“Yeah, that was a big blow. I mean, ever since Gil married Tiffany, we haven’t spent as much time together. Not appropriate and all that, I suppose. You know how people around here can talk. But it was a real shock. Seems unbefitting him going out like that.”
Gertie nodded. “It was dramatic, I guess, but not the kind of drama Gil would have appreciated for his curtain call.”
“Exactly,” Judith said then frowned. “I guess Tiffany is probably gleefully counting her chickens. She didn’t have to wait a lifetime to cash in and be free again.”
“You think she married Gil for his money?” Ida Belle asked.
Judith snorted. “Who doesn’t?”
Ida Belle nodded. “Yes, I suppose that’s the general consensus. Have you talked to Liam?”
“Not since I picked up steaks a couple weeks ago,” Judith said. “I’m thinking I should go by but honestly, I keep making excuses not to. What the heck do I say to the boy?”
Gertie shook her head. “We took him a casserole earlier today. Said we were sorry, but that’s about it.”
“How’d he take it?” Judith asked.
“As well as can be expected, I suppose,” Gertie said. “He thanked us for the food and the sentiment but said it didn’t matter to him.”
Judith sighed. “He’s lying, of course. I don’t believe for a second that Liam didn’t still love his dad. He just didn’t like him overly much. And he’s still carrying around a whole lot of mad. Not that I blame him, mind you. Hell, Gil’s dead and I’m still carrying around some mad at the way he treated Liam.”
“It was a really bad situation,” Ida Belle said. “It’s a shame Gil died before they could reconcile.”
Judith sadly shook her head. “I doubt it ever would have happened. Gil would have had to leave Tiffany and apologize for a hundred years before Liam forgave him. He tried to talk to Liam, you know?”
“No,” Gertie said. “Liam didn’t say and we rarely talked to Gil.”
Judith nodded. “Tried several times over the last couple years but Liam wouldn’t have it. He even threatened to call the cops on Gil once to get him out of the butcher shop. Liam ended up calling me and I convinced Gil that accosting the boy at his place of work wasn’t the way to go about things.”
“I guess you heard about what happened last night,” Ida Belle said.
“I heard,” Judith said, “but I’m not sure I believe it. At least, not the way it was told to me.”
“If you heard that someone strapped Gil to a horse and he rode into the middle of the festival, then lost his head, that’s pretty much the story,” Gertie said. “The horse stopped right in front of us, so we saw it all.”
Judith’s eyes widened. “You’re serious? Good God! What in the world?”
“I wish we knew,” Gertie said. “Doesn’t make much sense.”
Judith looked over at me. “Don’t you date Carter? What’s he saying?”
I laughed. “Carter never says anything to me about his investigations. He’s afraid I’ll get in the middle of them.”
“Probably because you do,” Ida Belle said. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”
Judith stared across the park, silent for several seconds, then looked back at us. “You know, the whole thing feels off to me. Not that stunt last night. Obviously, that’s way off. I can’t even imagine where that came from or why, and I’m not even going to try. But Gil’s death, I mean. It doesn’t sit right.”
“I thought it was a carjacking,” Ida Belle said. “Sounded like standard fare for New Orleans.”
“It did,” Judith agreed. “But the last time I saw Gil, he was worried about something. I thought it had to do with Liam but when I asked, he dismissed it completely and I could tell he was telling the truth, at least about that. But something was bothering him. Then he asked me to recommend a good pistol and I knew for sure something was up.”
“Gil didn’t own a gun?” I asked. “I thought everyone in Sinful owned a gun.”
“He had a shotgun for home defense,” Judith said. “But he never was much for local sort of pastimes. Didn’t like to hunt or fish. Mostly he was into his acting and not a lot else.”
“Did you ask him why he wanted a pistol?” Gertie asked.
“Of course!” Judith said. “When a man you’ve known your whole life, who’s never shown an interest in guns, is suddenly asking you for advice on acquiring one, you take notice. But he just said that he