“We’ll probably never know as she’s not talking,” Ida Belle said.
“So the Horseman thing…what do you think?” Gertie asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know what to think. Tiffany and Kip probably had the ability to handle the horse, and those tracks were behind her house. But I can’t lock onto a reason why.”
“Maybe it wasn’t just that she didn’t love him,” Gertie said. “Maybe she’d realized that she was nothing more than an object to Gil. Maybe it was like you said when we thought it might be Liam and the entire thing was meant as an insult to Gil and his only caring about acting.”
“It wouldn’t be the oddest thing that’s happened here,” Ida Belle said. “What is Carter saying?”
“Ultimately, I think he’s going to stick the whole mess in a box and file it under unsolved,” I said. “Everything about the Headless Horseman case is wrapped up in the case against Brigette, and the captain is not going to play nice. Besides, what would the perp get out of it anyway—a charge of tampering with a corpse? Assuming it’s a first-time offender and they play it off as a practical joke because of the festival, they’re not likely to get jail time over it.”
“True,” Ida Belle said. “I think that’s probably the best route for Carter to take for sanity’s sake. Chances of him proving who did it were slim anyway even if he has a good idea.”
“So it just goes down as one of those Halloween legend stories?” Gertie asked. “I guess I could deal with that. It makes a good tale for around a campfire.”
“That it does,” Ida Belle agreed, and looked at me. “Did Judith call you?”
I nodded. “Thanking me for everything I’d done to help Liam and promising me free-range eggs and milk for a year.”
“That’s a really good deal,” Gertie said. “And I guess now that Tiffany and Liam are in the clear, Gil’s estate will be settled and they’ll have the money to move forward with their lives. Tiffany can get that apartment in New Orleans and Liam might have enough to buy that butcher out early.”
“Judith said he probably would,” I said.
“I wonder what Tiffany went to see Liam for that day you spied on them,” Gertie said.
“You mean the day you almost got killed for stealing a moped and boudin?” Ida Belle said.
I laughed. “Liam told Judith that Tiffany had contacted him several times in the past few months to apologize.”
“I guess while she was planning to get away, that was still the one thing hanging over her head,” Gertie said.
I nodded. “But the best call I got was while I was waiting on you guys to show up with the food.”
“From who?” Gertie asked.
“Lil,” I said. “Tiffany called her and they got together and had a long talk. The cops told Tiffany what her mother had done—how she’d saved us and by doing so, had saved Tiffany as well. Things are still shaky, but Lil said Tiffany wants to try to repair their relationship.”
“Did Lil tell her about the cancer?” Ida Belle asked.
“No,” I said. “She said she didn’t want Tiffany to have a relationship with her because she felt guilty about the her health. She wanted an honest relationship and she’d tell her when the time was right. But the best part is, Lil’s doctor thinks she might be a candidate for a new treatment.”
“I’m really glad to hear that,” Gertie said. “It’s nice to have some silver lining in this sea of despair.”
“Both of them deserve some happiness,” Ida Belle said.
“So do we,” Gertie said and held up her beer can. “To solving another case, catching the bad guy, and setting the innocent free.”
We clinked cans and I smiled. Life was perfect.
The days following Brigette’s arrest were such a whirlwind of activity, phone calls, and people ‘dropping by’ to ‘catch up’ that it wasn’t until Friday after lunch that I found the time to myself to sneak off on a solo mission. I made the drive to River’s home and parked some distance past her driveway, then worked my way through the woods toward her barn. She did have an excellent camera system in place, but it had a hole in it and I intended to make use of it.
I made it to the spot where the cameras didn’t reach and put my head against the barn. I could hear talking inside, so I hurried down the side of the barn, figuring River wouldn’t be