Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

I couldn't go back to sleep after Joe left, and I couldn't focus on work either. Instead, I grabbed my laptop and started a trial membership on an ancestry site. I wasn't sure how they worked, but I hoped I could get a better understanding of my family tree. I'd barely started when Liam woke up. I took him downstairs, and since we had plenty of time left before church, I made a breakfast casserole so there'd be warm food when the kids woke up.

The morning went more smoothly than I'd anticipated, and we were only five minutes late to church. Neely Kate called me while we were on our way, checking on Daisy. She met us in the parking lot and helped unload the kids and get them off to their Sunday school classes. I wasn't surprised Jed wasn't with her. He liked to joke he'd burst into flames if he ever walked into the church, to which Neely Kate said she'd carry a fire extinguisher with her to put out the flames. He still couldn't be persuaded, and she seemed to accept that.

"What are we going to do with the kids while we're at the store?" she asked as we headed to the church sanctuary.

Crap. With the craziness of the morning, I hadn't even considered it. "Maeve should be at church this morning. Maybe we can ask her to watch them."

"Good idea."

I stopped in the foyer and tugged her into a corner. "Neely Kate, Joe got called in early this morning." Surely that part was safe to tell. Neely Kate was intuitive. She'd figure out the rest.

She didn't disappoint. "Was there another murder?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny."

Her eyes widened. "They found the guy Austin saw murdered?"

"I don't know. Maybe." Dammit. I had to tell her more than that, but I felt guilty as sin telling her anything after I'd sworn to Joe he could trust my secrecy. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone, and I had to guilt it out of Joe, but they found a victim next to Shute Creek. He assured me it was a man and not a woman."

Worry filled her eyes. "That's good, I guess."

"I'm glad we're talking to Darlene. If we can find a connection between the victims, maybe we can put a stop to this before…" I couldn't bring myself to say it.

Neely Kate put her hand on my arm. "We'll save that woman from being murdered. I just know it."

My throat tightened. "I'm glad you do because I don't, Neely Kate."

She hugged me tightly. "Darlene is going to help us piece things together."

"I hope so." Then I added, "But you can't tell anyone what I just told you. Not even Jed. I feel guilty enough as it is."

She stared at me with a grave expression. "Then it will just be between the two of us." She looked into my eyes. "Do you want to try to have another vision?"

"Of the woman? I don't even know what to ask about. You weren't in the vision."

She held out her hand to me. "You can try anyway."

I frowned. "But I might see something about the baby."

She was quiet for a moment. "You won't, but if you do, then we'll deal with it."

My heart lurched. "Neely Kate."

"It's fine. Look. I want you to try." Then she took my hand and squeezed.

I closed my eyes and focused on the woman in my vision, not even asking a question. I came up with nothing, so I asked if Neely Kate knew the woman who had been murdered.

I opened my eyes. "Nothing." Then I relayed what I'd searched for.

"I'm sorry," she said, giving me a hug. "Now why don't you try to see if we get into trouble when we see Darlene?"

Still hugging her, I asked the same question of the universe. This time, an image of Darlene standing in the Piggly Wiggly appeared. Vision Rose was standing next to her, but the vision quickly faded.

"Darlene showed up," I said as I opened my eyes, the church foyer coming into view.

"Did she say anything?" Neely Kate asked, pulling back to look at me.

"No, but at least we know she'll come."

"Okay," she said. "Now we really need to find Maeve and see if she'll watch the kids."

Maeve was sitting in a pew with some of her friends. Neely Kate and I approached her and asked if she was busy after the service.

"Joe has to work this afternoon," I said, "and I usually grocery shop on the weekends. Neely Kate and Jed are busy, so I was wondering if you could watch the kids for about an hour? I'd take them all with me, but the last time I tried it, I nearly got banned from the Piggly Wiggly again."

Maeve laughed. "How many times would that be? Four or five?"

"Five," I said with a sheepish look, "but the last time wasn't my fault. Liam accidently pulled the toupee off of that poor man at the deli counter, and I tried to catch it before he tossed it into the slicing machine."

Neely Kate burst out laughing. "They were pulling plastic hair out of deli meat for weeks. Once the health department got involved, they had to shut down the deli for days."

"If they'd done a better job of cleaning it, it would have been contained," I protested. "In any case, I really hope to avoid a situation like that again, so if you're not busy, is there any way you could watch them, say around two?" I gave her a hopeful look.

She sighed. "Oh Rose, I would love to watch them, but the women's group is volunteering at Piney Rest this afternoon, and I'm in charge of the gift baskets." She paused, then her face brightened. " But I could take the older kids with me, and even Hope if you think Ashley and Mikey can help me corral her." She gave me an apologetic look. "I think Liam would be too much."

Some of the kids were better than none, and Liam wouldn't have any idea what was going on. Besides, he loved going to the store and riding in the cart. I'd just keep him away from older men's heads. I was meeting Darlene at the grocery store for heaven's sake. It wasn't like I was doing anything dangerous.

I glanced at Neely Kate, realizing I'd told Maeve that Neely Kate had other plans, so we couldn't very well ask her to watch Daisy. Not to mention, two three-year-olds would probably be too much.

Neely Kate patted my arm. "It's too bad Witt couldn't watch the other kids with Daisy too."

I wasn't sure if Witt was really watching my niece, but I was grateful Neely Kate was trying to relieve my concerns.

"We're meeting at the nursing home at 1:30," Maeve said. "Will that work with your schedule?"

"It works perfectly," I said. "I might come a little early so Mikey and Ashley can visit with Miss Mildred. She's a resident there now, and she doesn't seem to be adjusting well. I think she could use a visit from them."

"I gather that means she's meaner than ever," Maeve said. "Your heart has always been more forgiving than most people's."

"I definitely wouldn't say that ," I assured her with a laugh. "I would still rather avoid her, but she and Violet had a special bond, and I know Miss Mildred loves her kids. If it helps the other residents tolerate her…" I shrugged.

"Don't worry about getting there early," Maeve said. "I'll make sure they drop in on Miss Mildred, and then you won't have to spend time with her."

"Maeve, you're the best," I said, giving her a hug. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Good thing you don't need to find out," she said with a chuckle, then turned back to her friends.

Neely Kate dragged me to the back of the church, and I asked, "Is Witt really watching Daisy?"

"As strange as it sounds, yes. He's been asking to babysit, and I figured this was as good a time as any to try it out." She shrugged. "She's a bright girl, and she's bossy?—"

"Like her momma," I interjected.

"Okay, she comes by it naturally, but there's no harm in that. Especially since she'll likely tell Witt exactly how to take care of her." She slid into a pew, and I followed. "Part of me wants to say, ‘What's the worst that can happen?', but I don't want to press my luck."

"Agreed."

After the service, I decided it wasn't worth going home for lunch, only to come back into town right afterward, so I took the kids to Big Bob's Burgers while Neely Kate ran Daisy home to eat lunch with Jed. The burger joint had recently added an indoor playground, and since it was still dreary and chilly outside, it was a way for the kids to burn off some energy before they went to the residential care center.

I was watching them play when my phone rang with a number I didn't recognize. Since I got work calls on this phone too, I answered, "This is Rose."

"Are you one of the ladies from the landscapin' company askin' around about the buried box?" a woman asked.

I sat up straighter. "Yes."

"Was it dug up on Olive Street?"

"Yes," I said. "Do you know anything?"

"I'm pretty sure it belonged to a girl named Sarah. She used to live there with her sister and father."

"You knew her?"

"We were friends for a while when I was a teenager. My parents rented the house next door to her before they moved us. They didn't like me being friends with her. They thought she was a bad influence."

"Was she?" I asked before I could stop myself.

She laughed. "I didn't think so at the time, of course, but in hindsight, she probably was. Her father was an angry drunkard, and rumor had it he'd beaten her mother to death when the girls were younger, so it was just the three of them. Them and all the people who hung out there with their drugs and drinking. I had my first drink at Sarah's house. Tried pot there too."

"How old were you?"

"Fourteen," she said with a chuckle. "So now you can understand why my parents were upset."

"I get it," I said. "How old were Sarah and her sister?"

"Sarah was seventeen, and her sister was fifteen."

"So older bad influences," I teased.

She laughed. "Exactly."

"So what makes you think the box belonged to Sarah?"

"Sarah always called herself a secret keeper. She hid things in the walls of the house and in the floorboards. It wouldn't surprise me if she buried something in the ground. It definitely sounds like the kind of thing she'd do."

"And she was living there when you left?"

"Yeah. I don't know how much longer they lived there, but years later, I heard she'd died. I'm not sure how."

Which meant I couldn't talk to her.

"What about her sister?" I asked.

"Luna? I have no idea where she could be. She always said she was going out to California. I suspect you could find her there."

"Do you know if Sarah or Luna had a boyfriend or girlfriend with the initial J?"

She was quiet for a moment. "They were never serious about anyone, so I don't think so. Not that I remember anyway."

"Was their dad judgmental about their boyfriends?"

She laughed. "He didn't give a shit what they did or who they slept with."

That didn't fit with the note we'd found. J had said that S's father didn't approve. "Was there anyone that Sarah's father didn't approve of her hanging out with?" I asked. Especially someone with the initial J?"

"No, not really. Like I said, he didn't really care who they hung out with." Then she said, "Oh, wait! There was a guy, but I don't remember much about him."

"Oh?" I asked, trying to contain my excitement.

"Sarah would sometimes hang out with a boy from school named Jason. His father was a deputy sheriff. I don't think Sarah told her dad about him, and I never saw him at the house. I can see her dad not approving of her hanging out with someone whose father had the potential to arrest him."

"Did you know Jason at all? Would his parents have disapproved?" But it stood to reason that Jason's mother wouldn't have been happy about his relationship with the daughter of a drunkard drug user with a record.

"They were all so much older than me, and the upper classmen didn't hang out with freshman, so I can't really answer that question."

"That's okay," I said. "Do you happen to know any of their last names?"

"Can't help you there either. Even if I had remembered them, perimenopause would have wiped them right out of the memory bank. Gettin' older's a bitch."

"That's okay," I repeated. If the box was Sarah's, and she was dead, then we'd hit a dead end anyway. "Thank you for your help…I didn't catch your name."

"Dawn Kempner O'Reilly," she said. "I live up in Magnolia now. Sorry I couldn't be more help."

"You've been a tremendous help. Thank you."

I hung up and mulled over what Dawn had told me. It all fit, but what did we do now if Sarah was dead? First, we needed to confirm it, although that was hardly a priority with everything else going on.

I let the kids play a bit longer, then convinced them it was time to leave. Neely Kate had said she and Jed would meet me in the grocery store parking lot at 1:50.

We arrived at Piney Rest around 1:35. The older kids were excited to be somewhere new with Nana Maeve and barely paid attention to me once we walked through the doors. I was nervous about leaving Hope, but Maeve assured me she'd be fine. I reluctantly said goodbye, then headed to the Piggly Wiggly.

Jed and Neely Kate were already there, waiting in their car. Liam was sleeping when I pulled him out of his car seat, and he sagged against me as I propped him on my hip. I felt bad that I was blowing through his naptime, but it couldn't be helped. Jed and Neely Kate were in a heated discussion in their car as I started to approach, so I turned around and headed for the entrance of the store, texting them both that I'd gone inside and was going to start shopping.

I grabbed a cart, put Liam in the seat, and headed to the produce section. After checking the prices of some vegetables, I vowed to double the size of my garden and learn how to can. I told Liam my plans, but based on his droopy eyes, he was unimpressed.

I'd already put several items in my cart when Neely Kate approached with her own cart.

"You started shopping without me."

I laughed. "Grocery shopping doesn't seem like a team sport."

She laughed, but it was forced. "Dermot's not here. Jed said he got tied up with something else. He wouldn't say what."

I turned to look at her. "Is that what you were arguing about?"

Pushing out a sigh, she stopped and reached for a beet from the produce section. "No." She grabbed a plastic bag and started to put some more beets inside. "But Jed doesn't seem too worried that it's just him. He said he's only here as a precaution. In fact, he's on the phone in my pocket so he can listen in while hanging back. He's here if we need backup, but he plans to stay out of sight."

"Okay."

She grabbed a few produce items—fresh dill, pineapple, tomatoes, and potatoes—that made me question whether she'd resumed her obsession with the TV show Chopped , where chefs were given random ingredients to create a meal. Several years ago, she'd spent a month or so creating her own off-the-wall meals, but then I remembered she'd been pregnant with her twins during that time. Maybe she was doing it again with this pregnancy.

We finished with the produce aisle and moved on. Several minutes later, Neely Kate and I were heading down the baking aisle, where she was agonizing over which brand of coconut flakes to buy for her roast beef dinner—more proof she was into Chopped again—when I saw Darlene coming down the aisle toward us.

"This one says the coconuts were grown in India, and this other bag says they're from Brazil." She made a face. "I suppose they both traveled by boat to get here."

"Neely Kate…"

"Maybe they flew in on a plane. Which one has a better carbon footprint?"

"Neely Kate," I said louder, catching her attention.

She glanced up and realized Darlene was standing in front of us.

"Do you prefer Indian or Brazilian coconuts?" Neely Kate asked her, holding the bags in both hands.

"Neither," Darlene said. "I hate coconut."

Neely Kate stuck out her bottom lip as she considered her statement, then put one bag back on the shelf and the other in the cart.

"Thanks for meeting us here," I said.

"Are we meetin' here so your husband doesn't find out?" she asked.

"One of multiple reasons," I said. "I don't plan on telling him we've met unless you give me permission." I gestured to the aisle. "How about we talk in the back of the store?"

"There's a couple of tables and chairs by the deli counter," Neely Kate said. "We could sit there."

The people at the deli counter weren't exactly fond of me, so I wasn't sure that was a good idea. Still, it would be awkward walking with three of us side by side in the aisle, not to mention we had two carts to manage.

Neely Kate led the way, and I parked my cart against a wall, pulling Liam out before I sat at one of the round tables with them, ignoring the dirty looks from the deli workers.

Obviously, they still held a grudge.

I set Liam sideways on my lap, and he leaned into me, closing his eyes. This was going to be a crappy nap for a second day in a row, but the poor baby was used to it by now with our busy weekends.

I leaned into the table and asked Darlene in a low voice, "Do you have any idea who killed your brother?"

"No," she said. "I'll admit that Harvey used drugs, but he wasn't your typical junkie. He was a casual user. He had a job. He had friends. People liked him."

"So no enemies?" I asked.

"None that I know about."

"Do you know where he got his drugs?" Neely Kate asked.

"He used to get them from a guy he went to high school with, Derby Sloan. But I heard Harvey was getting them from a new guy. When the sheriff's deputy told me he was dead, I thought maybe he'd overdosed or gotten a bad batch of drugs." Her chin quivered, and tears filled her eyes. "I never in a million years thought he'd be shot."

"Do you know who the new guy is?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No idea."

"Do you know how we can find out his name?" Neely Kate asked.

She shrugged. "I don't."

"Maybe you can give us the names of some of his friends," I said. "We can start there."

Darlene looked apprehensive but said, "Sure. I can do that."

"Has the sheriff's office given you any information?" Neely Kate asked. "What kind of questions have they asked?"

Darlene shot me a stern look. "Seems like you're the person who would know those things."

Liam shifted, and I adjusted him on my lap. "My husband doesn't share his work life with me, just like I don't share confidential stuff with him."

"And this is confidential?" she asked, sounding dubious.

"I already assured you that I won't tell my husband anything you don't want me to," I said. "But you have to believe me when I tell you that he'd want to help you. He's not your enemy, Darlene."

The irritated look on her face suggested she wasn't convinced.

"So what did the sheriff's detective ask you?" Neely Kate nudged.

"A big fat nothing," she said. "He showed up at my front door before the sun came up on Thursday morning and told me my brother was dead. Asked where he'd worked and lived, then said they'd be back to ask me more questions. I'm still waiting."

I stared at her in shock. "Who talked to you?"

"Not your husband," she said with a snort. "Some big guy who talked real slow and had an attitude."

I glanced over at Neely Kate and shook my head. I had no idea who she was talking about, but then again, I didn't know all the deputies in the department.

"And you don't know his name?" I asked.

"No," she said, sounding forlorn. "I was in too much shock to remember it. He told me right before he said Harvey had been shot and was dead. Then he asked those questions, and I gave him the answers, but I was pretty out of it. He left before I could get it together."

"Did he give you a card?" I asked.

"No."

"Did they talk to your parents?" I asked. "Maybe your other siblings, if you have them?"

"Our parents are deceased, and we don't have any siblings. It's just been me and Harvey for the past eight years."

And now she was alone.

"I'm so sorry," I said, my voice breaking.

She gave me a studied look, her attitude softening. "You meant it when you said you wanted to help me."

"I did," I said, then motioned to Neely Kate. "We both do."

She was quiet for several seconds as she mulled over my statement. I hoped she'd tell me she'd changed her mind about talking to Joe, but instead she said, "I love my brother." Her voice broke. "Loved." She dabbed her eyes. "I can't believe he's gone."

"We really are sorry," Neely Kate said. "We want to help you find out who did this. Right now, we're trying to determine if there's a connection between your brother and a couple of other people who were murdered this weekend too."

Darlene gasped. "There were others?"

I shot a glare at Neely Kate. As far as I knew, Joe hadn't released the ID of the second victim, but then again, we needed to find out if she knew of a connection. It would be difficult to do that without sharing some of what we knew.

"Unfortunately, yes," I said. "Although it's not public information. So I hope you'll keep this to yourself until they make it public."

Her head bobbed up and down. "Of course. If it helps find whoever killed my brother, I'll take it to my grave."

"Hopefully, it won't take that long," I said with an uncomfortable laugh. "We only know one of the other two victims' names—Noah Parker. Have you heard of him? Do you know if he knew your brother?"

Her eyes narrowed for a second or two before she shook her head. "No, but then again, I didn't know all his friends. Especially his weekend friends."

"Weekend friends?" Neely Kate asked.

Darlene sighed. "His partying friends."

"Noah Parker worked at Nimble's Lumberyard down in Sugar Creek," I said. "Do you know if Harvey ever went to that particular lumberyard?"

She released a short laugh. "I doubt Harvey had ever been to a lumberyard in his life."

"What were Harvey's hobbies?" Neely Kate asked.

"Besides partying?" she asked derisively, then ran her hand over her face. "Sorry. I'm not dealing with this very well."

"Of course you're not," Neely Kate said reassuringly. "How could you be?"

"You deal with all of this however you need to," I said. "And you're not obligated to answer any of our questions."

"If there's the slightest chance you can find out who murdered my brother, then I'll help you anyway I can."

"We appreciate that," I said. "Do you happen to know any of the people Harvey partied with or the locations?"

"He had a friend with a large garage south of Pickle Junction. A bunch of them would go down there."

"Do you know any names?"

"I know a few of the guys went to school with us," she said. "Like Scott Van de Camp and Hugo Dempsey."

"That's helpful," I said as Neely Kate typed the names into her phone. "Perhaps they'll know who your brother's new dealer was."

She shuddered and got a funny look. "Dealer makes it sound really bad."

"Dealers who provide drugs that can hurt people generally are," Neely Kate said. "They're self-centered assholes who only think of themselves."

Darlene looked down at her lap, biting her bottom lip as her chin quivered.

"Do you have an address for the garage where they met?" Neely Kate asked.

She shook her head. "No."

"What about a general location?" I asked. "That could help."

Darlene looked at me. I didn't think she was going to answer, but she finally said, "I've never been there, but Harvey said it was a big blue metal building off County Road 24, about ten miles south of the Pickle Junction city limits sign."

"That's good," Neely Kate said.

"Are you going to go down there?" Darlene asked, alarmed.

"We don't know yet," Neely Kate said. "We're working through this as we go."

"I hear it's kind of rough," Darlene said. "It didn't used to be, but Harvey said some new guys had moved in."

New guys. I resisted the urge to steal a glance in Neely Kate's direction. Was this further proof that a new criminal element might have moved into the county? Could it be affiliated with Hardshaw?

This was definitely something for Dermot to look into.

"Do you know two teenagers named Austin and Justin?" I asked.

She gave me a panicked look, then her eyes grew wide. "Oh, my God! Did someone kill two teenagers?"

"No," I assured her. "No, they're perfectly fine. But there might be a connection between them, your brother, and the other two victims."

"Do you have their last names?" she asked.

"Do you know teens with those first names?" I asked.

"No, but I thought their last names might jog my memory."

I didn't want to share that information, so I ignored her original question and moved on. "What about a woman named Selena?"

Her eyes narrowed again, but she shook her head. "No. I don't know anyone named Selena."

I nodded, feeling defeated. Sure, we'd gotten the names of a couple of Harvey's partying buddies and the semi-location of their frequent partying, but she hadn't given us any solid leads. Just bits and pieces.

I reminded myself this was how investigations worked—one piece at a time—but I kept seeing the woman in my vision, the bullet hole in the middle of her forehead. I wasn't content with pieces. I needed to save her, and I didn't know how much time I had left to do it.

"Is there anything else?" I asked. "Anything that you think is important or might be helpful?"

She hesitated. "Harvey was acting weird last week."

"How so?" Neely Kate asked.

Darlene made a face. "Kind of like he was anxious and paranoid."

"Do you think it was because of the drugs he was taking?" I asked.

"Maybe," Darlene admitted, "but he wasn't himself, and he didn't seem high."

"When was the last time you saw him?" I asked.

"Wednesday night. He came over for dinner."

"Was it just the two of you?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm not seein' anyone right now, and neither was he. After he walked in, he glanced over his shoulder at the street, as though lookin' to see if someone had followed him. I told him he wasn't important enough for someone to follow. He laughed, but it sounded forced." Her chin quivered. "I should have paid better attention. If I'd pressed him for information, he might still be alive."

"You don't know that," I assured her. "You said the sheriff's deputy came to your house on Thursday morning?" She nodded, and I asked, "Did they mention what time he was killed?"

She shook her head, starting to cry. "No." A pleading look covered her face. "People will hear about the drugs and think, oh another drug user's off the street. Good riddance. But he wasn't a junkie. He was a productive member of society. He showed up to his shifts on time. He was rarely sick. He was reliable." Her shoulders shook, and she started to cry harder.

The deli workers gave me more disapproving glares, and her sobs made Liam stir.

She noticed and sat up straighter, then took a deep breath. "I didn't mean to disturb your baby. What's his name?"

The hair on my arms stood on end. Sure, she was probably harmless, but I wasn't willing to just give up his name. But what had I expected, bringing a baby to an investigative interview?

What in the world was I doing?

I abruptly stood. "Thank you for your help, Darlene. Neely Kate's gonna finish up."

Neely Kate stared up at me with wide eyes and an open mouth, but I didn't give either of them any more of an explanation. I turned and walked out of the store, leaving my cart against the wall. I desperately needed to see my kids.