Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies (4 page)

Carter smirked. “I’ve always hated pulling cases against you for that very reason. But you and I both know this case isn’t goin’ to hinge on the prosecution’s argument. The judge is goin’ to sway the jury to reach the verdict J.R. Simmons bought and paid for.”

“Goddammit!” Mason shouted, climbing to his feet.

“We’re goin’ to have to fight this case out of the courtroom. Find out how the judge was bought. Find evidence linking Chief Deputy Simmons and the DA to abuse of power.”

“You want to go after Joe?” I asked, my stomach tumbling like a washing machine.

“You bet your ass I do,” Carter said, looking me square in the eye. “And the DA, and anyone else who’s a part of this mess.” He sat up. “I have some—ahem—contacts who might be able to help me gather some information.”

Mason snorted. “I bet you do.”

Carter gave him a pointed stare. “Isn’t that why you came to me, Deveraux?”

Mason released a low growl and turned his back to us.

I stood up and put a hand on Mason’s arm. I knew he was wrestling with his conscience. It had to kill him to be in this position, where our fates were riding on someone with ties to the criminal underworld.

If Carter Hale’s connections upset him this much, how would he feel if he found out about my involvement with Skeeter? And how long could I keep it from him?

He turned to me and stared deep into my eyes. “Do it,” he grunted. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“So that’s my assignment,” Carter said. “Yours is to attack the senior Simmons from another front.”

“I’m already working on it.”

“Any progress?”

His face darkened. “No.”

Carter looked at me. “I have a few contacts who might be able to dig up a little dirt on the senior Simmons as well.”

“Do I want to know who they are?” Mason asked.

A ghost of a smile lifted Carter’s mouth. “I suspect not.”

“Is there anything else?” Mason asked.

“No. As soon as I find out anything about Mr. Stout, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

Mason nodded and took my hand. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you home.”

“Rose, you might want to stay at home and inside for a day or two,” Carter said. “At least until we know more about your benefactor.”

Mason nodded. “Agreed.” Then he squeezed my hand and started to lead me out of the room.

I pulled him to a stop. “Carter. I know you and Mason don’t see eye to eye, so thank you for taking my case anyway.”

“Oh …” he drawled. “You can thank your friend Neely Kate for that. And be sure to tell her I’m still waiting for that cupcake she promised me.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “Be careful what you ask for.”

Mason didn’t budge; he just looked Carter over, taking his measure. “Rose is right,” he finally said. “Thank you for changing your mind about taking the case. You are the best attorney for the job.”

Carter grinned from ear to ear. “Why, thank you, counselor. I’m sure it was difficult for you to spit that out.”

“Maybe so, but it’s true nonetheless.”

“Not to worry, Deveraux. Between all of us, we’ll save your girl … and you too, while we’re at it.”

I shot Carter a frown as I pushed Mason toward the door. “I’m eager to see Muffy. Let’s get goin’.”

Mason let me push him down the hall and out the front door. Once we were outside, we were hit again with a blast of cold air. He shrugged off his coat and wrapped it around my shoulders. “Are you hungry? Do you want to get a late lunch from Merilee’s?”

The gun holster strapped to his chest caught my eye and sent a chill down my back that had nothing to do with the cold.

I glanced up at him, distraught by how exhausted he looked. “Does your momma have any of her delicious leftovers?”

A soft smile lit up his face. “She’s been stress-cooking all weekend. You can have your pick of just about anything you like.”

“Then let’s go there.”

He pulled out his phone and texted while we walked to his car, which he’d parked a few spots down from Carter’s office. As he opened my car door, he slipped the phone back into his pants pocket. “Your sister’s liable to take my head off. I just included her in a group text telling everyone you’re out and safe.”

“She’ll get over it.” She might not, but Violet was the least of my worries.

As Mason headed to his mother’s, I asked, “Do you know where
my
phone is?” I worried what texts might be on it. If Skeeter really had left town, he might have texted or called to warn me.

“It’s at home. Do you need it?”

I did, but it could wait. I was going to revel in being free for a few hours before I jumped back headlong into trouble.

M
aeve greeted
us at the front door with tears in her eyes. Muffy barked her fool head off until I scooped her up in my arms, and then she proceeded to smother my cheeks and nose with licks. Next came a plume of noxious fumes, but I’d missed her so much I didn’t mind, even if my eyes watered a little.

Maeve heated up some meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and I ate half of the food on my plate before pushing it away, my stomach a basket of nerves. I might be out of jail, but I definitely wasn’t free.

After we visited with Maeve for a little while longer, we took Muffy home to the farm. As soon as we were inside the front door, Mason ran into the kitchen to turn off the alarm. Muffy raced after him, probably assuming that he was in a hurry to fill her food bowl. I took a moment to look around the place I’d grown to love as home. My gaze landed on Mason as he returned to the front room. I was so lucky to have this man who would literally do anything in his power to protect me. I’d wasted twenty-four of my twenty-five years, but I had gained so much since last May. I couldn’t help but think I was about to lose it all if we failed to best J.R. Simmons.

Noticing my subdued attitude, Mason took me into his arms and gave me a long, soulful kiss.

“What do you need, sweetheart?” he asked when he lifted his head. “What can I do for you?”

I was in such a pickle that I didn’t even know where to start, but all I could think about was holding on to the man in front of me.

“I need
you
.” I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his, threading my fingers through his hair.

He held me close, taking over the kiss, and then grabbed my hands and tugged me toward the steps. “Let’s go upstairs. Our bed has been empty and lonely without you.” His voice broke on the last words, making my heart swell even more.

I followed him into our room, and we came to a stop next to our bed.

Mason took off his holster and laid it on the dresser before turning back to me. He stroked my cheek with his thumb as I looked up into his sorrowful eyes.

“I failed you,” he said again.

I put my finger over his lips. “Shh. I won’t listen to another word of nonsense. Even if I spend the rest of my life in prison, you haven’t failed me.”

He looked devastated as he pulled my hand down. “How can you say that?”

“Do you have any idea how blessed I am?”

“Blessed? But you were arrested! I might not be able to stop J.R., Rose.”

I shook my head. “You’re doing everything you can. That’s all I can ask of you. And you did everything in your power to get me out of there, including askin’ for help from Carter Hale. That’s not lost on me.” I wrapped my hands around his neck and stood on my tiptoes, my lips inches from his. “Mason, people spend their entire lives lookin’ for what we have.” I gave him a soft kiss. “I’m so thankful I can truly count on you.”

He kissed me back, his arm pulling me against his chest. Our mood became more desperate, and he pulled my sweater over my head and threw it on the floor. I unbuttoned his shirt, pausing only to run my hands over his bare chest before tossing the shirt into the growing pile of clothes.

He pushed me back onto the bed and unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them off. I was only wearing my bra and panties as I watched him unfasten his pants and drop them to the floor. He stood next to the edge of the bed for a moment, looking down at me.

“You’re so beautiful, Rose. I don’t think you know how beautiful you are.”

I sat up and stripped off his briefs, leaving him completely naked. “You’re beautiful yourself, Mason Deveraux. Every single woman in this county wants you, and you’re mine.”

I grabbed his hands and pulled him down next to me. We lay sideways on the bed, Mason naked and me in my underwear.

“You’re definitely overdressed, Ms. Gardner,” he murmured, reaching behind me to unhook my bra.

I quickly slipped it off and reached down to remove my underwear. Then I straddled his waist and leaned over him, my hair brushing the side of his face. “I love you, Mason.”

As he reached up to fondle my breasts, he raised his gaze to meet mine. “I’ve missed you.”

I laughed. “You missed my body?”

A grin lit up his eyes. “Yes. I think it’s time I tell you the truth—I only love you for your body.”

I slid my hands over his chest and down his firm abs, then lifted my eyebrows and gave him a sly grin. “That works out well, since I only love you for yours.”

He rolled me onto my back and leaned over me, kissing me so thoroughly my toes curled.

“I want you,” I whispered, wrapping my legs around his waist.

He plunged into me and I arched up to meet him, looking into his eyes. Our playfulness was gone now, and the gravity of our situation slipped back in. I reached my hand up to his cheek as we moved together. His face was blurry through my tears.

“I won’t let you go to prison, Rose. I swear it.” The intensity in his eyes scared me. I wondered what lengths he would go to in order to keep me safe.

I pulled his mouth to mine, my lips as demanding as the rest of my body. I came quickly with Mason close behind, and then he collapsed next to me and rolled me onto my side, our chests pressed together.

I closed my eyes and stroked his arm with my fingers.

“I can only stay a few more minutes before I need to get back to work,” he said.

“What are you working on?”

He hesitated, and I knew he was deciding how much he should share.

“Mason, you can tell me everything now. You’re not working for the county anymore. No more secrets.” Guilt shot through me as I said the words. I suspected I had far more secrets than he did at this point.

He pulled my hand from his arm and gently held it. “J.R. Simmons is rumored to have influenced a judge in Lafayette County. But every time I think I have something substantial to tie him to it, the evidence slips through my fingers.”

“That’s all you have?” I tried to keep the disappointment from my voice. “I suppose it will establish a pattern if Carter manages to tie him to the Fenton County DA and the judge in my case.” Still, as serious as the allegations were, I had doubts they were enough.

“That’s the part that has me confused.” He propped up on an elbow. “Carter Hale is trying to
prove
criminal behavior? That’s a huge risk for him. Why would he do that?”

My heart beat hard against my chest. “He’s just trying to give me the best representation possible.”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Something’s not adding up here. Just like how he suddenly changed his mind about representing you. He hates my guts, and he took great glee in telling me no when I went to him on hands and knees. Less than an hour later, he took the case. When I asked him about paying the retainer, he told me it was covered. He claims he’s doing it pro bono for the publicity, and because Neely Kate gave him a talking-to, but I’m not so sure.”

I struggled to keep from jumping out of my skin. “What other reason could there be?”

“There’s something I haven’t told you about Hale, something that might make a difference …” He shifted to his back, pulling me with him so I rested on his chest. “Hale’s good at representing the criminal element. He’s outwitted me more times than I’d care to admit. But I’m pretty damn sure he has ties to Skeeter Malcolm.”

I fought to take a breath. “Why do you say that?”

“He takes a high proportion of the cases that have ties to Malcolm.” He was quiet for several seconds, and I could practically see the wheels spinning in his head. “When I went to Hale’s office on Friday night, he told me that he’d seen one of Malcolm’s men hanging around outside your office.” I could feel his heartbeat quicken in his chest. “What if Malcolm convinced Hale to take your case?”

“Mason.” I fought to keep my voice level. “What purpose would Skeeter Malcolm have for doing that?”

“To hurt me by using you? I don’t know. I know it doesn’t make sense, but something’s not adding up here.” He was getting agitated.

I stroked his face, searching his eyes. “I think you’re reading too much into it.”

“I’m not so sure,” he said, pushing out a groan of frustration. “I think I should find you a new attorney.”

I could only imagine what Skeeter would do if I fired Carter. But according to Carter, Skeeter had run off. He wasn’t around to do much of anything.

But I couldn’t ignore the fact that the two men who were in the thick of this with me—whether Mason realized it or not—had both turned to the same man. The coincidence was too great. “I think we stick with Carter.”

“His ties to Malcolm are too strong. I don’t trust him to do this for the right reasons.”

I’d had an entire weekend to do nothing but think, and all that thinking had brought me to one conclusion. Mason, Skeeter, and I had to face this fight together. But for the life of me, I had no idea how to make that happen without telling Mason the whole, ugly truth.

Trying to sound steadier than I felt, I said, “I’ve been thinking about J.R.’s involvement in other things …”

“What do you mean?”

“I think Joe’s father is up to something in Fenton County. If we can figure out what he’s been doing here, it stands to reason that it would be easier for us to find proof of that than to investigate rumors of a case somewhere else.”

I had his attention. He sat up and looked down at me. “What makes you think Simmons has other current ties to Fenton County?”

Something in his voice told me he knew something. “What do you know?”

His eyes darkened. “It’s county business.”

“And you’re no longer a county employee.”

“I’m curious about how you made the leap to a connection between Malcolm and J.R. Simmons.”

Crappy doodles. What information did he have? And what was I gonna tell him? I looked out the windows overlooking the sun porch that had served as my nursery such a long, long time ago, and relief washed through me. Just like that, I knew what to say. “We know this isn’t the first time he’s fiddled around in Fenton County. He was here causing trouble twenty-five years ago. My birth mother had proof of it in that journal I found taped to the bottom of my crib. And we know it’s important, because right after Joe took it, he had you fired and me arrested.” Pain stabbed my heart at the reminder of his betrayal, but I didn’t have time to dwell on that. I sat up next to Mason, starting to get excited. “We need to go back to the plant and find the secret safe.”

“Why? And I never got a good handle of what went on there. All I had to go on was your short explanation, and the sheriff’s department won’t tell me anything. Their report is much too short. I went to the hospital to talk to Hattie and get her take on things, but she’d already checked out. And when I called her parents, they told me she left town. That’s all she said to them, though—they have no idea where she went.”

“She’s gone?” I asked, although I wasn’t sure why I was so surprised. She knew about J.R.’s involvement in this and was probably trying to get as far away from ground zero as possible.

“Yeah. Why would she do that?”

“She’s scared of J.R.” I gave him a weak smile. “Hattie told me to meet her there so she could provide me with some kind of proof about my birth father.”

His expression softened. “You really think Harrison Gardner might not be your father?”

“I don’t know,” I said quietly. “Apparently my father might be Paul Buchanan, the son of the owner of Atchison Manufacturing. Hattie confirmed that Dora had an affair with him right after her affair with Daddy. But Henry Buchanan was about to give Paul everything. His daughter Beverly didn’t like it, so she tampered with Paul’s car, and he and his wife were killed in a car accident. Dora was already pregnant with me, and Paul had told her that he was going to leave his wife. He wanted to marry her and be my daddy.”

“Oh, Rose. I’m so sorry.”

I shook my head and gave him a tight smile. “I’m strangely okay with it. I just want the truth. But honestly, I’m still pretty certain Harrison Gardner was my birth father. Otherwise, how do I explain my visions? Daddy’s momma had them too.”

He tucked a stray hair behind my ear. “We can find out for certain. You can have a DNA test.”

“I think I have bigger fish to fry right now. A whole school of them.”

“Maybe, but you’re still entitled to have feelings over this news. It’s life-altering.”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t change a blessed thing. I still grew up with my hateful mother. I was still abused. Even if Hattie claims she and Daddy only left me at Momma’s mercy to protect me.”

“Why would she think that?”

“She said they were trying to hide me from Beverly. Henry Buchanan thought Dora was pregnant with his son’s baby, and he changed his will to include me. Or at least some secret third beneficiary. Hattie’s convinced that it’s me. She thinks the documentation is in a secret safe in the old factory. And she’s certain the combination is in the journal.”

“You think proving your true parentage will help your case somehow?”

“No. But I figure if Dora kept evidence on J.R. in a secret journal, Henry Buchanan, the owner of the plant that was ultimately screwed over by Joe’s father, would have kept his own evidence of how the man had wronged him.”

Excitement filled his eyes. “Rose. You could be right. But we don’t have the journal.”

“Let’s go see if there actually
is
a secret safe. Honestly, Hattie seemed a little crazy. She could have been completely wrong about the whole thing.”

Mason climbed out of bed, grabbed his underwear off the floor, and stepped into them. “Make a map of the plant as you remember it.”

“What are you talking about? Why would I make a map? I’ll just show it to you.”

“No.” He walked over to the closet and opened the door. “You heard Hale. He thinks you should stay in the house and let things die down.”

I got out of bed and followed him. “Just a minute ago you said you weren’t so sure you trusted Carter. Why listen to him on this? I’m goin’ with you.”

He turned to me in exasperation. “Rose, it could be dangerous.”

“Exactly. So why would I let you go alone?”