“The kind that usually means you guys were up to something,” Myrtle said. “A call came in about a stolen moped, an alien, and an explosion.”
“Crap,” Ida Belle said. “Is Carter coming for us?”
“No. He’s out looking into that Headless Horseman thing. Deputy Breaux took the call and is on his way to the butcher shop now. I had to wait until he left to call and warn you.”
“What are you doing there right now anyway?” Ida Belle asked.
“That idiot Gavin pulled a muscle in his leg,” Myrtle said. “I told Carter if he bothered to get some muscle tone, he could have limped in here and done his job. It’s not like you use your legs for dispatch.”
“What if he needed to pee?” Gertie asked.
“He’s a man,” Myrtle said. “We got Dixie cups. Anyway, I’m sure Carter will hear about it soon enough, but you’ve got a little time to get an alibi in place.”
“Thanks, Myrtle,” Ida Belle said and disconnected.
“Well? Anyone got a good cover story?” Gertie asked.
“I don’t even know where to start,” I said.
“I have an idea,” Ida Belle said. “But it’s going to require some verbal fabrication.”
Gertie shrugged. “It’s not Sunday, so I’m good.”
“I’m going to stop by our houses and we all need to grab a swimsuit and a beach towel and haul it back out,” Ida Belle said.
I had no idea where she was going with it, but I didn’t care. At least she had an idea.
And how much trouble could we get in wearing swimsuits?
Twenty minutes later, I found out.
“What if Nora shoots us for trespassing?” I asked.
“I don’t know that she owns a gun,” Ida Belle said as we slipped into Nora’s backyard.
“Everyone in Louisiana owns a gun,” I said.
“True, but Nora knows us,” Ida Belle said.
“Didn’t you tell me that she’d been drunk for fifteen years?” I asked.
Ida Belle nodded. “That’s the genius part of my plan. Gertie, get that bottle of wine and those plastic glasses out.”
Gertie pulled four plastic glasses from her purse along with a huge bottle of wine while I helped Ida Belle shove back the top on Nora’s hot tub. Gertie poured up the wine and we all climbed in.
“Now, start laughing and talking loud,” Ida Belle said. “And Gertie, dip down and get that mud off.”
I felt ridiculous but I did my best fake laugh, which led to real laughs from Gertie and Ida Belle. Sure enough, a minute later, the patio door to the house opened and Nora came out with a shotgun.
“What are you people doing in my hot tub?” Nora yelled.
“Nora, it’s Ida Belle and Gertie, remember?” Ida Belle said. “You invited us over for a dip. You’ve been in here with us for an hour already. Why did you get dressed? Gertie just poured you another glass of wine.”
Nora frowned, then looked at the glass of wine and shrugged. “Heck if I know. Let me go see where I put my suit.”
Five minutes later, Nora was in the hot tub with us, regaling us with tales of her trip to Amsterdam, where apparently anything goes, and Nora went right along with it. We’d polished off the first bottle of wine—most of it going to Nora—and had moved on to the second by the time my phone rang. I leaned out of the hot tub and answered.
“Where are you?” Carter asked and I could hear the aggravation in his voice.
“At Nora’s house,” I said.
“Nora’s?” he repeated, clearly confused.
“Yeah, we’re in her hot tub.”
“I’ll be right there.”
I dropped the phone back on my towel and slipped back into the steamy water.
“We’re up,” I said and reached for my glass.
Five minutes later, Carter stomped into the backyard, glaring at us.
“You want to tell me what you were trying to accomplish over at Liam’s butcher shop?” he asked.
We all put on our best confused look. Except for Nora, who really was confused.
“We dropped off a casserole,” Gertie said. “Dropped one off for Tiffany, too. It’s kinda what we do.”
“Gil died Monday night,” Carter said.
“But we didn’t hear about it until day before yesterday,” Ida Belle said. “And since we had festival prep, we didn’t have time to address it before today.”
“I’m supposed to believe that?” he asked.
“Gil died?” Nora asked.
Ida Belle raised her eyebrows and waved a hand at Nora, who was making her point.
“Gil died in New Orleans,” Ida Belle said. “Tiffany has nothing to do with the townspeople. Liam left