I nodded. “You know, I’m glad that Liam is probably going to be left out of this as soon as Detective Casey tracks down Tiffany and her real side man. But I have to say, I’m a little disappointed with the outcome.”
“You wanted it to be someone else?”
“Not necessarily. I guess I just wanted something other than the trite crap I see on the news every night. Or on every other episode of those forensic shows. Doesn’t anyone kill any more for something other than money or to get out of their marriage?”
“There’s a reason the spouse is the first suspect.”
I studied him for a moment, frowning. “Those stats don’t make marriage out to be that good a deal, do they?”
He leaned forward and took my hand. “It’s not for a lot of people. But then there are people like my parents. Their marriage was the kind that makes me think it’s worthwhile.”
“I didn’t know your father, but I guess I can see that knowing Emmaline.”
He rose from his chair and I stood with him. He pulled me into a hug and gave me a soft, sweet kiss.
“Now that all this is behind us, do you have anything on your schedule for tonight?” he asked.
“As a matter of fact, I do. We’re going to the festival. This whole mess has us kind of tired and a little down, especially being worried about Liam caught up in it all. I guess now, we can enjoy the downtime since we won’t have this hanging over our heads anymore. Or maybe ‘head’ isn’t a good choice of words here.”
He smiled. “Then I guess I’ll see you there.”
“And that thing with Tiffany’s side man?”
“I’ll get it passed along to Casey, but I can’t see any way around telling her where I got the information as the three of you will probably have to testify.”
“That’s fine,” I said, but a slight feeling of unease and sadness passed over me.
After everything I’d learned about Tiffany, I’d started to feel sorry for her. She hadn’t asked for the horrible changes in her life that had been thrust on her at such a young age. And she certainly hadn’t asked for her mother to abdicate her duties as parent and protector. She had some culpability in marrying Gil, but I couldn’t necessarily blame her for the choice. I just wished all the fallout hadn’t landed squarely on Liam, who was probably still completely in the dark on everything.
Maybe when all of this was wrapped up and Liam was completely off police radar, Ida Belle, Gertie, and I would pay him a visit and explain some things to him. He deserved answers and he maybe he’d be able to find it in his heart to forgive one of the people who’d betrayed him.
For his own good.
Chapter Twenty-Three
It was an abnormally quiet and somewhat morose drive to the festival. I’d called Ida Belle and Gertie and filled them in as soon as Carter had left. Neither was overly surprised at the outcome but they didn’t sound happy about it, either. Which is where I currently sat on things. I’d let them know what Carter would be passing along to Casey and how I’d presented it to avoid explaining the tracker in Tiffany’s car, so when Casey got around to talking to us individually, we all had the same story up for grabs.
“You know what’s bugging me?” Ida Belle finally said as she pulled up to the curb to park.
“The elastic in your underwear is loose?” Gertie asked.
We both stared at her.
“Well, that’s what’s bugging me,” Gertie said. “And since Ida Belle never replaces anything, I figured her underwear are older than mine.”
“What’s bugging me,” Ida Belle continued, “is why Tiffany hid the gun in her house. Why not throw it in the bayou along with the car? Or into a ditch on the drive from New Orleans? Heck, at least clean your prints off of it.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, it’s a huge lapse. But even hardened criminals make mistakes. Maybe she panicked. For all we know, she might have suspected Gil was cheating and driven up there, seen him with Gwyn, and confronted him afterward. Things might have gotten out of hand and then she rushed to cover her tracks.”
“And since she’s not a hardened criminal, she messed up,” Ida Belle concluded.
“Stranger things have happened,” I said. “For all we know, she might have thought she’d keep the gun in case she needed it in the future.”
“Then why not bring it to her buddy when they met at the motel?” Gertie asked.
“Because she was afraid of being followed, maybe?” I said. “Remember, she said something about maybe she was being watched on that phone call. She probably figured her house had already been searched and they didn’t find it, so she was good.”
“So the break-in at her house last night,” Ida Belle said. “Do you think she staged it?”
I shrugged. “I can’t see any other explanation, can you? And she could have struck herself in the front. If it had been a blow to the back of the head, I would have said probably not.”
“But why crack yourself on the head and not remove some items from your house to make it look like a robbery?”
“Because a robbery isn’t personal?” Gertie suggested. “I’ll bet that the cops wouldn’t have allowed her to leave town if it had been perceived as something mundane.”
“That’s a good point,” I said. “And she seemed really desperate to get out of here.”
“It’s also easier to disappear in New Orleans,” Ida Belle said. “She probably thought the carjacking would stick and she’d just pack up the gun when she moved from Sinful, but once the car was found, maybe she figured she better position herself to fade into the sunset.”
“But if she thought the carjacking was going to stick, why pull the Headless Horseman stunt and stir everything up?” Gertie asked. “Seems counterintuitive.”
I sighed. “I wish I knew. The only thing I can think of is that maybe she didn’t do the Headless Horseman stunt. Maybe that was Liam—figuring he wouldn’t have another opportunity to take a shot at his father. He might have viewed the entire thing as embarrassing. And cutting off the head as cathartic.”
“Slaying the enemy and all that,” Gertie said. “It’s rather old-school, but I guess the sentiment still stands.”
Ida Belle shook her head. “The whole thing has been a convoluted mess from the beginning. I honestly don’t think we’re ever going to know all the whys unless Tiffany starts talking. And I have my doubts that will happen.”
“I hate not knowing why,” I said. “It’s like finishing a puzzle and you’re missing ten percent of the pieces. It’s just going to nag at me.”
“Well, you best get used to it,” Ida Belle said. “There’s a lot of things that happen around here that defy any logical explanation.”
“At this point, I’d take an illogical one,” I said.
“Well, let’s get out and enjoy the festival,” Gertie said. “I bet a corn dog and some caramel corn will make you feel better.”
I considered this for a moment. “You might be right about that.”