When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,64
million questions but knew better than to ask a single one. “Why the questions about my pregnancy?”
He released a quick puff of air. “In case I end up takin’ you to see that maniac. I need to know what I’m dealin’ with.”
“I’m not goin’ into labor on Denny Carmichael’s property, Dermot.” God forbid. I’d hold my legs together first.
“Like I said, I want to know what I’m dealin’ with.”
I couldn’t blame him.
He started to get up, but I reached forward and put my hand over his. “There’s one more thing.”
Settling back onto his seat, he said in a careful tone, “Okay.”
“Someone was on the property last night. I think they were watchin’ the house. But I let Muffy out to pee at around midnight, and she took off runnin’ after them.” I took a deep breath, tamping down my emotion, and said, “They ran her over.”
Dermot sat up straighter. “Is she okay?”
“I’m hoping she will be. The vet operated on her, and he’s keepin’ her for a few days to make sure she recovers.”
“Damn,” he said, rubbing his hand over his mouth. “Do you know who did it?”
“Maybe.” I told him about Vera’s strange visits and her old station wagon. “I couldn’t see who was drivin’, so I’m not sure if it was her.”
His eyes darkened. “Every criminal knows better than to mess with you.”
“I’m not sure the person who did this meant to mess with me. If it was Vera, she might have been here tryin’ to work up the gumption to ask me for help.”
“And ran over your dog in the process.”
“We don’t have enough information to know, Dermot. First, we need to find out who owns that station wagon. Joe did some searches back in February and came up with nothin’.”
He nodded. “I’ll do some diggin’.”
“Thanks.”
He started to get up again, then stopped, leaning forward. “I’m about to step on dangerous ground, Rose, but take it for what you will.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, already preparing myself for some kind of lecture.
“I’m not sure where you stand with Skeeter, but I will tell you one thing—if you’re considering goin’ back to him, you need to not only think twice, but four or five times. Rumor has it that his operation is involved with some South American drug cartels. Those people don’t mess around.”
Something in me seized up. What had James gotten himself into? But I shook the feeling off—he’d made his own bed. It had nothing to do with me anymore. It was even more confirmation that I needed to keep my baby as far from him as possible. I wanted no part of that life, and there was no way my baby could be part of it either.
“Is he dealin’ with ’em through Hardshaw?”
“Probably,” he said, “but it doesn’t matter. You need to stay away from that shit. Move on. Marry the deputy sheriff. Have a good life.” His voice cracked on the last words and a tight smile stretched the skin around his eyes. “Trust me on that, okay?”
“Thanks for your input, Tim,” I said, wondering again what had happened to his family.
He got up and left without another word, and I realized Tim Dermot was just one more mystery to add to the pile.
Chapter 17
After Dermot left, I took a shower and got dressed in fresh clothes. Before I left for the day, I made sure my gun was in my purse and turned on the alarm.
Neely Kate called when I was in the truck, and I put her on speaker.
“How’s Muffy?” she asked.
“Hangin’ in there. She was fightin’ to stay awake, so Levi said we should go and come back this afternoon.”
“But she’s gonna be okay, isn’t she?”
“I hope so.”
We were both silent for a moment. Then I said, “I talked to Dermot this morning.”
“Oh, that was a good idea.”
“He’s gonna look into Mark Erickson, the murdered electrician.” I hesitated, then said, “I’m going to go back out to the neighborhood where he was killed. I want to ask around and see if anyone knew if Erickson and Mike were involved in something on the side.”
“I thought you were lettin’ Joe handle it.”
“He can work on things on his end, and we can do the same on ours.” But it occurred to me that despite our escapade yesterday, Neely Kate might be having second thoughts about investigating an active murder case on the sly. She and Jed were in the process of adopting a baby. She wouldn’t want to jeopardize that, and I certainly