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“WHAT WOULD BE THE FIRST thing you’d do if you won a million dollars?” I asked Ida Belle. We stood outside of my Jeep while Gertie went inside the Mini-Mart to get chummy with the clerk and pick up some beer.
Ida Belle didn’t answer. She was distracted, her gaze holding on a blue SUV parked at the far end of the Mini-Mart lot. The top luggage rack stuffed with boxes and suitcases. Someone sat in the passenger seat.
“Something you want to share with me about that car?”
She started to answer when the bell above the door jingled. Redneck walked out of the store, carrying a grocery bag in one hand and a six-pack of beer in the other. He smiled at Ida Belle. His smile contained a hint of nervousness.
“Hey, Ida Belle. I saw Gertie inside and thought I’d find you out here.”
Ida Belle smiled. “I thought that was your SUV over there. Looks like you’re going on vacation.”
He nodded. “Heading to Baton Rouge. This whole thing with Cootie. I need to get away for a bit.”
Ida Belle nodded and glanced back at his SUV.
Redneck kicked a rock with his boot, looking down at the ground. “I asked a lady friend to accompany me.” I couldn’t help but notice the Irish Setter boots he wore. He looked up at us. “I best be going. You take care.”
Redneck hurried to his SUV and shoved the grocery bag in the back seat before sliding into the driver’s side. As he pulled out of their space the woman turned her head slightly in our direction, trying to view us in her side mirror before pulling it back quickly toward Redneck. He stopped his SUV at the Mini-Mart’s exit and waited for a couple of cars to pass.
“What the hell?” Ida Belle said. “That’s Ivy Guerin.”
“Ivy? Why would she be with Redneck?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ivy Guerin was out of town when Cootie was murdered, wasn’t she?” I asked.
Ida Belle nodded. “So she said.”
“Just FYI, Redneck wears Irish Setter boots. And he has big feet.”
Ida Belle pulled her brows together. “Yes, but he has an alibi. He was in jail for indecent exposure.” She cocked her head and looked at me. “Or was he? What time did he go outside in his underwear?”
“Six o’clock.”
We both shot looks at one another. “Time of death was somewhere between four thirty and six thirty. How long would it take for SOMEONE to get back to Sinful from Glass Eye Lake after shooting Cootie?” I asked.
“Half an hour.”
“He doesn’t have an alibi,” I said. “He has the illusion of an alibi. One he gave himself by going outside in his underwear when he knew Midge Allair would be retrieving her paper.”
Redneck’s SUV pulled onto the road just as Gertie ran out of the Mini-Mart. “Now I remember!”
“We just saw Redneck,” Ida Belle said.
“With Ivy Guerin,” I added.
Gertie waved me off. “The winning lottery number. The clerk didn’t know who won. But seeing Redneck with his grocery bag kept tugging at me. Then I remembered. Two weeks ago, when we came to get our own numbers, Cootie and Redneck were here together. Cootie droned on and on about what his special numbers were and why. They must have just stuck with me. I think the play slip I found was Cootie’s. And I bet it was in Redneck’s trash.”
I looked at Ida Belle. “Redneck won the lottery.”
Gertie nodded. “With Cootie’s numbers.” Gertie’s eyes widened. “Did you say Ivy Guerin was with him?”
I nodded. “And she had access to Bruno’s rifle, phone and cigarette butts.”
We scrambled into the Jeep. I pulled onto the road in the direction Redneck had driven.
“He said he was heading to Baton Rouge,” Ida Belle said.
Gertie leaned in between the front seats. “Interesting. That’s where the clerk said the closest lottery office is. I bet they’re headed there now to claim Cootie’s prize.”
Ida Belle tried calling Carter on her cell. As was typical in the swamps, the signal kept cutting out. The road curved ahead. After making the turn, we lost sight of Redneck’s SUV.
“I don’t see him,” Gertie said.
I glanced up in the rear-view mirror. “That’s because he’s now behind us. He knows we know. We need to get him back to Sinful. Hang on.”
I swerved to the left, barely missing an oak tree, then performed a U-turn, toward the back road to Sinful. It wasn’t a great road, with its fair share of potholes, and would pose some challenges at high speeds, but it was a shorter distance to town, providing plenty of places to pull over and take cover. I preferred to be in a standoff with my feet on the ground and not in a vehicle. Plus, I wanted to be in Sinful jurisdiction. Provided we could contact Carter, I wanted this to be his collar.
Redneck took the bait.
“He turned around,” Gertie said.
Ida Belle pulled her gun from her purse.
I looked in my rear-view mirror. Redneck had the same idea. He stuck his left hand out of the window, holding a pistol.