PI On A Hot Tin Roof

from a crooked judge, but he had no idea she’d try to marry him. Know what LaGarde told me? He asked her why, and she said, ‘I like the house.’ I’ll just bet she did. I’ve been to
her
house—that woman is into possessions in a big way. I’ll bet she couldn’t wait to get that monster for herself and turn it into the Hearst Castle South. Meanwhile, she gets involved with Royce—she’s got a history of that kind of thing—and then…”
    “Yeah? What next?”
    “I don’t know how far it went. But I think she did it just because she could.”
    “Kind of like Bill Clinton.”
    Ms. Wallis nodded. “I think she would have dumped Royce once she was married to Buddy and turfed him right out of the castle. But then—here’s the one thing we know for sure: One of them killed Buddy in a fight in his own house. So she must have gone to Plan B.”
    Eddie said, “The question is, which twin has the Toni?”
    “Huh?” Ms. Wallis asked. “What does that mean?”
    “Ms. Wallis, Ms. Wallis. I forget how young ya are. What it ain’t is some hip-hop lyric. Know what home perms are?”
    “I think they still have them.”
    “It’s from an old perm ad. Wonder if Langdon’ll be able to charge either one of them.”
    “She will, or she’ll die trying.”
    ***
    It took a few days, but one morning Talba got the call from Jane Storey: “It’s Royce.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Royce Champagne has been charged with the murder of his father. FYI and all. Thought you’d want to know.”
    “Oh, yeah? What’s the reasoning?”
    “They’ve got a witness, but they’re not saying who it is.”
    “Oh.” It could be only one of two people.
    “But get this,” Jane said. “They’ve both been charged in Suzanne’s murder.”
    “Both? How could that be?”
    “I’m still working on it.”

Chapter 26
    Talba took a ride out to the Champagne house, where she found Adele working in the garden, wearing jeans for once.
    “Hi.”
    Adele stood up, brushing off her hands. “They’ve charged my grandson—you heard?”
    “I hear they have a witness. I’m just hoping her name doesn’t start with ‘L.’”
    “Thank God Lucy didn’t wake up that night—at least she’s saying she didn’t. Come in, why don’t you. I’ve got some iced tea made.”
    They drank the tea in the sunroom. Adele looked smaller, older, and a whole lot sadder. The lines from her mouth to her chin reminded Talba of a marionette. She couldn’t remember noticing that before. “I couldn’t get past Suzanne,” Adele said. “Yes, he’s my grandson, but my God! He killed his own wife!”
    Not to mention his father,
Talba thought.
    “Buddy. Jesus. Anybody might have killed him. Had all of Celeste’s money, and still sold himself for hams. The man was bent, that’s all. He enjoyed being a crook.”
    Talba had thought a lot about that. “Some kind of power thing,” she mused.
    “Oh, yeah. Buddy loved to play the big man. Listen, I heard the argument they had. I wanted to kill him myself. It wasn’t anything to do with Kristin. That was Royce’s story to the cops, but it wasn’t
anything
like that. He was so shamed by his own father, he wouldn’t even tell them why he killed him.”
    “What happened, Adele?”
    “You know how big this house is.” She flung out an arm to illustrate. “You can’t hear anything from one room to another. That’s why I’m hoping and praying Lucy really did sleep through it. I was awake when it happened. I came downstairs for a nightcap and heard them arguing in the library. You know what it was about? Buddy’s damned greed. That was all in the world there was to it. Royce was furious that he’d cheated those poor shrimpers—specifically that Cheramie man. He was trying to get him to pay ’em and shut down that goddam loser of a marina. Then Buddy started yelling at him—berating him for being a failure. Jesus, I was mad! I wouldn’t treat a roach the way he treated that boy. I was tempted to go in there and smack him down myself. But what I did was fix myself a bourbon and water, and go back upstairs. With the rest of the bottle.”
    “You didn’t actually see the murder?”
    “Oh, God, no. That’s how I rationalized not saying anything. Buddy could have gone out after the argument, you know? I didn’t
know
Royce did it. But then when that message thing came out, I couldn’t keep quiet anymore. Anyhow, that night I had my drink, and then another, and I read for a while. And then I did