“Because she’s renting an apartment over the antique shop.”

I spun to face my friend. “You’re kidding.”

“No. I thought you knew.”

“No.” But I could only handle one thing at a time. “We’ll deal with her next. First let’s pay a visit to my second favorite attorney.”

“Carter Hale is your second favorite?” Neely Kate murmured. “You’ve reached a new level of desperate.”

That was putting it mildly.

Chapter 18

When we walked into the law office of Carter Hale, the proprietor himself stood at the corner of his assistant’s desk. He grimaced when his gaze landed on me, but his demeanor changed the moment his eyes shifted to Neely Kate.

“Ms. Gardner,” he drawled. “Did we have an appointment? I do have other clients that require my attention, you know.”

“I want to know what you’ve dug up since I saw you last.”

“Not nearly as much as you have, apparently.” He winked. “The crime world’s all abuzz.”

Greta glanced up at him with a look of confusion.

The blood rushed from my head. “I have no earthly idea what you’re talkin’ about.”

“I’m sure you don’t,” he teased. “Why don’t you girls come back to my office?”

His assistant stayed at her desk, though she looked mighty curious now, and Neely Kate and I followed him down the hall. He shut the door behind us, then headed behind his desk while we took the chairs in front of him.

“So the Lady in Black is back.” He kicked back in his seat. “And without Skeeter Malcolm this time. I thought I told you to keep a low profile.”

“Really?” Neely Kate cooed. “You don’t say.”

“And she had a new handler with her.” His eyes bored into hers. “A woman.”

Neely Kate leaned to the side and crossed her legs, still holding Carter’s gaze. “That’s amazin’. I had no idea the Fenton County crime world was so forward-thinking.”

“I know, imagine that,” Carter said with a sly grin. “We’re so cosmopolitan now.”

I groaned. “Cut to the chase, Carter Hale. What’s goin’ on in the rumor mill?”

“Well … first of all, criminals don’t admit they listen to rumors.”

Neely Kate pursed her lips and nodded her head, both in an exaggerated fashion. “Criminals pretend they don’t gossip. Got it.”

He chuckled.

“Can we get back to my case?” I asked, getting irritated.

Carter kept his gaze pinned on my friend. “Is she always this narcissistic?”

“Her life is hanging in the balance,” she retorted.

“What have you found out about Glenn Stout?” I asked.

When Carter didn’t answer, Neely Kate said, “That’s a trick question to test your investigatin’ skills.”

His playfulness fell away. “I don’t know squat about Glenn Stout, but I take it from Neely Kate’s smug response that you do.”

“Not enough,” I said. “We only know that the courier who deposited the money at the courthouse met Eric Davidson a few days before his death. And that he won first place in the calf-roping competition at the Fenton County Rodeo last year. Oh, yeah, and his name is Sam Teagen.”

A grin spread across his face as he studied us. “You ladies are in the wrong profession. Your skills are wasted in landscaping.”

Neely Kate whacked my arm. “That’s what I keep saying.”

“Ouch.” I rubbed my sore bicep. “We were just lucky.”

“You get lucky a lot,” Carter said.

“Mason gave the name to a source we have in the sheriff’s department, but I haven’t heard anything yet. Now tell me what you know.”

He frowned. “I know my appeal to postpone your trial has been rejected.”

“Of course it has been.” I’d expected as much, but it was still disappointing.

“Simmons has it out for you.”

“Lucky me. Good thing I’m taking things into my own hands.”

“And this has something to do with the infamous Lady?”

“The less said, the better.”

“And what does Skeeter think of this?”

“Skeeter’s not here.”

“Yet Lady’s still takin’ meetings?”

“Mr. Hale. What exactly are you doin’ to save me? Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like I’m doin’ all the work.”

He laughed, but it was a short, abrupt sound. “I’m doing what little I can. Skeeter has assured me he’s on this.”

“Forgive me, but Mason and I seem to be the only ones makin’ any progress.”

He didn’t respond.

“What information have you dug up from all those leads you were bragging about? Finding out who bribed the judge and the DA?”

He made a face, and if I hadn’t known any better, I would have suspected he’d made the mistake of eating the jumbo wing special at Big Bill’s and was now desperate for the restroom. “My usual sources are keepin’ mum about the instigator of the bribes.”

“So you’ve got a big fat nothin’.”

“Everybody’s runnin’ scared right now. This potential war between Gentry and Skeeter … there’s a general feeling of overall impending doom. Everyone’s takin’ cover.”