I’d taken her to the back of the office, telling her that Mommy had once locked herself in the bathroom to hide from bad guys, when I heard a knock on the front door. Muffy, who was at my feet, let out a low growl. I jumped, startling Hope, who released a tiny whimper. Bouncing her in my arms, I carefully crept out of the shadows and peeked at the door to see who was knocking, relieved when I saw it was Mason.
He was cupping the side of his face and peering through the glass, and I lifted a hand in acknowledgment as I made my way to the door. When I unlocked and opened it, Muffy raced to the doorframe and jumped up, planting her front paws on Mason’s legs.
“Mason. This is a surprise.”
“I hope I’m not intruding,” he said, his gaze firmly on my daughter, who was staring up at him with a blank expression. He reached down and picked up Muffy, stroking the back of her head. “I saw your truck parked in front of the coffee shop and thought I’d drop by for a quick chat if you have time.”
A quick chat meant his visit likely had another purpose than to just say hello. Was he here to talk to me about the murder Joe was currently working?
“Yes,” I said after a second-long delay. I took a step back. “Of course. Sorry. You’re dealing with a woman with an extreme case of sleep deprivation.”
He gave a forced chuckle as he walked into the office then set Muffy onto the floor. I shut the door behind him and locked it.
He watched my movements and nodded. “You’re playing it safe. That’s good.”
“Is something goin’ on that I should know about?” I asked with my heart in my throat.
“Actually,” he said, shuffling his feet and sticking a hand in his pocket before locking gazes with me. “I was hoping you could tell me.”
“Is this about the case Joe is workin’ south of town?”
“Yes. Do you know anything?”
“Seems like Joe would be a better source of information,” I said with my free hand on my hip.
“One would think,” he said, his gaze back on Hope, a soft smile on his lips. “But over the past year, I’ve found you often know more than both of us combined.”
I could have taken offense that he was here for information, but he and I had reached a kind of truce. He’d accepted my involvement in the criminal world, such as it was, and he’d shared useful information on a couple of occasions.
“Would you like to hold her?” I asked.
His eyes widened in surprise. “Oh…”
“She’s not as fragile as she looks,” I said, leading him to the client table. “Why don’t you have a seat and take her? It’ll give me a chance to get my computer booted up.”
“Okay…” He headed over to the table and took a seat, then looked up at me expectantly.
“Just keep her head up a little,” I said as I grabbed a small towel out of her diaper bag. “It’s been a bit since she last ate, but she’s prone to spitting up. I don’t want you getting it on your shirt.”
He smiled. “I think I can handle a little spit-up.”
“Famous last words,” I said, grinning as I placed her in his crooked arm. Muffy, realizing someone else was holding her charge, plopped at Mason’s feet.
Mason looked nervous as he took her, shifting his arm up so her head was higher. It felt a little strange seeing them together, if only because I’d wondered, before going to that auction with James, whether I might be pregnant with Mason’s baby. If everything had unfolded differently, she might have been our baby. The look in his eyes said he knew it.
“She’s so light,” he commented.
“She weighed nearly ten pounds at her last checkup.”
He shifted her again, a brief flash of fear in his eyes as he did so. “She’s absolutely beautiful, Rose.”
“I think so,” I said with pride in my voice. “Some people would think I’m biased, but I know beautiful when I see it.”
He laughed. “In this instance, I have to agree with you.” He lifted his gaze to me. “I hear you had a rough delivery.”
“Understatement of the century,” I said as I sat in the chair in front of my desk and reached behind my computer to turn it on.
“I also heard that Tim Dermot delivered her.”
I paused, wondering what he was fishing for, then said, “You heard correctly.”
“Did he help you find the kids?”
“I’m sure you read the police report, and I can assure you it was an accurate portrayal of what happened.”
“How did Dermot know you were there?” When I hesitated, he added, “What we discuss here this morning is between the two of us.”
Which meant he was hoping for an exchange of information, not just to ask me questions. “Vera Pullman reached out to me, telling me she knew where to find the kids, but she’d only show me if I came alone. Joe was busy investigatin’ the murders of Calista and her boyfriend, and I didn’t want to put Jed in a bad situation, so I contacted Dermot.”
“You have other friends in the sheriff’s department,” he said in a neutral tone. “You could have called them.”
“I have fewer than you might think,” I said, “but in this case, I didn’t necessarily want to follow the rules.” I gave him a challenging look.
“You risked Hope’s life, Rose,” he said in a pleading tone. “You both could have died, and not just because you delivered her in the woods, breech.”
He wasn’t saying anything I hadn’t already thought a thousand times over. If Dermot hadn’t been there, I would have been shot by Carey Collard before I even delivered, and Ashley and Mikey might have been killed too.
“Vera came to the nursery a couple of months before,” I said, “and she seemed like she was in trouble. She knew I was the Lady in Black, but she took off before she could tell me what she needed. I figured she wanted to meet me alone because she was scared someone would see her talking to me. I had absolutely no idea she was dangerous. I thought I was meeting a scared woman who needed help and could tell me where to find my niece and nephew.”
He glanced down at Hope, who was staring up at him, but her eyelids were drooping, which suggested that nap was coming soon after all.
“I’m not here to cast judgment,” he said, keeping his gaze on my baby’s face. “I’m here because of the murdered man found early this morning.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” I said, turning my chair to face him. “Joe wouldn’t even tell me it was a murder. Only that they’d found a body.”
Technically true, even if Dermot had told me more.
“I can tell you it was definitely murder. He was shot at close range in the back of the head.”
I shuddered, and I noticed that Mason held Hope a little tighter.
“I swear to you, Mason, the first I heard of it was this morning, when Joe told me he was headed to a crime scene.”
“You’re misunderstanding my intentions,” he said, lifting his gaze. “I’m not here to ask you questions. I’m here to give you some information.”
My brow shot up. “Oh.”
He hesitated, then said, “The man found murdered was Rufus Wilson. We know he was working for Malcolm. He moved here from Oklahoma this past summer, and we’re fairly certain he had ties to Hardshaw.”