Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

A fter we got everyone packed and their luggage downstairs, I showed Joe the box in his office.

"See?" I said as he took out the contents and looked them over. "Nothing special."

"I agree. And it's not like they could have known you were going to dig up the box. It's just a coincidence." He put everything back inside and closed the lid. "But if you have that note that Harvey left with his sister, I'd like to take it to the station."

"Of course. It's in my purse."

I found my purse in the living room and handed the paper to him just as Jed and Neely Kate walked through the front door. Daisy ran to them, jumping up and down with excitement. "We're goin' on a trip! We get to go to a farm!"

"We sure do," Neely Kate said, trying to match her daughter's enthusiasm, but she shot me a worried glance over her daughter's head.

The guys grabbed the luggage and basket of dirty laundry and started to pack the car. The kids went out with them and began to pile in my Suburban.

"How bad was the office?" I asked Neely Kate.

"It's pretty ransacked. They were definitely looking for something."

"Joe thinks it was the package the killers were looking for when they shot the man at Adkins."

"You told him?" Neely Kate asked in surprise.

"Our kids' lives are at stake. I had to."

She nodded. "What about the box?"

"I told Joe we opened the box and showed him the contents. He doesn't think that's what they were lookin' for since Harvey was killed before we found it."

"Jed thinks the same thing." Then she added, "Joe doesn't want it for evidence?"

"He didn't say he did."

She nodded. "I need to go to the bathroom before we go. Pregnancy hormones."

I headed out to the car to help Joe get the kids buckled in, but he and Witt seemed to have the situation under control. Muffy settled in on the floor between Hope and Liam. After Neely Kate came out with her purse slung over her shoulder a few minutes later, Joe turned on the alarm and locked up the house. Once he was in the driver's seat of my Suburban, we took off. Jed followed, driving Neely Kate and Daisy, and Witt took up the rear in his own car.

The kids stayed awake during the hour and fifteen-minute drive. I was glad I wouldn't have to wake them and try to get them asleep again after we got to Aunt Bessie's, but it also meant that I wouldn't get any time for adult conversation with Joe. I'd hardly seen him for days, and the dark circles under his eyes worried me.

Aunt Bessie's farmhouse was lit up both inside and out when we got there. She must have been watching for us because she walked out the front door onto the porch as we pulled up. Uncle Albert was only steps behind her. They were both smiling, but I could see the worry in their eyes.

The kids were excited to be there and ran up the porch steps to give my aunt and uncle hugs. They hurried into the house after Aunt Bessie told them she had some freshly baked cookies waiting in the kitchen.

Joe carried Liam up the stairs, while I greeted my aunt and uncle. "Thanks for letting us crash in on you like this," I said as I hugged my aunt.

"We're so happy to have you. It's just unfortunate it's under these circumstances." She gave Joe a questioning look.

"I'm working on it, Aunt Bessie," he said. "In the meantime, thank you for giving Rose and our kids a safe place to stay."

She gave him a curt nod, then turned back to me. "You're always welcome here. I don't have enough beds, but I figured you and Neely Kate can each get your own room, and the bigger kids can have the fourth room. I have some air mattresses the kids can sleep on in your rooms and the living room, if they like."

"I brought a Pack ‘N Play for Liam," Joe said, "so you don't have to worry about him."

"Got it right here," Witt said, walking up from the back of the Suburban with the bed slung over his shoulder and a couple of duffel bags. "Just tell me where to put them, Miss Bessie."

"None of that Miss Bessie nonsense," my aunt said with a laugh. "How many times do I have to tell you it's either Bessie or Aunt Bessie?"

"Then it's Aunt Bessie," Witt said. "Because my granny would skin me alive if I called you by only your first name. Now, which room am I putting these in?"

"The room at the top of the stairs on the left," Aunt Bessie said. "It's slightly bigger, so I figured there'd be more room for the baby."

Witt gave her a wink, then headed inside.

"How many girlfriends has that boy been though?" my aunt asked with a chuckle.

"Surprisingly, fewer than you'd think," I said, watching him through the door. "By the way, he's staying too."

"Oh?"

"Just an added insurance," Joe said. "He can sleep on the sofa."

"Do you anticipate trouble?" Aunt Bessie asked, glancing nervously down the gravel drive to the main road.

Joe shook his head. "No. We weren't followed, and no one knows they're here. But Witt insisted, and I'm not gonna tell him no."

"Then we'll just have a houseful, and it will be wonderful ," my aunt said, looking like she meant every word. "Come on in."

Joe handed Liam to me. "Rose, you go in and see if Witt got the crib set up, and I'll bring in the rest of the bags."

Witt was struggling to figure out Liam's portable bed, so I took over and put him in charge of getting the mattresses blown up.

Within twenty minutes, we'd figured out where everyone was sleeping, and the kids' teeth had been brushed again. They'd all missed Joe, so they talked his ear off with everything they'd been up to over the last couple of days. Daisy was sleeping with Neely Kate, so Joe and I got Mikey, Ashley, and Hope tucked into the kids' room. Liam fussed a bit about going to bed, but Joe began pacing with him in my bedroom and shooed me away. As I walked out, I heard Joe telling him that he and Daddy would have a day together soon. My heart swelled, ready to burst.

When I went downstairs, Aunt Bessie was making up a bed for Witt on the sofa, while he protested he could make it himself. Neely Kate and Jed were nowhere to be found, presumably spending some time together in Neely Kate's room.

There was no way I could sleep anytime soon, and I needed something to do, so I heated up some water for tea. Joe walked into the kitchen about five minutes later, just as I was pulling a tea bag from my cup.

"Want some tea?" I asked as I dumped the tea bag into the trash. "I heated up enough water."

He walked to me, took me into his arms, and pulled me close. "I love you so damn much, Rose Gardner Simmons."

I wrapped my arms around his back and held him tight. "I love you too. I'm sorry that my past has put us in danger."

He leaned back and stared down at me, shaking his head. "Your past is part of you, and I love every part. And that part of your past did a lot of good. We just need to figure out how it fits into the life we have now."

Tears stung my eyes. "Oh, Joe. I was so scared you wouldn't forgive me for putting us in danger."

"You didn't put us in danger. Whoever is murdering people put us in danger."

I placed my cheek on his chest. The steady thud of his heartbeat in my ear soothed something deep in my soul.

"Have you had any more visions of the woman being murdered?"

"No. Nothing. I even tried to have another vision with Neely Kate this morning."

"I wonder if you changed it."

"Maybe." But it felt like wishful thinking, especially since we still had no notion of who she was or who she might be connected to.

Joe kissed the top of my head. "I need to go soon. I don't want to, but…"

"I know," I said, pulling back and looking up at him. "I don't want you to go either, but I want you to stop this person."

"Thanks for the new information. I already have Randy lookin' into things."

"I don't suppose he had a chance to look up anything on Selena or find out anything more about the guy I saw in my vision?"

He gave me a squeeze. "No. I've had him workin' on other things, but we ran both drawings through a couple of databases and came up with nothing. There's not much else we can do."

I nodded. "That's okay. Like you said, I haven't had another vision. So maybe we did change things."

"But that doesn't mean I can't have Jed workin' on it."

I stared up at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"Jed's not part of my department, which means he can work on whatever he wants. That's why he's comin' back with me." He tilted his head. "Do you think he'd leave Neely Kate and Daisy if he didn't have a good reason?"

I knew Jed had been sleuthing, but I thought it had been to help Dermot. Maybe he was working with both of them.

"You two are a force to be reckoned with," I said. "You'll find who's responsible in no time."

"And now we have the added incentive of protecting the people we love more than anything in the world. There's no motivator more powerful than that."

I gave him a grim smile.

"Ready?" Jed said in a rough voice from the doorway into the kitchen.

"Walk me out?" Joe asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Of course."

He took my hand, and we headed through the living room to the front door. Jed had already gone outside, and there was no sign of Witt until we walked onto the porch and found the two men huddled at the back of Neely Kate's car.

Joe cupped my cheek and tilted my head back, then gave me a kiss that expressed his love and fear.

"We'll be okay," I said when he lifted his head.

"I brought the shotgun. It's locked in a case in the garage. Don't hesitate to get it out if you feel threatened."

My stomach roiled. "Okay."

He kissed me again. "Keep your phone with you so I can check on you regularly."

"I will."

He nodded, dropped his hand, and walked down the steps. He got into the car as Jed climbed into the driver's seat. Joe kept his eyes forward and didn't look back.

I watched the car travel the long gravel driveway, and as they turned onto the main road and their brake lights disappeared, I realized Joe hadn't said goodbye.