RG2 - Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons (13 page)

Laughing, I patted his chest. “Well, I have to go to work today and I suspect Suzanne will have my hide if I’m late.”

His eyebrows rose in surprise. “What about jury duty?”

“Marjorie Grace just called and said the judge has postponed the trial until tomorrow because half the jury is still out with food poisoning.”

“Thank goodness you didn’t eat that crazy cat lady’s casserole.”

“I can’t believe the others
did
.”

“See? You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for.” He picked up his bag from the table. “Walk me to my car?”

I nodded.

We went outside with Muffy and Joe wrapped his arm around my back, pulling me close to his side. Each time he left was harder and harder, the pain almost unbearable.

Joe stood next to his car door. We stood face to face and he picked up my hand. “You still comin’ up to see me this weekend?”

“Yeah,” I whispered, feeling the familiar lump in my throat. “As soon as I get out of jury duty tomorrow and pick up Muffy, I’ll hit the road.”

“I’ll text you directions since you don’t have a GPS.” He cast a disgusted look at my Nova. “I’ll be honest. I’m worried about you driving that thing so far. Maybe I should just come back here.”

“No,” I protested. “That’s not fair. You always come to see me, and besides,” I gave him my best wicked look, “I want to see your place.”

“Then maybe you should think about getting another car.”

“Maybe…” The Nova had been my dad’s. It was hard to consider giving it up.

“You think about it and if you decide to get a new one, I’ll help you if you want, okay?”

I reached up on my tiptoes and kissed him. “I’m a lucky woman, Joe Simmons.”

“I could say I’m a lucky man, so let’s split the difference and say we’re damned lucky to have each other.”

“Works for me. You better get goin’.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, opening his car door. “I’ll call you tonight. I promise. And I’ll do some digging.”

“Thanks.” I gave him one long last goodbye kiss before he left. I stood in the driveway and watched his car get smaller and smaller as he drove away. My house was so empty without him. I couldn’t understand how that was possible. How had he gotten so deeply embedded in my life in such a short time?

“Rose Gardner! Have you no shame?” Miss Mildred shouted from across the street.

“Good morning, Miss Mildred.” Here I was, standing in my driveway in a spaghetti-strapped, slinky lavender nightie. The one I’d bought at Walmart over a month ago.

She stood on her front porch, her plastic watering container held over a pot of geraniums. She was so intent on scolding me, she’d ignored the water pouring over the edge of the pot. “There’s nothing good about it when you find a—”

“—porno show in my front yard.” I grumbled. “I’ve got it.”

I was in a foul mood and poor Muffy hid under my bed to avoid my wrath, even though she had nothing to fear. I’d never take it out on her. But I couldn’t help thinking she’d rather be playing with Andy Jr. and Keith instead of spending the morning with me. Not that I blamed her. I’d rather spend the morning with the boys than me too.

It was a good thing I wasn’t in a good mood when I got to the DMV, because Suzanne would have snatched it right out from under me.

My boss sat at the break room table. She held a breakfast sandwich to her mouth, but when she saw me, she threw it down in front of her. It bounced and landed on the floor, rolling until it stopped at my feet.

“You!”

I took a step back toward the exit, unsure that work was such a good idea after all.

She strode over, blocking my path as she put her hand on her hip and tilted her head with a sneer. “Well, looky who bothered to show up to her
job
.”

A couple of months ago, Suzanne intimidated me. Okay, she still did, but not as much. It was hard to be frightened of her when I saw her so differently. Or maybe it was that I was different. But either way, Suzanne no longer had the power to scare me, other than she was my boss.

I really did feel sorry for her. It was obvious from her teased, bleached-blonde hair and sallow skin that she’d had a difficult life. She couldn’t be past her mid-thirties, but the chain cigarette smoking had carved lines around her eyes. Lines I knew she’d wasted a small fortune on creams trying to fill in.

I pushed past her. “I haven’t been on
vacation
, Suzanne. I’ve been at jury duty.”

“You got a letter or card to prove it?”

Crappy doodles. I knew I’d forgotten something. I stopped and turned around to face her. “Uh…”

She pinched her mouth into a smug line. “That’s what I thought.”

“Wait!” I opened my purse and dug until I found my letter from Fenton County Courthouse at the bottom. “Here! This is my jury summons letter.”

Suzanne snatched it out of my fingers and scanned the document. “This says you were supposed to
report
for jury duty, but it don’t say nothing about you stayin’.”

“Suzanne! I got picked. I swear it. We just got let out today because most of the jury got food poisoning.”

“Uh-huh.”

I had to admit, it sounded like a lie. “I can call the courthouse if you want. They’ll excuse me. Or I can get a letter when I go back tomorrow.”

“
Tomorrow
? Rose Gardner, if you don’t come into work tomorrow then don’t bother coming back next week.”

“
What
? You can’t do that!”

She put a hand back on her hip in an exaggerated motion. “Just
watch
me.”

I knew for a fact that she couldn’t. Joe had said so. But if she tried it, maybe she’d be the one fired and the DMV would be a happier place. It’s a sad day when you miss your old boss, despite the fact she tried to kill you.

Suzanne went out of her way to make my life miserable all morning. She took difficult customers from the other clerks and handed them off to me. When a customer with complicated paperwork showed up, she tossed the documents on my counter with a wicked grin. The only good thing about the day was that I was too busy to dwell on Bruce Wayne Decker’s situation. In the rare moments I did, I hoped Joe had made some progress.

I’d planned on eating lunch in the break room, but Suzanne had worked herself under my skin like a raging case of scabies. I wasn’t a violent person, in spite of my previous rolling-pin reputation, but I was dangerously close to snapping Suzanne’s head off.

When I announced that I planned to leave the building for lunch, the other employees released sighs and relaxed in their chairs. I felt as welcome as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman.

“You better make sure you’re back on time! Not one minute late!” Suzanne hollered as I hurried out the back door.

The afternoon was sweltering, but thunderheads loomed on the horizon. With any luck at all, we’d get a good storm to cool things down, but if my morning was any indication of my luck, there wasn’t much chance of that happening. I climbed in the car and turned the ignition over, waiting for the air blowing out of the vents to turn cold. Joe was right. While my car was reliable to get around Henryetta, I worried about driving it to Little Rock. I briefly considered asking Violet to borrow her car, but knew I had a better chance of Mildred waving hello the next time Joe left.

My lunch break was a half an hour, which meant I now had less than thirty minutes before I had to face Suzanne again. If I’d done nothing else in the last month and a half, it was learning to stop squandering my life. Why didn’t I just quit my job and move to Little Rock with Joe? I had to admit, the idea was tempting. I missed him. An overwhelming wave of sadness washed over me and I decided to call him. I figured I’d leave a voice mail so it surprised me when he answered on the second ring.

“How’s your day goin’, beautiful? I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon, not that I’m complaining.”

My stomach fluttered. How could he do that to me with just a phone call? “I miss you.”

“I miss you too. I’m counting the hours until I see you again.”

My voice lowered. “And how many hours is that, Detective Simmons?”

“About thirty more hours before I get to see your naked body again.”

“
Joe
!” I protested, even as my body tingled with anticipation.

“When you asked me to help you with number fifteen on your list—do more with a man—did you think it would turn out like this?”

“Never in a million years.”

“Thanks for asking.” Wickedness laced his words.

My face burned, and I was unsure what to say. I cleared my throat. “Did you find out anything about Bruce’s case?”

“Bruce?”

“Bruce Wayne Decker. You know, the innocent man who’s bein’ railroaded into a life time in jail.”

“I know who you’re talking about. I just didn’t know you two were on a first-name basis.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, have you?”

He paused. “About that.”

My breath stuck in my chest, making me regret thinking my day had gotten better. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“Well…” He paused for several seconds. “That’s because it’s not.”

“
What
? But how can you know that already? You just got back to your office only a few hours ago.”

“Right, but…I may have had a head start.”

“What are you talkin’ about?”

He cleared his throat. “I actually started making some inquiries yesterday when you wouldn’t answer my calls. I wondered if you were onto something and decided to do a little diggin’.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want you to get your hopes up.”

“But you don’t know all the facts. I didn’t tell you everything I know about the case.”

“
There’s more
?”

“Did you dig up the fact that Frank Mitchell owed people money?”

“Who did he owe and how much?”

I bit my lip before I answered. “Well, I don’t know that part.”

“What
do
you know?”

“Anne in the paint department at the hardware store said he didn’t have a lick of sense, and he owed money to people.”

“How did she know this? Were they friends?”

“I don’t know…”

“It’s gossip, Rose. You can’t trust it.”

“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.”