Chapter 14 #2
“Well then, it’s a good thing I don’t need your help. I need your fiancée. Please tell me Cassidy is working the night shift at the ER.”
“She’ll be there until tomorrow morning.”
“Has Calahan ever met her?”
“No. Why would he have? Wait—"
“Gotta go.”
I hung up before he could ask anything he didn’t need to know the answer to. My second call was to Gertie.
“I need some of Nora’s brew,” I said.
“Really? This is a surprise. What kind of high are you looking for?”
“I’m not. I need to make Calahan sick enough to check out of work for a bit but not kill him.”
“Well, that’s somewhat disappointing—the no killing part, I mean—but I have something that should work. Had too much protein and cheese on a new diet back a few weeks ago. Thought I was going to need the jaws of life for a regular bowel movement—”
“I don’t need details. I really don’t need details. Can I disguise the taste in soda or beer? Or maybe water?”
“Yeah, it’s got a tiny bit of flavor but otherwise, it’s clear and deadly. Think Drano for your large intestine.”
“Great. Grab it and some syringes if you have those. I’m headed to Ida Belle’s to get her to drive. We’ll pick you up in a few.”
“Hot dog! I love a covert operation. Especially when we’re taking out the bad guy and don’t have to wear a habit.”
I shook my head as I disconnected. What a shame the cop was the bad guy. Oh well, needs must, and I had a scammer to expose. I’d fill them in on what was happening with Carter and my conversation with Dorothy on the way.
Ida Belle didn’t even hesitate when I burst in the front door and told her we had a job to do. Walter just gave me a nod and kept drinking his beer as though I hadn’t said a word. Apparently, the smart gene ran in the family.
Gertie came out of her house with a huge tote slung over her shoulder, and whatever was in it was heavy because she was leaning to one side.
“This can’t be good,” Ida Belle said.
“I asked her to bring supplies,” I said.
“Anvil? Anchor? Cannonball?”
“No. Some liquid and syringes. I don’t want to know about the rest.”
“I don’t either.”
I hopped out and grabbed the tote from Gertie because I wasn’t sure she could climb into the SUV without falling, and I didn’t want to damage the precious cargo she had with her.
“Where to?” Ida Belle asked as she pulled away.
“Bayou Inn. Now, let me tell you why.”
I filled them in on the situation with Calahan first, feeling a tiny bit of relief when I saw his truck still parked in front of the sheriff’s department when we pulled through downtown.
“I get it now,” Gertie said. “You’re hoping you can take Calahan out long enough for Carter to run down background on Zion. Brilliant.”
Ida Belle nodded. “Do you think you can buy him enough time?”
“Trust me,” Gertie said. “This stuff is lethal. I mean, not deadly lethal, but I-can’t-leave-the-house lethal. Heck, I didn’t leave the bathroom for two days. I thought—”
“No.” Ida Belle held up one hand. “That’s all I need to know.”
“There’s more,” I said. “I had a surprise visitor this afternoon before Carter got home.”
I told them about my conversation with Dorothy. When I was done, they both looked somewhat floored.
“I’m not sure whether to be more surprised that Dorothy came and talked to you or by the information she gave you,” Ida Belle said.
“I know. It was a real eye-opener.”
Gertie shook her head. “If Eleanor had something to do with Jasper’s death and her own mother, all over trying to land that idiot Zion, and then he dumped her and it all came home to roost, that might have finally been enough for her to crack.”
Ida Belle nodded. “Especially with some help from the drugs, assuming they would have skewed her thinking ability.”
“But we still don’t know where she got the drugs,” Gertie said. “At first I thought it was Zion, but now that we know Sapphire followed him to the retreat that day, I’m not so sure.”
“Sapphire could have slipped the drugs in something Eleanor would drink,” I said, “but there still had to be a catalyst to send all of it crashing down on Eleanor.”
“Maybe Sapphire confronted her,” Ida Belle said. “Told her that Zion was still very much her husband and just using Eleanor for the property. Might have even warned her off.”
“Possible,” I agreed. “But we know Eleanor and Zion were arguing before he left because Mildred saw them. There’s also the problem with the gun.”
“People don’t file serial numbers off for no reason,” Ida Belle said.
“If someone dosed Eleanor with barbiturates and gave her a gun, then surely that was a setup,” Gertie said.
“It looks like it,” I said. “But why give Eleanor a gun when she owns them?”
“Maybe she didn’t have any at the retreat,” Gertie said. “Maybe Zion didn’t know if she owned guns and figured if he provided one—under some other pretense—and then worked her up, that she’d ingest the drugs and the whole problem of having to pretend he was into Eleanor would take care of itself.”
I shook my head. “That’s a lot of risk and even more hope.”
“Nah,” Ida Belle said. “More of a free throw. If it didn’t work, then he could just bide his time until he could figure out a better way to manage it. This way was just quicker and gave him instant access to property, assuming that agreement holds up.”
“Mildred is going to fight him tooth and nail on it,” Gertie said. “And I don’t blame her. Given the way the investigation is going, do you really think Zion will put up a fight for it?”
“No,” I said. “I think if he can get a payout from Sapphire, he’ll bail, which is the problem I’m trying to solve for tonight. If he clears out before Carter can run down his background, he might get away with everything here and become a problem for a whole new set of victims.”
Ida Belle shook her head. “The thing I don’t understand is why keep the drugs around? Seems really foolish to stick them in your nightstand when they could be at the bottom of the bayou.”
“It bothers me too,” I said. “It seems like a really dumb move from someone who’s likely made their living off scheming, but then, if investigating has taught us anything, it’s that criminals sometimes do really stupid things.”
“Maybe the drugs really do belong to Sapphire,” Gertie said. “He said they were in her nightstand. Maybe he used a few but couldn’t afford for the entire bottle to come up missing since it wasn’t his.”
I nodded but I still wasn’t convinced we’d hit on the right combination of answers. The whole deal with the drugs, Zion, and Sapphire wasn’t lining up, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why.
When we pulled into the parking lot of the motel, I directed Ida Belle to park at the end of the motel on the other side of a moving truck, where she, of course, backed in like the getaway driver pro she was.
I didn’t think Calahan would recognize her SUV from the one that had been parked at the retreat, mostly because I thought he was really crappy at his job, but even an idiot can have a moment of clarity, so it was best to stay hidden.
I grabbed Gertie’s tote bag and we headed for the office, where I hoped we’d find our old friend Shadow Chaser running the desk.
If not, we’d rent a room and figure out the rest.
Fortunately, Shadow Chaser was in his usual spot behind the computer watching a movie. He looked up when we walked in and his expression immediately shifted from boredom to sheer panic.
“Who’s dead?” he asked.
“No one yet,” I said.
He turned a shade paler than his usual ghost white. “You’re not here to kill them, are you?”
“Not intentionally.”
“If only I knew for sure that you were joking.”
I just shrugged.
“Oh my God!” He grabbed a pad of paper off the desk and started fanning himself.
“Of course I’m not going to kill him,” I said. “I just want to detain him.”
“That sounds like stuff cops say before I see them on Dateline.”
“I’m not a cop. Trust me, if I want to kill someone, I issue no warnings, and I’d never be sloppy enough to be featured on Dateline. But you might need to bill me for cleaning.”
He stared. “You know what—fine. Whatever. You have a pass with the scary man I report to anyway. If anything goes sideways—who the heck am I kidding—when whatever you’re up to goes sideways, I’m telling him exactly who did it.”
“If this goes sideways, he’ll already know who did it.”
The scary man was Mannie, the strong arm for Big and Little Hebert, who’d turned out to be excellent at business and was now in charge of the Bayou Inn, one of Big and Little’s recent acquisitions.
Mannie was attempting to renovate the place and make it more attractive to the less seedy side of the population.
“How are your aunt and uncle doing?” I asked.
He relaxed and smiled. I’d helped his uncle out of a murder rap the month before when Shadow had begged for help. I was glad we’d been able to clear the cute older couple of any wrongdoing and save their bed-and-breakfast.
“They’re great. Murder must be good for business because bookings are up so much they’re turning people away.”
“Fantastic. Tell them we said hello and are glad they’re doing so well.”
“We should plan a short girls’ trip when they have an opening,” Gertie said.
Ida Belle sighed. “The last girls’ trip we were on, we had to dress like nuns, do yoga, and drink really crappy smoothies.”
Shadow Chaser put his hands over his ears. “I am not hearing this. I am not hearing any of this. What criminal did I rent a room to this time?”
“Last name’s Calahan.”
“Huh?” he asked.
“Take your hands off your ears!” I yelled.
“Oh, yeah. Name?”
I told him the name again and his eyes widened.
“The cop? Well, why didn’t you say so. That guy is a total creep.
Came in here and took a whole case of my bottled water from the storeroom then told me to ‘bill it to the state.’ Like that’s really a thing.
And he’s wearing this grin when he says it like he’s just challenging me to tell him no. Are you sure you can’t kill him?”
Gertie snorted. “Oh how the wind changes when you know the target.”
“Look, I’ve got one missing case of water to account for already, and he’s left his stay open-ended. I’m afraid the scary man won’t believe me when I say I was extorted by a cop.”
“I’ll let him know the cop’s a huge problem. You won’t be on the hook for anything.”
His relief was apparent. “Thanks. The huge problem isn’t here yet, by the way.”
“Good. I’d prefer he didn’t catch me in his room.”
“That figures. He usually gets here about this time, so whatever you’re not doing that I know nothing about, you better hurry. Room 15.”
He handed me a key.
I motioned to the tote and Gertie pulled out a bottle of clear liquid that looked suspiciously like water. I opened it and smelled. Definitely not water but not everyone had my nose either. Someone like Calahan wouldn’t notice. Then she handed me the syringes.
“How much should I use?” I asked.
“Nora said dosage was a teaspoon and it lit up my behind for days,” Gertie said.
Shadow Chaser let out a squeak and threw his hands back over his ears again.
“Okay,” I said. “You two, head back to the SUV and play lookout. You should have a good view of the entrance from where we parked. Text me if you see Calahan pull in.”
“He’ll have a clear view of the door to his room as soon as he pulls in,” Ida Belle said.
“I’ll go out the bathroom window and run around the back of the motel to the SUV. At least he’s on the first floor. Just be ready to haul it when I get there.”
Ida Belle snorted. “As if I have ever not been ready to haul it.”
I grinned as I pulled on my gloves, then hurried to Calahan’s room and slipped inside.
I went straight to the minifridge and was pleased to spot several bottles of water and cans of beer inside.
I was guessing Calahan would go for the beer first thing, but since I couldn’t be sure, I doctored up a couple beers and waters and placed them at the front of the fridge.
Since I also couldn’t be certain how much he would consume, I put the teaspoon dosage in each.
If he came in and started chugging beers and chasing them with water, it was not going to be a good night for him.
I had just screwed the top back on the bottle when my phone buzzed, signaling an incoming text. I pulled it out.
Calahan here. Get out.
I jammed my phone and the bottle in my pocket and hurried to the bathroom. But when I went to shove up the window over the toilet, it didn’t budge.
Holy crap!