“A half hour ago, you were only knee-deep, Joe.”

Jed’s eyes were dark as he jerked around to glare at me. This was why I hadn’t warned him about who I was calling.

Joe sighed. “Well, the shit just keeps pilin’ up.”

I cringed. “I’m about to make it deeper.”

“What now?”

I needed to tell him what I knew, but the less he knew about my collaboration with Skeeter, the better.

“Your father has my number, Joe. He called me yesterday before he escaped.”

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me that before?” he demanded.

“It didn’t seem important.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Rose.”

“Okay, fine. Because I knew your answer would be to put me under some type of police custody. Your deputies need to focus on catching him, not babysitting me.”

“Then for God’s sake, go sit with Mason.”

“No. I’m not hiding anymore.”

“Rose!”

“Listen to me, Joe. I’m being careful. Believe it or not, I feel safer right now than I would tucked away in some safe house like a sitting duck. I’m on the move, and he has no idea where I am. You need to focus on finding him. I may have a lead for you.”

Jed looked furious.

I paused, then pushed out a breath. I was about to piss Jed off even more, but we really did need to pool our resources to stop J.R.

“You need to be looking for Sam Teagen.”

Jed jerked his head around to glare at me.

“Who the hell is Sam Teagen?” Joe barked.

“The man who kidnapped me.”

“What? Why are you just now telling me?”

“I just figured it out.”

“How?”

“Never mind about that part. You need to look for Teagen and work on figurin’ out where your father is going to make his move.” I hung up before he could ask more questions.

“Why’d you tell him about Teagen?” Neely Kate asked.

“Because we need all the help we can get. It didn’t feel right keepin’ it from him.”

“But not Marshal?”

“Jed and Skeeter don’t know who Marshal is. I highly doubt his name would be helpful to Joe.”

“So why not tell him about Kate and the shed?”

“I told him about the files in her apartment, and he pooh-poohed the whole thing after he didn’t find anything when he dropped in. Do you really think he’d believe me?”

“No.”

“Exactly, so no use tipping our hand. We’ll play it close to the vest until we have more information.”

Jed still looked furious, but he didn’t say a word on the drive to the restaurant.

Just like I’d suspected, Neely Kate didn’t have enough money to cover the wings from Big Bill’s. Jed grumbled and pushed her to the side, then paid for the entire order. She grinned at me, but wisely kept her mouth shut.

Ted’s Garage was on the south side of town, so I had plenty of time to stew about how much we had riding on this random drop-in visit. If we didn’t get any useable information about Teagen or Marshal, we were at a dead end.

Jed parked in the lot but left the car running. Turning around to face us, he said, “I’d like to go in there with you, but as Rose pointed out, if those guys have turned on Skeeter, they’ll clam up at the sight of me. Doesn’t matter that their ring leader showed up at the pool hall this morning to pledge his allegiance to Skeeter, claiming none of them never wavered in their loyalty.”

Neely Kate rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

He paused and searched my friend’s face. “I agree. They’re saving their skin, which means they can’t be trusted. I’m gonna ask you straight, Neely Kate. Do you feel safe goin’ in there? I know you’re separated from your husband right now. Does that mean they’ll turn on you?”

“No. Ronnie would kill anyone who dared lay a finger on me.”

He nodded, looking grave. “What about Rose?”

Her mouth twisted as she cast a glance at me. “Rose is a bit trickier.”

My back stiffened. “I’m goin’ in there with you.”

Jed turned his attention to me. “You might need to use the gun Deveraux gave you to get yourself out of there.”

“We both have guns,” Neely Kate said. “I doubt they’ll be brandishing weapons in a mechanic shop with customers coming and going. If they try to take Rose, they’ll use brute force. If it comes to that, we’ll use our weapons.”

“I’d rather try my Taser first,” I said. “It’s less lethal.”

“Don’t try it if you’re outnumbered,” Jed said. “Keep your gun in your coat pocket, safety off. I want you to call me and stay on the line like you did with Skeeter last night. If I can hear what’s goin’ on, I’ll know if you need me to come in or not.”

“Okay,” I said, trying to steady my nerves. I transferred the gun to my coat pocket, then set up the call like Jed had suggested, tucking my phone into my jeans pocket with the microphone end sticking out. “Let’s go do this.”

“At least we’ll have the element of surprise,” Neely Kate said as she slipped out of the backseat.

“Rose,” Jed called after me.

I turned back to face him, my hand on the door handle.

“Be careful.”

I was sure going to try.

Chapter 20

“We’re going to play this like we have no idea anyone here might have it out for you,” Neely Kate said, leading the way with the bags of chicken wings.

I trailed a step behind. “Yeah. That’s good.”

“And let me do the talkin’.”

“I’m not gonna fight you for this one.”

She gave me a tight grin and then, bold as brass, walked under an open garage door, ignoring the customer entrance. The garage had six bays, each one occupied by a car, several of them up on lifts. I could see four men spread out around the garage, all of them wearing gray coveralls stained with various amounts of grease. One of the cars was being fitted with a set of air intake pipes just like the ones described by Maeve.

We were at the right place, all right.

“Good afternoon, boys,” Neely Kate called out in a semi-confrontational tone.