Twenty minutes later, they were both up-to-date on everything I’d learned from Carter the night before and what I’d gleaned from Ally and Mandy Miller that morning. First up was another visit to Gina. I wanted to ask her again about what she did on parade night. And this time, I’d be watching her closely. I hadn’t questioned her story the first time but then, I hadn’t really considered her a suspect either. This time was different, and I’d be looking for those telltale signs that normal people had when they were lying.
Not that I caught every lie. Some people were so good they even got by me.
Gina answered the door right away but didn’t invite us in. Instead, she gave us a dirty look.
“Go away!” she said. “This is all your fault. You should have left him on the island. Then he wouldn’t be sitting in a jail cell.”
“We went looking for your father because you were worried about him,” Gertie said. “We didn’t expect him to run and attempt to strand us out there.”
Gina’s lower lip quivered. Then she burst into tears and flung the door open before whirling around and hurrying down the hallway. I wasn’t sure whether that was our indication to follow or if she was off to load a weapon, but I took it as the first and followed her.
We found her in the kitchen, standing at the counter, her hands shaking as she drank from a bottle of water. I figured we’d be less threatening if we sat so I slid into a chair at her kitchen table and Ida Belle and Gertie followed suit. Then I waited. I wanted her to start the conversation because I wanted to know where her mind was. What she was focused on.
“My father didn’t do this,” she said.
“How can you be sure?” I asked. “Brock did you wrong and your father loves you. A witness places him at the motel and a security camera shows him driving nearby shortly after another witness overheard a man arguing with Brock. Then he ran and hid, tried to strand us on Number Two, and ultimately confessed.”
“He’s lying,” Gina said. “You think I can’t tell when my own father is lying? He doesn’t lie about much, which means he’s not very good at it. And I’ve become very adept at knowing when people are lying, especially those close to me. He didn’t fight with Brock.”
“But the last time we talked, you said it was possible your father confronted Brock,” I said.
“Confronted maybe, but not killed,” Gina said. “There’s just no way…”
“I believe you,” I said. “So why is he lying?”
Gina’s jaw dropped and she stared at me a moment, then blew out a breath.
“I…I don’t know,” she said, clearly surprised that I’d accepted her assessment so easily but not expecting the question I’d asked. “I guess I hadn’t thought that far.”
“That’s understandable,” Gertie said. “You’ve been focused on getting him out of this. You haven’t made it around to wondering why he was doing it in the first place.”
She slumped into a chair and shook her head. “I don’t know why he would lie. It doesn’t make sense. He loses everything for claiming he hurt Brock and gains nothing. My father is a good man, but he’s no martyr and doesn’t have the kind of ego that needs to be fed.”
I nodded. “So the logical assumption is that if he didn’t fight with Brock, he knows who did and is protecting them. So who would he protect, even if it meant his own suffering?”
“Me and Billy, of course,” she said, then her eyes widened. “You don’t think I did it?”
I held up my hands. “You just said that your father would protect you even if it cost him. We have to ask.”
“But I was here—and drunk. I barely made it from the back porch to my bed, and not even that far without getting sick first. I woke up the next morning fully clothed down to the shoes I was wearing the night before. Even if I blacked out, there’s no way I could have driven to the motel, gotten in a fight with Brock, and driven back here. I didn’t even know that Brock was here until I overheard you guys talking with Ally.”
I watched her closely as she delivered that statement. She was overwrought and agitated but I didn’t think she was lying. I couldn’t be positive, as the situation was so emotionally charged that the behavioral lines could blur, but I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for the time being.
“So if it wasn’t you, then who else would your father make this kind of sacrifice for?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s prison…I can’t imagine…”
“What about Cooper?” I asked.
She started to shake her head but then the idea caught hold and I could see the uncertainty in her eyes. “He wouldn’t,” she said.
“Who wouldn’t?” I asked, not sure if she was referring to her father or Cooper.
“Either…both,” she said.
“Cooper thinks Brock was the reason you wouldn’t marry him,” Ida Belle said. “Are you sure he wouldn’t take an opportunity to confront him, especially if he knew Brock was back in town?”
“But he didn’t know,” she said. “None of us knew…but then, that’s not true, is it? My father had to have known or he wouldn’t have gone to the motel. But how did he know?”
“Cooper makes deliveries to the motel, doesn’t he?” I asked.
“He makes deliveries anywhere that needs parts,” she said, then gasped. “He said he had to make a last-minute run to New Orleans last week for HVAC parts for the motel. He wanted to know if we needed anything from the city. Oh my God. What am I supposed to do? My father can’t go to prison for something Cooper did, but I don’t want Cooper to go either. It was just a fight. No one intended to kill Brock, or they would have shot him. Sorry it sounds so cold, but that’s the truth.”
I nodded.
Maybe it was the truth. Maybe not.
We left Gina with a whole new set of worries and climbed back into Ida Belle’s SUV. Everyone sat silently for a bit, then finally, Gertie looked over at me.
“It’s like RJ and Brock came back to town and ruined Gina’s life all over again,” she said.
Because there was so much truth in that statement, I only nodded.
“Was she lying?” Ida Belle asked me.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “But I’m not a hundred percent. Or maybe I just don’t want to think so.”
“I don’t either,” Gertie said.
I sighed. “Sometimes this whole becoming a normal person thing really gets in the way of how I used to do my job.”
“You’re not losing your edge,” Ida Belle said. “You’re just seeing more of the gray. It was always there, but you didn’t have the proper life experience to take it into account. And in your defense, you didn’t have to. You didn’t pick or investigate your targets. You carried out orders. Someone else made the determination.”
I nodded. She was right, but somehow, it didn’t make me feel any better.
“Gina seems certain that her father didn’t do it,” Gertie said. “But she’s floundering on Cooper.”
Ida Belle nodded. “Hence the disclaimer that if one of them did it, they didn’t intend to kill him.”
“Which might be the case,” I said. “Could be whoever shoved Brock left him still standing and making excuses. But it could also be that if someone shoved him and he passed out for a bit, they thought they’d killed him and fled.”
“It’s definitely not the best look,” Gertie said. “But I can hardly blame them for not sticking around and calling 911.”
“The DA can’t prove that’s the way it happened,” Ida Belle said. “So at least there’s that.”
“Sledgehammer still could have done it,” Gertie said. “Even if Cooper confronted Brock, Sledgehammer could have gone in after and done the shoving.”
“Sledgehammer is definitely not off the hook,” I said. “If you make the assumption that whoever pushed Brock and took a shot at RJ are the same person, that leaves Sledgehammer and Gina as the two who make the most sense.”
“Any movement on the tracker?” Ida Belle asked.
“It’s gone silent,” I said.
“Could it have hit a dead spot?” Gertie asked.
“It’s possible,” I said. “But it’s more likely it fell off and was destroyed. Still, I have an idea on how to find him again.”
“You think he’s still here?” Ida Belle asked.
“As long as RJ is here, I’m going to operate on the assumption that his boss has told him to stay put. So far, Sledgehammer thinks he’s skated under radar, and Cecil confessing helps him even more.”
“Is Carter looking for him?” Gertie asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I think he’s got to focus on Cooper first, and he would have to do things by the book anyway.”
“Sledgehammer’s not going to talk to Carter anyway,” Ida Belle said.
“No,” I agreed. “But if we can run him down, we might be able to overhear another conversation. Carter can’t use it as evidence, but we might be able to figure out a way around that.”
“Like what?” Gertie asked.
“Like one of us saying we personally overheard the conversation,” Ida Belle said.
“So lying under oath,” I pointed out.
Gertie waved a hand in dismissal. “As long as there’s not court on Sunday, I’m good. And it’s not exactly lying. If we hear something with the microphone, then that is personal. Just the location and circumstances are a little hedged. If it puts the right person in jail, I’m good with it.”
I nodded. So was I.
“So where do you want to start looking?” Ida Belle asked.
“The hotel nearest to the diner where the tracker last signaled,” I said.
Ida Belle started up the SUV and we headed off. The hotel was a couple exits farther up the highway than Shadow’s domain, and we drove most of it in silence. I assumed we were all processing the potential outcomes—both positive and negative—and then attempting to come up with how to handle collateral damage if the negative outcome was the one that prevailed. By the time we reached the hotel parking lot, I still didn’t have any answers.
“I don’t see the Mercedes anywhere,” Ida Belle said as she cruised the parking lot.
“Let’s head inside and I’ll ask at the front desk,” I said.
“You think they’ll tell you?” Gertie asked.
“If I tell them he works for a known drug dealer and is dangerous, I’m guessing they will,” I said.
“Good point,” Gertie agreed.
Ida Belle parked and we headed inside. I showed the photo of Sledgehammer to the clerk working the front desk, but he didn’t recognize him. Still, this was a much bigger facility and probably had several front desk employees.
“Let’s head to the dining room and see if any of the waitstaff recognizes him,” I said.
We walked down a hallway to the small restaurant that served the hotel and I drew up short.
“Table in the corner,” I said. “Reading the newspaper.”
Ida Belle sucked in a breath. “It’s our friend Mr. Garmon.”
“Let’s go have a chat with him,” I said.