When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,67

up on Hilary or Dena, but he’ll be okay.”

I couldn’t even imagine how hurt I’d be if the roles were reversed, and the thought that I was causing him so much pain upset me even more.

“Just let him know that you love him, but you’re not ready to fully commit. Let him know there’s hope, Rose.”

I nodded, wiping my cheeks again. “Yeah. I’ll do that tonight.”

“Good.”

I was so desperate to change the subject, and I knew that Neely Kate had her finger on the pulse of Fenton County gossip. “Say,” I said, “what do you know about Dermot?”

Her head jutted back. “Dermot? What about him?”

“Well, he asked about my pregnancy this morning. When I told him about my false labor, he mentioned that his wife went into false labor a few times with their second child.”

“Dermot’s married?” she asked in shock. “He doesn’t wear a ring.”

“I told him I didn’t know he had a family, and he said he doesn’t anymore.”

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“I have no idea, but now I’m curious.”

“I’d never heard of him before you met him through Buck Reynolds, but I’ll ask Jed. If anyone will know, it’s him.”

Of that I was sure. Jed had been James’s righthand man for years, which meant he knew all there was to know about the criminals in the county…or at least he used to. Other than helping Lady, Jed had gone clean.

The Wild Vista neighborhood came into view and my stomach twisted into a knot. There was a chance this would tick off Joe, but I had given him valuable information already. If Neely Kate and I could possibly safely get him more, it was worth a try.

“So what’s the plan?” Neely Kate asked.

“We need to find out as much about Erickson as we can. Maybe we can find a connection to Calista.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Good idea.”

I drove to the end of the street and turned around, parking in front of Mike’s spec house again. Only today, no one was working.

“Now what?” Neely Kate asked.

“We could ask around at the other job sites. Tex over there seemed to know something,” I said, gesturing to the man standing in the dirt driveway of the house next to Mike’s. “He said the man who died had gotten greedy. We could try to get more information from him. Or we could go over to the other neighborhood Mike’s been workin’ in. Barb said he was getting ready to sell a couple of houses, and I only see one here.”

“I say we try to talk to Tex,” Neely Kate said, already reaching for the door handle. “Let me take point on this one, okay?”

“Okay…” I wasn’t sure whether to be excited or scared.

I followed her across the torn-up yard, Neely Kate holding my elbow to make sure I didn’t fall.

Tex shielded his eyes from the sun and watched us as we made our way to him. “You little ladies are back!”

“I’m really interested in your house,” Neely Kate said, “but I had to come over in person to make sure our séance worked.”

His smile stretched across his face as he tugged up his jeans. “I’m pleased to tell you that no one’s seen hide nor hair of any ghosts! Whatever you did must have done the trick.”

“See?” I said. “You should never doubt yourself, Nancy.”

Neely Kate made a face. “Umm… I’m not so sure. I’m still feeling some bad energy, Beth Ann.”

“There ain’t no bad energy in my house,” Tex said. “I can give you a tour and you can see for yourself.”

Neely Kate extended her arms from her body, pinching her middle fingers and her thumbs together, and began to hum as she slowly turned in a circle, finally coming to a stop and crossing her arms at the wrist as though they were divining rods. They pointed toward Mike’s house. “There’s bad energy comin’ from that house. Bad chi.”

“Bad chi,” Tex repeated.

Dropping her arms, she turned her attention to Tex, her brow furrowing. “I’m sure it has everything to do with that builder next door cuttin’ corners. I’m worried the chi from his house will float over to this one.” She pointed to Tex’s house beside us.

“Well, now,” he said, “that ain’t gonna happen, little lady. There’s a good ten feet between houses here, see?” He gestured to the narrow space between the houses. “Plenty of space to keep his chi on his side of the property line.”

“While chi does respect property lines,” Neely Kate said with a serious expression,