“So you had them killed?” Joe’s gaze swung to me. “And you knew?”

“I just found out,” I said. “Last week.”

“From my father?”

I barely shook my head. “No, from James Malcolm.”

“Oh, yes,” Joe sneered. “Skeeter Malcolm. You two are such good friends now.” He turned his contempt toward Skeeter. “You got tired of strippers, so you moved on to my old girlfriend?” he snorted. “And the D.A.’s girlfriend, too. Quite the coup for a piece of Fenton County white trash. Was this a big F-you to Fenton County law enforcement?”

“Joe!” I shouted. “What are you doin’?”

Joe’s chest rose and fell, but he didn’t argue.

“Skeeter Malcolm is not your enemy. Your father killed Savannah. He killed Kate’s fiancé. Your beef is with him. Not Skeeter.”

But my intervention only encouraged Joe to redirect his anger to me. “Did you break up with Mason so you could move on with Skeeter?”

I gaped at him.

“You’re the Lady in Black. There’s no way Skeeter Malcolm would work with a woman he’s not sleepin’ with.”

A low growl rumbled in Skeeter’s chest. “Shut your mouth, Joe Simmons. I’ve never laid a hand on her.”

J.R. laughed. “But you want to. James Malcolm finally loves a woman, and the irony is he can’t have her. It’ll only make it that much more bittersweet when you watch me kill her.”

That seemed to knock some sense into Joe. He shook his head. “Nobody’s killing anyone.”

“Wrong,” Kate said. “So wrong.” She released a sigh. “But the best part of tonight isn’t here yet.”

“She’s not comin’,” I said, my stomach twisting into knots. “Just leave her out of this.”

“Who?” Joe asked.

Kate smiled. “Neely Kate—and I’d tell you why, but that would ruin the surprise.”

“I’m damn fed up with surprises,” Joe said.

“That’s too bad,” my best friend called out from the dark. “This is the best surprise of all.”

Chapter 33

“Neely Kate!” I shouted. “Go! Get out of here.”

“Can’t,” she called out, her voice echoing off the metal equipment as she lingered in the shadows. “I’m just as much a part of this as you are.”

The look on Skeeter’s face told me he knew she’d been waiting out there, which meant Jed was probably on the premises, too.

Joe’s gaze shot from me to Kate and then to his father. “Why is Neely Kate part of this?”

“I have a story,” Kate said in a singsong voice. “A true story from twenty-five years ago.”

“The factory fire?” Joe asked.

“That’s part of it,” Kate said.

She released Hilary’s hair, giving her a shove for good measure, and returned to her perch on the desk. She scanned the dark factory as she talked, continuing to shoot glances at her captive audience.

“Once upon a time,” she began, “there was a king who ruled his own kingdom—and what a kingdom it was. But it wasn’t enough. He wanted more, as most kings do. So he promised the lowly king of another kingdom an abundance of riches if he abdicated and became a loyal subject. The king of Fenton County—Allen Steyer—reluctantly agreed. The new king set up shop in a nearly bankrupt manufacturing plant and then manipulated and bribed his way into more riches. But when things began to go wrong, the king used the men at his disposal to threaten the owner and the bookkeeper. While the manufacturing plant owner was easily controlled, the bookkeeper was harder to keep in line.” Kate gave me a wistful smile. “Like mother like daughter, they say.” She gave a little shrug. “The bookkeeper kept several detailed journals filled with evidence of the king’s wrongdoing, and word got back to the king that she had enough evidence to bring him down. He told the deposed king—now one of twelve knights at his twisted roundtable—to get the evidence . . . or else.” She tilted her head to the side. “In the meantime, the king liked to visit his new land, especially since a pretty young peasant girl had caught his eye. The king had the knight set up a place for the king and his concubine to shack up. You see . . .” she drawled, “the king has a thing for teenagers.” She winked at her father and then turned to Hilary. “But you know that from firsthand experience.”

Hilary’s face turned white. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t be so coy, Hil,” Kate teased. “I saw you years ago.”

Joe shook his head slightly, his eyes wide. “Saw her doing what?” he asked, fear edging his voice.

Kate pointed at him with her free hand and gave him a wicked grin. “Exactly where your mind just went.”

“You slept with my father?”

The terrified woman I’d seen at Jonah’s church this morning was back. Tears filled her eyes. “I . . .”

“Joseph, enough,” his father barked. “This entire conversation—let alone situation—is preposterous.”

“We’ll circle back to that in a bit,” Kate said, making a circular motion with her finger. “First we need to finish this story.” She turned to look at Joe. “Who knew one little decision—trying to take over a manufacturing plant—could produce so many ripples?”

“How is Neely Kate part of this?” Joe asked, his voice strained.

Kate tsked. “So impatient.” Then she shifted on the desk. “The king was very fond of his latest pet. He visited her often. But the pet was careless in many ways. For one thing, she was quite a nosy girl. The king had her holed up in his apartment when the knight came to bring bad news. Try as the knight might, the bookkeeper could not be swayed to hand over her evidence. The king had been having a very bad day, and while the poor girl had already taken the brunt of his frustration with both his fists and his favorite appendage, he lost his temper at the news. The king shot the knight, leaving him to die on the wool rug.”

J.R.’s face had turned a pale crimson, and he looked desperate enough to physically make his daughter stop.

“The girl wisely kept her mouth shut, especially since she had recently discovered she was pregnant.”