“I think this guy has information about who’s after Deveraux.”

For all I knew, he was making it up just to push my buttons. And damnation and hellfire if it wasn’t working. “I am not looking at naked people. I’ve seen enough topless women today to last me a lifetime.”

“What’s that supposed mean?”

“Never you mind. The fact is, I’m about to have dinner with Mason and his mother.”

“You and your damn dinners.”

I lifted my chin. “I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand.”

“Well, your dinner’s postponed. Mr. Assistant DA’s about to go into a meeting, so he’ll be late. You have time.”

My shoulders knotted with tension. “How do you know that?”

“Lady, I make it my business to know things. But if you want to make sure he doesn’t notice, you need to come now.”

I grunted my frustration. “Where?”

He laughed. “Go north on 82 and turn onto County Road 36. Go two miles and turn off into the lot of the old feed store. Jed will meet you there.”

“Fine,” I huffed. “I’ll head there now. But I can’t be seen.”

“Don’t worry. It’s like I said, I don’t want you to be seen.”

I hung up on his laughter and called Maeve. “I’m gonna be a little late. I have an errand to run.”

“Take your time, dear,” she said. “Mason called right after you left and said he was going to be late himself. An unplanned meeting with his boss came up.”

Well, crappy doodles. Skeeter was right. Mason was meeting with the DA. That rarely happened. I couldn’t help wondering if there was some truth to what Joe had told me too.

I pulled into the empty parking lot of the feed store, wondering once again how I’d gotten into this predicament. To be safe, I drove around the back of the building and found Skeeter’s sedan idling there.

I parked as Jed got out of the car and walked over, opening my door. “Skeeter wants me to take you to the place we’re going.”

“I can’t drive there?”

He shook his head. “He doesn’t want your truck there. I’ll drive you.”

That made sense, and I was grateful for the secrecy, but I didn’t like the idea of being at their mercy.

Jed sensed my hesitation. “You’re perfectly safe, Lady. I guarantee it.” He looked me in the eyes as he said it, with an earnestness I wouldn’t have expected from one of Skeeter’s men.

I got out of the truck. “Okay.”

He opened the back door to the sedan, and I started to get in, but he stopped me. “I have to blindfold you first.”

“What?”

He pulled out a black handkerchief from his coat pocket. “It’s for our protection as well as yours. If you confess what you’ve been doing to the Assistant DA, you won’t be able to show him where you’ve been.”

I stared at the cloth in his hand. It made perfect sense, but it made me nervous nonetheless.

He leaned closer. “Rose, I swear to you that I’ll keep you safe.”

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. “Why would you do that?”

“Because you saved Skeeter’s life.”

“So you’re doing it out of loyalty to Skeeter?”

“He took a chance on me when no one else would. He’s like a brother to me. You didn’t have to help him, but you did.”

“It wasn’t altruistic, Jed. I did it to get my money back.” As soon as the words tumbled out, I wondered if I should have admitted that.

He chuckled. “I don’t believe that for one minute. You could have let him get killed, no skin off your nose. But you didn’t.” He gave me a grin. “I’ll look out for you.”

I took a deep breath and glanced down at the handkerchief one more time before looking up into his face. “Okay.”

“Turn around.”

I faced the car as he put the folded fabric over my eyes and gently knotted it in the back, trying not to catch my hair. He took my arm and helped me into the backseat.

When I heard his car door shut, I asked, “Will it take long to get there?”

“Skeeter said to tell you not to worry. That you’ll get back in time for your dinner.”

I couldn’t hold back my snort. “Of course he did.”

“I’m gonna turn up the music pretty loud. Skeeter doesn’t want you to know where you are from the sounds.”

“This feels an awful lot like a kidnapping. How do you know I won’t just rip off this blindfold?”

He laughed. “Because I’m pretty sure you don’t want to know where you are.”

He had a point.

Loud country music filled the car, and four songs played before Jed turned the music down.

“Can I take my blindfold off now?”

“No, I’m gonna lead you in.”

Jed got out, and then I heard the back door open. He guided me out of the car and took my elbow, coaching me on where to walk and telling me when we came to a step. My heels echoed off wood slats under my feet as we moved along, but after a few moments, Jed pulled me to a halt.

“Lady,” Skeeter said. “Thanks for coming.”

I raised my hand to the side of my head. “Can I take this off yet?”

“I’d prefer for you to keep it on until we go inside.”

I lowered my hand.