“What are we going to tell the Heberts?” she asked.
“You’re going to tell them that you couldn’t keep up and lost me.”
“What about you? Little knew you had the USB.”
“The Heberts don’t care about the USB or what it contained.”
“They care that Bart Seal shot Mannie.”
“I’ll figure it out. Come on, hustle before the police show up. All this gunfire is bound to bring law enforcement, and I don’t want to have to give a statement, even one that says I didn’t see anything.”
We ran all the way back to the main parking lot. It was a good half mile, but neither of us slowed until we reached my Jeep. The Hummer was gone, and we figured they’d taken Mannie for help. I tore out of the parking lot and my cell phone buzzed as soon as we pulled onto the highway. It was Gertie.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“Just got on the interstate. How’s Mannie?”
“Fine,” she said. “Bart is a lousy shot, thank God. The bullet grazed his thigh but he hit his head on a crypt when he fell. He was just coming to when Little and I got there. Did you get the Seal brothers?”
“They got away,” I said, and looked over at Ida Belle. “I’ll tell you about it when I see you. Are you going to the warehouse?”
“Yes, we’re halfway there. See you soon.”
I disconnected and put the phone in the cup holder. I pressed the accelerator a little harder, anxious to get my conversation with the Heberts over with. I was contemplating lying to people who lied for a living. Granted, I’d done it all the time during missions, but that was always to people I didn’t like. Targets. I was actually kind of fond of Big and Little, even though it probably wasn’t in my best interest to be.
“You can pull this off,” Ida Belle said, cluing in to my thoughts.
“I hope so.”
Little let us into the warehouse and we went straight upstairs to Big’s office. Mannie was lying on a couch, his leg wrapped up and an ice pack on his head. He smiled and waved when we came in, so I guessed he was feeling all right, considering. Little motioned us to our usual seats, where Gertie was already perched and drinking a double serving of whiskey.
“I’ll have what she’s having,” Ida Belle said as she dropped into the chair.
“Me too,” I said.
Little poured the drinks and Big looked across the desk at us. “I understand the Seal brothers got away?”
I took a drink of the whiskey and nodded. I’d already decided that the best thing to do was to tell the truth. The Heberts might not be happy about the Seal brothers getting away, but surely they would understand why I wasn’t interested in getting in a shoot-out with a cop.
“I caught up to them at a parking lot,” I said. “I lost Ida Belle somewhere along the way.”
“I couldn’t keep up,” Ida Belle said. “Maybe thirty years ago…”
Big nodded. “I understand completely. So what happened?”
I started filling them in on everything, Lucinda, Marion, his story about his son, and how he’d followed us to the cemetery hoping for the evidence.
“You gave him the USB?” Little asked.
“I couldn’t see any reason not to,” I said. “We didn’t need it and he did, especially to prove why he shot Lucinda. Just saying she had a gun wouldn’t be enough to get him off, and although I think the cops will eventually uncover everything, it will probably take a while.”
Little nodded. “So you think Lucinda was behind killing Willie and attacking Hot Rod?”
“Yes. The brothers were shocked that Lucinda set them up,” I said. “That was apparent.”
“And she was their mother?” Gertie asked. “What about Carol?”
“I have no idea,” I said. “But I’m sure it will all come out eventually.”
“So this cop let the Seal brothers go,” Big mused. “Why?”
“He said because they’d already served more time than their crimes called for,” I said. “I don’t know. Maybe he felt a little sorry for them that their own mother had set them up. I have to admit, I felt a little horror and a lot of repulsion myself.”
Big shook his head. “It’s an amazing twist, and one that I’ll admit I never saw coming.”
“Me either,” Little said. “And I’m usually pretty good at spotting such things.”
“I’m sorry they got away,” I said to Big. “I know you want to address them shooting Mannie and shooting at Little, but I didn’t feel I had much of an option.”
“You didn’t have any option,” Big said, “unless you were crazy enough to exchange gunfire with a cop. You’re a risk taker, but not stupid. Besides, I tend to agree with Marion. The brothers have probably suffered enough, and Mannie will recover quickly from his injury.”
Relief coursed through me. It was over.
We’d gotten away with it all. Again.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Three days later, I was reading a book in my hammock and hoping to get in a nap when Carter walked into my backyard and took a seat in the lawn chair. Since the showdown in the cemetery, things had gotten crazy. Marion had gone public with his story, and the video contained on the USB had featured Lucinda and Ralph discussing how they planned to kill Marion’s son and frame John and Bart. How Gary Thibodeaux had gotten the footage would probably remain a mystery, as all attempts to locate him had still proved unsuccessful. I wondered if the club owner had been intercepted by Lucinda before he could escape.
So far, Marion had kept his promise and neither my name nor Ida Belle’s had popped up during the investigation. As far as Carter knew, I’d never set foot in that cemetery nor had I ever had the USB in my possession. We’d simply left Big’s office and returned to my house, pretending we knew nothing until Carter showed up on my doorstep to tell us it was officially over. We’d waited a day before retrieving Ida Belle’s SUV from the storage facility, then Ida Belle and Gertie had returned to their homes; everything was back to normal.
Sort of. Carter and I were still sidestepping the big issues between us, but at least we were talking again without arguing about every sentence spoken. It helped that there were plenty of other things to talk about. It allowed us to easily avoid the harder stuff.
“How’s the discovery going?” I asked.
Marion had officially apologized to Carter for using him to gain access to Hot Rod’s shop under the guise of helping. Given the situation with Marion’s son, Carter hadn’t been holding a grudge anyway, but the apology hadn’t hurt, and when Marion had asked for his help uncovering the web of deceit that Lucinda and Ralph had designed, he was happy to assist.
“It’s incredible,” he said. “I thought I’d seen things, especially lately, but this is a doozy.”
“Can you tell me anything?”
He nodded. “Marion is releasing everything to the press as we uncover it. With Lucinda and Ralph both dead, there’s no trial to secure the evidence for.”
“So?”
“Well, for starters, Lucinda isn’t Lucinda. She’s Carol.”