“It did,” she said. “I know and accept the truth of what I did, but hearing her talk about Gil like some white knight when I knew what he was up to with Gwyn…well, it just didn’t sit right with me.”
“Did Tiffany tell Gil you’d called?” Ida Belle asked.
“I don’t think so,” Lil said. “At least, he never said anything to me about it, so that’s the assumption I made. I can’t imagine him letting it go.”
“Probably not,” Ida Belle agreed.
“Did you ever confront Gil about Gwyn?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “Couldn’t see the point. He was going to do what he wanted just like he always has, and it wouldn’t do any good to tell Tiffany because even if she took my call, she wouldn’t believe me. And even if she did, she wouldn’t have left him. It would take him setting her out like a stray cat before she let go of the security.”
She frowned. “I do wonder if Gil didn’t mention something to Gwyn though.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“She got strange at rehearsal,” Lil said. “I mean, the girl’s not overly normal but she seemed nervous—on edge. Even Brigette got onto her lately to focus better. I wondered if Gil had said something to her and she guessed that I had figured out they had something going on.”
“He might have,” I said, remembering Gwyn saying that Gil insisted she leave rehearsal one night rather than stay late when Lil was the only person left in the building.
Lil stared off at the wall, her jaw flexing. Then she slowly shook her head.
“This entire thing is a tragedy,” she said. “And the one who got the worst of it is Liam. He’s the only truly innocent party in all of it and I hope you find a way to help him.” She sighed. “If you don’t have anything else, I’d like to finish this up. I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. Breast cancer.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Gertie said. “Are you going through treatment?”
“Doubt it,” she said. “I was too far gone by the time I got it looked at. If I did treatments, they would wipe me out and there’s only a small chance that they’d work. I don’t have the money to sit in bed all day and no one to help look after me even if I did. The best thing to do is let it run its course.”
Her expression was a mixture of sadness, anger, and regret that was so overwhelming, it felt as if a huge blanket of despair had been draped over all of us.
“I’m really sorry,” I said.
She nodded. “If you don’t have anything else, I really have to get back to this. All these props go onto a truck early tomorrow morning to ship out to the opening location and it has to be dry before it goes on the truck.”
“They’re not opening the show here?” I asked.
“They’re closing it here,” she said. “Brigette likes to do it that way. Says then they’ve worked out any kinks and bring the absolute best performance back to their home theater.”
I gave her my card. “If you can think of anything that would help, please let me know. You’re right—Liam is the only innocent one in all of this, and I have to make sure that’s proven because right now, a detective has him in her sights.”
“I wish I could help,” she said. “That boy deserves better. Always did.”
She went back to her painting and we headed out. No one said a word until we climbed into the SUV.
“Well, that was a depressing conversation,” Gertie said. “All the stuff about Gil was bad enough but then she had to throw dying into the mix.”
“That and all the mental strain explains her aging so quickly,” I said.
Ida Belle nodded. “I have to wonder how much of her own life she’s projecting onto Tiffany’s.”
“Good question,” I said. “I don’t figure Gil cared much about Tiffany one way or another except for how he thought she made him look, but we never heard anything about abuse and Gil certainly wasn’t a violent felon.”
“But if Lil saw him as just another predator,” Ida Belle said, “and she’s lumping them all in one box…”
“And she’s dying,” Gertie said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “She could have justified killing him. Especially if she thought he was cheating on Tiffany and would abandon her after preying on her. Lil already has a history of