“Fine, fine,” Gertie said. “But only old people have dinner and turn in at this hour.”
“Well, it’s too late in life to make me into one of those bar whores,” Ida Belle said.
“I have a good stereo system, plenty of wine and food, and we can talk about your honeymoon,” Gertie said.
“Woman, no one is talking about my honeymoon. Not even me and Walter to each other.”
I laughed as they headed out the back door, probably hoping to skirt the front of the house as Carter was walking in. Ida Belle was so done with wedding stuff I hoped she still showed up for the actual event. Carter called out from the front door and I told him I was in the kitchen. He had a key and could use it any time, but he persisted in the belief that warning an armed woman before entering her house was the right call. I was offended by his lack of trust at first until his mother told me he did the same thing at her house. Since I knew Carter had nothing but respect for Emmaline, I couldn’t exactly hold a grudge.
He walked into the kitchen, his pace a bit slower than usual, and I could see the tired and sad in his expression. I pointed to the chair as I rose, and he slumped into it while I grabbed him a beer and a container of Ally’s cookies. He took a drink of the beer but barely glanced at the cookies. I didn’t even have to ask. I already knew.
“You talk to the DA yet?” I asked. The DA was young and enthusiastic, which was good, but sometimes all that enthusiasm was tough when you were a cop with few to no leads.
“I tried to get away with an email,” he said, “but my phone rang about two seconds after I sent it.”
“Murder cases are big feathers in DA hats,” I said. “I don’t suppose he’s planning on hanging out in a small area any longer than he has to. The more he can beef up his résumé beyond assault and poaching, the better.”
“I know, but it still seems wrong to be so excited about other people’s loss, not to mention the victim. I mean, the funeral home benefits when people die but they don’t seem eager about it.”
“Probably because they have no intention of pulling up stakes for a bigger market and the added benefit of not having to seek out business. The clientele is kind of built in. But I get your point. I’m really sorry about Molly. I only just met her yesterday but I liked her.”
He nodded. “I only knew her from a couple events she catered. She wasn’t much on law enforcement, as you can imagine, but she allowed as how she’d heard I was one of ‘the good ones’ so she would probably let me eat without arm wrestling her for the privilege.”
I laughed. “That sounds like her. And you’re lucky your reputation preceded you. You’re no lightweight but I’d put my money on Molly in an arm-wrestling match.”
“So would I.”
“Listen, I know your day sucked probably more than mine even, although you didn’t get chased by giant rats.”
“I’d think the bear would have been a larger concern.”
“I suppose in the bigger scheme of things, she was. But only if you’re assuming death is the bigger scheme.”
“I’m not quite sure how to respond to that.”
“Anyway, I know your day sucked and tomorrow’s probably not going to be any better, but I have to tell you something that’s not going to help.”
He stared at me for a moment, then sighed. “You have a new case and it’s something I’m not going to like.”
“We have the same case and it’s definitely not something you’ll like.”
“What? Someone hired you to look into Molly’s death? Who? And we haven’t even announced that it was suspicious.”
“You know I can’t tell you who, but let’s just say it’s someone who knew her better than we do and was already suspicious.”
“If you know someone who has information about Molly’s disappearance, you can’t withhold it.”
“My client doesn’t know anything about her disappearance except to believe it wasn’t an accident.”
“And obviously they don’t think I can handle it. Is it that woman Molly called?”
I stared silently at him.
He sighed. “You’re right. I don’t like it.”
“It’s not the first time and it’s not going to be the last time our jobs cross paths.”
“Yeah, but this one is different.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s too many unknowns. Molly, Dexter, the whole Ally inheriting thing, and just the way it all went down. Unexpected death always stinks but this one has a particularly foul odor to it. There’s so much undercurrent, I don’t know that there’s a bottom.”
I nodded. On the surface, it didn’t seem difficult. A cheating louse of a boyfriend and a woman who’d already sent the last man who crossed her to the cemetery. Molly’s statement to her friend right before her demise. If this were a television episode, it would be a short one. The cops would round up the boyfriend, and because the criminal was always an idiot, he’d have left evidence that tied him to the crime, then they’d cut to the last scene where he confessed. On the surface, Dexter fit the bill. And maybe it was that simple. Heck, I hoped it was. Everyone who cared about Molly would still be sad and angry, but they’d be sad and angry with answers, and that was a world of difference.
“Look, nothing about Sinful has been face value since I arrived,” I said. “Including me. And definitely nothing about my life prior to Sinful was face value, not even my personal life. If I was a regular everyday joe PI then I could see where you might be concerned about how I’d fare with a case like this, but that’s not me. I’m trained for subterfuge. Heck, it might even be in my DNA.”
He still didn’t look happy but he couldn’t argue. The reality was, I was probably better equipped to handle the twists and turns that Sinful crime threw out than a lot of law enforcement officers who had grown up in the area. And I knew Carter had no issue with pride when it came to me solving a case before he did. Carter loved me but more importantly, he respected me and my skills. The only thing that had him frowning was worry. Would this be the time someone got the better of me? If things got sketchy, would he be able to intervene?
Carter might have been more advanced than the small-town bayou norm on what he thought women were capable of, but when it came to his own woman, the desire to be the protector was in constant conflict with his desire to let me be me. I could appreciate his dilemma but it was something he was going to have to figure out. Still, I found his worry to be endearing and not suffocating. He loved me and wanted to keep me from harm but no way was he going to suggest I drop the case. That ranked as high as taking a bullet for me from a guy like Carter, who was the natural-born hero type.
He reached over and squeezed my hand. “Be careful. I know I always say it and I always mean it, but something about this one bothers me.”
“It’s a potential homicide. It’s supposed to bother you.”
“I mean more than most. There’s something wrong with it. More wrong than usual.”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
I nodded, completely understanding what he felt but couldn’t explain. People like Carter and me had instincts about certain things. And if he thought something was amiss, more than what was visible, then I’m sure he was right.