“Well then what I am I supposed to do, Joe?”

He released a heavy sigh. “You do your civic duty and make a judgment based on the evidence presented.”

My mouth dropped open. “What if all the evidence points to him being guilty even when I know he’s innocent?”

“Trust the system.”

The air conditioning had finally cooled off which was a good thing since I was blazing mad.

“Joe, I can’t send an innocent man to jail!”

“Darlin’, I’m doin’ my best to help you, but I’m at a loss. Nothing’s turnin’ up. I’ll make a few more calls, although I’m not sure there’s much more to this case.”

I sucked in several breaths.

“Are you still mad at me?”

I was mad but had to admit Joe was trying his best. None of this was his fault. “No.”

“Whew.” He paused for several seconds. “So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” My anger fled, despair following in its wake. Bruce Wayne Decker was gonna go to prison. Could I really live with that?

“Just be careful, Rose. Okay? Don’t do anything to get yourself in trouble.”

“Okay.”

I heard voices in the background. “Listen, darlin’. I have to go. I’ll call you tonight, okay?”

“Okay. Bye.”

I draped my arms over the steering wheel, desperately searching for an idea about what to do. Whatever I came up with, I only had twenty-four minutes to do it.

One other person had the power to put a stop to this travesty of justice, but I wasn’t sure how receptive he’d be to my inside information. Nevertheless, I had to ignore my own personal discomfort and figure out a way to make him believe me. I just didn’t know how I was gonna make that happen.

Sucking in a deep breath, I put the Nova into drive and pulled out of the parking lot. Time to put on my big-girl pants.

I was going to see Mason Van De Camp Deveraux III.

Chapter Eleven

The thing about wearing big girl pants is sometimes they don’t fit. As I pulled into a parking spot only a block from the courthouse, I began to have second thoughts. There was no way on God’s green earth Mr. Deveraux was going to believe me. I knew this as sure as I knew the sun would set around nine o’clock tonight.

So why was I doing this?

Because it was the only thing I knew to do.

When I went through the heavy wooden doors, cold air sent a chill down my spine. All the judge’s yelling about throwing people in jail must have finally worked.

I tossed my purse onto the security table. “Good afternoon, Matt. Any word when Robbie’s gonna be back?”

Ol’ Matt’s mouth dropped open in shock, but he quickly recovered with a scowl. “His gout is better,” he grumbled. “He should be back next week.”

“Well, that’ll be good, huh? No more havin’ to wait on Ernie.”

Matt ran my purse through his scanner so quickly there was no way he could have gotten a good view of the contents. He thrust the bag at me.

“You have a nice day now.” I called over my shoulder as I walked to the elevators. One of these days, I was gonna break him down and make him smile.

The directory of offices hung on the wall next to the elevator. For a moment, I worried Mr. Deveraux was so new that his name wouldn’t be on the board, but there it was, plain as day in slightly crooked, white plastic letters—Mason Deveraux III, Assist. D.A. Rm 210.

I pushed the up button, my stomach spinning like the barrel ride at the Fenton County Fair. The doors opened and someone called behind me. “Rose! Wait up!”

Neely Kate hurried over and the acrobatics in my stomach slowed to a tolerable level.

“What on earth are you doin’ here? Aren’t you supposed to be home gettin’ over food poisoning?”

I stepped away from the elevator, grateful I could temporarily postpone having my head handed to me on a platter. “Nah, I didn’t have any of the breakfast casserole.”

“Well, lucky you. I hear it’s caught most of ’em bad.” She glanced around, scrunching up her nose. “So you didn’t answer my question. What are you doin’ here?”

I considered telling her I was going to see Mason Deveraux, but she’d want to know why and I wasn’t ready to go into that with her yet. Of course, with her knowing everything that occurred within the courthouse walls, she’d probably know the truth before dinnertime. There was nothing I could do about that. I just didn’t want to be the one to tell her.

“I’m workin’ at the DMV today, but I missed our daily lunch and thought I’d run over and see if you were free.”

Neely Kate groaned. “I’m sorry. I wish I’d known or I would have waited. I already had lunch.”

Shrugging, I grinned. “Hey, it’s late and I only thought of it as I left the building.”

Her eyes lit up. “I can take a break, though.”

“Really? Didn’t you just get back from lunch a bit ago? Won’t you get in trouble?”

She waved her hand and smirked. “Please.”

I suspected that meant yes.

“I’ll only be gone a few minutes.” She held up a stack of folders. “Besides I was running these to the probate department.”

“If you’re sure…”

Linking her arm through mine, Neely Kate squealed. “We can go hide in the vending machine area.”