Chapter 12 #2
I took the card with his information and nodded.
“I enjoyed the retreat and I agree that it would be a good use for the property. And I’d feel like I was offering something beneficial.
I need to talk to the estate attorney and get more details and then I’ll be in a better position to discuss my options.
As you know, we don’t have cell phones, but I can give you my email.
I check it daily, so if you have more questions, that would be the quickest way to reach me. ”
He looked pleased and a tiny bit surprised. “That would be great.”
I gave him the Gmail address I’d set up that morning, and he made a note in his phone, then reached for Gertie’s suitcase.
“Let me help you with that,” he said.
“Be careful that you don’t jostle it.” Gertie’s voice sounded from the walkway. “I don’t want my pretzel sticks to look like flour by the time we get home. Darned things are wheat and expensive.”
Zion gently placed the suitcase in the SUV and gave Ida Belle and Gertie a pleasant smile.
“Ladies, it was a pleasure having you here,” he said. “I hope you will return.”
Gertie snorted. “God’s going to send lightning down on you if you keep telling lies. This whole shindig is not for me and the only thing you’re going to feel when we pull away is relieved. Next time a sister is troubled, we’re going to work it out on the slots in Vegas.”
She gave him a disgruntled look and climbed into the SUV. Ida Belle shrugged and climbed in after her.
“Thank you for everything,” I said. “I’ll be in touch.”
“I look forward to it,” he said and headed back inside as we pulled away.
“Did you get a pitch?” Gertie asked.
I nodded. “And contact information. And I gave him that email I set up. Now, as long as he doesn’t go looking for us with the Catholic diocese in New Orleans, we’ll be in good shape.”
“He probably won’t,” Ida Belle said. “That would just be more people with eyes on him and he wants you by yourself making these decisions. It was a good call to go with being a nun. People usually don’t look past the outfit. That being said, I can’t wait to get this off.”
“I’ve already ditched mine,” Gertie said.
I turned around and there she was in all her glory. Bright purple biking shorts and sports bra with a gun stuck in the center.
“Do not look in your rearview,” I said to Ida Belle.
I pulled my habit over my head but since I was wearing yoga pants and tee, I was good. Ida Belle just sighed. There was no way she could disrobe while driving.
We made our pit stop at the motel for Ida Belle to change and since she got a good look at Gertie, I had to haul out her suitcase so she could find something more appropriate for sitting in Ida Belle’s vehicle.
If Gertie didn’t change clothes, Ida Belle said she’d be forced not to use the rearview mirror the entire drive home.
Since Ida Belle treated every driving experience as if she were Jason Statham, Gertie gave in.
“Have you heard from Carter?” Ida Belle asked as she drove.
I shook my head. “He knows what we were up to, so he wouldn’t risk blowing either of our covers by contacting me.”
“So what’s next?” Gertie asked.
“We need to get an update from Mildred,” I said.
“Do you want to call her now?” Ida Belle asked.
“No. I prefer to see her in person.”
Gertie gave me a curious look. “You don’t suspect Mildred of having something to do with Eleanor’s death, do you?”
“I was CIA. I suspect everyone. And the reality is they’re always hiding something.
You know that. But we’re bucking up against a time clock here and Calahan holds the stopwatch.
I need everyone to level with me about everything so I can sort this out.
Because you were right—this whole situation is off.
But that starts with Eleanor. Things about her just aren’t lining up. ”
“You think Mildred is hiding something about Eleanor?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if she was,” Ida Belle said. “You know how we were all raised—no speaking ill of the dead and all that. She could be trying to protect her sister’s image. And after all, she has to live here with it when all the dust has cleared.”
“It’s only three o’clock now,” Gertie said. “We told Mildred we’d be in touch when we got back, so maybe we should run over and see her before we head home. Carter might have given her more information about the drugs and the gun.”
I nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
We lucked out, and not only was Mildred home when we got there but she was alone. I was afraid she’d have well-meaning visitors or Kim hovering around, but there were no cars in the drive and she looked relieved when she opened the door and saw us standing there.
“Please come in,” she said, waving us inside. “I just took a jug of fresh brewed tea out of the fridge. It’s good and cold. And Lord knows, I have something to eat, if you’re hungry. Seems like people have been dropping off food every thirty minutes.”
I walked into the kitchen and stared. She wasn’t lying. Every flat surface was covered with casserole dishes, bowls, trays, and plates.
“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful,” she said, “but I ran out of refrigerator space half a day in. If I didn’t have back problems, I’d start hauling it around to some of the families here that I know could use it.”
“We can do that,” Ida Belle said. “Just give me a list and we’ll make the rounds when we leave.”
“Oh, that would be wonderful! I just hate seeing it go to waste but I’m only one person. If I started eating right now and didn’t stop until Sunday, I still couldn’t put a dent in it.”
“Well, I’m happy to kick things off,” Gertie said. “We’ve been at a yoga retreat and the snacks I packed were the best food there.”
Mildred stared. “You went on another yoga retreat…after all that?” Her eyes widened. “Oh my God. You went to Zion’s retreat, didn’t you?”
She sank into a kitchen chair and her eyes teared up. “I know you said you’d look into things, but I never imagined you were already doing it. I don’t even know what to say.”
“No words necessary,” I said. “But I will need you to sign a contract so you have confidentiality. I’ll email one to you and pick it up next time I see you.”
“Of course. Whatever you need. But what about the fee?”
“I’ll take a dollar and an early dinner.”
She smiled and teared up. “Please help yourself to anything you want. I know what Zion’s retreat menu calls for, and you’re probably starving.”
I had to admit that the smells coming from all those containers had my stomach rumbling.
Mildred grabbed some plates and we checked out the offerings, then set some aside to keep whole for delivery when we left and dug into several others.
Gertie even convinced Mildred to join in, after she questioned her on the last time she’d eaten, and Mildred had to admit she couldn’t remember.
“So did you find anything out?” she asked as we all sat with full plates. “I can’t believe he’d be loose-lipped with a detective.”
“We were undercover,” I said. “He thinks I just inherited a bunch of cabins on a beach in Florida. I wanted to see if he’d make a pitch.”
Mildred looked confused. “But he’s seen Gertie.”
“Not dressed as a nun.”
Mildred’s eyes widened and then she started laughing. “You all went as nuns? Even Ida Belle? Oh my God. I would have drunk one of his awful brown shakes to have seen that.”
“Anything to catch the bad guy,” Ida Belle said.
“You wouldn’t let me ride in your vehicle wearing a G-string leotard,” Gertie said.
“Almost anything.”
“Why were you wearing a G-string as a nun?” Mildred asked.
“It’s a long story and one you probably don’t want the details on,” I said. “Suffice it to say that Zion is definitely interested in my cabins, and we’re pretty sure his wife—who he also scammed into this whole yoga thing—is filing for divorce. Carter and Calahan showed up while we were there.”
“Oh no!” Mildred said. “Did they recognize you?”
“Carter did, but he stayed quiet. Calahan probably wouldn’t recognize his own mother if she changed the part in her hair.
He’d make a horrible detective. Anyway, they questioned Zion, which we couldn’t overhear, unfortunately, but Carter also had a search warrant for his cabin.
Has he given you any more information since we last talked? ”
She shook her head. “Not anything important. He’s just said he’s investigating and asked me some questions about the contract for the retreat and the estate and some stuff about Eleanor’s health.
I guess I figured he’d question Zion, but I didn’t know anything about a search warrant. I wonder if he found anything.”
“He found drugs,” I said. “I just don’t know if they match what Eleanor had in her bloodstream. Since he knows we were there and we are aware of the search warrant, you should ask him if he found anything.”
“Do you think he’ll tell me?”
“Probably not, but he’s still more likely to give you information than me.”
She nodded. “I’ll call him and ask.”
“Just be certain you don’t say where you got the information—he’ll know but we’re all pretending he doesn’t for his own good. And if Calahan is around, he probably won’t say much at all. But it’s worth a shot.”
“Then I’ll take it. You said Zion’s wife is leaving him?”
“She stormed out of there after a yelling match where she accused him of having an affair with Eleanor. I think the police searching her property—and the retreat is her inherited property—might have been the last straw.”
Mildred shook her head. “I can’t say that I blame her. It seems that he’s got his whole scam down—finding women who are grieving and have real estate he can use for his silly retreats. He definitely knows how to spot them.”
“You said he met Eleanor at a church charity event in Mudbug?” I asked.
Mildred glanced down at the table, then sighed. “I said that Eleanor said they met at a church charity event.”
“So that’s not true?”
“I don’t think so. I know I shouldn’t have lied. Or I guess in this case, I shouldn’t have omitted the truth, but I believe they met months before Eleanor claimed they did.”
“Why lie about it?” I asked.
“Because Jasper was still alive,” Gertie said.
“Oh!” Now Mildred’s disapproving and somewhat embarrassed expression made sense.
“What makes you think they met before Eleanor said they did?” Ida Belle asked. “Did you find anything in her email or texts?”
“No. She scrubbed it clean. The only thing in any of her accounts was recent spam, and folders she saved for receipts and stuff. But nothing between her and Zion.”
“He might be smarter than we think and doesn’t leave a paper trail,” I said. “Except for contracts in his favor, of course. So how did you figure out Eleanor lied about when they met?”
“A couple of times she mentioned things in passing that involved him, but the timeline didn’t work.
Like a festival he spoke at or an event he did a demonstration at…
I just had a feeling she was hiding something from me about him.
Every time I asked about how they met and, you know, the normal things you ask about a new relationship, I always felt that she was hedging. ”
“So you went and looked up some dates of things she mentioned,” Ida Belle said.
Mildred nodded. “I’m not saying there was anything going on back then…”
“But it looks shady and the fact that she was lying about it only confirms the shadiness,” Gertie said.
“I’m afraid so,” Mildred said. “I don’t want to believe she was cheating on Jasper, but it doesn’t look good.”
I nodded, not wanting to say what I was thinking, but the sketchy behavior was starting to spread like a cancer.
“You have that look,” Ida Belle said as we drove away from Mildred’s house.
“What look?”
“That look where you’re thinking a bunch of things you didn’t say.”
“Well, I wasn’t exactly going to call the woman’s sister a hoochie when she just died under suspicious circumstances.”
“Uh-huh. But…?”
“Well, there’s a problem with our original theory of how Zion targeted Eleanor if they hooked up before Jasper died.”
Ida Belle nodded. “The sad widow thing doesn’t work anymore. But he still could have come across the cabins and found out she had control of the estate.”
“True, but his approach appears to be mostly romantic. Not with Sister Britney for the obvious reasons, but if Eleanor was happily married, then that’s a barrier to entry for someone like Zion. And a longtime husband is a big hurdle to get over.”
“Sometimes a longtime husband is an easier hurdle than a recent one,” Ida Belle said. “And she was caring for her mother, who’d been sick for a long time, so she was probably wrung out emotionally with the stress of it all.”
Gertie nodded. “And let’s face it, a lot of middle-aged women who are completely average in looks and somewhat unhappy with their current circumstances could easily be taken in by a younger, attractive man showing them attention and saying all the things they want to hear.”
“True,” Ida Belle said. “Losing Jasper might have just been the icing on the cake for something Zion had already set into motion.”
I frowned.
“You’ve got that look again,” Ida Belle said.
I nodded. “I think we need to find out more about Jasper’s death.”
Gertie sucked in a breath. “You don’t think Zion killed Jasper just to open a yoga retreat, do you?”
“Honestly, no. But I’ve seen infatuated women do worse.”
They both stared at me for a moment, then Gertie shook her head.
“I wish I could argue with that,” she said. “No wonder you didn’t say anything in front of Mildred.”
“Remember back at the retreat when I said we needed to take a closer look at Eleanor? I just doubled down on that. And I think we need to start with Jasper. Who can tell us more about how he died?”
Ida Belle nodded. “Walter.”