Fortune Hunter (A Miss Fortune Mystery Book 8) (16 page)

“And Nolan,” I said. “I can’t imagine how he must feel. The only silver lining is that he doesn’t have to worry about going into a facility. With the insurance money, he’ll be able to afford in-home assistance as he needs it.”

“What insurance?” Carter asked. “I asked Nolan about insurance the other day…I knew he’d need a death certificate.”

I told him about the insurance agent’s visit and the policy Gail had taken out in secret. “Isn’t that great? I mean, considering.”

He nodded. “It takes away one worry, at least.”

“I think Ida Belle was going to handle the paperwork for him when the death certificate is ready.”

“I’ll let her know when it’s available.”

An awkward silence ensued and I wiggled a bit in my seat, feeling like a five-year-old in church—or my adult self in church. My only saving grace was that a quick glance at Carter let me know he was feeling as uncomfortable as I was. Or maybe it was something more. He was staring out my kitchen window and frowning.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

He came back into focus and looked at me. “Yeah. I mean, no, but it’s as good as it’s getting for now. I guess I better get going. I’ve got a mountain of paperwork to do.”

I’m sure that was true, but at the same time, I felt like it was more of an excuse to leave than a reason to leave. I rose from my chair and followed him to the front door, not sure what I thought about our conversation. Did I feel better? Had I gotten closure? I so hated that word. It was too pop psychology.

Carter stepped outside and turned back to face me. Before I could change my mind, I blurted out, “Are you still mad at the three of us for lying to you?”

He sighed. “It would be a lot easier if I were. But then I’d be a hypocrite. The three of you were doing what you were supposed to do—protecting secrets you’d been entrusted to protect. I appreciate that necessity because it’s part of my life as well. But I’d be lying if I said I liked it. For any of us.”

I nodded and felt a wave of guilt wash over me all over again. Carter was such an honorable man, and he was trying so hard to be fair even though I knew it was killing him to be.

He turned to walk away and I touched his arm. As he stopped and turned back to look at me, I said, “Be careful. Someone murdered Gail for a reason. I don’t think another would be a big deal to him.”

“Neither do I.”

I
was just
about to head upstairs for a shower when my phone rang. It was Ida Belle, and she was in a twist.

“Is Carter gone?” she asked.

“He just left,” I said. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes. Emergency meeting at Gertie’s. That way she doesn’t have to get up. I’ve got to change clothes and I’ll be there in ten.”

She disconnected the call and I looked at my phone and frowned. Ida Belle was always the calm, efficient one, but she was clearly stressed. Whatever was going on, Gertie must not know about it yet since Ida Belle wasn’t over there. Which told me exactly nothing except that something had happened between when Ida Belle took Gertie home and now. Something that had her normally calm demeanor thrown completely off.

I grabbed my keys and headed out. Gertie’s house wasn’t far away, but there was a killer on the loose somewhere in Sinful. I had no idea how long this would take, and wandering around after dark probably wasn’t the best idea. Not right now. Not even for me. Bullets beat martial arts every time.

I had a key to Gertie’s house, but I knocked and yelled my name before opening the door. I was fairly sure Gertie was armed when she showered. No way was she sitting in the recliner, at a disadvantage with her injured ankle, and not armed up to the gills. I stuck my head in and she waved from her chair. I closed the door and locked it behind me.

“I assume you heard from Ida Belle?” I asked.

Gertie nodded. “She called a couple minutes ago. What’s going on?”

“I have no idea. Carter had left my house just a bit before when I got her call to hurry over here. I’m going to grab a soda. Do you need anything to drink?”

“A soda would be great, and don’t think I’m letting that comment about Carter slide just because Ida Belle has her panties in a bunch. I want to know what happened.”

I grabbed three bottles of soda from the refrigerator and headed back into the living room. With any luck, Ida Belle would arrive before Gertie started grilling me. I really didn’t want to have the conversation more than once, so she was going to have to wait until we were all together. And I had a feeling that whatever had upset Ida Belle’s chi was going to take priority over my sadly-interrupted love life.

As I handed Gertie the soda, I heard Ida Belle’s motorcycle pull up in the drive. I went to the door and opened it for her to enter. She pulled off her helmet and I could see the strain on her face. Her hair contained tiny bits of foliage clinging to the strands and she had a couple scratches on her left cheek. I had brought an extra soda for her and passed it to her before taking a seat on the coffee table. Ida Belle sat on the couch and took a big swig of the drink.

I looked over at Gertie, who gave me an anxious glance. “You might as well tell us what’s wrong,” Gertie said. “It’s written all over your face and we already know it’s not good.”

“Got that right,” Ida Belle said.

“Tell us,” I urged.

“After I got Gertie settled, I was feeling restless so I took my motorcycle out for a ride,” Ida Belle said. “I cruised out to the highway, figuring I’d get some wind under my helmet, and that’s when I saw Brandon’s truck pulling off the highway and onto a road that I knew dead-ended in the swamp. I couldn’t imagine what business he had back there, but I knew it wasn’t shrimping. And after that run-in we had with him today and Fortune’s yesterday, I figured I’d follow him and see what he was up to.”

I felt my back tighten. I hadn’t known Peaches for long, but I liked her. If her husband was up to something bad, it would be devastating for her.

“And?” Gertie asked. I could see her fingers digging into the armrest. Her jaw was clenched and I could tell she was already processing the worst possible scenarios just like I was.

“I kept a ways back,” Ida Belle said. “There’s nothing down that road but a couple of falling-down shacks, so I didn’t figure I would lose him. When I got close to the end of the road, I pulled off behind some bushes and left my bike, then cut through the woods so he wouldn’t see me coming.”

That explained the foliage and the scratches, anyway, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t come up with something Brandon had been doing on a road that dead-ended into a swamp. If people had been disappearing, I’d say he was disposing of bodies, but no one was missing that I was aware of.

Ida Belle took another drink of soda, then continued. “When I got close to the end of the road, I could see his truck through the brush. He was parked in a bit of a clearing that looked like it had been made from people turning their vehicles around. He was still sitting in the truck, but I couldn’t get any closer without him seeing me approach, so I climbed a tree, figuring it would give me a vantage point to see what he did.”

“What if he’d seen you?” Gertie asked.

Ida Belle shrugged. “I figured he wouldn’t be likely to look up without a reason. It was a calculated risk. Part of me yelled that I needed to turn around and get out of there, but the other part of me couldn’t leave without knowing what Peaches was in for.”

Gertie frowned but she didn’t belabor her point. The reality was, if she’d been there, she wouldn’t have hesitated to scale a tree either.

“What did you see?” I asked.

“He was using a laptop,” Ida Belle said. “I couldn’t see what was on the screen, but his cell phone was sitting on the dash and he had it attached.”

“Oh no,” I said as my shoulders slumped.

“What does that mean?” Gertie asked.

“He probably had his laptop tethered to his phone,” I said. “So that he could get an Internet connection.”

Gertie looked confused. “But why would he drive out into the middle of nowhere to get on the…” Her eyes widened. “You don’t think…he’s not…”

“He’s the catfish,” I said. “Damn it.”

“Maybe there’s another explanation,” Gertie said.

Ida Belle shook her head. “If there is, I can’t think of it. Why else would he be on his laptop in the middle of the swamp when he’s supposed to be on his boat? Where is all that money coming from? We know he lied about big shrimp running.”

“He’d be in a position to know everyone in Sinful,” I said, “and make a good guess as to their financial positions.”

Gertie paled. “But—”

“He was in the perfect position to know about the trellis, too,” I said. “And Gail’s comings and goings.”

“I can’t believe it,” Gertie said. “I’ve known Brandon his entire life. He sometimes shoots off his mouth without thinking and he had the normal scraps in school that boys do with each other, but I can’t believe he’d murder someone.”

“Believe me,” Ida Belle said, “I don’t like it any better than you do.”

“There has to be something we’re missing,” Gertie said.

I didn’t blame her for being upset. I barely knew Peaches and didn’t know Brandon at all, but the entire thing made me feel ill.

Ida Belle’s phone rang and she pulled it out. “It’s Myrtle.”

She answered the call and a couple seconds later, her eyes widened. “You’re kidding,” she said. “Are you sure? Yes, of course. Okay.”

The conversation went on for several minutes as Gertie and I sat there anxiously waiting for her to get off the call and fill us in. Myrtle was on night shift at the sheriff’s department, so that meant that whatever she was telling was police business.

Finally, Ida Belle hung up and looked at us. “Carter just apprehended the catfish, and it’s not Brandon Dugas.”

“What?”

“Who is it?”

Gertie and I both sounded off at once.

“Derrick Miller,” Ida Belle said.

“Really?” Gertie said. “Are you sure?”

“Who’s Derrick Miller?” I asked.

“He’s a local,” Ida Belle said. “Works construction and inherited the land next to Beulah. He’s always been trouble, but the usual sort. Apparently, Beulah made some fuss with him over property lines and dogs and he was out a good bit of money before it was over. He saw the show and thought he’d mess with her. He claims he never thought she’d really send him the money.”

“So he has the money?” Gertie asked.

Ida Belle nodded. “He transferred it from PayPal to his bank account.”

“And the underwear?” Gertie asked.

Ida Belle frowned. “Myrtle didn’t say and I didn’t ask.”

“How did Carter find him?” I asked.

“Derrick was bragging at the Swamp Bar,” Ida Belle said, “and someone called in the tip hoping for some reward money.”

“So he got easy money out of Beulah and he couldn’t stop?” Gertie asked. “Did Gail figure out it was him?”

Ida Belle shook her head. “That’s just it. He swears Beulah is the only person he catfished. When Carter accused him of Gail’s murder, he started yelling at Carter that he wasn’t going to be railroaded for murder just so Carter could look good.”

“So what do you think?” I asked. “Is this Derrick capable of killing someone?”

“Given the right circumstances,” Ida Belle said, “we’re all capable, but he’s always short on cash. If he figured out that he could scam women out of money, I don’t think he’d stop with one.”

“And if someone found him out?” I asked.

“I just don’t know,” Ida Belle said. “He’s drunk a lot of the time, and there are rumors of a drug habit.”

I considered this. “A drunk would have a hard time negotiating that trellis. It would be risky.”

“But high on something else, it might be possible,” Gertie said.

I nodded. “It’s possible. And if you think he has questionable character…”

“Oh, there’s no question about his character,” Ida Belle said. “It’s not good.”

“So it’s over?” Gertie asked.

She looked like a child whose balloon had just deflated.

“Maybe that part is,” I said, “but we still don’t know what Brandon Dugas is doing when he should be shrimping, and I know it’s none of our business, but I’d still like to find out. For Peaches.”

What I didn’t say was that until Carter had concrete proof that this Derrick had killed Gail, or unless he confessed, I wasn’t ready to put the lid on that line of investigation. It was clear that Derrick had catfished Beulah, but that was all we knew for certain.

“Oh!” Gertie said. “I’d completely pushed that out of my mind, but you’re right. Brandon is up to something and he’s lying to his wife about it.”

“Agreed,” Ida Belle said. “I say we keep watch on Brandon and follow Carter’s case against Derrick as it develops. As far as I’m concerned, this isn’t over until it’s over.”

I smiled. I never had to worry about missing a trick in this town. If I didn’t suspect someone, Ida Belle was always there to pick up the slack. She appeared to have as high an opinion of most people as I did. But then, maybe that came from living among them for decades and knowing all their dirty secrets.

“Maybe he’s having an online affair himself,” Gertie suggested.

“Everyone in Sinful can’t be having an affair,” I said.

“It does seem to be spreading like a virus,” Ida Belle said.

I shrugged. “I suppose anything is possible.”

“So what do we do now?” Gertie asked.

“Nothing,” Ida Belle said.

Gertie looked confused. “But you just said…”

“I meant nothing tonight,” Ida Belle clarified. “It’s already nine forty-five and you need to rest that ankle.”

“I agree,” I said. “Let’s all sleep on it. We can meet here tomorrow morning to see how Gertie’s ankle is doing and formulate a plan for the day.”

“What if Brandon has already left by the time we get done planning?” Gertie asked.

“Don’t worry about that right now,” Ida Belle said. “Everything doesn’t have to happen tomorrow. We’ll get it handled, but we need to make sure you can walk first.”

“Oh no!” Gertie said. “Tomorrow’s Sunday.”

“I am not doing a banana pudding dash,” I said. “Celia would probably have me arrested for running on Main Street.”

“I don’t think the church will collapse if we skip a day,” Ida Belle said. “We’ve got Gertie’s ankle and Nolan to deal with. No one will think anything of it if we’re not there.”

I rose from the coffee table. “Well, if you don’t need me for anything, I’m going to head out. I need a shower.”

“Me too,” Ida Belle said. “I’m itchy all over from climbing that tree.”

“I’m good,” Gertie said. “You guys get going.”

“Call if you need anything,” Ida Belle said.

We headed out and I gave Ida Belle a wave as I drove off in my Jeep. I pulled into my garage but didn’t close the door. Instead, I went straight into the pantry to retrieve a box of goodies Harrison had sent me. I opened the box and checked the contents, pleased at both the quality and quantity of surveillance equipment contained inside. Harrison had meant for me to use it to secure my residence, but at the moment, I had different plans.

I hefted the entire box up and carried it out to my Jeep. Storm clouds were rolling in overhead, and I heard thunder in the distance. Hoping the rain would hold off until I was done, I drove the couple blocks to Peaches’ street and parked several houses down from theirs. I pulled a GPS tracker from the box and headed up the sidewalk. Brandon’s truck was in the driveway but there were no lights on in the house. They were probably already in bed.

It only took me ten seconds to attach the tracker to Brandon’s truck. I was just about to turn around and hightail it down the sidewalk when I saw a small light come on inside the house. I froze. It was too small to be a lamp, and besides, lamps didn’t usually move. It was definitely a flashlight. I glanced around the neighborhood, but there didn’t appear to be a power outage. I saw the light come down the stairs and move through the living room and down the hallway toward the kitchen. The silhouette was too large to be Peaches. It must be Brandon.

It was such an incredibly odd behavior that I couldn’t let it go. I slipped around the truck, then down the side of the house to the back fence. I peered between the slats in time to see the light move across the backyard. What the hell!

A million thoughts ran through my mind, and none of them good. I needed to find out what Brandon was doing in his backyard. There was a night-vision scope in that box of supplies. I’d grab it and find a better position to see into the backyard. I whirled around, ready to dash to the Jeep and grab the goggles, and ran smack into Ida Belle.