Authors: Greg Herren
But if he was gay—I felt myself softening toward him.
A little.
“All we can do is question him,” Venus replied. “We don’t have proof that Kennicott was acting on his orders.”
“According to Kennicott’s financials, some major funds were moved into his account yesterday morning,” Colin interrupted. “A hundred thousand, to be exact. We don’t know yet where it came from”—he frowned down at this phone—“but they’re working on tracing it.”
“I bet you anything it was from one of the Ministry’s accounts.” Blaine started bouncing again, a big grin on his face.
Venus frowned at him. “We don’t know that. You need to calm down—until we have proof, there’s not a damned thing we can do.”
A theory started forming in my mind, and all the scattered pieces began fitting together. I looked up at my aunt’s apartment. She was standing in one of the tower’s windows, looking down at us, talking into her phone.
“The thing that’s been confusing us all,” I said slowly, “is the issue of Mom’s gun, right? It was used in both murders, so we have been working on the assumption that the same person killed both women.”
They all turned and looked at me. “Go on,” Venus replied.
“But we also originally assumed whoever took the gun was the killer, and we were wrong about that,” I pointed out. “We now know Emily was the one who took Mom’s gun, but she didn’t use it. She took it over to Marina’s to confront her. It went off, she got scared and left—and also left the gun behind.” I kept staring up at Enid in the window. She was talking, very agitated. “Marina was originally planning to pay off Joe Billette—and then on Sunday, she changed her mind and called it all off. That couldn’t have made
Tara
very happy. Joe told Tara on Sunday night she had until Tuesday morning to finish paying him the balance—and Tara didn’t have that kind of money lying around, right? So, where would she get the money from?”
They just kept looking at me.
“Well, Peggy MacGillicudy and her group
might
have that kind of money,” Colin said dubiously.
“But if you were Tara, would you ask her for it? Think about it—would
you
ask the group that’s promoting you and getting you on every talk show in the country to pay off someone blackmailing you with sex tapes? Too big of a risk, I’d think, and I’m pretty sure Tara would have thought that, too. So ask yourself this question: If I were Tara, what would I do?”
“Well, the first thing I’d want to do is find out why Marina changed her mind.” Venus looked around all of us. “Wouldn’t you?”
“Makes sense.” Blaine nodded.
“So why
did
she change her mind?” Venus asked. Colin just grinned at me.
“Marina spent Saturday night with Emily Hunter, and Sunday morning she walked Emily to work,” I went on. “Her mother saw her. Her mother saw her
kiss
Emily. After years of being rejected by her daughter for being a sinner, for committing adultery, lo and behold, her sinful mother
finds out she’s a lesbian
!
And human nature being what it was, her mother couldn’t resist mocking her.
“So, here you have Marina. She’s a closeted lesbian whose father is one of the biggest homophobes in the country. His church—which she works for—is just as homophobic and is hosting a big anti-gay rally this coming weekend in conjunction with a national anti-gay group. Marina is about to be outed. She’s about to lose everything. But she also knows PAM’s spokesperson is a big phony, and she’s about to buy off the blackmailer who could expose Tara—with church funds, most likely.
“Marina knows the church will turn on her. She knows her father will turn on her. She’s about to lose everything. And I think, that Sunday afternoon, Marina had an epiphany.
“I think Marina finally came to terms with who she was.”
I took a deep breath. “And she decided, at long last, to do the
right
thing. She wasn’t going to pay off Joe Billette. She was going to let him expose Tara—hey, if she was going to lose everything, so should Tara. It would be her coming-out present to the world. So she told Billette she wasn’t going to pay him. He told Tara she needed to come up with the money herself.”
“That wouldn’t sit well with Tara,” Colin said, catching on. “Not with her big book release coming up.”
“Exactly. Now, imagine you’re Tara again. It’s Sunday night. You’re going to be on every major talk show in the country to promote your new book. You’re in the Superdome watching the most important football game in the history of New Orleans—and if the Saints win, you’re going to go to all the celebrations on Jared’s arm—it’s the culmination of all your ambitions, everything you’ve been working toward for months.”
Colin jumped in. “Only she’s about to lose it all because of Marina, the person she thought would help bury her past once and for all. What a night of hell that must have been for her—Jared even said she was acting funny.”
I nodded. “So what do you do if you’re Tara? She had to confront Marina, ask her why she was backing out, why she wasn’t paying Joe off—try to convince her to give him the money. Everything was crumbling around Tara—this was worse than just being publicly embarrassed, remember. She was going to become a laughingstock, the punch line for every comedian in the country. So, Monday, she gets up and goes over to Marina’s. Emily had already left. I imagine Marina, who was already an emotional wreck before Emily went over there, was pretty fucking distraught. They had a confrontation of sorts—maybe Marina told her the truth, we’ll never really know. But at some point, Tara picked up Mom’s gun and shot and killed Marina. She took the gun and got the hell out of there.
“But now she was really screwed. She still needed the money. Where could she turn? Who could give her the money and save her ass? She couldn’t ask Peggy MacGillicudy for the money. She couldn’t ask Reverend Werner. Her mother certainly didn’t have the money. She sure as hell couldn’t ask my cousin Jared. The way I see it, there was only one person she could logically ask.”
I looked from Venus to Blaine to Colin. They stared back at me, not saying anything, even Colin, who raised one arm in a “so?” gesture.
I pointed up at my aunt in the window. “My aunt Enid.”
The Fool
A promising new beginning
“Enid?”
I couldn’t help but grin at the incredulous look on Colin’s face. “Yes, honey, dear old Aunt Enid. We’ve been looking, almost from the beginning, for someone who was connected to both Marina and Tara.” I started ticking things off on my fingers. “Who introduced Tara to Jared? Enid. Who just told us Marina Werner was ‘like a sister to her’? Enid again. Who did Tara know who had access to the kind of money she needed? Bingo—Enid.” I glanced back up at her window. She was still standing there, only she’d turned her back to the window. She was still talking on her cell phone. “She has a Bradley trust fund, just like I do—only hers is way bigger than mine. Enid told us Marilou Bourgeois, Tara’s mother, was a dear friend, too. So who else would Tara turn to in her hour of need?” I shook my head. “I don’t think Tara went to Marina’s planning to kill her—I do think she just went there for answers. But she was in a highly emotional state—everything she’d worked so hard for was about to blow up in her face—and Marina was also volatile. We’ll never know what happened that morning, since they’re both dead, but we do know when Tara left, Marina was dead. And Tara brought the gun back to her own apartment.”
“So, you think there were two killers, is what you’re saying?” Blaine asked. “Tara killed Marina, and someone else killed Tara.”
“That’s exactly what I think.” I swallowed. “We’ve all been going crazy trying to find a double murderer—but I believe there were two killers who just happened to use the same gun. That’s why we can’t find someone to fit both crimes! Everyone who might have killed Tara had an alibi for Marina’s murder, and vice versa.” I looked back up at the window. “But I think the person who can answer the rest of our questions is Enid.”
“You don’t know who killed Tara?” This was from Venus.
I shook my head. “No, I don’t. But I have a feeling Enid just might—I think Enid knows a lot of things she isn’t telling anyone.” The lights in Enid’s apartment went off. “What the—?” As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I saw her coming down her back stairs in a hurry. “Where is
she
going?”
“Come on!” Colin took off running across Coliseum Street. After a moment’s hesitation, I ran after him.
Colin got to her just as she was getting into her car. I heard her snap, “Let
go
of my car door!” When I came up she gave me a beaming smile. “Scotty, will you tell your friend to let me go? I have to be somewhere, and I’m really in a hurry.” She scowled at Colin. “You’re really being
rude
.”
“I’m really sorry, Enid, but we have to ask you some more questions.” I smiled back at her, hoping my friendly tone was just as insincere as hers sounded.
Her eyes narrowed. “I’ve already answered your questions, and you’ve wasted enough of my time tonight already,” she snapped, tugging on the car door again. “I have nothing else to say to either one of you. Now let me go or I’m calling the police.”
“No need—we’re right here, ma’am.” Venus flashed her badge as she walked around me. “Now, you need to step out of the car.”
“I know my rights! I don’t have to talk to you!” Her eyes flashed crazily. “If I’m not under arrest, you can’t detain me! Now get out of my way!” Her voice kept rising with every word.
“Get. Out. Of. The CAR,” Venus said through gritted teeth. “NOW!”
Instead, Enid turned the key and revved the engine. Colin stepped to the inside of the door and tried to reach over the steering column to shut the engine off. But as he leaned inside the car, Enid slammed the gearshift into reverse and shoved her foot down on the gas pedal. The car flew backward. Blaine, who’d been standing behind it, barely had time to jump out of the way. He hit a slick spot on the pavement and his feet went out from under him as the car, its tires squealing loudly, spun while Enid turned the steering wheel hard.
The car slid sideways into the street and Colin came flying out. He hit the pavement with a sickening thud and his head bounced.
He didn’t move.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. I started running toward Colin, but it took forever. My legs felt like they were mired in molasses. Enid’s back tires spun and squealed as she slammed the car into drive. The door swung shut and I saw a triumphant smile on her face as I reached Colin and knelt down. His eyes were closed.
Out of the corner of my eyes I could see movement. As I fumbled for my phone I saw two black figures run out from the park—and I heard gunshots. I turned my head and saw Enid’s car go around the corner—but it was out of control. It was spinning and weaving from side to side and then it disappeared from my line of vision. There was a loud crash and the sound of shattering glass. The two black figures—who had to be the Ninjas—dashed off down Coliseum Street. I heard Venus swear loudly and she ran past me, her gun drawn. On my other side I saw Blaine sitting up groggily, shaking his head.
Colin opened his eyes with a moan.
“Are you okay?” I gasped out as I punched the keypad of my phone.
He winced as he sat up. “I’m okay, but my head hurts—it hurts like a bitch. Don’t call nine-one-one, I don’t need an ambulance.”
I could hear the operator saying something. I disconnected the call. “Are you sure?”
“Now you know how I felt the other day,” he said. He moved his arms and legs and winced again. “I think I may have cracked a rib.” He started gasping a bit. “That fucking hurts!” He winked at me and grinned. “You should see your face! Seriously, Scotty, I’ve had worse happen. This is nothing.”
“I’ll be right back.” I said. I hurried over to where Blaine was sitting up. “Blaine, are you okay?”
His eyes looked a little glassy and unfocused, but he nodded. “Yeah—I just bumped my head and got the wind knocked out of me. Did they get that crazy bitch?”
“I’m going to go check on that right now, if you’re sure you’re okay?”
He waved his hand, and I walked quickly down to the corner.
Enid’s car had jumped the curb and smashed head-on into a live oak tree. Steam was rising from the crumpled front end of the car, and I could see the windows had all broken or cracked from the impact.
Enid was sitting on the sidewalk across the street, her head down. Venus was kneeling beside her. Lindy and Rhoda walked up. “Nice shooting,” I said.
Lindy grinned. “Thanks.” She shrugged. “Shooting out a tire isn’t much of a challenge.”
“Can you two do me a favor?” When they nodded, I went on, “Can you go make sure Colin’s okay? He was in the car when she took off, and fell out—he hit his head and thinks he cracked a rib, but he doesn’t want an ambulance. I want to go talk to my aunt.”
Rhoda’s jaw set. “No ambulance? We’ll see about that.”
I could hear Enid talking in her little-girl voice as I walked up. She glanced over at me and away quickly, but not before I saw her nose was bloody and her upper lip was swollen.
Venus nodded at me and said, “You almost ran over a cop, and Colin Cioni could have been killed by your recklessness. That’s two counts of attempted murder right there, Ms. Bradley.”