Thirty-Three and a Half Shenanigans (39 page)

“Mason!”

“Come
on
.” Lowry dragged me to the back door, and I kicked and clawed, frantic to get free. The sound of fighting was a dull roar in the other room, and wisps of smoke floated under the door to the hall. The club was on fire.

Lowry got me to the back door, and I broke free for a half-second. I made a bolt toward the room where Mason was being kept, but Lowry snagged an arm around my waist and hauled my back into his chest.

“You’re coming with
me
.” He flung the back door open, and it banged into the exterior wall, bouncing back to hit Lowry’s side. I grunted my frustration as I kicked his legs and clawed at his arms. Lowry’s arm dug into my ribs as his hold tightened.

When the cold air hit my bare legs and arms, the reality of what was about to happen hit me hard. “
Let go of me!
”

“Do as the lady says, Lowry.”

Lowry froze, and I stopped struggling, the man’s voice flooding me with relief.

Skeeter Malcolm stood several feet away, holding a handgun that was aimed at Lowry and me.

Lowry hooked his arm around the front of my neck, putting me in a choke-hold. “Since when do you care about a piece of ass, Malcolm?”

“It’s none of your damn business. Now let her go.”

Lowry’s hold on my neck tightened, and I fought to take a breath. “No. I don’t think so. Go ahead and shoot her if you’d like.”

“Hey!” I forced out through my limited air supply.

Skeeter’s face was unreadable. I told myself to never play poker with him.

“Why’s she so important to you?” Lowry asked. “She used to work at your club? You meet her at the pool hall?”

“It doesn’t matter where I met her. All you need to know is that you better get your filthy hands off of her
now
.”

“In the ten years I’ve known you, the only other woman you’ve shown any interest in is the Lady in Black,” Lowry gasped, lifting his arm so my toes barely touched the ground. I fought to take a breath, and I was getting light-headed. “This is her, isn’t it? Daisy’s the Lady in Black?”

If Skeeter was surprised by Lowry’s flight of logic or the fact that he’d called me Daisy, he didn’t let on. He lifted his gun higher so it was eye level with Lowry behind me. “This is your last warning.”

Lowry put a hand on the side of my head. “I’ll snap her neck, Malcolm. Are you willing to put your precious ‘Lady’ at risk?”

“She won’t be.” His eyes narrowed, and the blast of his gun deafened my ear. Lowry’s arm dropped, and I sucked in huge lungfuls of air. Lowry began to fall, and Skeeter pulled me to him.

“You okay?” he asked.

I started to shake and leaned into Skeeter as I stared at Lowry’s body. He was lying at an awkward angle on the gravel parking lot, hole in his forehead. The realization that he’d almost killed me sank in—between that and the lack of oxygen, I felt close to passing out.

Skeeter grabbed my face and lifted it so his eyes pierced mine. “
Are you okay?
” His voice was menacing.

I nodded, still in shock.

He shrugged out of his coat and put it around my shoulders, then pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Cal to pick us up.”

“Wait!” I pulled loose. “Mason’s in there, and he’s unconscious.”

Skeeter’s face barely registered my comment. “I don’t care.”

“Skeeter, I’m not leaving him in there.”

His jaw tensed. “You don’t have a choice. I’m not letting you go back in there period, particularly not now that the building’s burning.”

“No! Stop! You promised to protect him.”

“Not in this. I know he was here accepting a bribe. That makes our agreement null and void.”

“You don’t get to pick and choose what makes our agreement null and void! Since when did you become so high and mighty? Besides, he wasn’t taking a bribe! He was there trying to take Mick Gentry down. Not that any of that matters! We had an
agreement
.”

He glared at me. “I said no.” He snatched my arm and started dragging me further from the building.

“You’re no better than the rest of them in there.”

“I never claimed I was.” Skeeter’s black sedan pulled around the side of the building and stopped next to us. He reached for the back door and opened it, giving me a little push. “Now get in the car.”

I turned around and tried to bolt, but he pushed my head down as he shoved me in the car.

“Skeeter,
please!
”

“
No
.”

I started to cry. Even if I managed to get away from him, how was I going to get Mason out of the building? “I’ll give you anything you want. I’ll give you six months as the Lady in Black. No questions asked.
Please
.”

He stopped shoving me, so I grabbed his arm and clung to it.

“Why would I save Deveraux’s ass? That man would have me gunned down in a heartbeat.”

“No, he wouldn’t. He wants what he sees as justice, and that wouldn’t include killing you. If you were in that building,
he’d
save
you
.”

Skeeter snorted. “Not likely.”

“He would.” But when that didn’t sway him, I said, “Then do it for me.”

He studied my face, a hard look in his eyes. “Anything I want for six months.”

“As the Lady in Black.”

A wicked gleam filled his eyes. “You’re more like me than them, you know.”

I gasped. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re right. Deveraux and Simmons each have their own code of ethics, but you and me . . .” He grinned, pulling me closer. “We realize there are a lot more gray areas than black and white.”

I shook my head. I wasn’t sure I liked what he was implying.

“I’ll go find him, but you stay out here. If I catch you in there, I’m going to drag you out, throw you in the back of my car, and leave him to burn.”

I had no doubt he meant it. “Okay.”

His eyes searched mine. “Six months, Lady. You give me six months?”

“Yes.”

“Where is he?”

“Go through the back door. He’s in the room directly across.”

He pulled out his phone and took several steps away from me to make a call, but he spoke so low I couldn’t hear him. When he hung up, he pointed to his car. “
Wait there
.” Then he strode to the back door and disappeared inside.

Cal got out of the car and cast a perplexed look in my direction, but otherwise ignored me as I paced back and forth, fighting off tears. A good minute passed, and there wasn’t any sign of either of them as I began to hear sirens in the distance. Thick black smoke poured out of the vents in the roof, and my hysteria started to win out. But seconds later, the back door flung open, and three figures stumbled out. Two of the men were Skeeter and Jed, and they were dragging an unconscious Mason.

They continued to half-carry him away from the building and dropped him onto a strip of grass. I tumbled to my knees next to him and picked up his wrist, gasping with relief when his pulse thrummed against my fingertips.

I looked up at both men and forced out through my tears, “Thank you.”

The sirens were closer, and Skeeter jerked on Jed’s arm. “Let’s go.”

Jed hesitated, then climbed into the car after Skeeter. As they sped away, Mason started to cough.

“Mason?”

He looked up at me and sat up, releasing a groan and holding the side of his head as he pulled me to his chest. “Rose? Thank God.” He lost his breath with a new round of coughing. “I was terrified he’d killed you. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“What were you
doing
here?” I heard the anger in his voice, but he held me tight. “Joe told me he was putting you in protective custody.”

“There was no way I was hanging around with the deputy from hell, so I escaped.” Then I gushed out, “I found your cell phone number in Dolly Parton’s box, and I couldn’t figure out why she would have it, and Neely Kate confessed she heard a rumor that you were accepting a bribe and had a big meeting tonight, and then you said you wanted to take me away tomorrow . . . I thought you might be taking a bribe, Mason, although for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how you could be involved in such a thing. It didn’t matter, Mason. I couldn’t let you go through with such a thing.” He gave me a blank look, and I worried his new head injury had addled his brain. “I was trying to stop you from taking a bribe. I tried to reach you all day.”

“I wasn’t taking a bribe, Rose. I was trying to get solid evidence on him to bring bribery charges against him.”

“But Joe . . .”

“Joe knew all about it. I was supposed to meet the owner somewhere else, but one of his men brought me here. Joe’s men were set up at the other place, and Mick’s guy lost them. Only we didn’t know the owner was Mick until I met him face to face tonight.”

“So did someone really try to kill you? Or was that part of the cover story?”

“Yes, but my best guess is that it was Mick.”

“He said it wasn’t.”

“Mick Gentry’s a liar as well as a thief and a murderer.”

“And he’s missing again,” Joe said, walking over to us. He glared down at me. “
What the hell are you doing here?
”

I cringed. “Looking for Dolly Parton.”

“
At a strip club?
” he shouted.

I gave him a sheepish shrug. “It was the last place she was seen.”

Mason climbed to his feet and pulled me up with him. “You’re certain Gentry got away?”

“Unfortunately, I have two witnesses who saw him run out the front door. What happened?”

“Nikko. Gentry’s men had him all along. They tortured him into admitting his arrangement with me. They killed him.”

“Damn it.” Joe put his hands on his hips and shook his head in disgust and disappointment.

“They’d just told me when one of the bouncers dragged Rose into the room. They planned to take us both out back, but a fight broke out in the other room. The manager and his goon knocked me out. That last thing I remember was hitting the floor as Lowry was pulling Rose to the back door.” Mason glanced down at me. “How’d you get away from Lowry?” He looked over his shoulder, grimacing. “And is that him dead by the back door?”

Oh crap. I couldn’t tell them about Skeeter’s involvement. And how was I going to explain how I was wearing his coat? “I don’t know. He dragged me outside, and some man confronted him. I plum passed out from fright, and when I came to, Rich Lowry was lying dead next to me.”

Both men looked less than convinced by my story.

“How’d you know so much about Skeeter Malcolm’s business?” Mason asked.

I swallowed, hoping I didn’t look nervous. “I heard it workin’ tonight. People’ll tell bartenders anything.”

Joe turned to Mason. “If you got knocked out, then how’d you get out here?” Joe asked.

“I don’t know.” He looked down at me. “Rose?”

“Uh . . . two guys carried you out and dropped you in the grass.”

“Who were they?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Good Samaritans?” Joe asked.

I almost laughed. Skeeter would hate being called a Good Samaritan.

“So Mick and his men killed Nikko. But what happened to Dolly Parton?” I asked.

“I think she’s really in hiding,” Mason said. “I think she saw something and took off, just like you suspected.” He shook his head. “But I never put together the connection that Dolly worked here. I only knew of her as Sapphire, and then it was only hearing her name in passing from Nikko. You only mentioned that she worked in a bar.”

“How did Dolly have your cell phone number?” I asked. “I found it in her box at Billy Jack’s.”

“Probably from Nikko. He approached me about a month ago, telling me they were going to bribe the DA to drop charges against one of their buddies. I didn’t want him to use my official phone line in case my boss caught wind of it, so I gave him my cell. I’ve suspected the DA has been on the take for years. Joe and I are trying to build evidence against him. Only a handful of people knew.”

“So who broke into our house?”

Both men remained silent, and Joe finally answered, “I don’t know.”

I studied Mason’s face. “Did you get what you needed?”

“No. While I now have evidence they tried to bribe me, there’s nothing pinning any previous transgressions to my boss. I can file charges against the men in that room for bribery, Nikko’s murder, and our attempted murder, but my boss is still scot-free.”

“Is it my fault?” I asked.

“No.” Mason’s face softened. “While I’m far from thrilled you’re here, the truth is you helped save my life. That, and the brawl that broke out in the other room. They knew what I was doing from Nikko, which is why they told me to meet them at the bar in Big Thief Hollow to evade Joe. They knew he’d be there.”

I looked around, suddenly remembering Neely Kate. I nearly panicked when I saw my truck and she wasn’t inside. “Oh my word, where’s Neely Kate?”

Joe shifted his weight. “She’s fine—mad as a hornet, but fine. She was trying to get through the front door to get to you, but a deputy held her back. We should let her know you’re okay.”

We walked around the building to find her, and her face broke into relief when she saw us. “You scared me half to death!” she exclaimed, pulling me into a hug. “Don’t ever do that again!”

Joe snorted. “Good luck with
that
.”

“I heard that,” I muttered.

“I intended you to,” he said before he stomped off.

***

The next day, Dolly Parton, who’d been hiding at an old co-worker’s house in Louisiana, finally resurfaced. She told Joe that Billy Jack had been helping Diamond and the owner of Gems. Dolly Parton had heard things at the club and was about to help Nikko deliver more information to Mason, hoping to get her latest solicitation charges dropped in the process. But Billy Jack caught wind and told Diamond, hoping for a payoff . . . and perhaps some good will from the pretty lady. Mick’s men had captured Nikko that Friday night at Gems, but Dolly managed to take off in Nikko’s car. Billy Jack must have experienced a change of heart when he called Neely Kate and arranged to meet with us, but someone had decided to stop him—in a permanent way—from leaking any information.