My cell phone rang and I showed Carter the display. Ida Belle.
“You’re underestimating the Sinful grapevine,” I said.
He leaned over to kiss me, then headed down the hallway. “I don’t know anything about that phone call or what you’re about to do.”
I waited until he’d left and then called Ida Belle back.
“Carter just left,” I said when she answered. “He told me about the car.”
“Was he drunk or ill?” she asked.
“Neither. He said the recovery guys would have it all over by tomorrow. I told him he was shortchanging the speed of gossip.”
“By a good half a day,” Ida Belle said. “Looks like we were on the right track.”
“You know, I wish being right made me happier.”
“I guess we have to take a harder look at Tiffany and Liam. Do you still want to talk to the actors tomorrow?”
“Yeah. If any of them had gotten close to Gil, they might know something about his personal life that casts a different light on one of them.”
“You’re still thinking he might have been fooling around.”
“It’s a possibility. And if Tiffany found out and thought that meant she was going to be kicked off the money train…”
“A dead husband is worth more than a divorced one.”
Chapter Twelve
Gertie and Ida Belle picked up pastries from Francine’s the next morning and we cooked some eggs and bacon at my house because we needed to meet without being overheard. Gertie said it had been a good call on my part as she’d had a time getting out of Francine’s with the box of pastries. Everyone had wanted to talk about Carter finding Gil’s car, what she’d heard, and what it meant.
“I swear they were waiting to pounce on me when I walked in the door,” Gertie said as she served up the eggs and bacon.
“This is big news,” Ida Belle said. “Everyone in Sinful has opinions on things and most aren’t afraid to air them, but everyone had strong opinions on the Gil-Tiffany-Liam situation.”
“Anyone on Gil’s side?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t say necessarily on his side but some of the more questionable men were high-fiving him behind backs,” Ida Belle said.
I rolled my eyes.
“Carter didn’t,” Gertie said. “Which you probably already assumed. Carter was disgusted with the entire thing.”
“So was Walter,” Ida Belle said. “He told me he was glad Gil was cheap and preferred to shop up the highway because then he didn’t have to worry about forcing politeness every week.”
“I imagine most decent people were outraged,” I said. “It’s one thing for an older man to hook up with a younger woman. God knows we’ve seen that one since the dawn of time. But when it’s your son’s girlfriend, it adds this whole layer of wildly inappropriate and disgusting to it.”
My cell phone rang and I glanced at the display.
“Detective Casey,” I said when I answered.
“I just got off the phone with a Deputy LeBlanc from Sinful,” she said. “Is that your man?”
“He is.”
“Did he tell you about finding Gil’s car or is he trying to keep you in the dark?”
“He told me. No point in trying to hide it. The recovery guys had it spread across town an hour after they pulled the car up.”
“Ha. I guess that’s the advantage and disadvantage of living in a small town.”
“Definitely.”
“Well, it looks like both our guts were right.”
“Yeah, and unfortunately, it looks like the killer is from Sinful.”
“I’ve already talked to my captain and changed the scope of the investigation. Deputy LeBlanc didn’t sound overly pleased that he wouldn’t be taking point, but that can’t be helped. The murder happened in New Orleans and we already had an open case for it. The location and suspects are all that’s changed.”
“Well, if there’s anything we can help you with, just let us know.”
“I appreciate it. And unfortunately, from this point on, I can’t really speak to you about the investigation until I’ve reached some sort of conclusion. But I figure I know your type well enough to know you’re not going to stay out of this—especially since you know the people involved. So I’ll just give you a warning—don’t get caught. My captain has a real beef with PIs. He wouldn’t hesitate to jail you over here for interference.”
“Thanks for the warning. We’ll be careful. Good luck.”
I hung up and relayed the conversation.
Gertie sighed. “How come everyone has a problem with PIs? No one wants us to have any fun.”
“I’m sure we’re welcome to have all the fun we want as long as it doesn’t involve police investigations,” Ida Belle said.
Gertie waved a hand in dismissal. “Where’s the fun in that? All these insurance things and women thinking their husbands are cheating isn’t fun. Nothing makes the adrenaline rush like chasing down a killer.”
I nodded. “Well, it’s not going to stop us but we definitely have to be careful. The good thing is, Casey’s captain doesn’t know us or our MO so it should be easier to fly under radar. The bad thing is that he’s not Carter so we’re not likely to get even a hair of a pass on anything they do catch us doing.”
“What about the acting troupe?” Ida Belle asked. “You still want to question them?”
“I do,” I said. “With Casey focused on getting the dirt on Sinful suspects, she won’t be looking at the acting troupe right away. But I’d still like to see if any of them got close enough to Gil to know his personal business.”
“Like if Gil was hound-doggin’,” Gertie said.
Ida Belle nodded. “According to Tiffany, rehearsal starts after regular work hours. So what’s our cover for not being at the festival tonight?”
I frowned. “Crap.”
“We’re still going to look at hot tubs, right?” Gertie asked. “What time do they close?”
“Six, I think,” I said.
“Do you think it’s going to take long to buy the thing?” Gertie asked.
I shook my head. “If I like it, I’m buying it. No financing.”
“Then let’s just say we got there midafternoon but the sales guy you talked to on the phone had to bounce for an emergency and wouldn’t be back for a couple of hours. Since you didn’t want someone scamming his commission, we stuck around until he got back and then we decided to grab some dinner and wait for work traffic to die down before heading back. We figured we’d just skip the festival because we weren’t working it anyway. And besides, the two nights we have gone we had run-ins with a dead man and a skunk.”
“That’s very detailed and logical,” I said, trying to keep the surprise out of my voice.
“Yeah,” Ida Belle said. “What gives?”
Gertie shrugged. “Maybe Fortune is rubbing off on me.”
“I carry a wallet in the pocket of my jeans and admit my real age,” I said.