“And the bruise?” I asked.
“Ida Belle popped me with the hose when I rubbed the wax up and down instead of in circles.”
“That was an accident,” Ida Belle said.
“That’s what she says,” Gertie said, not looking remotely convinced. “So Carter stayed the night. Does that mean you have arrest news?”
I stared at her in dismay. “How did you know that?”
She shrugged. “People see things. They talk.”
“It was just last night and the sun is barely up,” I said.
“There’s not a lot to talk about here,” Ida Belle said.
“But we’re changing all of that tonight!” Gertie said, finally perking up.
Ida Belle looked as though Gertie had just announced a funeral service.
“So who’s in jail?” Ida Belle asked.
“Dexter and Marissa,” I said.
“Well, we figured that was coming,” Ida Belle said. “With what we found, and I’m guessing a search warrant produced more.”
“Did they flip on each other?” Gertie asked.
“No,” I said. “Carter said they’re still denying any involvement in Molly’s disappearance.”
Ida Belle frowned. “That’s surprising. I didn’t take either for a pillar of strength. I was just vacillating on which would give it up first.”
“Yeah, surprised me too,” I said.
Ida Belle studied me for a bit. “For someone who provided the information that set all of this in motion, you don’t look very happy.”
I shrugged. “I am. I guess. I don’t know. I mean, I’m glad Molly will get justice and Dexter and Marissa will pay…”
“But?” Ida Belle asked.
“But there’s still so many unanswered questions,” I said. “Things that don’t fit. And there’s still the issue of Silas getting paid out of all of this.”
“Did you tell Carter about the signatures?” Gertie asked.
“Yes, and he said he’d talk to the insurance agency. He’s pretty sure they’d be happy for an excuse not to pay out or delay at least. But with the DA making a murder case, it will be easier for Silas to push Molly’s assets through the legal system.”
Gertie sighed. “Darn it. I didn’t even think about that. If you can get a murder conviction with no body, then I guess you can’t exactly hold up the asset distribution.”
“Probably not,” I said.
“Well, hell,” Gertie said. “Now I’m unhappy too.”
“We do seem at cross-purposes here,” Ida Belle said. “I suppose we just have to go with the truth and let the chips fall.”
“If only Molly would have followed up with that attorney,” Gertie said.
I nodded. “At least there’s that document about the catering business. With any luck, Molly had as many assets as possible under the business.”
“I’ll bet there’s still enough left for Silas to pay his back taxes, though,” Ida Belle said. “Our friends at the convenience store will be disappointed. I think they were hoping to get rid of him this time.”
“Maybe the insurance company will launch an investigation,” I said. “If they can prove fraud then it’s possible Silas could go to jail for it.”
Ida Belle shook her head. “The insurance company won’t take things that far. It’s simply not economical. It’s much easier to refuse payment based on fraud and then see if Silas sues. And assuming it was all a setup, then he should go quietly away and collect nothing. At least not from them.”
Gertie nodded. “And as for the rest of it—maybe we just have to chalk it up to stupidity.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But just how stupid can people be? If we assume that Dexter and Marissa have been planning to off Molly so that Dexter could take the business, then why did they do it before they had legal documents? I mean, I know Molly wasn’t going to sign it over, but why were they just now trying to create fake documents? Why wasn’t that already in place before they pulled the trigger…or the longbow, as it was?”
“Perhaps they saw the opportunity and went for it,” Ida Belle said. “Maybe collectors were coming down on both of them and they didn’t feel they could wait any longer. Maybe they figured they could manufacture the documents as easily after she was dead as before. It’s hard to know, really. Dexter is clearly a user and con and Marissa is an addict. You can’t attach logic to either of them.”
I sighed. “I suppose you’re right but man, it’s really not satisfying at all, is it?”
“In many ways, no,” Ida Belle agreed. “But in others—the most important ones—it is.”
“I guess I need to keep reminding myself of those important ones,” I said.
“Have you told Nickel yet?” Gertie asked.
“No,” I said. “I didn’t figure he’d be up and about until later today and I wasn’t ready to go over it all last night.”
“I would think not with Carter staying over,” Gertie said.
“And who told you that?” I asked again.
“We all have our sources,” Gertie said.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You’ve made friends with Ronald, haven’t you?”
She feigned an innocent look. “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh good God,” Ida Belle said. “Like we needed more crazy in our lives.”
“Has he been feeding that gator in my yard?” I asked.
“No,” Gertie said.
I stared at her.
“I swear he hasn’t,” she said. “I mean, he’s baked casseroles and stood out there for a while, but he said he hasn’t seen Godzilla since that day he ate the terrorist.”
“And what about you?” Ida Belle asked.
“I’ve seen him when I went out fishing,” Gertie said. “But across the lake.”
“If he gets hungry and lazy, he’ll be back here begging,” I said.
“Last time we fed him a terrorist,” Gertie said. “Maybe he decided he didn’t like the menu here.”
“I didn’t feed him a terrorist,” I said. “He just happened to be in my yard.”
Gertie shrugged. “He was trying to kill you. Godzilla was hungry. Worked out well for everyone. Except maybe the terrorist.”
“Maybe?”
“You were going to shoot him anyway,” Gertie said. “It was just a matter of time.”
It was a valid point so I couldn’t really argue.
“Well, now that this case is closed, I guess we’re back to sitting indoors and griping about the heat,” I said.
They both frowned.
“Boredom is the worst,” Gertie said.
“People can’t go and get themselves murdered just so you’ll have something to do,” Ida Belle said.
“Some of them could,” Gertie said. “I could make a list.”
I left a message for Nickel later in the morning and finally heard back from him just before noon. He was doing cleanup at the bar to prepare for opening that night and asked if I could swing by there to give him an update. I wondered briefly what he planned on telling Whiskey about our meeting, but when I arrived, he told me Whiskey had gone to New Orleans to pick up a shipment of wine that was stuck at the dock because the transport had broken down.