"What’s so important that it can't wait until tomorrow?"
"Sugar, this is difficult. I found some things about Hal that aren't pleasant."
"Worse than he hired that Post-it note loon, Hailey?" Celine looked at her nails.
"Oh, sugar, much worse. Sick, perverse. I wondered why Hal dropped the lawsuit. I knew he wanted vengeance. He would be looking at a ton of money. I got curious, got ahold of samples. He's the daddy of Viola's dead baby. Those Chase boys are digging. If they find out, he'll talk to save his sorry ass. We don't need them interfering with our other business."
"What are you planning?" Celine’s eyes widened.
"Kill two birds with one stone." Talbot, using a handkerchief, reached into his drawer, withdrawing the P228. "That Bailey boy left this behind years ago. With some luck, his prints are still on it. Hal will be shot in my den, a sorry case of mistaken identity." His smile was pure evil. The doorbell rang. "Celine, go answer the door. Take Tibby and Cecile for a walk."
Talbot sat with Hal, engaging in small talk and sharing a drink, when Cecile stormed into the room. "You sick bastard." Her fierce palm connected with Hal's face. Celine followed her sister into the room.
"And you," Celine angered at Talbot. "The letter you waived in Bailey's face. The reason he was so angry with you. Elizabeth was a child. Not much older than my sweet niece Viola. How could you?"
Cecile Dufour picked up the gun. "Talbot Reed and Hal Dufour, for your crimes against your daughters, I sentence you both to death." She held them at gunpoint. "Don't either of you think about moving. Celine, call Irvin, tell him to send Pellegrino and Forrester." Cecile fired four shots in rapid succession through a book from the coffee table, killing both men in silence.
Mike's head drew back. "That is one cold woman."
Cecile put the gun on the table. "Celine, take the car and head out the north pasture; a car can't be seen from there. Irvin will signal you when to come back. Tibby, we can hide in the attic until the cops leave."
Thibodaux bit and wet his lips. "The two of you, do you realize what you did? You shut off the trust for my girls."
"What do you mean?" Cecile stared at her handiwork.
"You two are rocket scientists. Talbot is their father."
Celine laughed. "That fucker. He slept with each of us."
The camera filmed the dead men for twenty minutes, then, "Talbot Reed."
"Farmer's voice. He should have turned around then and there. What was that?" There was a tinkle of glass. "Damn it, Martin said he heard something break." There were forty seconds of quiet.
"He's heavy," Thibodaux's voice complained.
"Tibby, stop whining. The two of us can lift a two-hundred-pound man. You were always a drama queen," Cecile's voice yelled. "C'mon, we’re almost there." The two came into frame, dragging Martin. "This will work out better than we planned. Drop him here."
"We need more than the gun. We need gunshot residue. Blood," Tibby said.
"Tibby, open the window. I'll reload the gun, and when he starts to wake, call 911. I'll fire four shots, and then we can head upstairs. We'll call Irvin from there."
Tibby put Cecile's words into action, opening the window.
"It shouldn't be too long; I gave him some of that elephant tranquilizer Alden uses to fix the problems," she said.
Thibodaux paced, and a calm Cecile sat in Talbot's desk chair. Every so often, she got up and toed Martin's ribs. She sighed. "What a waste. You’re a real specimen of a man. You'd make great movies." She dropped Martin's weapon in her bag. Another twenty minutes passed before Martin groaned.
Tibby stopped walking. "C'mon."
Mike sighed. "There's the missing half hour." The video kept playing.
"Calm down." Cecile called 911 on Talbot's phone before she let it fall to the floor beneath his hand. Cold and unemotional, she dipped a finger in his blood and dripped it from his hand onto the phone then she wrapped Martin's hand around the gun and fired four shots through the open window. She closed it, and they left the room.
"I think I’m going to be sick." Kieran ran his hand through his hair. "Mike, call Zach. Reach out to our team; I want eyes on Martin. I'm calling Cordelia Snow."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Thursday, August 27th
