After Marjorie Grace told us to report back at one-twenty-five, we left the juror room in a slow moving pack. The heat hit me before I stepped through the doors, sticking my breath in my chest. No wonder the courtroom was so miserable.

I was undecided about what to do with my lunch break. I knew I should go home and let Muffy out, given her constitutional issues that morning, but the thought of walking three blocks to my car seemed like trekking across the Sahara Desert. Besides, going home would only make me sadder, facing the unbearable quiet without Joe there. Merilee’s Café seemed like my best option—it was just across the street and bound to be cooler than the courthouse. On the way, I called the DMV to tell Suzanne that I didn’t know when I’d be back to work. I thanked the stars above when I got her voice mail, but I knew I’d still get an earful later.

When I entered the café, I realized I wasn’t the only one with the same reasoning. A crowd of people in business attire stood in the entrance waiting for tables. I turned to leave when someone called my name. I looked over my shoulder and found Neely Kate, sitting alone at a tiny table for two, waving her arm over her head. “Rose! Come sit with me.”

Pushing my way through the crowd, I lifted my hair away from my face. There were so many bodies in the restaurant, I wasn’t sure it was any cooler than the courthouse. I sat in the chair across from her and released a heavy sigh.

“It’s hotter than a flapjack on a griddle.” Neely Kate picked up the laminated menu. “Do you need one of these?”

I nodded. Merilee’s didn’t offer much selection and most people already knew what they wanted before they even sat down. Seeing how I hadn’t been there since Daddy died several years ago, I needed to reacquaint myself.

“I heard you got picked for jury duty.”

I glanced up from the menu, my mouth dropping open. “How—”

She tilted her head to the side with a playful grin. “I hear things.”

“Oh.”

“Let’s be honest, working in the Property Tax department is boor-ring and it’s not really hard to know what’s going on. I just keep my ears open.” She tapped her earlobe to prove her point. “You’d be surprised what people say when they don’t think anyone is listening.”

“Which is how you knew about the case this morning.”

“Exactly.”

The waitress took my order and left.

Neely Kate folded her hands on the table. “I heard you had a run in with Mason Deveraux.”

I hesitated. I wasn’t supposed to discuss the case with anyone, but I guessed talking about Mr. Deveraux wasn’t the same thing. “Yeah, I literally ran smack dab into him.”

“I heard you gave him a tongue-lashing.”

“But how…no one else was in the hall…”

“I told you. I know things.” She waved her hand vaguely. “Don’t question my methods.”

For twenty-four years I had known things and people questioned every utterance that came out of my mouth, yet Neely Kate, who knew things that no one should know, self-assuredly sat there telling me to accept it.

I loved her already.

“Yeah, he was a bit snippy.”

“Rumor has it he’s like this all the time. He’s the new assistant D.A., but he doesn’t want to be here. He had a job up in Little Rock workin’ in the state courts. But something happened up there—something so top secret I can’t even find out. Now he’s stuck here in Fenton County and he’s takin’ it out on everyone. I guess I can’t say I blame him. I’d do anything to get out myself.”

I shrugged. I used to think that too.

“His name is Mason Van de Camp Deveraux the Third. Could you imagine having such an awful name? No wonder he’s so crabby. Anyways, he just started a little over a month ago. About the time that big crime ring got busted.”

I pinched my mouth shut, but my guilty look alerted Neely Kate. She shrieked, pointing to me. “Rose! Rose Gardner! Oh my stars and garters! You’re her. How did I not realize it before?” She covered her mouth with her hand with a dramatic swoop then just as quickly dropped it. “Did you really find your mother dead on your sofa?”

I refrained from asking her how she didn’t know already, but I suspected she did. She just wanted the firsthand account. Glancing down in embarrassment, I fiddled with a sugar packet. “Well, there’s really not much to tell.”

Her hand covered mine. “I’m so sorry, Rose. There I go again, buttin’ into things that aren’t my business.”

Her sincerity grabbed my heart and I found myself wondering if we could actually be friends. “No, it’s not that. Honest. It’s just that I haven’t really talked about it with anyone but Joe. Not even my sister.”

“Really?”

I shrugged.

“You’re kind of famous. You were one of the few to beat the Henryetta police.”

“What do you mean?”

Her eyes widened and she bobbed her head. I swore she missed her Broadway calling, sticking around Fenton County. “Once they make up their mind someone’s guilty, nothing sways their opinion. But you proved them wrong, not to mention you helped bust that crime ring that was going on right under their noses.”

No wonder Officer Ernie hated me so much.

“It was nothing. Honest. It was mostly Joe.”

Her eyebrows rose in excitement. “Joe? I see the way your eyes twinkle when you say his name. He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he? Spill it.”