Chapter Twenty-One

“What did Maeve say?” Neely Kate repeated.

I wasn’t about to break Maeve’s trust, but I didn’t think there’d be any harm in telling her parts of our conversation. “She told me to trust my instincts.”

“And?”

I glanced over at her. “She trusts me. She just has a feeling.”

She sank back in her seat. “A feeling?”

“Yeah.”

“So tell me why we’re in Maeve’s car, why we’re goin’ to Dena’s, and what you saw in your vision back at the pool hall.”

“Where do you want me to start?”

“Let’s start with the first one.”

I grimaced. “Skeeter is furious, so he has one of his guys out lookin’ for me.”

“Oh, my stars and garters. Is it Jed?”

“No. He sent Merv. Jed called to warn me”

“Won’t he get in trouble for that?”

I had to admit I was worried about him. “Yeah. I’ll just have to make sure that Skeeter doesn’t find out.”

“What are you gonna do?”

I let out a sigh. “Jed thinks I’ll be able to reason with Skeeter once he cools down.”

Neely Kate shook her head. “I knew Skeeter Malcolm was trouble from the start.”

“Maybe so, but what’s done is done. Merv’s probably lookin’ for my truck. He’ll never suspect I’m in Maeve’s car. So as long as we stay away from the office, we should be good. I just need to figure out how to get Muffy from the nursery.”

She lifted her eyebrows and gave me a look that suggested she wasn’t as confident in my plan as I was. “So what did you see in the vision?”

“Dirk callin’ someone after leaving the pool hall.”

“And why would you want to see that?”

“I figured he must have confided in someone about the whole Atchison mess. Scared as he was, it made sense to me he’d run to them first thing. And he did. He called some woman named Beverly. He said we knew everything about the fire and the blackmail.”

“You really think Henry Buchanan bribed him?”

“Or Dirk was extorting him? Either way, it stands to reason it involves Dirk.”

She was quiet for a moment. “Do you think there’s really a chance your daddy started that fire?”

“It doesn’t seem like something he’d do, but neither does having an affair and fathering an illegitimate daughter. Although there seems to be some question of whether he’s my father after all.”

“Rose…”

I glanced at her. “Did you hear the part about the factory? They can’t find an heir. What if I really am Henry Buchanan’s child and they’re lookin’ for me?”

“Rose.” Her tone softened.

I gripped the steering wheel tighter. “I’d prefer Henry Buchanan to…” I couldn’t finish the thought.

“This is ridiculous.” Her voice rose in protest. “Neither one of those men is your father. Least of all J.R. Simmons.” She shuddered her disgust.

I wished I could be as certain as she was. “I’ve called my Aunt Bessie. She might know more about Dora…or if Daddy’s not my real father after all.”

“You think she’d keep somethin’ like that from you?”

“She hid the fact that Momma wasn’t my birth mother until after she died.” I turned to her. “Yeah. I think she’d do that.”

“Wow.” She was quiet for a moment. “If J.R. Simmons is—”

“Stop!” I shouted, then said softer, “Just stop. I can’t even let my head go there. It’s too much. I just want to talk to Aunt Bessie.”

“Okay, let’s focus on something else. Dirk said the police chief was murdered after the fire. That’s really suspicious, particularly on top of Dora dyin’ and Henry killing himself.”

I was beginning to have second thoughts about waiting to tell Mason. “Maybe we should give this information to Joe.”

“So why haven’t you called him yet?”

“Because I have to find out who my father is before we talk to Joe about any of it.” I couldn’t even imagine how he’d handle it. Probably worse than I was.

“So how about we sit tight until you talk to your aunt?”

While her advice was sound, I felt an underlying drive to forge ahead. I wasn’t sure what was spurring me on—Maeve’s words, my own stubbornness, or some residual feelings from my vision at the pool hall. I only knew I needed to keep digging. “Let’s just talk to Dena first. I want to see if she remembers who was in the bakery when she told me about Ima Jean and Atchison.”

“Do you think that’s really likely?”

“Maybe not, but I have to try anyway.”

“Why does it matter who was in the bakery when you were there?”

“It might help explain the threatening notes.”

“You found another one?”

“It was on my truck right now. It said I’d been warned and all bets were off.” I turned to her. “I guess the first note was left for me after all.”

Neely Kate’s eyes flew open. “Rose, you have to tell Joe.”

“And I will. After I find out my answer. Plus I called Mason, but he was heading to court. I’ll tell him tonight.”