Roan’s eyes flared. I shot Alice a scorching look and laughed it off. “She’s kidding, Roan.Kidding. Jail? Me? You’ve got to be joking.”
“That’s what I would’ve thought too,” Alice continued, “until it happened.”
Ruth elbowed her.
“Ow,” Alice whimpered.
“Let’s go, ladies.” I waved goodbye to Roan and stared at the sidecar. “You’re sure it doesn’t smell.”
Ruth nodded. “I’m sure. Hop in.”
I wedged myself into the small seat. Ruth was right, it no longer smelled of BO, but a strong soapy scent now clung to it. But hey, I would take just about anything over BO.
Once we were far enough away from Roan, I motioned for Ruth to stop. “Is everything in place?”
Ruth nodded. “Doris called and said both Tallulah and Birda were on their way to her house.”
“Great. I want you to drop me off at Birda’s. Then y’all go to Tallulah’s.”
“But what about Jeffrey?” Alice said. “He’ll tell on us.”
I cringed. “Crap. I forgot about Jeffrey.” I gnawed the inside of my cheek, trying to decide the best course of action. “Okay. Change of plans. Y’all both come with me to Birda’s. This should be quick because I know what we’re looking for.”
We reachedthe house a few minutes later. A single window glowed with light.
“We have to be careful,” I whispered. “We don’t want anyone to see us moving around inside.”
Ruth and Alice nodded in understanding. Ruth had parked around back near a copse of trees. I exited the sidecar. My legs were stiff from being hunched up under my chin, and my back screamed when I bowed back to stretch it.
But I was alive and I didn’t smell like BO, so I considered it a win.
Ruth started to exit the ATV but got caught on something. “Stupid side-by-side.” She yanked her coat. “There’s this piece of metal that grabs my clothes.”
Sure enough, one of the bars had a jagged wedge sticking from it.
“Got the stupid thing on sale because of it,” Ruth grumbled.
We retrieved the key and sneaked around back to open the door. Once we were inside, I started searching.
“What are we looking for?” Alice said.
“We need a picture of Birda wearing her watch.”
“That ugly thing?” Alice said. “The one that looks like someone vomited a pile of gold onto her arm?”
“That’s the one.” Just to be sure I had the right person, I tiptoed into Birda’s room and checked her jewelry box. I hadn’t seen her wearing the watch since the night Cora died.
I found her jewelry easily enough, but there was no sign of the watch.
Perfect.
“I’ve got a picture,” Ruth announced. It sounded like her voice came from the living room.
I padded back and found Ruth holding the picture high.
“Great. Now we have proof she owned the watch. Let’s get out of—”
The front doorknob turned. I shot Ruth and Alice a frantic look. As quickly as possible, the three of us headed into the mudroom. In the dark, all you could see were the whites of our eyes.
