“He’s going to arrest me for taking that picture, isn’t he?” I asked.
“If he’s going to arrest anyone,” Ida Belle said, “it would be Gertie for assaulting him with a pie.”
Gertie cast a sad gaze at the remnants of the dessert. “I was really looking forward to having that tonight with dinner.”
“Stop worrying about dinner,” Ida Belle said and elbowed her, then inclined her head toward me. Gertie looked momentarily confused, then her eyes widened as she put the “then I need to talk to Fortune” part of Carter’s statement into perspective.
“I told you he’d come to his senses,” Gertie said. “They always have to take a macho stance, but men are pushovers when it comes to the right woman.”
Ida Belle frowned. “I don’t think that’s what this is about.”
“I don’t either,” I said. “If he wanted to talk about something personal, he would have waited until I was at home alone.”
Ida Belle nodded. “It’s something else.”
“But what?” Gertie asked. “Oh no! What if Ahmad didn’t leave? What if Fortune is still in danger?”
“Harrison would have called me,” I said. I pulled out my cell phone and groaned. Three missed calls from Harrison. No messages. “I forgot I put it on silent.”
My CIA partner was my only contact with my old life, for my own protection. But his path had intersected with Carter’s when we tried to take down Ahmad a week ago, and now that Carter knew my secret, Harrison knew he could contact Carter if it was an emergency. Not answering three phone calls over the span of two days probably counted as an emergency on Harrison’s part.
“Harrison?” Ida Belle asked.
I nodded.
“Maybe he was checking in on you and is worried that you didn’t answer,” Gertie said. “It might not be anything serious.”
I could hear the hope in Gertie’s voice as she spoke and said a quick prayer that she was right. I heard the bathroom door open and braced myself. Whatever was going on, I was about to find out. Carter walked back into the kitchen and glanced at Ida Belle and Gertie.
“Let’s give them some privacy,” Ida Belle said.
“What?” Gertie asked. “Oh, yeah, of course.”
“That’s not necessary,” Carter said. “She’ll tell you everything as soon as I leave anyway, and that would only be necessary if she doesn’t start yelling. Given what I’m about to say, yelling is a good possibility.”
I stared at him. What the hell was going on? Was he going to tell me off for being a liar right here in front of Ida Belle and Gertie? Surely not. I knew my actions had hurt Carter, and my fooling him had probably caused him more than a little personal embarrassment, but I couldn’t imagine him being so tactless.
He sighed. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s a guy on the Internet who’s swindled some local ladies out of money.”
Huh? This conversation had just gone a direction I’d never anticipated.
“You mean the catfish?” I asked.
“I don’t follow,” he said.
“The television show,” Gertie said.
“Oh,” Carter said. “I’ve seen an advertisement for that. Is that what they call the perpetrators? Catfish? I don’t get the connection but yes, that’s what this is about.”
“Well,” I said, “no one has swindled me out of money, so I don’t see how I could help you on this one.”
Carter shuffled his feet and stared at the floor for a moment, then looked back up at me. “Certain parties have suggested that you are the, uh, catfish.”
I let out a string of curse words that ended with “Celia Arceneaux.”
Carter’s annoyed expression let me know I was right.
“Unbelievable,” I said. “I was just thinking earlier that I was surprised you hadn’t shown up at my door to accuse me of being the catfish, and here you are.”
“For Christ’s sake,” Ida Belle said, “you can’t possibly believe that Fortune is taking money from old women. What is wrong with you?”
Carter looked at Ida Belle and I could tell he was exhausted. “Of course I don’t believe it, but unless Celia’s election as mayor is overturned, I don’t have a choice but to question Fortune when Celia makes an accusation. Not if I want to keep my job.”
“This is bull and you know it,” Ida Belle said, clearly not having any of it.