Page 19 of For the Birds

“I’ll sign off on your hours, and you’ll get to sit for the P.I. exam.”

And there was the crux of it. Neely Kate was dying to be a real P.I., and unless she went to school, she had to apprentice with someone. But I found it hard to believe this guy was a legitimate investigator, even if the license I saw tacked to the wall said otherwise.

Neely Kate gave me a pleading look, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell herno.

“So are you gonna give us any guidance?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes. “Looky here, Miss Fancy Pants, I don’t see you lasting two hours, let alone two days, so I don’t feel like wasting my time. If you solve this case, then we’ll talk about me trainin’ ya.” He waved a hand in dismissal. “Y’all are just a couple of bored housewives who’ve seen too much Cagney and Lacey. You two chickies are on your own for thisone.”

I was about to tell him that we’d solved multiple cases and we didn’t have to prove anything to him, but Neely Kate beat me toit.

“Lacey?” she asked. “You mean that girl from The Bachelor?”

I stared at her in disbelief. There was so much to take offense to in his statement, and that was what Neely Kate had picked upon?

His mouth dropped open; then he shut it and shook his head. “Never heard of Cagney and Lacey? What in the hell is the world comin’ to?”

I was asking myself the same thing.

“You two get,” he said, waving his hand toward the door. “Let me know when you find thebird.”

I didn’t waste any time exiting the trailer, and Neely Kate was right behind me with the paper in her hand. We hadn’t even gotten to the truck when I spun around and confrontedher.

“You better start doin’ some fast talkin’, NeelyKate.”

“About whichpart?”

“All of it!” I took a breath, then said in a calmer tone, “Let’s start withJed.”

She grimaced. “He found out that I want to be a P.I., so he set thisup.”

“That’s all well and good,” I said, “but that’s not what I’m talkin’ about, and you knowit.”

Her cheeks turnedpink.

“Look,” I said with a heavy sigh, “I know you two left town together. I was hopin’ you’d tell me more, but you haven’t said a word. Neely Kate, I want to know how it was you wound up together on your trip in the first place.”

She glanced away toward the trailer. “Kate was sendin’ me threatening letters.”

“You said those stopped.”

“Ilied.”

Tears stung my eyes. “Why?”

Her own tear-filled eyes turned to face me. “I was ashamed. I . . . did something in Oklahoma, when I went back there after high school, and Kate hinted that she knew about it. I went to see Skeeter last week, hopin’ he’d been keepin’ tabs onKate.”

I wrapped my arms over my chest, ignoring the stab of pain I felt at the mere mention of James’ name. “He talked toyou?”

“Yeah. He wasn’t very happy that Merv and I had gotten into a disagreement.”

“Overwhat?”

“Merv told me I wasn’t welcome at the pool hall and tried to make me leave.”

Something in her voice caught my attention. “What do you mean ‘tried to make you leave’? Did he get physical withyou?”

“Jed intervened.”

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