Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

" W ho?" Neely Kate asked. Her eyes widened as it dawned on her. "Randy."

I nodded. It had been a long time since I'd needed an inside source at the sheriff's department, but Randy Miller had been my friend for years, ever since he was assigned to watch over me after a man I'd put in jail had escaped and threatened to kill me. We hadn't seen each other much since Liam was born, and I couldn't help wondering if part of the reason he'd been more distant was because my husband was now his boss.

"But…" I said, "I only want to ask him to help us with the box."

"You're not gonna try to get some information about the murder ?" she asked in dismay.

"In the past, he gave me information because he knew there was an outside crime organization trying to infiltrate the county, and I had sources that could help counter it. Now I'm just a nosy mom. I don't want to put him in that position, and I definitely don't want to go behind Joe's back."

Her lips twisted to the side. "I suppose that could work."

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket but hesitated. "What about Jed? He might know something about the murder. And he might be able to help us dig up more on the guy with the record who lived next door to Miss Adolpha's lodgers."

Her eyes narrowed to slits. "I'm not talking to that man about anything ."

"What happened last night, anyway?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay…so Randy it is." I considered calling him, but he was likely on duty, so I texted instead.

Hey, Randy, sorry to just text out of nowhere, but I'd love to get together and chat. Can you meet for lunch?

After I hit send, I sent another message.

It's been too long since we caught up

I set my phone on the seat. "Done. I have no idea how long it'll take for him to get back to me, so maybe we should head back to the office and work on some designs. How'd your consult go yesterday afternoon?"

"Good. I think they're going to want some extensive work done—a patio, gazebo, and even a water garden. And they've agreed to let us take photos and post them on our website."

"That's amazing! I can't wait to see what you come up with." I 'd put my car in reverse and had started backing out of the parking space when my phone rang.

"Randy got back to me fast," I said, reaching to answer my car's touch screen, but as I pressed accept, I realized the call was from my partner. "Hey, Bruce Wayne." I finished backing up and headed out of the parking lot. "What's up?"

"You got a minute or two you can spare to run over by the jobsite on Hampton?"

I cringed. "Oh no. Did the plants not arrive in time?"

"Yeah, the plants got in okay." He hesitated. "It's something else."

He sounded dead serious, and my heart fluttered. "Is this something I should be worried about?"

"Why don't you just get over here, and we'll talk about it then." With that, he hung up.

I shot an anxious glance at Neely Kate. "Do you know of any other potential problems with the Beetham house?"

She shook her head, looking perplexed. "None that I know about. What do you think it is?"

"I have no idea."

It took ten minutes to get there, and I was a ball of nerves as I parked at the curb and got out. Bruce Wayne's crew was working despite the very wet ground, but one of his men was sitting next to the house with his elbows on his knees, his hands cradling his face. His clothes were caked with dirt and grass stains.

My heart sank. Had someone gotten hurt?

It wouldn't be the first time. We had insurance, and workman's comp would cover medical stuff, but I was still worried when I walked over to them.

Bruce Wayne, standing by the man, looked up, his face sagging with relief as he walked a few feet closer to us. "Oh, good. You have NK with you."

"What's goin' on?" she asked, turning her attention to the man sitting on the grass. I didn't know the crew very well—his guys tended to keep to themselves—but I recognized most of them by sight, even the new ones, and hadn't seen this guy before.

"All right," Bruce Wayne said to the other workers, who had stopped to see what was going on. "Everyone get back to work. We're already running behind because we're short a guy. No need to make us further behind."

"You're down a guy?" I asked, glancing around.

"One of the new guys I hired a couple of weeks ago didn't show."

"That's been happening a lot lately," I said with a frown.

"True, but that's not why I called," Bruce Wayne said. He stared at me solemnly. "You don't have to do this."

My stomach twisted, and somehow I knew what he was going to say before he said it.

"Do what?" Neely Kate asked.

The man on the ground stared up at me, his face pale. Dark circles underscored his eyes. He looked terrified. "Are you the Lady in Black?"

Neely Kate gasped, but I moved closer and squatted in front of him, my heart pounding so hard against my ribs, I wondered if he could see it. "I used to be, but I haven't been her in a long time."

His chin quivered. "I need your help."

I squashed the panic billowing through me. I needed to focus. I needed to think . "I'm not sure I can help you, but if you tell me what the problem is, I'll see what I can do."

He hesitated, then glanced up at Bruce Wayne.

"You can trust her," Bruce Wayne said. "I wouldn't have called her if you couldn't."

I wasn't sure whether to thank Bruce Wayne or strangle him. Instead, I focused on the man in front of me. But when I looked beneath the dirt smeared across his face, I realized he wasn't a grown man. He was a teenager.

Crap.

I'd helped a kid several years before, and he'd looked just as scared. Mitchell now worked in Jed's garage, and I couldn't help feeling a tug on my heartstrings to help the boy in front of me.

I sat on the grass, cross-legged, and rested my elbows on my thighs. "What's your name?"

"Austin."

I nodded. "Hi, Austin. I'm Rose. How old are you?"

He looked insulted. "How old are you ?"

"Twenty-nine. Thirty this fall," I said matter-of-factly, unphased by his antagonism. He was scared, and scared people acted out. "I promise you I've helped people of all ages, even teenagers, and I've never turned someone who came to me for help into the police or the sheriff."

"But you're married to the sheriff," he said with a sneer. "I've seen pictures of you in the paper." He shot a dark look at Bruce Wayne. "You said she'd help me, but I didn't know she was the sheriff's wife."

"I said you could trust her," Bruce Wayne said in a no-nonsense tone, "and you better give her the respect she deserves or get the hell out of here."

"So she can turn me in as soon as I leave?" he demanded.

"What would I turn you in for?" I asked, sitting upright. "I don't even know what you've done."

"I didn't do anything. I swear!" he said in a panic.

"Okay, Austin," I said softly. "So why don't you tell me why you need help."

He took several deep breaths, looking like he was about to cry. "I saw something I shouldn't have, and now I think they're gonna kill me."

I tried to hide my surprise. "Austin," I said quietly. "What did you see?"

He glanced up at Neely Kate.

"You can trust her too," I said. "She's a master at secret keeping."

He drew in more breaths, and I could see he was trying to decide if he was going to tell us or bolt.

"How old are you, Austin?" I asked again, keeping my voice soft.

He dropped his chin to his chest. "Seventeen."

"Do your mother and father know you're okay?"

He didn't lift his gaze, but defiance rang through his voice. "They don't give a shit about me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." He reached down and plucked grass blades. "I ain't seen my dad since I was eight, and my mom kicked me out a few months ago when I got into a fight with her new boyfriend."

"Where are you living?"

"Here and there. Mostly friend's couches. Sometimes in my car."

"So what did you see that scared you?"

He looked up. "I saw two men kill a guy."

I tried to hide any reaction to his announcement. "Did this happen down in Pickle Junction?"

He shook his head. "No, it was here in Henryetta."

My gaze darted to Neely Kate, who looked as concerned as I was. Did that mean there'd been two murders?

"When did you see this happen?" I asked.

"Last night. Around midnight." He lifted his hand into his lap and began to pick dry skin off the back of it. "There's a party spot on the north edge of town."

"The abandoned Adkins plant," I said.

He looked up at me in surprise. "You know about that place?"

"Please," Neely Kate muttered. "We were getting into trouble out there before you even considered it a party place."

He looked us over, and the expression on his face suggested he found us lacking. "No offense, but you two don't look much like partiers."

"That's because we're not," Neely Kate said in disgust. "We were out there for far more nefarious reasons."

She was right, but I didn't see any reason to confirm it. Then again, his respect seemed to grow a notch or two.

He tipped his head. "Back when Hardshaw was here?"

"You know about Hardshaw?" I asked. If he were seventeen, he would have been thirteen or fourteen when that was going on. Too young to know about such things.

"My daddy was part of Malcolm's crew. Then he defected to Dermot."

At least he hadn't aligned himself with Denny Carmichael, the psychotic drug lord.

"So why didn't you go to Dermot for help?" I asked.

His upper lip curled, and his face hardened. "Because my daddy worked for him, and I don't want nothing to do with my daddy."

"I thought your father took off when you were eight."

He tightened his jaw and glared at me. "Just because he ignored me doesn't mean he didn't stick around the county."

"Fair." But my respect for his father was nil. "Does your father still work for Dermot?"

"I don't know. I haven't talked to him in three years."

I didn't know much about how Dermot ran his organization, only that the county's crime rate had been at an all-time low. So either Dermot and his crew were super stealthy, or they'd found other sources of income.

"So how'd you know to look for me?" I asked.

"Because when I was a kid, I remember everyone talking about the Lady in Black." He cast me another disapproving look. "You don't look very badass." Then he added, "No offense."

Neely Kate propped her hands on her hips and pinned him with a dark gaze. "You do know that ‘no offense' doesn't mean crap when you actually are being offensive, right?"

"That's okay," I said, keeping my gaze on Austin. "I'm a bit out of practice, but I'm hoping the help you need from me won't require bad-assery."

"That's where you're wrong," he said in a flat tone. "I need protection."

"So you need to go to the police," Neely Kate said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Has anyone found this poor person's body?"

"It was a man, and they buried him just last night, so I don't think so."

"You saw them do it?" I asked.

"Yep, they murdered him in a building, then buried him behind a parking lot."

Crap. Definitely two murders. Were they related, or was it a coincidence? It didn't feel coincidental, given there hadn't been a murder in Fenton County in about six months.

"How was it you saw them kill a man and didn't get caught?" Neely Kate asked.

"I've been sleeping out there, and my car wasn't in the parking lot. They thought the place was empty."

"So why are you worried if they didn't see you?" I asked.

"Because I was stupid and followed them out there and took pictures with my phone. I wasn't thinkin', and my flash went off, so I took off running."

"Why don't you start at the beginning," I suggested. "Was anyone else with you?"

"No, I was alone. I've been staying out there for the last week or so. I was curled up with my sleeping bag, and I heard banging sounds coming from the front. Then two men were shouting at this guy."

He paused, and when he didn't continue, I prodded, "Then what happened?"

"They started beating him up. Kicking and hitting him and shit. He was moaning and crying out, but he wasn't sayin' nothin', and then one of the guys shot ‘im. The other guy was pissed, and I thought his buddy was gonna shoot him , but after he calmed down, he told the guy that he was gonna be the one to dig the hole."

When he stopped talking, I said, "And then what happened?"

"They loaded him into the back of their truck, drove to the trees behind the parking lot, and buried him back there."

"And you followed them?" Neely Kate asked in disbelief.

I had to agree with her on this one. We both knew the layout of the place well. There wasn't any cover in the parking lot. It would have been hard for him to pursue them without being seen. "If you didn't want to report this to the police, then why would you follow them?"

He lowered his face. "I never said I was smart."

That I agreed with. I wasn't buying that it was the complete reason, but I was willing to let it go for the moment to get more information.

Neely Kate, on the other hand, wasn't feeling as generous. She propped a hand on her hip. "So you saw the truck drive back there, and you decided to stroll out there and watch them dig a grave like it was a spectator sport?"

Anger washed over his face, but fear flickered in his eyes before he masked it. "I don't have to tell you shit! You're not the Lady in Black."

"The Lady in Black doesn't exist anymore," I said, keeping my voice neutral. "And you're lucky we're talking to you at all. So if you want our help, take a deep breath, get your temper under control, and tell us what we need to know, or go on your way."

"So you can turn me in?" he spat, getting more agitated.

I was still on the ground, eye level with him, and I could tell Bruce Wayne was worried I was in danger. I didn't think the kid would hurt me, but I also wasn't going to give him the opportunity.

I got to my feet. "I'm not sure why you came to me, Austin, but when I was the Lady, there were rules that the people I dealt with had to follow. They either treated me with respect or dealt with their issues on their own. No one's forcing you to stay here. I only know your first name, and as far as I can tell, you haven't committed any crime. You wouldn't be the first person to witness a murder and keep quiet, and you sure won't be the last. You sit here for a moment and consider your options while I talk to Bruce Wayne about business that actually makes me money."

Austin's eyes were narrowed to slits, and his hands were clenched at his sides, but he remained silent other than his heavy breathing.

I walked over to the curb, leaving Bruce Wayne and Neely Kate to follow, then turned to face them as we formed a loose huddle. "How did this come about, Bruce Wayne?"

He cringed. "I'm so sorry, Rose. The kid showed up, acting desperate and asking for the Lady in Black. I asked him why he came to me, and he said some other guy had told him I was a contact for Lady. He told me he'd witnessed a murder and needed protection." He shifted his weight and crossed his arms over his chest. "I never should have called you."

"No," I said, glancing at the kid. He was still sitting on the grass, his face buried in his hands. "You did the right thing. If someone's looking for Lady, I need to know. Do you buy that he knew about me from his father's involvement with Dermot?"

Bruce Wayne shrugged. "It's possible."

"It seems weird that some guy told him to come to you," Neely Kate said. "Who is this guy?"

"I don't know," Bruce Wayne admitted.

"Do you think it's a setup?" Neely Kate asked me.

I blinked in surprise. "A setup?"

"It just seems weird that this kid would show up nearly three years after everything went down, looking for Lady."

It felt like my nightmares about Hardshaw were coming to life, but I told myself to calm down. Hardshaw was dead and gone. It was just an ironic twist that this boy had shown up looking for Lady at around the same time as the murder in Pickle Junction.

"Agreed," Bruce Wayne said, "but then again, if he grew up hearing stories about the Lady in Black, he's probably blown her up to be some kind of superhero."

I snorted. "Superhero?"

He didn't crack a smile. "You faced down some pretty dangerous people and took charge of the county's criminal element."

"Plus, some of the stories have probably been exaggerated," Neely Kate said.

I looked her dead in the eyes. " Thanks? "

She shrugged.

"Besides, I never successfully took charge," I countered with more force than I'd intended. "I tried to unite the underworld to deal with Hardshaw and failed miserably."

"I'm sure others tell it differently," Bruce Wayne said. He toed the ground with the tip of his boot. "In fact, I know they do."

My eyes widened. " What? "

"I'm not surprised this kid came to you, but everything else is fishy," he said, lifting his gaze. "He shows up looking for help, then says he recognizes you as the sheriff's wife from the newspaper." His jaw tightened. "What seventeen-year-old kid reads the newspaper, let alone recognizes the wife of the sheriff from it? How many photos have there been of you in the paper as Joe's wife? One? Two?"

"Three," I said under my breath. The Henryetta Gazette had also written an article about our landscaping business last year, but that had been about me, not Joe. "So why's he really here?"

"I don't know," Bruce Wayne said. "But I'd like to find out."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Neely Kate asked.

Bruce Wayne shifted his attention to her. "I think we should call Jed."

We were silent as we let the full implications of his statement sink in.

My panic returned. "We don't do this anymore," I said in a hushed tone. "We don't solve murders and protect people."

Bruce Wayne's kind eyes looked into mine. He said, "What if this kid really is in trouble? I one hundred percent believe he's lying and withholding information, but I'm not willing to cut him loose either." His face grew grim. "What if something else is going on in the criminal underworld? What if you and the kids are in danger?"

Oh, Lordy. What if he was right?

"The vision," Neely Kate murmured, sounding scared.

"What vision?" Bruce Wayne asked with an anxious look.

I cringed. "I had a vision yesterday. It was in a warehouse, and there were gunshots and a woman on the floor with lots of blood around her."

"Whose vision was it?" he asked, looking panicked. "Neely Kate's?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I don't think so. It just hit me out of the blue when we were at Piney Rest talking to a resident. At first, I thought the woman on the ground might be me—she had dark hair, but the vision was hazy, and I couldn't see her face. Then, when I tried to force a vision, asking if Neely Kate was going to be in a dangerous situation or if I was about to die, I got nothing. And it was the same with the elderly woman we were visiting yesterday when we dropped by to see her this morning. Honestly, we thought it had something to do with the box we dug up."

Neely Kate grabbed my hand. "Have a vision now."

"Okay." It was a good idea, especially in light of the current situation.

I squeezed her hand and closed my eyes.

Will Neely Kate be caught in gunfire?

Nothing.

Will I be hurt or killed by gunfire?

Nothing.

Will Austin bring danger to me, Neely Kate, Bruce Wayne, or our families?

A vision began to appear, but it was slow to come—something I'd learned meant that the future might still be unsure.

Vision Neely Kate was sitting at my kitchen table between Dermot and me. Dermot had a mug clutched in his right hand, and Vision Rose was looking at him intently. "Do you think this is going to be a problem?" she asked.

"I don't know," Dermot said.

The vision ended, and I opened my eyes. "Dermot doesn't know if it's going to be a problem."

"You didn't see yourself dead?" Neely Kate asked, her eyes wide with anxiety.

"No. I had to go through a lot of questions to get an answer, but the one that gave me a vision was when I asked if any of us or our families were in danger. The vision was Dermot sitting in my kitchen saying what I just blurted out." I filled them in on the rest.

"You weren't in danger in the vision?" Bruce Wayne asked.

"No." I ran a hand over my head as I studied the boy. "We need to take him to Dermot."

"Or we could just call the police," Neely Kate said.

"The Henryetta Police?" I asked in disbelief. They were as incompetent as ever, and a few of them still tried to pin things on me for old time's sake.

Bruce Wayne stared at the boy with a frown. "If it happened out at Adkins, then technically, it falls under the sheriff's jurisdiction."

I shook my head in frustration. He was right. "Dammit."

"Why don't you want to call Joe?" Neely Kate asked.

That was a question I was struggling to answer myself.

The most logical solution was to call Joe, but something was holding me back.

And that something scared the wits out of me.