we just happened to be in the right place at the right time, but I still reserve the option to remain suspicious.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else,” Gertie said. “But even you have to admit that sometimes you just get lucky.”
Ida Belle laughed. “We’re the only people in Sinful who would call coming into direct contact with a headless body lucky.”
“Yes, but that’s why we’re friends,” I said.
Chapter Three
As we headed out of the café, I spotted Carter coming across the street. He caught sight of us and hesitated for just a split second, but I still noticed. He must have resigned himself to the conversation that was coming because he waved and continued up as we stopped and waited on the sidewalk.
“Did you get any sleep?” I asked.
The dark circles under his eyes told the story, but I figured an inquiry into his health would be the appropriate way to start the conversation.
“Not a lot,” he said. “The forensics team didn’t finish up in the park until around 3:00 a.m.”
“I can imagine that was a real nightmare,” Ida Belle said. “Especially with it happening right in the middle of the festival. Is anything closed off? If so, I can rearrange some things for the opening today.”
“Nothing will be restricted,” he said. “We did ask them to push back the opening until this afternoon, just to give forensics a chance to look it over in the daylight, but I think they were thorough. So the whole thing is closed for now, but you should be good to go as it was before by one or so.”
“Thanks,” Ida Belle said. “I’ll just make a couple phone calls and make sure everyone knows.”
“Did you get that poor horse taken care of?” Gertie asked. “I swear I couldn’t stop thinking about him. He must have been scared to death. If you need a place to keep him, I’m resodding my backyard next year anyway…”
I had to hold in a grin. It wasn’t a stretch that Gertie loved animals and I had no doubt she’d let the horse stay in her backyard and probably cook for it, but that wasn’t the real reason for her inquiry.
“We located the owner and the horse is back home,” Carter said.
“Well, that’s a relief,” Gertie said. “He looked expensive. He wasn’t injured, was he?”
“Not that I could tell,” Carter said. “But I’ll be following up with the owner, of course. Unless she was the one who strapped the body to the horse and sent him off in the park, I’m assuming she’ll want to file a theft report.”
“I would,” Gertie said. “If someone stole Francis, I’d come down on them like hellhounds.”
Carter smiled. “I have no doubt about that. Well, if you ladies don’t mind, I’m going to grab a bite to eat before I get started unraveling this mess.”
We said goodbye and started down the sidewalk.
“Nice try on the horse thing,” I said to Gertie. “He wasn’t about to give you anything.”
Ida Belle and Gertie grinned.
“But he did,” Gertie said.
Ida Belle nodded. “Only a breeder would have a horse of that quality, especially a stud. And there’s only one woman in the area who breeds horses.”
“Great,” I said. “Then I guess we have another person to talk to. Are we on the list for any chores at the festival today?”
“Not a thing,” Ida Belle said. “I told you, I cleared us off the operating schedule. We only had setup duties. Of course, I did that thinking that after last year, no one would be able to blame us if something went wrong, and danged if another head didn’t fall in our laps.”
I grinned. “Lucky.”
“Let’s go get those casseroles and see just how lucky we are,” Gertie said.
“I’ll go get the food with Gertie,” Ida Belle said to me, “then swing by your house and pick you up.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
Fifteen minutes later, I hopped into Ida Belle’s SUV, giving the back seat a once-over.
“You put a cover on the back seat,” I said.
“A pet cover,” Gertie said.
“If the shoe fits,” Ida Belle said. “I got tired of steam cleaning the upholstery after Gertie’s escapades.”
“You always make me do the cleaning,” Gertie said.
“You don’t do it good enough,” Ida Belle said. “Which means I end up doing the bulk of the work.”
“She means going over every inch with tweezers and a toothbrush,” Gertie said. “It’s a car—not a priceless work of art.”
“Says you,” Ida Belle said as she pulled up to the curb and parked.
I looked over for my