wasn’t ready to talk to him yet. So I called the next best thing.

“Is everything okay?” Jed said when he answered the phone.

“Yes, well . . . maybe.”

“Do you need me to come get you out of trouble?”

“No,” I said. “I don’t think so.” I took a breath. “What do you know about Buck Reynolds?”

“Why are you asking about him?”

“Do you think he’s capable of murder?”

“I’m damn sure of it.” He paused, his voice harder. “Why are you asking about Buck Reynolds?”

“I’m at Jaspers and I ran into Buck and his . . . uh . . . girlfriend, Trixie.”

“What are you and Neely Kate doin’ at Jaspers?”

“I’m not with Neely Kate. I’m on a date.”

He was quiet for so long, I thought we might have gotten disconnected. “Who are you on a datewith?” he finally asked.

“That’s neither here nor there. He’s a perfect gentleman, so there’s no need for you to worry.”

He didn’t respond.

“Look, Jed. I think Buck Reynolds may have gone to Rayna Dyer’s house last night to look for the missing necklace and killed Rayna in the process. From the way Trixie was acting, I think she was either part of it or knows what happened, especially since she’s the one who supposedly found Rayna and called the sheriff.”

“Aren’t you calling the wrong side of the law about this?”

“I can’t call Deputy Miller,” I said. “I found out that Trixie was Rayna’s friend through a vision, which is the same way I learned Buck is pissed at Trixie for talking to me. Deputy Miller doesn’t know anything about my visions. He’ll have no reason to believe me.”

“Rose, it doesn’t sound like you have information he can do anything with anyway.”

“Butyoucan,” I said.

“What exactly do you want me to do?” he asked in disbelief. “Perform a citizen’s arrest?”

“I don’t know, Jed,” I said, getting exasperated. “But I think Buck Reynolds is a murderer.”

“Which means you need to stay away from him, Rose.”

“I will. I am. That’s why I’m calling you from the women’s restroom.”

“You’re hiding out? Where’s your date?”

“He has no idea what’s goin’ on. In fact, I need to get back out there.”

“For God’s sake,” Jed groaned. “Get your pepper spray out before you leave the restroom. Let’s not have a repeat of last February.”

While free dinners at Jaspers were a nice perk, he had a point. One kidnapping had been enough.

Thankfully, no one was waiting for me when I walked into the hall with the pepper spray in hand.

Buck and Trixie weren’t at their table when I passed the bar, so I made a beeline to Levi’s table. He was bent over his phone, but he looked up and gave me a curious stare. “Is everything okay?”

“Of course. Fine,” I said, sliding into my empty seat and hastily slipping the pepper spray into my purse. Had he seen it clenched in my fist?