Busted.
Ida Belle looked over at me, and I understood that she wanted me to take the lead. That way, I got to decide how much to tell Carter. She would go along with whatever I chose to offer. But this was a tricky one. I’d just made a deal with Big Hebert, and I wasn’t about to tell Carter how deep we were in with him. I also didn’t want to tell him about the key until I knew more about it. There was still the odd chance that it had nothing to do with what happened to Hot Rod. I didn’t really believe that, but it was as good an argument as any. Besides, I was certain Carter had been over the records at Hot Rod’s place by now, and he hadn’t bothered to tell Ida Belle she might be in danger, which troubled me.
“I’ve never known Ida Belle to wait on a plumber to fix a leak,” Carter said. “Besides, most leaks can be isolated by simply not using that area of plumbing. You usually don’t have to shut off your water and abandon your home. So why don’t you tell me what’s really going on here.”
I didn’t like his tone, and that is never a good thing.
“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on here?” I asked. “Why are you hell-bent on assuming that we’re up to something unless you’re certain there is something for us to be up to? I’m not the only one keeping secrets.”
He rose from the chair. “Refusing to talk about an open investigation is not keeping secrets.”
“It is when the information you’re withholding is about the safety of one of my friends,” I said.
His eyes widened and I knew I’d hit a nerve.
“You knew, didn’t you?” I said. “Of course you did. You knew that Hot Rod said he had to warn Ida Belle before falling unconscious. You knew she might be in danger and you never said a word. So I moved my friend in here to protect her and you have a problem with me? From where I stand only one of us is wrong, and it’s the one who broke into my house and questioned me about the things I do to protect the people I care about.”
He flushed a bit and I could tell that despite the fact that he was mad, he also felt guilty. “I planned on looking out for Ida Belle myself,” he said.
“Yeah, because you’re always around what with having no job or anything to do,” I said. “And I’m sure Sinful residents wouldn’t bat an eye if Ida Belle moved into your house. And hey, while we’re talking about things that make no logical sense, let’s talk about how Ida Belle would be safer alone in her house with your occasional patrol rather than bunking with someone whose entire life’s work consisted of killing people.”
Ida Belle looked from me to Carter, and I could see how badly she felt for the trouble between us, but I didn’t blame her for any of it. This was totally between Carter and me, and if we couldn’t figure out how to be ourselves when it came to things like this and not be at each other’s throats, then it was going to be the shortest great relationship I’d ever had.
“This is exactly what I didn’t want,” Ida Belle said.
“This has nothing to do with you,” I said. “It would have happened eventually, regardless.” I looked at Carter. “Here’s the bottom line. I’m never going to stop doing anything necessary to protect my friends. And when I leave the CIA, I guarantee you, it will not be to take up a profession that requires me to sit behind a desk. Given that, the likelihood of us running into this problem again is so high it’s astronomical. So either you accept me for who I am or we don’t have anywhere to go from here. Because I’m the last person who’s going to back down when a friend is in trouble.”
Carter sighed. “I don’t expect you to back down. But that doesn’t mean you have to get involved.”
“I’m already involved. Do you really think I’m going to sit here in the kitchen, talking about knitting and eating Gertie’s cookies while there’s someone out there who tried to kill Hot Rod and might be targeting Ida Belle?”
He shook his head. “I guess not. I suppose that means you’re not going to tell me where you were tonight.”
“Are you going to tell me what is missing from Hot Rod’s shop?”
“Black SUVs.”
I blinked, a bit surprised that he’d spit it out just like that.
“That’s what we were afraid of,” I said, leaving out the part where we’d sorta checked for ourselves. “Did you really think we wouldn’t put that together? The only interaction Ida Belle’s had with Hot Rod was purchasing her SUV, and it was recent. Then someone breaks in his shop, tries to kill him, and the only thing he manages to say is about warning Ida Belle.”
“It was still a bit of a leap,” Carter argued. “Hot Rod might have been talking about something he realized was wrong with the car.”
I nodded. “And we thought about that as well, but I’ve been trained to prepare for the worst possible situation and then be pleasantly surprised if things turn out better. Doing the opposite results in unnecessary casualties.”
Carter looked over at Ida Belle. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you as soon as I knew about the SUVs. It was wrong, but I promise you, I wasn’t going to leave you unprotected. I’ve asked the state police for backup, and I was going to keep watch myself until they were in place.”
“I’m more qualified than the state police,” I said. “And a whole lot more motivated.”
Carter nodded. He couldn’t really make an argument on either of those statements. “Is the SUV in your garage?” he asked Ida Belle.
She looked over at me, clearly not wanting to offer more than I was willing to.
“No,” I said. “We secured the SUV in a safe place. That’s where we were tonight.”
“What safe place?” Carter asked.
“The storage units up the highway,” I said.
Carter threw his hands up in the air. “You’ve got to be kidding me! You put the SUV in the Heberts’ facility? For all you know, they could be behind all of this.”
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“Oh, you don’t think so,” Carter said. “Because mobsters are such nice people who never hurt anyone.”
“They liked Hot Rod,” Ida Belle said. “He did the work on their Hummer.”
“And that means they had no reason to get rid of him?” Carter asked.
“What do you think?” Ida Belle asked, and I could tell she was beyond exhausted and her patience was completely gone. “They dropped the Hummer off at his shop with a body in the back and then months later decided to make sure he never told anyone? Look, you can sit here and gripe at Fortune all you want, but it’s not going to get you anywhere. All of this was my decision. Fortune is just a great friend who stuck her neck out for me. And now I’m exhausted and aggravated, so I’m going to bed. Anything else you have to say will have to wait until I’ve gotten some sleep.”
She gave me a nod, shot Carter a dirty look, then headed upstairs.
“I’m not backing down from this,” I said. “Don’t even insult me by asking.”