“If Mason’s so wonderful, why’s he moving out? Why’d he move here in the first place?” Joe asked, stomping up the stairs behind me.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but Mason’s house was burned down by Crocker because of me. Then he broke his leg.” When I got to the kitchen, I turned around. “He had no place to go and I’d just decided to move out to the farm. It seemed like a good short-term solution.”

“But not long-term? You don’t see this thing between you two going anywhere?”

I released a loud groan. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.” I grabbed my tea kettle and filled it with water. “What do you want Joe, other than the obvious?”

“The obvious isn’t what you’re insinuating, Rose. You and I are friends, remember?”

“Oh, I remember. I wish to high heaven I could forget. What do you want?”

“I tried to get the status of Henryetta’s progress on the robbery investigation, but not surprisingly, Taylor’s not being very forthcoming.”

“I’m shocked,” I said in mock surprise as I put the kettle on the stove and turned on the burner.

“I also wanted to tell you that I don’t think I’m going to be able to get that sketch artist after all. It’s going to draw too many questions. But there haven’t been any more robberies, so we might be safe.”

I sat down at the kitchen table and Joe claimed the chair next to mine. “Do you think they still have my money, then? My nine thousand?”

“I don’t know.” He ran a hand over his head. “I guess so.”

“So if you catch them, I’ll get my money back?”

“Eventually. But it would be taken as evidence.”

“What? It’s my money!”

“That’s the way the law works, Rose.”

“Well, the law sucks.” I shook my head. I’d been holding out hope that the police would make headway on the case, but apparently it wouldn’t matter. We still wouldn’t get the money in time to save the business. “Wouldn’t your time be better served if you were out there trying to catch them instead of here bothering me? Or maybe Violet and her kids were busy so you didn’t have anything else to do.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Why are you spending so much time with them?” I held his gaze while I said it.

“Violet needs help. And you know that I love Ashley and Mikey.”

“Is Violet interested in you?” I regretted the question the moment it left my mouth.

“What? She’s supposedly getting back together with Mike, although that seems to have hit a snag. I think she’s still pursuing the mayor.”

“Why would you think that?’

Joe shrugged. “Violet has asked me several times to watch the kids for an hour or two so she could meet ‘someone’. Ashley and Mikey were caught in the middle, so what was I supposed to do?”

Joe was the second person to volunteer their suspicions about Violet and Brody. I definitely needed to ask Neely Kate about this one. “How is it that my ex-boyfriend knows more about my sister’s relationship status than I do?”

“Maybe it’s because you keep pigeon-holing us.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost six o’clock, then stood. “Never mind. We’ll have to discuss this later. I have to get ready to go, so you have to leave.”

“Go where?” he asked, sounding surprised.

“That’s none of your business, Deputy Simmons. Now go.”

“I could argue that my friend status gives me the right to ask, but instead I’ll go with the official explanation: I need to know so I can make sure my deputy doesn’t sit out there all night with nothing to watch.”

“I’m going to Jasper’s for dinner, and I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

“Are you going with Mason?”

I put my hand on my hip. “Good night, Deputy. Thanks for the bad news all the way around.”

He had the presence of mind to cringe. “I wish I had something good to tell you.”

“Then tell me that you’ve convinced your father to destroy all the blackmail material he had against us.”

He swallowed. “I wish I could, but I can’t.” He moved closer to me. “But I’m not running for office now. We can be together, Rose. I’ll protect you.”

“You haven’t changed one bit.” I choked on the lump in my throat. “You’ve spent your entire life doing what you want and hoping everything works out, not giving two thoughts to what happens to the people around you if it doesn’t. You leave a trail of suffering behind you, while your daddy rushes in to save you from it.” I took a breath, anger boiling up inside me. “Your daddy owns you, Joe, and you’ve handed yourself over a piece at a time with every screw-up. And instead of waking up to that fact, you keep doing the very same thing again and again.” I shook my head, forcing the tears in my eyes to dry.

“Rose.” The pain in his voice was almost too much to bear.

“Sure, you’re willing to take the risk with me because you’ve got nothing to lose, not really. So you get me short-term until J.R. decides it’s time to pull you out of political retirement. Then if you don’t toe the line, I’m the one who will get destroyed.”