Gertie slumped in her seat. “This sucks. I don’t want it to be Liam.”
“Neither do I,” I said. “It sounds like he deserves a break.”
“Well, a forensics team should be able to clear him, right?” Gertie asked.
“I’d be surprised if they could,” I said. “That butcher shop is blood central. And I imagine they clean it all the time. It would take them a hundred years to collect and test every specimen they found in there. And even if they did find something, it would be diluted or damaged from the cleaning.”
“And even if Gil’s DNA was there, it would be a partial match for Liam,” Ida Belle said. “The defense could easily blame a lower match percentage on degradation.”
“Then why sweep the place at all?” Gertie asked.
“Because they have to follow the logical path,” I said. “Even if they can’t find anything that makes their case, a lot of perps cave from the pressure of an investigation, especially if they’re not normally criminals.”
“Well, I really hope Judith knows something worthwhile,” Gertie said. “Because I don’t like the direction this is going.”
I nodded. I didn’t either.
We were almost to the exit for Judith’s farm when I saw the red Mustang on the opposite side of the highway, moving at a fast clip.
“I guess Tiffany decided to bail before the rest of Sinful could descend on her,” I said.
“I wonder where she’s going,” Gertie said.
I have no idea why the thought came to me, but I pointed at the car.
“Follow her,” I said.
Without saying a word, Ida Belle yanked the steering wheel left and drove into the grass median. Gertie flew up and hit the roof as she launched into the dip, then fell on the floorboard, only to be shot up again as Ida Belle jumped the shoulder back onto the highway. I turned around and shook my head as Gertie crawled back up onto the seat.
“When are you going to learn to wear your seat belt?” I asked.
“Is it too much to ask for a warning?” Gertie complained. “She didn’t have to tear through the median so violently. There’s nothing coming for miles.”
“I didn’t want to lose her,” Ida Belle said.
“Spaceships couldn’t lose you,” Gertie said.
We followed from some distance, easily keeping the bright red car in our sights. When she took the exit for the strip mall, I felt my pulse tick up a notch. I glanced back at Gertie, who frowned. Ida Belle kept her distance, but it was easy to spot the Mustang pulling up in front of the butcher shop.
“Go around back,” I said.
Ida Belle entered the strip mall on the opposite side from the butcher and headed down the side to the back. The rear parking lot had a couple dumpsters and cars scattered around, which I figured belonged to the people who worked there.
“Park on the side of the dumpster,” I said. “That way, if Liam walks out the back door, he won’t see your vehicle.”
“What are you going to do?” Gertie asked.
“I’m going to sneak in the back and see what I can hear,” I said and jumped out of the SUV.
“What do you want us to do?” Gertie asked.
“Same as always,” I said and grinned.
Hopefully, I wouldn’t run into an issue but if I did, I knew I could count on Gertie to create a diversion. I hurried down the side of the building to the back of the butcher shop and leaned against the door. I couldn’t hear anything and there was only one old truck parked directly behind the shop, so I hoped that meant it was still only Liam inside. An ancient moped leaned against the wall and I wondered if Liam used that in lieu of his truck when he didn’t have to haul anything. It would certainly be better on gas.
I twisted the knob and was happy to find the door unlocked. I eased it open and peeked inside. The back room of the shop was where the heavy lifting and cutting went on. A side of beef was hanging from a hook in the middle of the room, blood dripping onto an area with a drain in the middle of the floor. Stainless steel tables lined the walls containing an electric slicer, hand tools, and stacks of steak that had my mouth watering.
I could barely make out voices at the front of the shop, so I eased forward until I reached the swinging door that led to the front of the store. I pushed the door just a tiny bit and listened to the exchange.
“You can’t be here,” Liam said.
“But I need to talk to you,” Tiffany said.
“What do you want from me?” Liam said.
“You know what I want,” Tiffany said.
“Well, it’s a little late for that,” Liam said. “The police were all over me this morning. I don’t need that kind of grief.”
“I’m sorry, Liam,” Tiffany said. “I didn’t send them.”
“You didn’t have to,” Liam said. “Just being born to that man has made my life miserable and now I’m in hot water. It’s only a matter of time before they come back with a search warrant. Just go, Tiffany, before you make things worse. You might not have told them to come here, but you’re the reason they did.”
I heard a half cry, half sob along with retreating footsteps, then the bell over the front door rang, signaling her departure. I crept back across the room, ready to slip out, but when I eased the back door open, a guy carrying what looked like a whole pig came staggering toward me.
I bolted back inside, scanning the room for a place to hide, but there wasn’t one. All the tables were open underneath, the only other door in the room led to the front, and the back was covered by a pig farmer. The only option was the walk-in freezer and I had no way of knowing if that’s where the pig was going.
With no other options, I dashed into the freezer and placed a sausage link in the door to keep it open. Then I ducked behind a shelf stacked with ribs and pulled a sheet of plastic over me. I’d no sooner gotten the plastic in place when the door opened and I heard someone huffing inside. A second later, the pig hit me square in the face and knocked me back into the wall. I couldn’t see over the massive body so I just held my breath and hoped the pig guy wouldn’t be taking a closer look. He must have been satisfied because I heard him walking away and then a couple seconds later, the door slammed shut. I managed to shove the pig off of me and ran for the door, but it was one of those old styles that locked automatically from the outside.
Crap!
There wasn’t even a ceiling to climb through.
I pulled out my phone and sent a text.
Need a diversion and a rescue. Locked in freezer.
Gertie: On it.
Ida Belle: Good God.
Chapter Five
I heard the back door open again and this time Liam greeted the pig guy and they started discussing weights and prices. I ducked back behind a shelf on the opposite side of the cooler from the pig in case Liam came inside to check out the product.
Out back, I heard a small engine fire up and rev.
The moped!
“What the heck!” Liam shouted, and footsteps ran for the back door. “Someone’s stealing my moped!”
“And my boudin!” the pig guy yelled.
I heard scrambling for a minute and the sound of jiggling keys, then a vehicle fired up and I assumed either Liam or the pig man were going after Gertie, who was undoubtedly the boudin thief. I tugged on the door handle, silently willing the thing to open, but it wouldn’t budge. No way was Gertie going to outrun a truck with a moped.