Joe cursed.
“You’re back to square one,” Kate said. “I’m the only one who knows why they really want her. And why they want the money.”
“Why don’t you just tell us, Kate?” Joe asked. “Why all the drama?”
“If I tell you, you’ll lock me up.”
“If you think we’re letting you go, you’ve got another think coming.”
Jed shifted his weight. “Is Neely Kate in immediate danger?”
“She doesn’t know anything,” Joe said. “She’s playin’ you.”
Kate pointed to Stella. “Did I get any of her story wrong? What about Branson’s?”
My stomach churned. “No.”
“I’m really good at findin’ out things.” She gave Jed a seductive look. “Just like you.”
“Then tell me what you know,” Jed said. “And I’ll find out the rest.”
“We could go together,” she said, smiling coyly.
Jed looked unimpressed. “After you just tried to have me killed?”
But I knew he’d go with her. If that’s what it took to protect me. My stomach sank. I had to stop him.
Kate gave me a long look. “I’d take you in a heartbeat, sexy, but my sister.” She shrugged. “She’s more important.”
I couldn’t have been more surprised than if she’d announced she was running off to a convent to become a nun.
Jed’s jaw clenched, and he lowered his gun to his side. “Go.”
Joe flipped his lid. “What the hell are you doin’, Carlisle?”
Turning his hardened gaze on my brother, Jed said, “I told you that I’d do whatever it takes to save Neely Kate. Even this.”
“No!” I protested. “We’re not letting her go! She just killed two people in cold blood. She killed Neil Franken and who knows who else. We’re not lettin’ her go.”
“Is Neely Kate safe for now?” Joe asked, directing his question to our sister in a solemn tone.
Kate’s eyes glittered with triumph. “For now, but they’re gonna put things together. I can stall that for a bit.”
“How in the hell can you do that?” Joe asked.
Some of her smugness faded. “Maybe you should ask yourself where I went for two years after I left Little Rock.”
They stared at each other for several long seconds. Then Joe closed the distance between us and lowered my gun. “Go.”
I turned to him in disbelief. “What?”
“We’re still pinning these murders on you, Kate,” Joe said, ignoring my protest. “What happened to Franken?”
If Kate felt relieved, she didn’t let on. She acted like she’d been expecting us to set her free all along. Then again, she probably had. “He’ll turn up tomorrow. Everyone will think it was Adkins.”
“And Chad Manchester?” Joe asked.
She shrugged. “Franken killed him. He confessed after Kyle and I had let him enjoy some of our hospitality.” A slow grin spread across her face. “That’s how we found out about his hotel room.”
“And Branson and Stella?” Jed asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Please. Once those two decided to loosen their tongues, they wouldn’t shut up.”
Joe and Jed stood in silence. I couldn’t believe they were actually agreeing to this.
“So we agree to a truce?” Kate asked. “To save Neely Kate.”
Jed gave a sharp nod. Then they both turned to Joe.
“Don’t do this, Joe,” I said. “Don’t let her go.”
Joe turned his head slightly as he studied me. “Agreed.”
For a split second, I thought he’d agreed with me, but he crossed the room and approached our sister. “I want updates. I need to…” He cast a glance to Jed. “We need to know if you see an immediate danger to her.”
“I will,” she said.
Then as if they were all in agreement, she headed for the barn door.
All I could see was Stella’s face as Kate strangled her. I couldn’t believe we were just turning her loose to wreak her havoc on the unsuspecting world, all in the name of saving me.
My life wasn’t worth the price.
I lifted my weapon and took a step forward. “No. You’re not leavin’.”
Kate pivoted to face me, a broad smile spreading across her face. “Go ahead, NK. Pull the trigger, because that’s the only way I’m stayin’.”
When a shot didn’t ring out, a knowing look filled her eyes.
“Don’t feel bad, little sis. Self-preservation is a strong trait, especially with the Simmonses.” Then she turned and walked out the door without so much as a final glance at her dead henchman.
As I watched her leave, I knew I’d sunk to a new low.
Maybe I was a Simmons after all.
Chapter 28
As soon as Kate left, Jed and Joe concocted a story to tell the sheriff’s deputies once they arrived. They planned to say that I’d been home when two people I’d known from Oklahoma showed up, begging for money. Stalling, I’d told them there was money buried out in the barn, and to our surprise, Kate had been there hiding out. Outraged that they were holding me hostage, she killed both of them after Branson had killed Kyle; then Joe had shown up and Kate had escaped in all the craziness. The fact that Jed wiped the gun free of my prints and placed the gun in Brandon’s hand fired into the barn wall helped corroborate the story.
Both men had agreed that Jed couldn’t be anywhere around, and Jed had reluctantly left before Joe made the call to the sheriff’s department, but only after he’d held me and checked me over for wounds. Fortunately, the blood on his shoulder hadn’t been from a gunshot wound, but instead was a gash he’d gotten from splintered wood shot off the barn door.
Ultimately, the deputies bought the story, but around daybreak, Mason turned up, wanting to find out what happened for himself.
“Where’s Rose?” he asked when Joe and I had intercepted him halfway between the house and the barn.
“Gone,” I said.
“Why wasn’t she here with you? I can’t believe she’d leave you alone in that house with Kate on the loose.”
“I was spending the night with Neely Kate,” Joe said, “but I got called away.”
“Away for what?” Mason asked.
Joe’s eyes turned to pinpricks. “Official sheriff business.”
“Care to enlighten me what you were called away to? Last I heard, you took yesterday off.”
“In case you hadn’t heard, Deveraux,” Joe ground out through gritted teeth, “a lot happened in the county yesterday, and as we both know, a day off is never really possible in this profession, and you can bet your ass I was checking on things since my little sister’s involved.”
“I still find it hard to believe you’d leave Neely Kate alone,” Mason pressed. “And in the middle of the night. Seems risky.” Then he added, “Even for you.”
Joe’s left eye twitched, and it had nothing to do with the glare of the rising sun. “What are you gettin’ at?”
Mason gave a half shrug. “Nothing. It just seems like you’d make sure your sister was better protected.”
“Here to rub salt in my wounds?”
“Just makin’ an observation,” he said, glancing up at the barn. “Funny how Kate was just hanging out in there. What do you suppose she was waiting for?”
“The hell if I know,” Joe said. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”
“You know.” Mason shifted his weight. “I would have if you’d apprehended her.”
I didn’t see this conversation improving. “Mason,” I said. “It’s been a long night. Care to walk me back to the house?”
“Of course,” he said in a gentle tone, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leading me to the back door. “How are you doin’ with all of this, Neely Kate? You look banged up. Do you need to be checked out at the hospital?”
“Of course not,” I said. “I’m fine.”
He glanced at my bruised temple. “Who hit you?”
“Stella.”
“The woman from Oklahoma? What did she and the man want?”
“Money.”
We reached the kitchen door, which Mason opened to let me in, following behind. “I didn’t know you had friends in Oklahoma.”
I could have gotten angry. I knew what he was up to—trying to find the holes in our story. He was a smart man, and he knew something smelled fishy. But I also believed he was truly trying to seek justice. It was hard to fault him for that. “Coffee?”