I shot her a hard look. “I’d rather do that than end up smelling like I dipped myself in a can of BO.”
“Good point. I’ll see about fumigating the thing.”
I climbed in and held open my palm to Alice. “Give me the video camera. I might be able to retrieve what you shot somehow.”
She clutched it tightly.
“Oh, Alice,” Ruth said, sounding exasperated. “Would you give it to Blissful? She can’t make things any worse than they are.”
“I suppose not,” Alice said grudgingly. “Here you go.”
“Thank you.” I took the camera and held it against my breast. Ruth slid into the seat; Alice followed. Ruth drove us back to my house, stopping at Zaxby’s so we could have a dinner of chicken strips and fries.
We sat around my dining room table, silent.
“Boy, is it death in here or what?”
Francine towered behind Ruth. She took a long whiff of our dinner and smiled. “What I wouldn’t give to be able to eat chicken again.”
I snapped my fingers. How could I have forgotten! “Francine says Birda was near Cora.”
Ruth’s eyes narrowed. “Near enough for Birda to have killed her?”
I glanced at Francine, who pulled her head out from one of the cabinets like she was searching for food. “Yes, I think so.”
“But we’ve already searched Birda’s house for the knife,” Alice said. “She didn’t have it.”
“But Cora was strangled,” I pointed out. “We were looking to see who had set up Ruth. But we still don’t know what was used to kill Cora. Was it a cord? A piano wire? Does Birda play piano?”
“We also still don’t know why Cora was killed,” Ruth said. “Until we figure that out, we’re lost.”
“Yeah,” I added. “The whole thing between Cora and Tallulah wasn’t that big of a deal, at least not to me. Tallulah didn’t seem upset by it, either. It seemed like what was done was done, and I don’t think Tallulah had the strength to kill Cora. Though Jeffrey might have been able to pull it off.”
“We need to get into Cora’s house. See if anything inside suggests why she was killed.” Alice dipped a chicken strip into the house sauce and took a gigantic bite. When she was finished chewing, she said, “Once we’re in, we spend some time fishing around.”
Stuffed with chicken, I leaned back in my chair and patted my belly. “Now why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because you’re too busy with other things.” Ruth delicately fingered grease onto her napkin. “But Alice is right. If we’re going to find out more, we need to hit Cora’s house.”
I stared at the ladies. “How about we go as soon as it gets dark?”
Ruth nodded. “Sounds perfect.”
I took a shower and changed out of my BO clothes. Ruth and Alice fiddled with the camera, but according to Alice they still didn’t have any luck retrieving the footage.
By the time I dried my hair, it was dark. Alice and Ruth wanted to take the ATV.
Go them.
I followed in my Cruiser. There was no way in all the world that I was going to get into that ATV.
“That woman today,” Francine said from the passenger seat.
I shifted into drive and pulled into the street. “What about her?”
“She was the one who was killed the other night, right?”
I nearly gaped at her. “Yes. That’s what I’ve already told you.”
