“I don’t know.” I looked over at Jed. “Any ideas?”

“Not a one, but I agree it sounds like Kate. Still, it would be good if we could get your grandmother to help confirm it.”

Neely Kate squatted next to her grandmother’s chair. “Granny, listen to me. Can you tell me something about the woman? We can make it yes or no, just like the questions you answered for Rose.”

The old woman looked suspicious, but Neely Kate forged on anyway. “Did she have dark hair?”

Her grandmother hesitated before giving a slight nod.

“See?” Neely Kate said. “That wasn’t hard. Now tell me this: did she have blue streaks in her hair?” Neely Kate grew frustrated when the woman didn’t answer. “Granny, did she have blue streaks in her hair?”

“I don’t know,” she said, her body shaking as she started to cry. “Her hair was covered with a hat. I could only see the ends of her dark hair sticking out.”

I heard the door behind us open.

“Hey, Granny,” Neely Kate’s cousin Witt called out. “Sorry I got held up. I know you think I was trying to get out of fixin’ your hot water heater.”

“What did the hat look like, Granny?” Neely Kate said, her voice rising. “What was she wearing? Tell me!”

“What in the hell is goin’ on here?” Witt stomped into the room with fury in his eyes. “What are you doin’, Neely Kate?”

Neely Kate stood and turned to face him, looking like she was ready for a showdown. “A woman was here askin’ about me and my momma, but she threatened to kill me if Granny told anyone. I need to know what she asked and what Granny told her.”

“So you’re just lightin’ into her?” he asked in disbelief. “She’s liable to have another spell.”

“I need to know, Witt!”

“Well, this isn’t the way to do it!”

I put an arm around Neely Kate’s shoulders and gave her a comforting squeeze. “It’s okay, Neely Kate. We have enough.”

“No, we don’t!” She turned to face me. “We don’t know who he killed with that gun!”

“We don’t need to,” I said quietly, trying to calm her down. “It’s enough to know that Kate’s gettin’ desperate. She has to be if she’s threatening an old woman just to make a move on her father.”

“Rose is right,” Jed added, rising from his chair. “We’ve got enough for now.”

“No—”

“Neely Kate,” Jed said, firmly. “That’s enough.”

She nodded, and then her entire body slumped against me.

“Jed . . .” I called out in a panic.

“I got her.” He was around the table in an instant, scooping Neely Kate up in his arms. “I’m takin’ her out to the car.”

“I don’t need you to do that, Jed Carlisle,” Neely Kate protested. “I can walk on my own two feet.” She swatted his chest, but she didn’t struggle very hard to get loose as he carried her outside.

“Rose,” Witt said. “What’s goin’ on?”

I moved next to him and lowered my voice. “Neely Kate has stumbled onto the truth about her birth father, and it’s a dangerous mess.”

Pride filled Witt’s eyes. “Of course it is. It’s Neely Kate.”

“And now that she knows someone came to see your granny . . . Well, Neely Kate has just had one shock right after another today, and I suspect she hasn’t eaten in hours, which explains why Jed is carryin’ her.”

Witt winked. “Or the fact that he’s a strappin’ young man.”

I shook my head, wondering how much of his suggestion was true. “In any case, we’re gonna take her with us to keep her safe, but you might take your granny somewhere else tonight. To be on the safe side.”

“Just how big of a mess has Neely Kate stumbled into?”

“A huge, nasty pile of poo.”

He shook his head in amazement. “You’ve got your work cut out for you. You take care of Neely Kate, and I’ve got Granny covered.”

“Thanks.”

I squatted next to Neely Kate’s grandmother. “I’m sorry we upset you, Mrs. Rivers. Neely Kate is just desperate to get some answers.”

“I hope that other woman is okay,” she said.

I hesitated, assuming I must have heard her wrong. “What other woman?”

“When that woman left, she stopped outside the front door and took a phone call. She told the caller not to worry, that she had Jenny Lynn’s gun and now she was gonna teach the other bitch a lesson she wouldn’t forget for the rest of her short life.”

Dizziness flooded my head. “Are you sure?”

She nodded.

“When did the woman come see you?”

“Yesterday. Yesterday afternoon.”

Yesterday?

“Thank you, Mrs. Rivers,” I said. Then I ran out the door to find Jed.

We had to save someone.

Chapter 30

Jed was standing next to the back car door, surveying the farm, when I found him. He turned to face me. “Neely Kate’s lying down on the backseat.”

I nodded.

He gestured toward the house. “That was a surprise.”

“Which part? The gun?” I asked. “Or the fact that Kate was here digging into Neely Kate’s past?”

“Both.”

“Well, I’m about to add more intrigue—Mrs. Rivers said her visitor stopped by yesterday, but as she left, she took a call and told the person on the other end that she was going to teach the other bitch a lesson. Then said she was going to kill her.”

He scowled. “So Neely Kate’s granny suddenly got chatty, huh?”

“Not much, and I think it was unintentional. She was worried about the woman her visitor threatened.”

“I think we should get you to the safe house.”

“What? Why?”

“Because Kate Simmons threatened you. As crazy as she is, it’s a wonder she didn’t kill you in the diner and be done with it.”

“I suspect she’s a lot like her daddy and likes to toy with her prey. But in this instance, I think she’s after Hilary.”