“Corbin thought the wine was from Sean?” Cordelia rubbed her brow as she tried to sort out her thoughts.
“I’ve always had a saltwater tank with coral, and I’ve been handling palytoxin for years. I know how much a person can come in contact with. It was supposed to be Corbin and maybe Edna drinking it. But James had a bad case of pneumonia a few months back. It weakened his lungs significantly. If it hadn’t been for that, he would’ve only gotten sick too.”
“That’s awful.” Cordelia reeled from the confession. How unfortunate that the one person who wouldn’t have been able to stand up to the palytoxin’s respiratory triggers was the one person who accidentally ended up with the wine.
“James was so proud when he came home with that bottle of Dew Valley. He thought he got one over on the wine dealer.” Stella gave a watery smile as she stared at her lap. “I thought Corbin would buy my fake note, since Dew Valley is only served in a few select restaurants, two of which belonged to Sean O’Leary.”
“How did you know the Abernathys were doing business with Sean?” Cordelia had only uncovered their connection because of Honey, but Stella didn’t strike her as someone who would give the likes of Honey Stevens the time of day.
“My... ah... friend Gladys and I are regulars at Benedict’s.” Stella blushed a pale pink under the soft glow of the porch light. “We were at a booth next to theirs, which are all private and closed off—easier to do disreputable business, I suppose. They struck upa deal to take down the Chickadee. I figured since I was the only one who knew about it, I had a duty to act.”
“But why?” Cordelia asked. “What did it matter to you if the Chickadee went the way of the wind? Your husband was a client of Daisy’s.”
“With my blessing.” Stella took Cordelia’s hands. “I know you’re young, and you might not understand, but my husband and I were much better off as friends. We didn’t want to divorce and cause a scandal, but we both had needs we saw to elsewhere.”
Cordelia glanced at the front door, to where Gladys was likely waiting on the other side to finish the night with Stella that looked like it had only just begun. Cordelia understood perfectly well what needs Stella had and didn’t fault her for keeping them quiet.
The world may have moved forward, but small towns in Texas clung furiously to the past. Her husband’s former congregation wouldn’t make life easy for Stella. They were downright miserable to Martina just for ordering books about fictional gay couples for the library. And seeing as how the congregation still had say over whether Stella could keep her house, she was just trying to protect herself by flying under the radar.
Taking in Stella’s miserable expression and the guilt eating her bones down to the marrow, Cordelia made a decision that might haunt her in the future but felt right in this moment. “I’m not going to say anything about what you told me. Archer might suspect you, I’m hoping he won’t for much longer, but I’ll never say a word.”
“You won’t?” The shock made Stella’s delicate features paler. “But aren’t you afraid Daisy is going to take the fall for the poisoning if you don’t turn me in?”
“Not if someone else takes the fall for her.”
Stella’s eyes widened at her implication.
The old Cordelia was a big believer in black-or-white thinking.There was right and wrong and she never saw a need to deal with the mess of in-between. But she couldn’t deny the last few months had changed things. She no longer held such a singular and narrow view. The Chickadee had opened her world to the rainbow hues of mostly good people trying their best.
As far as Cordelia was concerned, Stella was going to pay for what she’d done to the pastor for the rest of her life. In jail or out, it didn’t matter, she’d be paying either way.
But Sean O’Leary would never pay for his crimes. Archer would try to pin him with Edna’s kidnapping, but he’d dispose of Edna before she could testify, and take down Cordelia and the chicks without anyone ever speaking out against him. He had too much power, and leveraged fear the way the pastor had leveraged religion.
No, he’d never pay. Not unless someone made him.
“You made a mistake.” Cordelia winced. “Mistake” felt like too mild a word to describe the situation, but it was a mistake, nonetheless. “Don’t confess. I believe there’s another way for this to work itself out.”
“How so?” Stella asked.
“If you can get me a vial of palytoxin, I can save six lives.” Cordelia weighed her hands up and down in a scale motion. “That will sort of help make up for the one lost, right?”
From the look Stella gave Cordelia, it did not, in fact, make up for her husband’s death. But she released a deep sigh and stood. “If you wait here a moment, I’ll be right back.”
Cordelia once again had to weigh the pros and cons of what she was about to attempt, the right and wrong of it. She was diving deep into the gray—a messy, complicated space to be in—but found it didn’t scare her as much as it used to. Sometimes, bad people deserved to pay for their crimes.
And sometimes, they deserved to pay for the crimes of others.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
IT WASN’T WRONG TO FRAME SOMEONE FOR MURDER IF THEY WERE ACTUALLYa murderer. Hadn’t Belinda Sue said they were in the business of community service? And wasn’t removing a dangerous man from the chokehold he had on real estate, development, and not to mention the sheriff the best kind of service? Cordelia thought so, and this was the justification she repeated to herself as she drove back to the Chickadee with a vial of palytoxin tucked into the pocket of her sensible skirt.
As soon as she pulled up to the pretty pink motel in the middle of the wide plains, the chicks barreled out of Belinda Sue’s room, speaking over one another as Cordelia attempted to exit her car. All of them were asking variations of where she’d been and what they should do next. Cordelia extracted herself from Daisy’s tight grip and held up the vial of palytoxin.
“I have a mission for us tonight,” Cordelia said. “I can’t do this alone.”
“Whatever you need.” Belinda Sue stood at attention, a general among soldiers, ready to brave the trenches without fear. “We’re with you a hundred percent.”
Daisy and Arline nodded vigorously beside her, and Cordelia’s heart swelled at the sight of the most incredible women she’d ever known putting their full faith in her. They trusted herto keep them safe and put their interests first, and that’s exactly what she intended to do.
