Page 60 of Family Jewels

“Neely Kate!”

Bruce Wayne stood and made a beeline for the front door. “You still planning on helping me on the job site tomorrow?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked in confusion.

He muttered something under his breath and then pushed his way out the door so forcefully that the bell attached to it chimed for several seconds.

“Don’t mind him,” Neely Kate said. “You know he hates any touchy-feely stuff. But let me just say how proud I am of you.”

“I didn’t do anything to be proud of,” I said, slightly annoyed. “I agreed to go out to dinner with him.”

“But it was scary, and you said yes.”

I couldn’t help wondering if I’d only agreed to the date because I was trying to prove something to James. Or maybe myself. “But I don’t even know him, Neely Kate,” I said, spinning in my chair to face her. “How can I tell if I’m even interested in him?”

“That’s the whole point of datin’, Rose. You go out, ask each other about your pasts, your jobs and interests, and then you decide if you want to keep goin’ out.”

“I still don’t think I should go,” I said. “Muffy needs me.”

“Muffy will be fine. I’ll make sure she doesn’t move around much. We’ll have a girls’ night in.”

“MaybeIwant a girls’ night in.”

“We’ve had four months of girls’ nights. It’s time for one of us to escape, and you’re it. You’re goin’. End of story.”

I was about to get to work but decided to broach the touchy subject of our case. “Neely Kate, you know we need to back off from looking for Raddy’s necklace. It’s part of a murder investigation now. We might mess something up, not to mention it could be dangerous.”

She turned to face her computer and refused to look me in the eye. “Yeah, I know.”

The rest of our day got busy. I had a few jobs to bid on, and I’d arranged to meet a couple at the nursery at three to look at plants for their design. I got back to the office by five forty, and my stomach tied into knots when I realized Levi Romano would be here in twenty minutes to pick me up.

“I’ve changed my mind,” I said as I sat down in my chair and leaned over to rub Muffy’s head.

“Changed your mind about what?” Neely Kate asked.

“My date. I really think I need to stay home with Muffy.”

“Muffy’s gonna be just fine. We’ve covered this multiple times already. You’re gonna go out to dinner, eat a nice meal, and then let him bring you back here. You’re not marrying the man. It’s a date.”

“That’s just it. I’ve hardly dated anyone. I already knew Joe and Mason when I started dating them. Other than that, I only had one blind date with a guy who ditched me.”

“All the more reason to go out. Now why don’t you go to the bathroom and freshen up before he gets here?”

I opened my mouth to protest, but the door opened, and Homer Dyer crossed the threshold.

Neely Kate must have seen the look of surprise on my face because she turned toward the door. “What are you doin’ here, Homer Dyer?” she asked in a short tone.

“We have some unfinished business,” he snarled, moving to the middle of the room.

He looked madder than a wet hen. I reached for my phone, about to call Jed, but then I remembered how adamant Neely Kate had been last night. She’d wanted to handle Homer by herself then; should I trust her to do so now? I hid my phone in my lap . . . just in case.

I expected her to whip out her gun—all the more reason to consider calling Jed for backup—but she stayed in her seat, looking up at him like he was just an annoying bug. “I can’t think of a single thing that needs to be said,so get out.”

“Not until I get some answers.” He took several steps toward her desk. “I wanna know two things: one, where’s my boy, and two, where’s that damned necklace?”

Neely Kate gave him a fierce look. “We don’t know the answer to either one of those questions, so like I said,get on out of here.”

“You thought you were mighty big pulling a gun on me yesterday,” he said, reaching behind him and hauling out a hunting knife. “But I don’t see no gun now.”

---