I kicked her under the table. The last thing we needed was Carter associating Gertie with explosives again. I still wasn’t sure we were out of the weeds over the fiasco at Hot Rod’s shop.
“Look,” I said, “we both know Ida Belle’s not going to leave town, but we’re all bunking at my house. We’re on alert and so are you, and there’s not exactly a lack of capability among the four of us.”
I knew he understood exactly what I was saying. Other than me, Carter was the only person in Sinful who knew the truth about Gertie’s and Ida Belle’s military service in Vietnam. And he certainly knew my skill set. He’d seen it firsthand.
His shoulders slumped a bit and he sighed. “I’ll be on patrol all night, watching for the car. I’ll likely do a lot of it on foot so I’m not seen. But I will have my phone on me. If you see or hear anything, call me immediately. I don’t care if it turns out to be raccoons or loud frogs. You hear anything at all, you call.”
We all nodded.
“I do have a bit of good news,” he said. “I talked to the doctor before coming over here and he said Hot Rod’s condition has stabilized. He’s still unconscious, but his heart is working fine.”
I felt a bit of relief sweep through me. It was a small thing given the severity of Hot Rod’s injuries, but at least it was something.
“That’s great news,” Gertie said. “One step at a time. I’m telling you, he’s going to come out of this just fine.”
“Your mouth to God’s ears,” Ida Belle said.
Carter rose from his chair. “I’ve got to get back to work. Remember, call.”
He turned around and headed out.
“This tension between the two of you is horrible,” Gertie said. “I could practically cut it with my knife.”
“I know,” I said. My back was still tight and showed no signs of loosening any time soon. “But there’s nothing I can do about it right now. Might not be anything I can do later, either.”
“Surely the two of you care about each other enough to meet in the middle,” Gertie said.
“The middle of what?” Ida Belle asked. “Fortune skirting or downright breaking the law? Either she stops completely or he accepts that she does it. If that’s not a rock and a hard place, I don’t know what is.”
“Maybe you could have one of those relationships where you never talked about your work,” Gertie said.
“I’d be all for that,” I said. “And if we lived in a city the size of DC our work would probably never cross paths. But here in Sinful, what are the odds?” I shrugged. “Discussing it now is pointless because I don’t know when I’ll be free to make a decision about my future anyway.”
“But you can’t keep going like this,” Gertie said, “or it’s just going to be worse if you end it later.”
I knew she was right, but I didn’t have to like it. The last time Carter had written me off, I’d fallen into a pit of depression and sorrow unlike anything I’d felt since my mother died. I hadn’t even known I was capable of feeling that bad. The thought of doing it all over again was awful, but then so was the idea of trying to change who I was. The feelings of sadness over a failed relationship with Carter probably wouldn’t last. The feelings of regret over letting someone else dictate what I did with my life again would probably never fade.
Chapter Sixteen
It was long after midnight when I made the rounds upstairs, peering through every bedroom window and scouting for any sign of movement around the house. Ida Belle made patrol with me, going one direction while I went another, both of us making the full loop then meeting back in the hallway at the top of the stairs. Gertie had crashed on the living room couch about thirty minutes before and we could hear her snoring carrying all the way up to the second floor.
“If they get close enough to the house, they’ll definitely know we’re in here,” Ida Belle said. “I bet they can hear Gertie snoring in the next parish.”
“Maybe they’ll think we’re in here juggling chain saws, and it will scare them away.”
Ida Belle laughed, but I could tell it was strained.
“Why don’t you get some rest?” I asked. “I’m wired enough and I can wake you if I need a break.”
“I couldn’t sleep even if I tried.”
I nodded. “Then let’s head to the kitchen for another cup of coffee. This night isn’t getting any shorter.”
We headed downstairs and into the kitchen, and Ida Belle poured us both a cup as I retrieved the sweetener.
“I didn’t see Carter this time,” Ida Belle said as we took seats at the kitchen table.
“No. But I’m sure he’s somewhere close. He probably ditched his truck and is lurking in the bushes across the street.”
“You could have invited him to stay, you know.”
I shook my head. “They were watching us in town. If Carter was here and they figured it out, they’d never make a move.”
Ida Belle stared. “You want them to make a move, don’t you?”
“I want to get this over with, so yeah. Why not? If it was only about being safe, we’d be sitting in a hotel in Florida about now, having room service and looking at the ocean.”
“I think I got ripped off,” Ida Belle said. “Next time, I’m going with that ‘get out of town’ option, especially if you’re doing the planning.”
“Maybe that’s something we should do…take a trip. There’s nothing stopping me really. I doubt Ahmad has people combing the beaches for me.”
“No, but there’s far less of a chance of him having people in Sinful.”
“True, but a big floppy hat and huge sunglasses go a long way to disguising a person.”
“Traveling with two old ladies would probably pass scrutiny as well.” Ida Belle plopped her mug on the table, sloshing the coffee up the sides. “Hell, let’s do it then. As soon as this crap is over, we head for sand and surf. We can sit under an umbrella and drink fancy drinks. Gertie can knit, I can sleep, and you can figure out what you’re going to do with the rest of your life.”
“I think a beach and drink service would be the perfect setup for deciding what I’m going to be when I grow up.”
“No one said you had to grow up. That’s just mean.”
I started to laugh, but Ida Belle grabbed my arm and pointed to the door. I could hear scratching and went over to let my cat, Merlin, inside. He walked in with the stroll that only cats can manage—the one that says I’m king and I’m irritated all at the same time. He let out a loud squall, then sat in the middle of the kitchen, his tail twitching back and forth.
I looked down at him and frowned. “He’s mad.”
“Did you forget him outside?”
“No. He doesn’t always come in at night. I figure sometimes he’s tomcatting around. I called for him earlier and he just stared at me from the lawn chair. That usually means he won’t show up until first thing in the morning, demanding his breakfast. But this is different.”
I walked over to the kitchen window and peered between the blinds. “Something has him riled.”
Ida Belle stood up. “Something’s not right outside.”
I nodded. “The problem is it could be nothing more than a rival cat or another animal he feels is encroaching on his territory.”