“So we take as fact that Nolan thought his wife was having an affair,” I said. “Do we think that is true, or could Nolan have been misreading something?”
Ida Belle shook her head. “That’s certainly a possibility from our perspective because we don’t know why Nolan came to that conclusion. He could have made a mistake. Given even a small dependence on Gail, I imagine he would have been scared by the thought of their marriage dissolving.”
“Not to mention, he might actually love her,” Gertie said drily.
Ida Belle waved a hand in dismissal. “Love is a secondary consideration when one can’t live independently. An important one, of course, but probably not the biggest worry Nolan had if Gail were to leave him for another man.”
“So where do we go from here?” I asked. “Trying to figure out who she was having an affair with seems premature since we don’t know for certain that was the case.”
“But if she wasn’t having an affair,” Ida Belle said, “then we’re back to having no motive.”
“If she were having an affair, what would be the motive?” I asked. “Assuming the man she was having the affair with wanted to be with her, why would he kill her? There’s no monetary benefit for him.”
“Maybe she broke it off with him,” Ida Belle said.
“And he figured if he couldn’t have her then no one would?” I asked. “I suppose that’s possible. I’ve been watching those forensics shows and people commit the dumbest crimes over affairs.”
“What if it was someone who hated Nolan?” Gertie asked.
“What do you mean?” Ida Belle asked. “If Nolan was the target, why not kill him?”
“Because taking Gail from him might be worse than death,” Gertie said. “Now he’s alone again, unable to completely support himself, financially or physically.”
“You think someone killed her to make Nolan’s life miserable?” I asked. “It’s possible but it’s so…”
“Evil?” Gertie finished.
I nodded. Beulah had used the word first. I agreed with her then and I agreed with Gertie now. So far, everything that had happened since I’d been in Sinful had a solid motive behind it. And even though some of the motives wound around a bit, they always came back to money. I couldn’t think of a single thing that could be called an emotional crime. Certainly emotions were involved in so many instances, but never as the primary motivator. In fact, I’d never had a case in my work for the CIA that was emotionally motivated. Everything always came back to power and money.
Evil.
It was an old-fashioned word, but maybe this was an old-fashioned crime.
Chapter 10
I climbed out of the backseat of Gertie’s car and reached back for the casserole dish. Ida Belle snagged a bowl of creamed corn and a basket of rolls, and the three of us walked up the sidewalk to Nolan’s house. Gertie must have broken some sort of casserole-making record. That was four that I knew of in a matter of days. And who knew if she had a spare lurking in her refrigerator.
I glanced over at Carter’s truck, parked in Nolan’s driveway. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Marie needs a break,” Ida Belle said. “If Gail had died of a heart attack, we’d be doing exactly this, and Carter knows that. He might not like it, but he can’t argue with facts. When people die, we bring food and sit with the family. Doesn’t matter how they go.”
It sounded reasonable, probably because it was. But I doubted Carter would want to see it that way. He would jump right to the conclusion that we were there to interfere with his investigation. He was right, of course, which was going to make it harder to take offense at his aggravation, but if Marie sent for us and Nolan needed the help, then Carter would have to take it at face value.
We knocked on the door and a couple seconds later, Marie opened it up. She stepped back to allow us in, and I couldn’t help but notice how worried she looked.
“I’m afraid it’s still messy in here,” Marie said. “The police searched the entire house and they managed to rumple everything. They sealed off the master bedroom. I have no idea what they were looking for.”
“It’s standard procedure,” I said. “They are looking for anything that might give them an idea who killed Gail and why.”
“Well, they could have been a little tidier tidy with it,” Marie said. “I’ve been straightening things up for hours.”
“How is Nolan?” Ida Belle asked.
Marie shook her head. “Not good. The only thing I’ve been able to get him to eat was a piece of toast and that was this morning. His strength is going fast.”
“Is he talking much?” Gertie asked.
“He’ll answer if I ask him something,” Marie said, “but sometimes I have to touch him before he realizes I’m speaking to him at all. I’ve never seen someone so devastated. It’s a bit overwhelming, not knowing what to say. His situation…”