I shook my head. “You never left me Witt.”
“I did. When I went to prison. If I’d been around, I would have gone to check on you. I would have brought you home.”
I gave him a sad smile. “You don’t know that. If you’d have called, I would have pretended like things were okay, and toward the end, Branson never would have let me talk to you without him eavesdroppin’.” I took a breath. “You couldn’t have changed it, Witt. Thinkin’ that you could have will only eat at you. You need to let it go.”
“How the hell do I let it go? I failed you, Neely Kate. When your worthless momma dropped you off, Granny told me it was my job to look after you.”
I never knew that, but I’d suspected. “And you did,” I insisted. “You were like a big brother to me, but once I became a grown woman, your job was done.”
“You think eighteen is a grown woman?” he asked bitterly. “You were still a baby.”
“And you were a baby when you got arrested and tossed into prison.” I sighed. “We made stupid mistakes when we were kids. There’s no changin’ them. We can’t go back. All we can do is move forward.” I narrowed my eyes and turned stern. “But you need to leave that life behind, Wittman Rivers. I know you’re disappointed about the garage, but promise me that you’ll stay away from a criminal life. Jed’s leavin’ it behind. So can you.”
His nose wrinkled with confusion. “I’m not goin’ back to anything illegal, Neely Kate. Why do you think I am?”
“It’s just that Rose and I have exposed you to…” I shook my head. “Never mind. Just trust that something great is right around the corner. I know it.”
He studied me, then smiled. “You’re an amazing person, Neely Kate. Jed’s lucky to have you.”
I laughed. “You’re lucky to have me too.”
“I know that’s right.”
We settled back into searching the phone and the laptop. Joe came back soon after, handing us our coffee cups and searching our faces to make sure we were both okay.
An hour later, Dena showed up with dinner for all four of us that she’d gotten from a new home-cooking-style restaurant in the newer part of town. She stayed while we ate, and I could see she was dying to ask what we were all working on, but she had the good manners not to ask.
As soon as we were finished eating, Witt, Joe, and I all returned to our work. Dena took the hint and made some excuse about having some place to be and after planting a quick kiss on Joe, she quietly left.
I hadn’t heard from Jed after our earlier phone call, and I was worried about him meeting Gerard. What if Gerard took out his frustration on Skeeter out on Jed? Just when I was about to text him, he called and told me to put him on speakerphone.
“I met with Collard,” he said once he knew all three of us were listening. “I didn’t learn shit, but he’s definitely up to something.”
“What makes you say that?” Joe asked.
“Just a gut feeling,” he said. “Still, I don’t think he knows anything about Hardshaw making a push into Fenton County.”
“So they’re not?” Joe asked.
“I don’t want to rule it out. I have one more person to check with, but I can’t do it until tomorrow. Have y’all made any more progress?”
“Not much,” Witt said. “Not on the important questions.”
Joe’s phone buzzed. He glanced down with a grimace. “It’s the sheriff’s department. This might be about Adkins.”
He rolled his chair over to Rose’s desk and spoke in a low tone, but I could tell the conversation wasn’t going well. Jed, Witt, and I remained silent while we waited to hear the news.
Joe hung up and cursed. “We just ran out of time. Someone discovered Chad Manchester’s body.”
Chapter 20
The blood left my head, and I tried to catch my breath.
“Carlisle, I really hate to ask this,” Joe said. “Do you know if Neely Kate can be IDed behind the hotel?”
“If anyone looks at the video, they won’t see any sign of her,” he said.
Joe rubbed his chin for several seconds. “Okay.”
“Who found him?” Jed asked.
“Chad Manchester booked the room and his car was registered. He was supposed to check out this morning, but the housekeeping staff found his things, and not long after, a hotel guest complained that there was a nasty smell comin’ from the trunk of the car, so they called the Henryetta police.”
“For once, their bungling could be in our favor,” Witt said.
“If Henryetta’s finest is covering, then why’d you get the call?” Jed asked.
“I told my staff if anything unusual happened to let me know. Despite the rising murder rate in the county, finding a body in a trunk’s not all that common. So they called me even though it’s Henryetta’s jurisdiction. However, the sheriff is actually stepping in on this one and throwin’ his weight around sayin’ he wants to take over the case.”
“Why?” I asked. “Sheriff Foster’s as lazy as a hound dog on a Sunday afternoon.”
“The reelection’s comin’ up and Chad Manchester’s from out of town and from deep pockets, to boot,” Joe said. “It’s bad publicity for the county—and for the sheriff—but good publicity if it wraps up quickly.”
“So he’ll put extra effort into solvin’ it,” Witt said.
“Even if he doesn’t, it’s gonna make the news,” Jed said. “He’s Arthur Manchester’s only surviving son. That man’s gonna put a lot of resources into findin’ out who killed him.”
I started to hyperventilate, and Joe covered my hand with his. “I’m gonna take care of it, Neely Kate.”
“Everyone keeps tellin’ me that,” I said. “Maybe it’s time I owned up to what I did.”
No one said anything for a moment. Then Joe said, “You didn’t kill Chad Manchester. It’s likely that Neil Franken did.” He held my gaze. “I think I need to officially find his body.”
I swallowed, my stomach roiling. “Okay.”
“Now hold up,” Jed said in an urgent tone. “The body’s in your basement, Neely Kate. With a note written by Kate and addressed to you pinned to his body.”
“I’m not sure what else to do,” Joe said. “This just keeps getting deeper and deeper.”
Which was likely Kate’s plan—to make Joe choose between doing what was right and protecting me. I couldn’t put him in that position. “That body was a test to see how we would react. I suspect we played right into Kate’s hands. We need to report it.”
“Let’s let it sit for tonight,” Jed said. “We’ll make a decision tomorrow.”
“I like that plan,” Witt said. “No offense, Simmons, but I don’t trust the sheriff’s department worth shit.”
Joe gave him a grim look, then sat back in his seat. “Okay. We’ll wait until tomorrow, but I want to go see what’s goin’ on with this investigation into Chad Manchester’s death, so Carlisle, if you want to take Neely Kate for the night, come pick her up at the landscaping office.”
“I can be there in about twenty minutes.”
I was still lookin’ through the files from Franken’s phone, although I’d stared at the same photo for five minutes, my mind wandering to Kate and what she could be up to. While part of me wanted to buy her sister act, I knew deep down that she was punishing me for usurping her place in Joe’s heart.
Did she plan to hurt him too?
Joe was wrappin’ up one of his several calls when he glanced at me with a frown. “Why don’t you take a break, Neely Kate? We can pick this up tomorrow.”
“I keep lookin’ at these photos, feelin’ like I’m missin’ something.”
“Maybe you are. All the more reason to take a break from it and hit it tomorrow with fresh eyes.”
I nodded, though I hated to admit he was right. I wanted to find all the answers and put this behind me, yet I doubted that was going to happen. This would never be behind me.
Maybe I should confess it all before I dragged everyone else down with me.