Gators and Garters

by Jana DeLeon

  “Don’t start again,” Ida Belle said. “Even if I decided to lose my mind and say I’d do this all your way, you couldn’t come up with an indoor location in time for the wedding.”

  “You’ve waited a hundred and fifty years to do it at all,” Gertie said. “What’s another couple months?”

  “The difference between a summer wedding and interfering with hunting season,” Ida Belle said.

  Ally and I laughed as Gertie flopped into a chair, waving her hands in defeat. Ally grabbed a tray of cookies off her counter and placed them on the table, then poured us all some sweet tea. I didn’t even bother to wait for the tea or for Ally to take her seat before snagging one of the cookies and stuffing half of it in my mouth.

  “Oh my God,” I said, dripping crumbs onto the table. “This is so good!”

  Gertie wiped up the crumbs and handed me a napkin. “I swear, we can’t take you anywhere.”

  “Me?” I asked, giving her an incredulous look.

  Ally laughed again, looking pleased at the compliment.

  “It is really fabulous,” Ida Belle said. “Mint is so hard to get right. Too little and there’s no point. Too much and it overpowers everything and you might as well have eaten a breath mint.”

  Gertie nodded. “It really is perfectly balanced. You have so much talent, Ally. When are you going to ditch the café and open your bakery? I really need a batch of those cookies before I die.”

  “Well, unless you plan on dying today, I have enough dough made for another batch,” Ally said. “I can put them on now if you’d like.”

  “I’d definitely like,” Gertie said. “And my question about the bakery?”

  Ally shrugged and rose from the table. “I don’t know. I mean, I have money saved and could probably swing a small shop now, but I worry about things. There’s no way I could keep waitressing and run the bakery, so I’d be cutting my income off immediately and I do pretty well at Francine’s. She’s got good food and tons of regulars and most of them tip well.”

  “How long can you get by without working?” Gertie asked. “And feel free to tell me it’s none of my business.”

  “It’s none of your business,” Ida Belle said.

  “I wasn’t talking to you,” Gertie said.

  “I know,” Ida Belle said. “But since Ally’s too polite to say it, I figured I’d help out.”

  “It’s okay,” Ally said. “My expenses are pretty low so I could probably swing a year or better with no income at all. But that’s if things don’t change with Mother. Right now, her expenses are mostly covered but if anything changes, I’d have to find a way to pay. I wouldn’t want her moved and I’m not capable of taking care of her myself.”

  “How is she doing?” Ida Belle asked.

  “It’s hard to say,” Ally said. “Her doctors didn’t figure she’d be around this long, so they can’t really give me an idea of a timeline. She’s so stubborn she’s probably sticking around just to prove the doctor wrong. She’s never liked him although I don’t think she remembers that now. She doesn’t remember much. They said it’s the meds.”

  “If stubbornness is the secret to longevity,” Ida Belle said, “Gertie is going to live forever.”

  “You might give me a run for my money,” Gertie said. “I’m pretty sure ‘stubborn’ is your middle name.

  “My middle name is Belle,” Ida Belle said. “You only call me by it ten times a day.”

  “I’ll get out that icing,” Ally said.

  I gave her an approving nod. Distraction was always the best course of action when Ida Belle and Gertie were in one of their disagreements. I usually distracted them with gunfire and explosions and bad guys, but Ally’s way would probably work. And it would be a lot less exercise.

  She sat four containers of white icing on the table and a stack of disposable spoons.

  “No double dipping,” she said.

  “They all look the same,” Gertie said.

  “A wedding cake needs white icing,” Ally said. “But they don’t taste the same. I don’t want to tell you the flavors because I want an unbiased opinion.”

  We started dipping into the icing and I swear each one got better and better—another mint flavor, traditional white, buttery creamy, and one that I swear tasted like cotton candy. Gertie, Ally, and I waited until Ida Belle did a second round, then when she selected the cotton candy flavor, we all cheered.

  “I’m so glad you picked that one,” I said. “I was afraid I was going to have to push Carter into marriage just to get it.”

  “I don’t think you’d have to push all that hard,” Ally said. “You two are practically tied at the hip unless you’re working.”

  “Well, since one of us is almost always on the job, I guess that works out well,” I said. “How in the world did you make icing taste like cotton candy?”

  Ally smiled. “Magic.”

  “I believe it,” I said and grabbed a new spoon to load up a huge scoop. “I wish the wedding was tomorrow.”

  “Not me,” Ida Belle said. “We still have to figure out the sides.”

  Ally gave her a sad nod. “I’m happy to help but I won’t have enough time for anything that needs to be done that day or the day before. The cake and other desserts will take every spare minute.”

  “You’re already doing enough,” Ida Belle said. “I’ll pull together the Sinful Ladies and have a chat with Francine. I’m sure among all of us, we can fill in the gaps.”

  Ally bit her lower lip. “I guess there’s no chance…”

  “I wouldn’t say there’s no chance,” Ida Belle said. “But you know the odds.”

  “Yeah,” Ally said. “It’s just so wrong. A strong, capable woman like Molly going out like that. I mean, not that there’s a pleasant way, but it doesn’t seem right.”

  “It doesn’t,” I agreed.

  I’d been thinking about nothing else the entire night when we combed the marsh and then when I’d showered for an hour to try to get saltwater residue off me and the smell of dead fish and bayou mud out of my nose. Then I’d pondered it some more while I tried, marginally successfully, to fall asleep. But no matter how many angles I looked at it from, it still smelled as rotten as the dead fish I’d inhaled.

  There was a knock at the front door and Ally jumped up. “Oh my God, you don’t think he’s come back, do you?”

  “Don’t worry,” I said as I stood. “Dexter wouldn’t knock that politely. My guess is Carter got something out of him and is coming to try to fill in the blanks. I’ll let him in.”

  Sure enough, Carter was standing at the front door when I opened it. He didn’t look surprised to see me, but he didn’t look overly pleased either.

  “Ally was nervous, so we stuck around until you knew something,” I said as we walked.

  “And we got to try excellent icing,” Gertie said as we entered the kitchen. “You should try it. Might make you want to get married just to get it.”

  Carter’s expression was a blend of a tiny bit of fear and a bit more dismay, and I struggled not to laugh. I had no doubt about his commitment to me or mine to him. But neither of us was ready for legally bound and definitely not ready to cohabitate. The best icing in the world couldn’t rush that one.

  Ally jumped up and started pouring Carter a glass of tea. I could tell she was nervous.

  “Did you find out what he wanted?” she asked as she handed him the glass.

  He nodded. “Sit down, please. I would ask to speak to you alone, but there’s no point as I’m sure you’ll tell them anyway.”

  Ally sat but she was perched on the end of her chair, not relaxed at all.

  “Molly had a safe in her bedroom,” he said. “I was hoping to get someone in today to open it but apparently, Dexter decided to beat me to the punch with a blowtorch. There was an empty bank envelope inside that had Ida Belle’s name on it in Molly’s handwriting. I assume that was your catering money.”

  Ida Belle nodded. “I just handed her the envelope
straight from the bank.”

  “How much was in it?” Carter asked.

  “Fifteen hundred, all in hundred-dollar bills,” Ida Belle said.

  “Well, that matches the amount I just pulled out of Dexter’s glove box,” Carter said. “There was also another document inside.”

  Carter reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Ally. She took the paper and started to read, her eyes widening as she went.

  “This can’t be right,” she said. “I didn’t know her. This can’t be right.”

  “What does it say?” I asked.

  “It says that Molly was leaving her business to Ally,” Carter said. “I asked a lawyer about the legality of the document, but it’s Molly’s handwriting and notarized. My lawyer said it might be a fight if a family member wanted to contest it, but someone like Dexter, who had no legal relationship to Molly, wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  “I still don’t understand why he’s so mad,” I said.

  “He claims he helped Molly with the business,” Carter said. “And that she promised to make him her partner as soon as she could have documents drawn up. Furthermore, if anything happened to her, he claimed the whole shooting match would go to him and that he did sign something to that effect.”

  “But nothing like that was in the safe,” I said.

  “Of course not,” Carter said. “Most likely because it never existed. Dexter’s reaching.”

  Ally frowned. “This document was signed just a month ago. If Molly was really making promises to Dexter…”

  “And I pointed that out,” Carter said. “But Dexter is sticking to his story. He’s worked up some nonsense about how you stole the business out from under him. You’re sure you never had a discussion with Molly about anything like this?”

  “Lord no!” Ally said. “We only ever talked about food, and even that was brief. Molly isn’t—wasn’t—much of a talker. And to be honest, she scared me a little, so I never tried too hard to work her into conversation.”

  Carter nodded. “I figured as much but I had to ask.”

  “Dexter isn’t going to believe that Ally didn’t know,” I said. “How long can you hold him?”

  “He’ll go before the judge tomorrow probably,” Carter said. “There’s not a lot on the docket, so we can’t count on a delay there. And he’ll get bail. He’s got some priors, but a cage fighter getting into fights is hardly a smoking gun. As long as he can come up with the cash, he’ll be out in a couple days.”

  “Do you think he’ll cause more trouble for Ally?” I asked.

  “I’ve advised him that’s a bad route to take,” Carter said. “And I pointed out that since I have the legal document, it’s now known to law enforcement and would be made known to Ally. I’ve also explained to him that since there was no requirement on Ally’s part as far as numbers of days living beyond the deceased, if something were to happen to her, then her next of kin would inherit the business.”

  “Do you think he has the mental capacity to understand that?” Ida Belle asked.

  “Unlikely,” Carter said. “Especially since it doesn’t suit him to believe it. But I also explained that if he threatened Ally again, he was likely to get shot by one of her friends and they didn’t miss.”

  Ally gave him a small smile. “The best thing is, that part is true. But Carter, what in the world is going on? I didn’t ask for Molly’s business. I can’t even find the time to get my own bakery up and running. How in the world would I take hers on? And unless she left me recipes and the skill to do them just like her, I wouldn’t stand a chance at keeping clientele.”

  I frowned. “What, exactly, does inheriting the business entail?”

  “I don’t know,” Carter said. “Estate attorneys would have someone separate business assets from personal assets.”

  “And no indication of assignment of her personal assets?” I asked.

  “Not that Dexter had on him,” Carter said. “And I didn’t find anything else in the safe.”

  “You have to check her phone records,” I said. “If Molly had an attorney, then she would have called them—”

  Carter held up his hand. “I know what I need to do. The question is, do you three know what you need to do?”

  “Stay out of it?” Gertie asked.

  “You say that like it’s a question,” Carter said.

  “I’m optimistic,” Gertie said.

  “Well, don’t be,” Carter said. “This is an open investigation and I need the three of you to stay out of it. Ida Belle, I’ll need you to sign some documents about your catering payment, but once all this clears up, you should get it back. Sorry it can’t be sooner.”

  Ida Belle waved a hand in dismissal. “I’m not concerned about the money. I’m more concerned about what really happened to Molly.”

  “Let me handle that,” Carter said and rose. He gave us all a stern look. “I mean that.”

  He headed out of the kitchen and a couple seconds later, I heard the front door close.

  “You’re not going to stay out of it, are you?” Ally asked.

  “Of course not,” Gertie said.

  “Technically,” I said, “we don’t have a valid reason to be in it. So if we’re going to poke around then we have to do it on the sly.”

  “On the sly is my specialty,” Gertie said.

  “You haven’t known sly since the wheel was invented,” Ida Belle said.

  “I can be sly,” Gertie said. “You’ll see.”

  “It would be the first time,” Ida Belle said.

  Chapter Seven

  Ally finally calmed down and we headed back to my house. As soon as we sat down at the kitchen table, Gertie started in.

  “So what are we going to do about this?” she asked. “We have to do something. That awful man can’t get away with killing Molly.”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said. “We don’t know that Molly was killed and if she was, we don’t know for certain Dexter did it.”

  Gertie stared.

  “Okay,” I said. “I agree that it looks bad, but we don’t have proof and without a body…”

  Ida Belle shook her head. “The whole thing is a mess. Do either of you believe that Dexter is qualified to run Molly’s catering business? I mean, it’s not like she took orders and someone else did all the work. Molly did everything. I just can’t see Nutter Butter in the kitchen whipping up fabulous dishes. Feel free to call me sexist.”

  “I don’t think it’s sexist as much as it is a personality thing,” I said. “I can’t see Molly teaching someone her secrets and I can’t see Dexter taking direction. But then, he gets in a ring with her knowing she’s going to kick his butt, so who knows? Mostly, I’ve decided people are unpredictable and often strange.”

  “That’s true,” Ida Belle said. “And Walter is a great cook. Better than me. Just not at grilling, although he thinks he is.”

  “So if Molly didn’t promise Dexter the business, why make it up?” Gertie asked.

  “I have a feeling that it comes down to what assets are considered business assets,” I said. “I mean, all that kitchen equipment was super pricey. If it was all claimed by the business, then he could sell it off for a nice little profit. And I noticed a van parked out front. I assume she uses it to haul her food around. If those things aren’t financed, then that’s all cash in his pocket. Not to mention actual cash in bank accounts.”

  “I hadn’t considered the equipment or the van,” Gertie said. “I bet you’re right. But boy, what a long-shot claim. And unless he has video proving Molly said it, I don’t see where Dexter has a leg to stand on with that one.”

  “He doesn’t,” I said. “But you realize that if Dexter has no real motive, he’s unlikely to be our killer.”

  “Maybe it was personal,” Gertie said. “Lover’s quarrel. Carter did say he had a record for fighting. That implies a temper.”

  “Everything about him implies a temper,” Ida Belle said.
“And if Molly had been beaten to death then my entire catering money would be on Dexter. But following her in her boat and making her disappear? Tempers dissipate. Following her out into the bayou implies specific purpose, not temporary rage.”

  “Maybe he didn’t follow her,” Gertie said. “Maybe he poisoned her and it didn’t kick in until after she left. She fell overboard and that was it. Or maybe she made that call and her cell ran out of battery so she went back home where he killed her, then took her body out into the bayou and dumped it, figuring it would be filed as an accidental death.”

  “That was a really long sentence,” I said.

  “If he dumped her body and left her boat, then how did he get back home?” Ida Belle asked.

  “Towed her small boat behind the big one,” Gertie said. “She kept her small flat-bottom even after she bought the bigger one. It was tied at the dock when we went by yesterday. Or he could have gotten on the bank and walked most of the way. He would have only had to swim across one channel.”

  “And avoid alligators along the way,” I said.

  “But people manage to do that every day,” Gertie said. “They don’t usually attack unless they have a nest or feel threatened.”

  “Or you interrupt their napping,” I said.

  “Or they’re hungry,” Ida Belle said. “And that area is full of hungry gators. Our friend Dexter strikes me as a coward. I can’t see him risking a swim.”

  I put my hands up in the air. “At this point, anything is possible but nothing seems plausible. And without knowing how she was killed or where, we’re shooting so many moving targets it’s like a carnival game.”

  “So where do we start?” Gertie asked.

  I thought about it for a minute. On the one hand, we couldn’t even be certain a crime had occurred. If it hadn’t, then all this speculation was for nothing. If it had, we had no reason to go butting in. But I couldn’t help but believe that something was wrong. Beneath all the frenzy, I sensed calculation. I knew Gertie wasn’t going to let it go and suspected Ida Belle wouldn’t either. And even though I’d known Molly for less time than I spent on a good shower, I had liked her and wanted to know what happened to her. If someone had killed her, then I wanted them to go down for it.