For the first time since I’d met them, Ida Belle and Gertie were absolutely speechless. If they’d been required to utter even one word at that moment, I don’t think they would have been capable. They both stared at me, eyes wide, jaws dropped, waiting for the punch line. When it finally dawned on them that none was forthcoming, they looked at each other, probably ensuring they’d heard me correctly, then Ida Belle sank onto the coffee table and they both looked back at me.
I sat on the couch and started telling them what I knew and what had happened. When I got to the part about Nolan standing, Ida Belle jumped up from the coffee table and both of them shouted an impressive number of expletives. It took several seconds for them to calm down, but finally Ida Belle sat on the coffee table again and gestured for me to continue. When I told them about Carter saving me from being the one in that body bag, they both sobered.
“That was a close call,” Ida Belle said.
“Too close,” Gertie said. “You shouldn’t have taken such a risk.”
“Probably not,” I said, “but what could I have done? I only had suspicion. No proof. And on the surface, it was a wild idea. Who would have believed it?”
“How did you put all of it together?” Ida Belle asked.
I frowned. “I don’t know exactly, and there’s parts that I still don’t have answers for, but I’m sure Carter will get it all sorted out. I think the biggest part of it centered around people not being who others thought they were. That’s been the biggest issue in my life lately, and something about all of this—the catfish, Gail’s murder, and whatever Brandon is up to—kept pushing me back to that point.”
“That someone wasn’t what or who they were pretending to be,” Gertie said. “I can see how you’d be sensitive to that, especially in your current state, but how do you fix on Nolan? It still seems such a leap.”
“Not really,” I said. “Think about it. Who was on site when Gail was murdered? Nolan. Who had easy access to the house and knew her schedule? Nolan. Most importantly, who benefited from her death? Again, the answer is Nolan.”
Gertie nodded. “The spouse is always the first suspect.”
“Exactly,” I said, “but no one suspected Nolan because everyone thought he was disabled.”
“And if you take away the disability,” Ida Belle said, “it changes everything.”
I nodded. “So I removed that from the equation and then thought about the remaining facts of the case. Who repeated the private messages between Gail and the catfish? Who did Florence Thompson overhear saying Gail was having an affair? Who said the lights went out and there was a scream? Who said someone shoved him down and ran out the front door? The answer was always Nolan.”
“So the affair was all Nolan’s invention,” Gertie said.
“I think so,” I said. “Remember when we looked at Gail’s Facebook account? She hadn’t posted on her wall in months. It would be easy for Nolan to claim he saw something and for Carter to assume it was deleted. It would be equally easy for him to create messages between the catfish and Gail the night she was murdered, supporting his claim about the earlier correspondence, and I bet he did.”
“And the insurance?” Ida Belle asked. “I suppose Gail never took out a policy.”
“No. That was all Francesca,” I said. “Remember Marie said Gail had claimed the policy was too expensive to purchase. I did some checking and she was right. A luxury car would have cost less. Then there was the part where Nolan said they had a joint bank account, but claimed he didn’t know about the policy. Surely he would have noticed an amount that large leaving the account.”
Ida Belle shook her head. “So Francesca processed the policy and paid for it. And I bet when Carter checks, he’ll find that Gail’s signature was forged.”
“I’m sure of it,” I said.
“I still can’t wrap my mind around it,” Gertie said. “You’re saying Nolan and that woman intended to kill Gail from the beginning? That the disability was his cover to prevent him from being accused of murder?”
“I think Nolan is a con man,” I said, “and the long con is his trade. When Carter figures out who he really is, I’ll bet Gail isn’t the only victim. And while the disability turned out to be a great alibi for the murder, I think it was originally intended to explain the large amount of insurance purchased. That’s something the police look into at great length, especially when people haven’t been married for very long.”
“But if you want to ensure your disabled partner is taken care of in case of your demise,” Ida Belle said, “people don’t think as much of it.”
I nodded. “Especially when the insurance agent is claiming the benefiting spouse wasn’t even aware of the policy.” I frowned. “In fact, if you think about it, I bet they were hoping no one ever found out about the insurance. Remember when Ida Belle took the phone call from the insurance agency? It was a man. Then Francesca showed up and claimed her assistant jumped the gun and made the call. She seemed a little aggravated.”
“They hoped the police wouldn’t find out about the policy,” Ida Belle said, “but just in case, Nolan set himself up in the beginning so that he wouldn’t draw suspicion.”