Page 54 of Trouble Comes in Threes

“Is that a good idea?” I asked. “Should we bring him to you?”

“Ab-sol-utely not,” he barked. “You don’t get in a vehicle with him. Not without protection.” Then he added, “Is Jed involved?”

“He knows nothing about this, but he’s also kept his nose out of Fenton County criminal business.”

“Does Joe know?”

“He has absolutely no idea. About any of it.” My guilt rose up like a mushroom cloud. I’d worked so hard to earn his trust and not keep secrets from him, and this was a doozy of a secret.

It all gave me a moment of pause. What was I doing? I needed to hang up, call Joe, and tell him about the vision and this kid showing up looking for the Lady in Black after witnessing a murder, yet I knew Austin would never talk to Joe.

What if something bigger really was going on in this county? What if Hardshaw had come back? Maybe Neely Kate was right, and all of this was a setup. Someone could be using Austin to get to me, and if that were the case, it would be far easier for Dermot to suss it out than Joe.

I needed to go with my gut and let Dermot handle it. Even if guilt was eating at my soul.

“What does that mean?” Dermot asked.

“I’ll tell you once you get here.”

“Okay. Text me the address,” he said, then hung up.

“Dermot’s on his way,” I said as I typed the address into my phone.

He responded within seconds.

Be there in fifteen

I told them what he’d said, then shoved my phone into my pocket.

“He’s coming here?” Neely Kate asked in surprise.

I was just as surprised as she was. In the past, we’d gone out of our way to not be publicly linked, just like James and I had done when I was helping him. But this was a quiet, upscale neighborhood. No one would know who Dermot was, nor would they find it strange that a bunch of people were congregating on a job site. The only way we’d find trouble was if some type of violence broke out, and I was going to do everything in my power to make sure that didn’t happen.

“So what do we do with Junior while we wait?” Neely Kate asked. “And what’s gonna stop him from running once Dermot shows up?”

“We could have him wait in my car,” I said. “I have child locks on the back doors, which would make it harder for him to get out, but I’d have to remove a car seat.”

“No,” Bruce Wayne said. “Don’t do that. He’ll be just fine there. I’ll give him the piece of cake Anna packed in my lunch.”

He walked over, leaving Neely Kate and me next to the street. He picked up an insulated lunch bag and handed the kid a container and a fork. The boy took off the lid and dug into the cake like he hadn’t eaten in a week.

“I believe the homeless part of his story,” Neely Kate said as she studied him.

“Yeah, me too. But the other parts don’t make sense.”

“Do you think he saw a murder?”

Part of me wanted to panic, but I made myself concentrate on the facts. “I suppose that part would be easy enough to corroborate. If they buried a body behind the Adkins plant, it would be easy to find the spot. I’m guessing they probably changed their minds after they got caught, but there’d still be evidence of digging.”

“But who’s gonna check it out?” Neely Kate asked. “Joe’s men or Dermot’s?”

“Crappy doodles. I don’t know.” How had I gotten myself into this situation?

“We could make the kid call in an anonymous tip,” she suggested.

“Yeah. Agreed.”

“But that doesn’t help us figure out what to do with him if the murderers really are after him,” she said. “We both know the sheriff’s department won’t protect him. They’ll take his statement and cut him loose.”

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