Jed drove out of town and turned onto the county road that led to the farm. As I watched the scenery go by, I said, “If only we could contact Kate.”
He was quiet for a second, then sat up straighter. “Wait. We can.”
I turned to face him. “How?”
“The burner phone we brought her. I wrote down the number in case she tried to call and harass you. We’d know it was her.” He handed me his phone. “It’s in a note.” He used his thumbprint to open it, then handed it to me. “But don’t call her yet. Let’s give this some thought before we do anything. Kate does everything for a reason, and calling her might play right into her hands… or set her off.”
I hated to admit he was right.
I found the note and entered it into my phone, saving it under Evil Half Sister.
Jed chuckled as he shifted in his seat.
I glanced up at him. “How can you be laughing right now?”
“Because even when things are at their worst, I can count on you to put a smile on my face.”
“Is that why you’re still with me?” I asked, deciding to be blunt. I told myself that Jed’s feelings for me should be low on our priority list, especially since Jed was in this whether he wanted to be or not. But if he was second-guessing our relationship, I wanted to know.
“What are you talkin’ about?” he asked, casting me a surprised glance.
“You’ve been away more than you’ve been with me the last week, and any time I’ve tried to show you any kind of affection, you quickly put a stop to it.”
“That’s not true,” he countered in a defensive tone. “I showed you affection both yesterday and today.”
“Only because I was scared about this whole mess and you felt like you had to comfort me. Three days ago, I kissed you and you pushed me away. And then I didn’t see you again until I met you at the landscaping office yesterday morning, and that was only because I got that phone call.” When he didn’t say anything, I asked, “Do you want to break up with me, but you can’t because you’re stuck with me because you helped me dig up Pearce Manchester?”
“Neely Kate,” he said with a sigh. “I swear to you, that’s not why I’ve stayed away from you.”
“Then why?”
He hesitated for several seconds. “I’ve been setting up my new business.”
“What’s your new business?”
“Just wait, okay? I’ll tell you soon.”
“Soon. But not now.” Why wouldn’t he tell me? What if he was opening another strip club?
He reached over and grabbed my hand. “Neely Kate. I’m plannin’ to tell you everything soon. Just trust me.”
What choice did I have? “Okay.”
He squeezed my hand. “Thank you.”
This whole conversation was stupid given that I’d discovered two dead men in the course of a few hours. I needed to get my priorities straight. If I was arrested for Pearce Manchester’s murder, all of this would be a moot point.
When we got back to the farm, I went inside and tugged off my wig, unpinning my hair as we walked into the kitchen and found Joe at the kitchen table. He must have run over to his place because he was using his own laptop and taking notes on a legal pad.
He wore a serious expression as his gaze lifted to mine. “I want to see that packet Kate left you along with the note.”
Jed headed to the basement staircase. “I’m going to see if Franken’s fingerprint works.”
Joe didn’t say a word, just watched him go through the door, then gestured for me to take the chair next to him.
I sat down and handed him the packet. “The handwritten notes are inside with the PI report.”
He pulled out the first note and studied it. “Where’d you find it?”
“I found that one in the nightstand drawer. The other was in the packet that we found under the mattress.”
He frowned. “Carlisle’s thorough.”
“The first note suggested there was something else in the room. Up to that point, other than the computer, the only thing of interest we’d found was a pair of women’s panties on the floor.”
He set the note on the table and removed the second one. As he read it, his fingers tightened, crimping the edge of the paper. “This is a threat, Neely Kate.”
“I’m not surprised. She’s been threatening me for months.”
“With her letters?”
“And then in person when I finally started seein’ her at the hospital.”
“I wish you’d told me she was blackmailin’ you.” He set the paper on top of the other note on the table, shaking his head. “Don’t misconstrue what I’m sayin’. I understand why you didn’t tell me, but I still can’t help feeling responsible.”
My jaw dropped. “How are you responsible?”
“I was the one who took you up there to see her in the first place. She started makin’ you come see her after that.”
“I was the one who insisted on goin’ the first time, Joe. You know how stubborn I am. I would have found a way without you.”
He looked grim as he started flipping through pages, then paused, flipping back several pages. “So Kate went to see Beasley, then hired a PI to investigate the rest.”
“Looks like it.”
“But she doesn’t know anything about Pearce Manchester. Or at least she didn’t find out about him from the PI.” He pushed out a sigh. “Her comment about what happened on a bed got us here worries me.”
“It still doesn’t mean she knows about the man I killed. They told her that I had sex for money. That seems more likely.”
His lips pursed. “Maybe.”
He got to the tabbed page and when he saw it was about my mother, his eyes widened. “So Kate really saw her.”
“I never doubted that she did.” I grabbed the remaining pages from him. “There’s nothin’ in there from my mother that will help us with the rest of this mess. What did you find on the guy’s phone?”
His gaze turned to the partially open basement door. “I was plannin’ on tellin’ you both. Carlisle’s been down there awhile. What do you think he’s doin’?”
“It might not be Neil Franken’s laptop. What if it belongs to Chad Manchester?”
Joe’s face paled. “Let’s hope not. I don’t want any of us near that car or body. I’m already havin’ second thoughts about the whole thing, especially if Carlisle’s tampering with the camera.”
“You want me to tell him to let things be, and we’ll tell the sheriff’s department about the body in the basement?”
“Yes. No.” He shook his head. “I don’t know. This thing’s gettin’ a hell of a lot deeper by the minute.”
“You have no idea how deep,” Jed said as he walked through the door with the open laptop in his hands.
“Well, shit,” Joe groaned.
Jed ignored him, setting the computer on the table, then turned to me with a serious expression. “Did you know anything about Pearce Manchester?”
He looked nervous. My heart started racing. “No, not really. I didn’t even know his name. Branson always referred to him as the client from Dallas, and he was paying ten thousand dollars to have the night to do anything he wanted.”
“Did Branson end up with ten grand?” Joe asked.
“No,” Jed said in a dull tone. “Neely Kate said Manchester refused to pay until he was done.”
“Do we know what happened to the money?” Joe asked.
“We buried it,” I said, worried about getting Jed into even more trouble with my brother. “Beasley and I buried everything the guy had with him—his clothes, his video camera, the black bag. I never looked inside it, and I guess neither did Beasley, because I can’t imagine he’d bury that much money. I didn’t realize it was even there until Jed discovered it. We were more concerned with hiding all the evidence.”
“What happened to his car?” Joe asked.
“It wasn’t at the house,” I said. “I don’t know what happened to it.”
“The news reports said his car disappeared,” Jed said. “I looked into it after we came back from Ardmore.”
“Did you stir up trouble with your diggin’?” Joe asked in an accusatory tone. “Did your questions put the spotlight on Neely Kate?”
“No,” Jed said, keeping his gaze level with Joe’s. “I was careful. It was all online research. No one knows his death is tied to Neely Kate.”