Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the Hebert Manufacturing parking lot. I knew Neely Kate wanted me to wait for Witt, but this was Calvin Clydehopper. James hadn’t even insisted I bring someone with me. I could handle this on my own.

I pulled out my phone, turned on my recording app, then blanked the screen so Calvin wouldn’t realize I was recording him. Since my dress didn’t have pockets, I had to hold it in my hand unless I tucked it in my purse, and I was afraid that would muffle the recording.

June was surprised to see me when I walked in, and the two other secretaries glanced up from their work. One of them was the woman who had told Neely Kate about Calvin’s pony performance.

“Mr. Clydehopper’s busy,” June said, but she looked nervous.

“Then it’s a good thing this will only take a few minutes.”

She stood, and I ignored her protests as I walked around her desk and opened his office door.

Calvin was on the phone, but his eyes filled with fear when he looked up at me. “I’ve gotta go,” he mumbled, then hung up and got to his feet. “Rose, do you have any word on Carol Ann’s killer?”

I shut the door behind me and locked it, muffling June’s protests. “Why do you look so scared to see me?”

He did a poor job of looking confused. “Huh?”

I ran through a short list of what could have upset him. One, the sheriff’s department had figured out it was his tie wrapped around Carol Ann’s throat, a real possibility since I’d told Randy about the camera. Or two, he knew about Kip Wagner’s missing file.

I walked up to his desk and lifted my eyebrows. “Who were you talkin’ to?”

He waved his hand a little too wildly. “Oh . . . you know . . . work stuff.”

“Kip Wagner work stuff?”

His face lost color and he sank down into his chair.

I stared down at him. “You’re gonna tell me everything you know about Kip Wagner’s new side business.”

He tried to look indignant, but he didn’t quite pull it off. “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”

“The way I see it, Calvin Clydehopper, you have two choices. You can tell me or the sheriff’s department what you know. Because if you don’t tell me, I will get Joe Simmons to send someone sniffin’ in your direction.”

He swallowed and splayed his hands on his desk. “I swear, I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”

I stared at him for a few seconds. Was he really clueless or just doing a very bad job of trying to throw me off? There was one way to find out.

I turned around to head for the door.

“Wait!”

I spun back around.

He held up his hands. “Don’t go.”

“You have something to tell me?”

“You can’t tell the sheriff’s department.”

I nodded slightly. I wouldn’t tell them a thing, but the audio recording on my phone might find its way into Joe’s inbox depending on how this went down.

Indecision wavered in his eyes before he sat back down in his office chair.

I sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk and set my phone in my lap, screen down. “Tell me how you became a client of Kip Wagner’s prostitution ring.”

Calvin’s face paled and a fine sheen of sweat covered his forehead. “What?” he squeaked out. “Prostitutes? You think I have to buy my women?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I think you’ve been doin’,” I said, “and I know Kip Wagner’s been supplyin’ them.”

He opened his mouth to say something, then promptly closed it.

Sometimes I loved it when I was right. “How long has it been goin’ on?”

He swallowed and seemed to give it some thought before he said, “What does this have to do with who killed Carol Ann?”

“I’m not at liberty to share the details of my case, but if you want me to help clear Patsy’s name, then you need to tell me what you know.” When he didn’t argue, I repeated, “Tell me about the prostitutes.”

He pulled out his handkerchief and wiped off his forehead. “Wagner and I have . . . an understanding.”

I studied him for a moment. What kind of understanding could Calvin Clydehopper have with someone like Kip Wagner? How had they hooked up in the first place? Then it hit me. This wasn’t a new thing, and as a city councilman, Calvin had more influence over the Henryetta police than he did the sheriff’s office. “You’ve been workin’ with Kip Wagner for some time now,” I said. “How long?”

“What?” he asked in a meek voice.

“How long?”

He swallowed again, his tie bouncing with the movement.

“Look, Calvin, I’m pretty busy, so maybe you could cut all the malarkey and just tell me what I need to know.”

Reaching up to loosen his tie, he said, “I want to hire you too.”

I hadn’t expected that. “What?”

“If I tell you all of this, I need to hire you to protect me.”

I shook my head. “We work with a detective agency, Calvin, not personal security.”

“If I tell you, then I’m a dead man walkin’.”

“Then maybe you should tell the sheriff’s department.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear his confession, not if there really was a chance he’d be murdered for spilling his guts. I’d been down that road with Jeanne, and I could barely live with myself. I didn’t want to add Calvin’s spilled blood to my guilt, even if he was less than innocent. It wasn’t my place to play judge and jury.

He opened his bottom drawer and pulled out a short bottle and a glass. He poured an amber-colored liquid into the glass, then held up the bottle. “Where are my manners? Would you like some?”

“No, thanks.”

He screwed the cap back on and set the bottle on the desk. “Suit yourself.” He took a long drink from the glass. His hand shook, but he seemed to have more confidence when he set the glass back on his desk. “I’ll only say this once, and I’d rather tell you than anyone else.”

“I still can’t protect you, Calvin. You have to know that before you say another word.”

He reached into another drawer and pulled out a handgun.

My heart leapt into my throat as he set it on the desk. “There’s no reason to pull out a gun. I’m certain we can work this out.”

“That’s not for you,” he said, taking another generous gulp from his glass. “Now what do you want to know?”

I kept my eye on the gun. Did I really want to know? If he didn’t tell me, I was fairly sure he wouldn’t tell anyone else. It could help catch Carol Ann’s killer, maybe even clear Patsy Sue. And if it provided enough evidence to get Wagner arrested, all the better. But the gun on his desk reminded me that Calvin could pay a very steep price to tell me his story. I wasn’t sure I was willing to play a part in it.

He finished off the drink and slammed his empty glass on the desk. “Ask your damn questions!” he barked.

I jumped at the loud thud and took a breath. God forgive me if Calvin paid for this with his life. “How is it that you and Kip Wagner came to a . . . business arrangement?”

His mouth tipped into a wry grin. “He approached me with an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“Women?”

He reached for the bottle. “At first.”

“How long ago was this?”

“About a year ago. He’d heard I had ‘a restless nature,’ he called it. He offered to help me meet beautiful young women for a finder’s fee.”

“A finder’s fee? Like an escort service?”

He poured more alcohol into his glass. “Only I didn’t escort them anywhere. I met them at a motel.”

“How long until Kip asked for a favor?”

He grinned and held up the bottle. “See, I knew you were a smart girl.”

“How long?” I repeated.

“He let me marinate in the mess for a good six months . . . supplyin’ the girls, supplyin’ the place. Even supplyin’ the cocaine after a while . . . to take the edge off, Marietta said.”

“Marietta?”

“She was my favorite,” he said in a wistful tone, staring out the window.

“What happened to Marietta?”

He ignored me for a moment, then turned back to face me. “She was my lesson about what happens when you cross Kip Wagner.”

My blood turned cold. “What happened to her?” I pressed.

He shook his head. “He wanted to open that pawn shop, but the council wasn’t sure they wanted it in that part of town. He insisted I use my influence to push it through.”

I hadn’t paid any attention to Henryetta zoning issues. I barely paid attention to anything official regarding Henryetta. “Did you?”

“I tried to convince Fred Jones to vote with me and Nan Hutchins to approve it, but he wouldn’t budge. It didn’t pass the first go-round.” He paused and took a generous gulp. “I made damn sure it passed the second time.”

“Because Kip Wagner did something to Marietta?” I asked, my words coming out in a breathless whisper.

“He said Patsy would be next.”

“What happened to her, Calvin?” I asked with more force.

“Nothin’ good.” He picked up the gun, and I was suddenly grateful I’d brought my own, not that it would do me much good. Calvin could shoot me before I ever got mine out.

“So Kip started the escort service a year ago?” I asked, deciding to let the issue of what happened to Marietta sit for a bit.

“No. He offered me special services—‘as a friend,’ he’d always say—but then a few months ago, he told me he’d started branching out. He wanted to open a club on the north part of town. I told him he was crazy. If he wanted a club, he needed to put it out of city limits like Malcolm’s Bunny Ranch, but he wouldn’t listen. He said he was better than Malcolm, and he was gonna make it happen . . . with my help.”

“A gentleman’s club?” I found it difficult to believe it was a coincidence that Carol Ann had wanted to open one too.

“Yep.” He punctuated the word by finishing his drink and pouring still more liquor into the glass. “But it never made it to a council meeting. Wagner refused to face the embarrassment of getting his club shot down like his first attempt at the zoning for the pawn shop. He told me he’d wait until I had more council members in my pocket before he filed the paperwork. But he got impatient.”

“He threatened you?”

“Not exactly. He embarrassed me. He started sending prostitutes to my office.”

So June hadn’t been wrong.

“Patsy found out and sicced June on me as a watchdog. Patsy knew her from the real estate office, but there’d never been any love lost between them, so I was kind of surprised at Patsy’s choice.”

“You didn’t turn the women away?” I asked.

He shrugged, the movement sloppy. The slurring of his next words proved the alcohol had started taking effect. Or maybe he’d gotten a head start. “They were already here.”

“Where does Carol Ann fit into all of this?” I asked.

“All of what?”

“This mess with Kip Wagner?”

He shook his head and took another drink. “As far as I know, she doesn’t.”

“Are you sure about that? Really sure?”

He studied me for a moment. Then his brow lifted slightly. “I’d had a few conversations on the phone with Wagner while she was with me.” He shrugged. “She could have put things together.”

“Does he know you were sleepin’ with her?”

“What?” he protested in mock outrage. “How can you suggest I would do such a thing?”

“You already told Neely Kate and me this morning, Calvin,” I said in disgust. “Are you drunk already?” Then I narrowed my eyes. “And as an elder at the First Baptist Church, what are you doin’ drinkin’ in the first place?”

“The first rule of bein’ a church elder is knowing that what you do outside the church has nothin’ to do with your duties inside.”

Apparently that was his excuse for all of the adultery too. “How long?”

“About a month.”

“Do you know how long she’d been back in town?”

“A month? She called me and told me she needed to see me. So I met her at a motel down in Big Thief Hollow.”

“And you slept with her then too,” I said, trying to keep the judgment from my voice.

He gave me a salacious grin that just looked gross on him. “There wasn’t any sleepin’ involved.”

It took me a second to ask, “What was her excuse for askin’ you to meet her?”

“She didn’t need an excuse. This wasn’t the first time.”

That caught me by surprise, although I wasn’t sure why. “When was the first time?”

“Back in high school. Carol Ann got a little thrill knowin’ she was sleepin’ with her cousin’s boyfriend.”

That sounded sad and pathetic, but it also explained her using her grandmother’s fried chicken recipe against Patsy Sue at the picnic. I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn Patsy liked to rub her success in other people’s noses. “How many times did you sleep with her after that?”

“Pretty much every time she came back to town.”

“Does Kip Wagner know you were sleeping with Carol Ann?” I repeated. When he gave me a blank look, I said, “She was strangled with your tie, Calvin. He could have set you up as punishment for not pushing hard enough for his club.” And maybe got her out of the way at the same time.

He waved around his glass, sloshing liquid onto his blotter, and then set it down unsteadily. “Well . . . shit.” The cops clearly hadn’t told him that part.

Another thought occurred to me. “Calvin, are you sure you haven’t heard from Patsy since yesterday?”

He shook his head, then nodded it. “No, I mean yeah . . . I mean I haven’t.”

“Is that odd? She’s in trouble. Is she so independent she wouldn’t contact you? Is it possible she suspects you?”

He shook his head, tears filling his eyes. “I don’t know.”

“And you have no idea where she could be?”

He shook his head.

“Calvin,” I said, wondering if this was a good idea or a bad one. “Could Kip Wagner have snatched Patsy to punish you? Maybe Carol Ann was the warning?”

He glanced up at me, tears spilling over his lower eyelashes.

“You have to tell the sheriff,” I said. “Patsy’s life may be on the line.”

He shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Calvin!”

He poured himself another drink. “You can’t tell them either.”

“If you expect me to keep this to myself when they could be questionin’ Wagner—”

“No,” he said firmly. “I told you I was only sayin’ it once.”

“Then you leave me no choice, Calvin,” I said as I stood, gripping my phone tight in my left hand. “I’m telling the sheriff’s department myself.”

He picked up his gun and pointed it at me. “I can’t let you do that, Rose.”

I tasted bile. I was being held at gunpoint for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, but in all honesty, I was more scared of getting shot by Calvin. His shaking hand made him a wild card. I considered trying to reach for my own gun, but I suspected I’d never pull it out in time.

“I’m walkin’ out of this office, Calvin, but I won’t head straight for the sheriff’s department. I’ll give you an hour to do the right thing, and if you haven’t, I’m tellin’ them everything I know.” Then, without waiting for an answer, I headed for the door.