Free miss fortune mystery (ff) - bubba dub dub by sam cheever Page B

easily to everyone except Carter. It always seemed to leave a mark on her when she had to lie to him.
    “Leave this to me,” Ida Belle murmured.
    Fortune looked so relieved I felt sorry for her. It couldn’t be easy dating the law when you hung out with people who regularly eviscerated the line between legal and not so legal.
    “Didn’t you get your ticket?” Ida Belle asked Carter.
    He strolled up to us and stopped, his gaze locking on Fortune. “What ticket?”
    “Hebert’s is having a boat show for the Fourth of July. I’m surprised he hasn’t already been to the Sheriff’s office for his permit.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s going to be quite an event. Boat rides, water acrobatics, a carnival.”
    Wow, when Ida Belle came up with a story she did it up big.
    “You don’t say.” Carter slid his gaze over the four of us, no doubt looking for the weak link. Determined not to be the fault in the line for once, I nodded enthusiastically. “I guess that’s what you four were doing on the bayou this morning…rehearsing for the water acrobatics?”
    “Absolutely!” Gertie agreed. “I was doing a Flying Wallenda off the side of the boat while Ida Belle verified how long she could keep the bottom out of the water.”
    “Yeah,” Carter agreed, his gaze locking on Fortune. “That pretty much describes what I saw.” What about that other boat?”
    “What other boat?” Gertie asked. She widened her eyes innocently just in case her wondering tone of voice didn’t fool him.
    “The one you were playing chicken with. You know, the big black one that barely veered off before you crashed.”
    Fortune and Ida Belle looked at each other and Fortune gave a laugh. “So that’s what the black thing was that whizzed right past us.” She shook her head.
    “We were so busy instructing Gertie on her Flying Wallenda we didn’t even notice the other boat.” She placed a hand over her heart. “Whoo. That was close.”
    “Really?” Carter asked Fortune. “That’s what you’re going with?”
    She widened her eyes and cocked her head. “What do you mean? That’s what happened.”
    Clearly disgusted, Carter shook his head. “Where’s your ticket?”
    “Hmm?” Ida Belle asked.
    “You said Big was selling tickets to his Fourth of July event. Where’s your ticket?”
    “Oh,” Gertie said, chuckling. “He ran out just before he got here. He promised to bring more back in twenty-four hours.”
    Beside me, Fortune stiffened. Gertie was veering a little too close to the truth. Fortune reached out and tapped Carter on the arm, no doubt to distract him. “How’s Tiny? Did you get the fence repaired?”
    “He’s fine,” Carter grumbled. “The fence is another matter. I’ll have to keep him chained while I’m gone during the day until I can get it fixed. That’s the second time he’s blasted through in that spot. I don’t understand it.” He skimmed us all with a look. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think somebody was taunting him.”
    “Fortunately you do know better though, Carter,” Ida Belle told him.
    “Yeah.” He cast his glower over us one last time and turned to stalk back to his truck. “I’m gonna go back to the office and make a phone call to Hebert’s. If I find out he’s not having a Fourth of July event you four will be hearing from me again.”
    All the blood rushed from my face. “Oh no, what are we going to do? He’ll find out we lied.”
    Fortune shook her head. She was already dialing a number on her cell. “Big has as much to lose on this as we do if Carter starts snooping around. At least for the moment he needs us. He’ll tell Carter what we want him to hear.”
     
     
     

 
     
     
    CHAPTER NINE
     
    We were having dinner at Francine’s Diner when the door opened and a big guy with graying blond hair in a messy ponytail and a silver-dollar-sized red bump on his forehead rolled in. He looked around the diner and then made a beeline right for our