by Shari Hearn
LOUANNE STIRRED HER ice cream until it became soupy, her jaw dropping when she heard about Dolly’s confession. “Paul and Dolly? What an unlikely duo. Well, you three have my gratitude for solving the crime.”
“Not that you couldn’t have solved it,” Ida Belle said. That was something she didn’t quite understand. It didn’t seem like Louanne to just roll over like that and let someone else do her investigating for her.
“Yes, but I was otherwise occupied.” Louanne tipped her head toward Gabby.
“What are you gesturing at me for?” Gabby asked. “It’s not as if I was creating a lot of work for you. I must be the easiest prisoner you’ve ever had.”
Louanne thought a moment. “The case was too close to me, so it was good I stayed out of it. I had no alibi and Buster Bussey made up the lie about the convertible. An investigator should never investigate her own case.”
Gabby rolled her eyes.
“What’s that for?” Louanne asked, mimicking the eye roll.
“I could have been your alibi,” Gabby said. “I was the one on that boat. And then when I turned around and came back to your compound, I was with you during the time of the murder.”
Louanne shook her head. “Not after you went to the kitchen to start your baking. I could have slipped out to go murder Wade during that time. That’s what a prosecutor would have argued.”
Gabby rolled her eyes again. “The phone rang during the movie and you answered it. I heard your conversation. I could have told them who you were talking to and what you were talking about.”
“Why don’t we just forget about it,” Louanne said. “It’s over and done. How’s everyone enjoying their ice cream?”
Gabby looked at Ida Belle. “She was on the phone with a sheriff in another town about an escaped felon she’d handed over to them last year. I noted the time, and it matched when that Buster fellow said he saw the woman driving away in the convertible. I could have cleared it all up, but she wouldn’t let me.”
Ida Belle sighed. Now everything was becoming clearer.
Marge tapped her fingers on the table. “So a sheriff, a law enforcement professional, called you at your house at the time Wade Guillory was murdered? You wouldn’t even need Gabby to alibi you. You could just refer Sheriff Lee to that other sheriff. He would have said there’s no way you could have committed the crime. Why didn’t you just say that? We wouldn’t have had to get involved.”
“But you had fun solving it, right?” Louanne asked.
“That’s not the point,” Marge said.
Ida Belle laughed. “Actually, I think it is. You wanted us to solve it.”
Louanne slurped a spoonful of her soupy ice cream. “For hospital ice cream, it’s pretty good.”
Marge folded her arms. “You wanted to keep us here. To show us how this hick town needs us.”
Louanne waved her off.
Gertie pointed her spoon at Louanne. “You’re sneaky. And you’re right, this town does need us.”
“What are you saying?” Marge asked.
“Nothing. Just stating a fact. But they can’t have us. We’re leaving after three months. Because we said we’d move, and we will.”
“Can’t blame me for trying,” Louanne said. She slurped another spoonful of soupy ice cream. “So Ida Belle, did you speak with the lawyer yet?”
Ida Belle could feel her jaw drop. “How did you know about that?” She shook her head. “Why do I even bother asking that question?”
Louanne smiled. “Your great-aunt called me before she died and told me what she was going to do.”
Gertie turned to her. “Lawyer? I knew there was something you’ve been holding back.”
Ida Belle sighed. “Not really holding back. I was going to discuss it with you both once we solved the case.”
“Which is now. Spill it,” Marge said.
“My dad gave me a letter from my great-aunt’s attorney when I went to talk to him about Buster. She left me something in her will.” She opened her purse and pulled out the letter. Gertie ripped it from her hands. Marge leaned in and they both scanned it.
“Old lady Mabel was your great-aunt?” Marge asked.
Ida Belle nodded. “I almost forgot we were related. My dad cut ties with my mom’s side of the family after she’d died.”
“The lawyer said to call him,” Gertie said. “Did you?”
“I called yesterday.” She took a breath before continuing, still dealing with the residual shock over the contents of her great-aunt’s will. “She left me her house and a couple of oil wells.”
Gertie’s and Marge’s eyes widened. For the first time in all the years Ida Belle had known her best friends, they were speechless.
“The oil wells won’t make me rich, but they will provide me with a nice income.”
“Then why don’t you look thrilled?” Gertie asked.
Marge nodded. “Yeah, I’d be dancing down Main Street if I had a house and two oil wells.”
“I am, it’s just... Now I have a decision to make,” Ida Belle said. “About the house. The attorney said he knows a buyer who will give me top dollar for it. Said the guy will even let us live in it for three months for a reasonable rent.” She paused, trying to get a read on them. “It’s what we wanted, right? A house to stay in for three months before moving to New Orleans?”
Gertie nodded. “That is what we said.”
Marge began drumming her fingers on the table.
Louanne sighed. “I know Principal Rogers down at the high school will be disappointed you won’t be teaching there, Gertie. I guess Miss Granger will have to come out of retirement.”
“Miss Granger?” Gertie said, slamming her spoon into her ice cream. “That old bat? She’s terrible!”
“The worst!” Marge said. “I made it a point to read every book she had banned from Sinful High Library.”
Ida Belle could feel her face heating up. “Remember when she found me reading one of those books and had me rip out every page so she could burn them?”
“Yes,” Gertie said. “And I remember the swat she made the principal give you when she realized you switched books on her and it was some romance novel she kept in her desk.”
Louanne smiled. “Now she can influence a whole new generation. Oh, that reminds me, I guess I should be calling Mrs. Chicoron soon to tell her of the birth of her granddaughter. I was hoping to put it off until little Emily went off to college.”
Ida Belle caught Louanne’s eye. “You’re doing it again. Trying to show us why this town needs us.”
“The thing is,” Gertie said, her eyes glistening, “it does, don’t you think? I could share so many new books and authors with the kids. Probably have more of an impact than if I taught in New Orleans.”
Marge tapped her spoon against her ice-cream bowl. “And that little Emily. If we’re not here to counterbalance the Chicoron influence, she could end up like Harvey’s mother.”
“Can’t let that happen,” Louanne said. She shrugged. “The way I look at it, you have ready-made lives just waiting for you here in Sinful. Gertie has a job if she wants it. Marge has a job managing my photo store, if she’d like it. I know her mother would like to retire. And if I’m not mistaken, Pete Sanders is retiring and closing up shop. Now there will be no other accountants in the area. All the business owners will have to consult accountants in Mudbug and beyond.”
Louanne gazed at Ida Belle. “I believe you’re working toward your degree in accountancy. You can have a part-time accountant business and work part-time with me in the bounty-hunting business.”
Her head pounded. “I don’t know,” Ida Belle said.
Gabby reached her free hand over and touched Ida Belle’s hand. “I think you do. Sounds like that buyer the attorney knows is giving you a good deal. You strike me as a girl who knows what you want and goes for it. If you had a great desire to live in New Orleans, I bet you would have said ‘yes’ right then.”
Ida Belle sighed. Not only was Ga
bby good with an axe, she was good at reading her.
“What would make you happy?” Gabby asked. “What kind of life do you want?”
Ida Belle thought a moment. Most of all, she needed to live a life filled with challenges. She thought New Orleans would fulfill that need. But seeing Walter the past couple of days made her realize something. She wasn’t moving to New Orleans for a challenge, but rather, she was running away from one in Sinful.
“I think you want the same thing we want,” Gertie said, “but you’re afraid if you stay here, you’ll give in to Walter and get married and be trapped.”
Ida Belle shook her head. “Not really. I mean, I’m attracted to Walter, but I’m pretty committed to staying unwed.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Gertie asked. “Because I’ve known you all my life. Gabby’s right. If you had to think about it, then you’re torn. You want to be here, but something’s keeping you away.”
Marge cleared her throat. “You’re afraid you’ll one day see Walter with another woman.”
That Marge was the one who knew what she’d been feeling didn’t surprise her. It had been obvious over the years to Gertie and her that Marge was holding a torch for someone–someone unavailable. Today it became even more obvious who that unavailable someone was.
“I don’t blame you,” Marge said. “Being around someone you love and seeing them with someone else... That would be a hard thing to do day in and day out.”
“But we can’t let that keep us from returning home, right? We can be each other’s support.” Gertie sniffed back her tears. “They need us here. All of us. But more important, we need to be here. Together. Sinful’s in our blood. I know we all felt it the past week. But none of us wanted to be the first one to back out of the plans we made”
“At least give home a try for a while,” Louanne said. “Give it a year at least. If it doesn’t work out, then think about heading to greener pastures. You can finish up your studies at a college close to home. The commute’s not that bad. And, you have a house.”
“It’s a huge house,” Ida Belle said, suddenly feeling energized. “Maybe needs a bit of work. But it has four bedrooms, a big porch, big kitchen for Gertie to cook in. A porch swing for Marge.”
“I always wanted to go in that house,” Gertie said.
“Now you can live in it,” Ida Belle said. She felt relieved she’d made a decision. She also knew that there may come a time she’d enter the Sinful Café and see Walter with another woman. Or someday see Walter and his wife pushing a stroller. She’d have regrets if that happened, she knew that. But she also knew she’d have regrets if she didn’t live her life exactly the way she wanted.
Louanne opened her purse and retrieved a set of keys. “Well, Gabby, looks like it’s a day for celebration. What better way to celebrate than for you to escape?”
She unlocked the handcuffs and slipped the pair in her purse. Gabby wasn’t budging.
“I took the liberty of making you a phony ID,” Louanne said, “and I slipped you some cash. Go make the kind of life you deserve, because you’re not going to get that in the justice system. Not with your husband being a judge with connections.”
Gabby remained in her seat. Stoic.
“For heaven’s sake, I’m making it abundantly clear you’re free to go,” Louanne said. “You haven’t taken my many hints over the past few days. What more can I do?”
Gabby drew in a breath and released it. “What if I like it in Sinful? Reminds me of the crazy town I grew up in, before I met my husband. Before my spirit was broken. What if I want to stay and live in your guesthouse and cook for you and Cole? And come over to the main house and watch Bonanza with you and gab about the show?”
“You did say you’d love to have Gabby stay.” Marge directed her gaze at Gabby. “She said you get her whites whiter than white.”
“I do,” Gabby said. “But that’s not all I can do. In addition to running a household, my husband had me work at the courthouse and jail. Unpaid, of course. I have knowledge of the court system, and I can worm my way into a criminal’s heart. I did it all the time when I would cook for the inmates at the jail. And I learned all the tricks they use to evade the law.”
Gabby turned to Louanne. “Give me free room and board for cooking and cleaning and hire me part time for your bounty hunter business.”
Louanne smiled. “You’re hired. You can have the guest house.”
“And introduce me to that handsome widower we saw on the street the other day.”
“Chuck Leger? The one who winked at you? He’s a nice man.”
Gabby nodded. “I think it’s time I find a man I’m worthy of.”
“I do too,” Louanne said. She lifted her ice-cream spoon in a toast. “To new beginnings.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
AS THE THREE LEFT THE cafeteria and followed the arrows directing them to the hospital elevator, Gertie couldn’t stop talking about Ida Belle’s house, especially the kitchen. Marge tuned her out, mulling over her pledge to live in Sinful for a year. She still wasn’t sure it was something that would work out for her, but if Ida Belle was willing to give it a try, so was she. She heard Gertie utter the word beer and tuned back in.
“You know I make a mean beer battered shrimp. That reminds me. Did you inherit all of the kitchen items?”
“Probably,” Ida Belle said.
“Good. Because I’ll need a big soup pot. I hope she had all the baking pans I’ll need, like loaf pans, pie pans, cupcake pans. And a tube pan. Oh, and a Bundt pan.”
Marge glazed over. Damn that girl could talk a blue streak about pans. She tuned out again and thought of the murder they’d just solved. Or did they? One thing had been bothering her, and she wondered if Ida Belle felt the same way.
“Excuse me for breaking in on your love affair with kitchen items,” Marge said to Gertie, “but there’s something bothering me about the murder.”
Gertie frowned. “I thought it was solved.”
“Maybe not,” Ida Belle said. “In the moment it seemed as if we did, but I keep thinking about it and something is bothering me as well.”
“Nowhere in the retelling of the murder did Dolly talk about standing by the tree with a white dog,” Marge said.
Ida Belle nodded. “Yeah, and if she were telling the truth and she and Paul accidentally shot one nail through Wade Guillory’s foot, then how did he end up with so many nails shot through him?”
Gertie shrugged. “Dolly probably lied to save her hide.”
Ida Belle shook her head. “I don’t know. I keep replaying her confession in my head and I have to tell you, I’m kind of believing her. Her story never changed with regard to the one shot from the nail gun.”
Marge sighed and looked at Gertie. “I keep going back to the woman your Granny Magoo saw with the white dog. We know it wasn’t Aunt Louanne. We know it wasn’t Bonnie. But who was that woman? And why was she there? And how did one nail to the foot result in multiple nails to the body? I think there was a third person there that night.”
They reached the elevator and Ida Belle punched the down button. “Maybe we should do what we were originally going to do today. Canvas Sinful for a big, white dog.”
Gertie snapped her fingers. “White dog! I forgot. Gill mentioned his buddy performed the analysis of the white dog hair we found by the tree. He said it was ‘treated.’”
“Treated?” Marge asked. “As in dyed? The dog hairs weren’t really white?”
Gertie shook her head. “I’m not sure. Would it be rude to call up the man I tied up and threatened with death by ant bites and ask him to clarify what he meant?”
“Yes,” Ida Belle said, “but being rude never stopped you before.”
The elevator dinged as it stopped at their floor. “You two go on ahead to the Wienermobile,” Gertie said, stepping away from them. “Gill’s probably back at his mom’s house in Sinful by now. I’ll see if I can phone him at the nurses’ station.”
The doors to the elevator opened and Marge started to step in, but Ida Belle grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“Wait. Wait.” She pulled Marge back from the waiting car. “That’s Philomena’s doctor.” Ida Belle pointed to several doctors huddled together with a nurse and an orderly. “Gertie and I met him that day we went to Philomena’s.” Ida Belle continued staring at them as the medical personnel finished their huddle, and each started walking their separate ways. “Something’s wrong.”
“Why?” Marge asked as the elevator doors closed behind her. “It’s a hospital. Isn’t this where her doctor should be?”
Ida Belle turned to Marge, her eyes wide. “Her doctor is the orderly.”
PHILOMENA GUILLORY appeared shaken as she answered her front door. She invited Ida Belle, Marge and Gertie inside, offering them glasses of sweet tea as they followed her into the living room. Packing boxes littered the floor.
“Please excuse the mess. I’m in the middle of making the move to my mother’s.”
“Could we be of some help?” Marge asked. “You should probably be saving your strength.”
Philomena shook her head. “Thank you, but my brother and mother will arrive later today to help. And my movers will pack all the big items. Besides, you’ve done enough. Walter called earlier and told me the confession you were able to extract from Dolly Harkins.” She pursed her lips. “And to tell me of what Dolly did to my medication. I’ve alerted Dr. Lansing. He’ll be stopping by later with a bottle of unaltered medicine.”
She dropped into a chair, appearing exhausted. Marge and Ida Belle both sat on the sofa opposite Philomena’s chair as Gertie came over and knelt beside her. “We’re so sorry this has happened to you.”
Philomena reached out and patted Gertie’s hand. “Thank you. I know it must seem strange to all of you. I was given six months and even with Dolly’s cruelty I have lived four. I guess I should count myself lucky I had this long. Now I realize why I’ve been feeling more tired lately.”