“Has he been feeding that gator in my yard?” I asked.
“No,” Gertie said.
I stared at her.
“I swear he hasn’t,” she said. “I mean, he’s baked casseroles and stood out there for a while, but he said he hasn’t seen Godzilla since that day he ate the terrorist.”
“And what about you?” Ida Belle asked.
“I’ve seen him when I went out fishing,” Gertie said. “But across the lake.”
“If he gets hungry and lazy, he’ll be back here begging,” I said.
“Last time we fed him a terrorist,” Gertie said. “Maybe he decided he didn’t like the menu here.”
“I didn’t feed him a terrorist,” I said. “He just happened to be in my yard.”
Gertie shrugged. “He was trying to kill you. Godzilla was hungry. Worked out well for everyone. Except maybe the terrorist.”
“Maybe?”
“You were going to shoot him anyway,” Gertie said. “It was just a matter of time.”
It was a valid point so I couldn’t really argue.
“Well, now that this case is closed, I guess we’re back to sitting indoors and griping about the heat,” I said.
They both frowned.
“Boredom is the worst,” Gertie said.
“People can’t go and get themselves murdered just so you’ll have something to do,” Ida Belle said.
“Some of them could,” Gertie said. “I could make a list.”
I left a message for Nickel later in the morning and finally heard back from him just before noon. He was doing cleanup at the bar to prepare for opening that night and asked if I could swing by there to give him an update. I wondered briefly what he planned on telling Whiskey about our meeting, but when I arrived, he told me Whiskey had gone to New Orleans to pick up a shipment of wine that was stuck at the dock because the transport had broken down.
He grinned at me as I walked in the bar.
“Not your usual hangout,” he said.
“Oh, I’ve been here a time or two,” I said. “It’s…interesting.”
“Can get a little crazy.”
I shrugged. “I was in the sandbox for most of my missions. This place is like visiting a library compared to combat.”
He nodded. “Kinda puts it all in perspective. I’m surprised you’re not bored living here, given what you used to do.”
“Have you met Gertie?”
He laughed. “You’ve got a point. Anyway, you said you had an update, and I’d like to get that over with before Whiskey gets back and starts asking questions.”
“You’re not afraid those guys are going to tattle on you?” I asked, indicating a table of men in the corner.
“They’ve been here since yesterday. Slept right there in those chairs last night. I’m pretty sure they don’t even know where they are or what day it is.”
“Okay, well, here’s the deal.”
I filled him in on everything that I’d discovered—about Dexter and Marissa, the attorney that Molly spoke to, Silas and his back taxes, the insurance agent, the overheard conversation in the motel room. And finally, I told him that Carter had arrested Dexter and Marissa and they were being held in NOLA.
“Wow!” he said when I finished. “The rumors about you weren’t joking. I can’t believe you found all that out in just a matter of days. And Dexter and Marissa are in jail. I guess that’s something.”
He sounded about as excited over the news as I was.
“I know,” I said and slumped on my stool. “I hate that I couldn’t get more on Silas. I really, really dislike the man.”
“I think that’s pretty much how everyone who’s ever met him feels.”
“I’m sure. And I know he was up to something with that insurance policy but maybe Dexter and Marissa beat him to the final play.”
“Could be,” Nickel said. “I guess they was up to plenty themselves. Seems like Molly was walking around with more targets on her back than she had shirt for.”
“I know the feeling. The only difference is I was aware I was targeted, and it wasn’t by anyone that was supposed to have my back.”
“Can’t pick your family. And she shouldn’t have picked Dexter. But yeah, I wish Silas could have gotten what he has coming. You sure there’s nothing else you could come up with there?”
I shook my head. “I wish there was, but I just don’t see what it could be. And I covered the old ground too—about Johnny. I was hoping to be able to draw a correlation between the two disappearances.”
“You didn’t find anything there?”
“Nothing that mattered. I mean, his behavior that day is completely inconsistent with the man people who knew him well described, but