He flicked his hand, still brooding. “Go.”
When I climbed out, Jed was leaning against the hood of the car. He turned to me with raised eyebrows. “He might be a little cranky,” I volunteered.
He nodded and moved for his car door while I crossed the lot to my truck. I left first, heading for the landscaping office while pondering what I’d done. Would Skeeter renege on our deal since I hadn’t been able to give him the information he wanted? For some bizarre reason, I trusted him. It wasn’t a safe bet. At all. Yet, like him, I’d learned to go with my gut.
Bruce Wayne was bent over his computer when I walked into the office. He looked up with a grimace.
I briefly considered telling him about my meeting with Skeeter, but decided the less he knew the better. “What’s givin’ you such a long face?”
“I’ve been sitting here all morning, and I don’t think I’m smart enough to figure out this computer stuff.”
“The landscaping program or the computer itself?”
He threw up his hands. “Any of it.”
I gnawed on my lip for a moment. “I’m not sure I’m the one to teach you. I barely know how to use one myself. We need someone to teach us.”
The doorbell jingled, and Neely Kate walked in. I swung my gaze toward her, realizing she might be the answer to my prayers.
“What?” she asked when she noticed the way I was looking at her.
“Have you ever taught anyone how to use computers?” I knew she was good with them. She used them all the time to search the Internet for ideas about decorating her baby’s room and recipes . . . Maybe asking her for help wasn’t such a good idea after all.
She shrugged. “I taught my eighty-six-year-old great-grandma how to shop on eBay.”
I gave Bruce Wayne a conspiratorial look before turning back to face her. “How do you feel about tutoring me and Bruce Wayne?”
She looked confused. “Sure, but not now, right? I want to run out to Tabitha’s before my lunch break is over.”
I glanced up at the clock on the wall. “Neely Kate, it’s barely eleven-thirty. You yourself said your cousin’s best friend doesn’t get up until noon.”
“I know. But it’s going to take us a bit to get where we’re going.”
“And where’s that?”
“Big Thief Hollow.”
“Big Thief Hollow,” Bruce Wayne said, narrowing his eyes. “Ain’t that where—”
Neely Kate grabbed my arm and started to drag me toward the door. “Good thing you haven’t even taken your coat off yet. We need to get going.” She opened the door and kept tugging. “See you later, Bruce Wayne.”
As she continued to drag me down the sidewalk, I wondered if I would have been better off hanging out with Skeeter.
Chapter Ten
“What’s going on, Neely Kate?” I asked as I climbed in the truck.
“Nothing. I just want to get goin’ is all. On account of it will take a good thirty minutes to get there, and I need to get back before my boss figures out I took an extra-long lunch.”
I put the keys in the ignition and turned over the engine. “Try again. Why did Bruce Wayne act like that when you said the name Big Thief Hollow?”
She shrugged. “There’s a bunch of meth-and pot-heads down there.”
“So why did you drag me away when he started to say something?”
“Because Joe did a big bust of Big Thief Hollow last week. He ain’t wastin’ any time lettin’ people know he’s in charge.”
I shook my head in confusion. “I thought the sheriff was in charge.”
“Not really. Not since the whole department got cleaned out. The sheriff has kind of lost his umph, so he’s been lettin’ Joe call all the shots. At least for the time being.”
“So what’s the big secret?” I asked as I drove out of the square. “Why try to keep that from me?”
“Because Joe’s got guys still watching the place from time to time. I wasn’t sure you’d still go if you knew that.”
I thought about it for a moment, trying to decide if it was a reason for us to stay away. “We’re not doing anything illegal. We’re just asking Dolly Parton’s best friend if she knows anything, right?”
“Yeah.”
I sat up straighter as I headed down Highway 82. “And besides, your aunt filed a missing persons report, and if the sheriff won’t do anything about it, how can anyone in the department fault us for doing the job they refuse to do?”
Neely Kate looked indignant. “Yeah, that’s right.”
I just as quickly lost my bravado. “Now tell me why it’s a bad idea to go there.”
“There’s no reason,” she insisted, turning to me to plead her case. “We’re not buying meth or pot, although I have to wonder how much there’s even left to buy after the sheriff’s department burned their pot fields.”
“I thought Daniel Crocker was the big pot dealer in Fenton County.”
“He was until he got arrested. Then his business took a tumble, so other people filled the gaps.”