His only answer was to give me a sad smile.

My panic renewed. He must have sensed it, because he brushed his lips against mine. “One way or another, it’s going to be okay.”

“I’m so scared I’m going to lose you.”

“Shh …” he murmured against my lips. “I love you. Focus on tonight.” He wiped the tears off my cheeks and studied my face. “I need you to be safe.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “What time is it?”

“After five.”

My eyes widened. “You should have woken me up.”

He smoothed the damp hair from my cheek. “No. You needed to rest. Jed went by the farm and got your clothes.” His voice was tight. “He also brought dinner.”

“Clothes?”

“Your Lady in Black clothes. From the back of our bedroom closet.” Then he got up. “Come on out whenever you’re ready. I’d like to go over the questions again. Skeeter wants you to leave by nine.”

A few more tears ran down my cheeks as I stood. Mason came back and pulled me into his arms. He kissed me, but I could taste the sadness on his lips, and it made me even more frightened.

“Mason, I’m so, so sorry.”

He cupped my cheek and gave me a sad smile. “I know. I believe you.”

I went to the bathroom, and when I came out, I found him at the kitchen table with a pad of paper. He was studying a list, but as soon as he saw me, he pulled the notebook with his questions from earlier on top of it.

“Are you hungry?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m too nervous.”

“Okay, but you should eat something before you go. You need your energy. Jed picked up food from Big Bill’s.”

“Okay.”

We spent the next two hours going over the questions and a variety of possible scenarios. Jed came in and out, listening in for a while before he left, but I never saw hide nor hair of Skeeter. After we’d been through every possible question, Jed came back in, looking grim.

“Rose, you need to get dressed so we can get you ready.”

Mason turned his head and gave him a hard look. “You said you were bugging the house.”

Jed gave him a wary glance. “We are, but we want her to wear a wire too.”

“What if he checks?”

“He won’t. But if he does, he’s still unlikely to find this.”

Mason stood. “What is it?”

Jed handed him a small, flat black object. Mason looked it over. “Can she wear it in her bra?”

Jed glanced up at me and looked uncomfortable. “Yeah.”

Obviously, he noticed a few of my dresses had been too low cut for me to wear one. Now I was worried to see what he’d packed. “Where are my clothes?”

Jed walked outside and returned with Neely Kate’s polka-dotted backpack.

Mason’s face hardened when his gaze landed on the backpack. “I see Neely Kate knew. She walked out of our house with that same bag last weekend.”

I wanted to say I was sorry, but it had lost its usefulness. I took the bag from Jed.

Skeeter had walked through the doorway after Jed, and he shut the door behind him. “Can it, Deveraux, we need her to stay focused. Heaping a mountain of guilt on her right now is only going to threaten the successfulness of this little field trip.”

Jed reached for the device in Mason’s hand, but he wouldn’t let it go. “The only person going near her chest is me.”

Skeeter snickered, but he called out, “I’d like a word with you, Deveraux,” as Mason started to follow me down the hall.

I stopped and turned around to face him. “Skeeter.”

Mason gave me a look of reassurance. “It’s okay, Rose. I want to talk to him too. Go get dressed.”

I went into the bathroom and dug through the bag, grateful I had several dress choices, one of which allowed me to wear a bra. I quickly stripped and stepped into the dress. I was still pulling it up when Mason knocked on the door, then opened it a crack. “It’s me.”

“You can come in.”

My back was to him as he shut the door behind him. He reached for the zipper at the base of my spine and slowly zipped it, then pulled my back to his chest. “I don’t know if I can watch you do this,” he whispered.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You mean tonight?”

He lowered his face to my hair. “Yeah. I’m not sure I can watch J.R. Simmons or his minions murder you. Last night was enough.”

I turned around and looked up at him, trying to stuff down my disappointment. I understood his decision, but I would feel better knowing he was there with me. “It’s okay. It’s safer if you’re not there.”

“Joe’s disappeared.”

My eyes widened, and I would have taken a step back if Mason’s arms hadn’t held me in place. “What?”

“He left the sheriff’s station last night after I watched your video, and no one has seen him since.”

“Kate do something to him?” I asked in a panic.

“Kate? No. I’m sure she wouldn’t hurt her own brother.”

I didn’t know what to believe about her.

“I’m sure he’s just distraught.”

I squeezed my eyes tight. That was only slightly better. So many emotions washed through me I had a hard time separating them out, but first and foremost was grief. I’d caused him this pain. I wasn’t sure I could live with the guilt. Still, I wasn’t sure there was a better way. “Do you think he’s okay?”