“Thibault?” Brenda put her hand on the counter to steady herself.

“He came to dognap Rhett,” Agnes said.

Brenda sank down on the counter stool. “Oh, my God.”

Agnes took the bourbon to Lisa Livia, who was still peering into the basement, biting her lip now. “You okay?”

“My daddy loved this place,” LL said, and took the glass. “Just loved it. My God. And the Venus is still down there?”

The front door slammed, and somebody walked across the hall, and then Shane came into the kitchen, Rhett trailing behind him.

When he saw the four of them standing there, he paused, and Rhett flopped down beside him.

He looked tall and broad and dangerous, all dressed in black. He looked damned good, in fact

“Joey?” Brenda whispered, dead white now.

“This is Shane, Joey’s nephew,” Agnes said. “Shane, this is Brenda Dupres. Fortunato-”

“Shane, oh, my God.” Brenda put her hand over her heart. “Shane. Of course, what was I thinking? Well. You’ve grown up since the last time I saw you.”

“That’s Little Shane?” Lisa Livia whispered to Agnes. “Who knew he was gonna grow up to be that?”

Shane eyed them all warily.

Lisa Livia waved to him. “Hi, Shane. Remember me, Lisa Livia?”

“Hello,” Shane said, still cautious, which was something, given the effect Lisa Livia and her tube top usually had on men.

“You think the next time you’re in the basement, you could bring up that Venus statue?” Lisa Livia said.

“It’s a crime scene, LL,” Agnes said, trying not to watch Shane’s face. “We’ll get it to you, I promise.”

“Welcome home, Shane,” Brenda said, holding on to the counter now. “Whatever are you doin’ back in Keyes? Something for Joey?” Her voice shook a little on Joey.

“Looking out for Agnes,” Shane said. “We were wondering why nobody cleared out the basement before it was boarded up.”

“Cleared out?” Brenda said, her voice a little higher than usual.

“You got a bar full of booze down there, racks full of wine, a good pool table, and that real nice statue of the Venus de Milo-”

“Real nice,” Lisa Livia said, while Maria looked at her in disbelief.

“-but it all got boarded up. Why?”

Brenda blinked at him. “Oh, Frankie. It just all reminded me so much of Frankie, so I just nailed the door shut and papered over it after he disappeared.”

“My ass,” Lisa Livia said in Agnes’s ear. “She killed him. She probably buried him down there, that’s why she’s so spooked it’s open again. She’s probably got him buried under the Venus.” She sighed. “He’d have liked that.”

“Shh,” Agnes said, praying that was a joke. “Brenda, what did you want to talk to me about?”

Brenda looked back at her, as if she wasn’t quite sure who Agnes was. “What? Oh, Agnes. Well, about the wedding, of course. I was hoping you’d be reasonable about moving it to the country club since you’re never going to get the house painted in time but-” She looked back at the wall and then at Shane. “-I think I’m just going back to the Brenda Belle now and we’ll talk about it tomorrow.” She smiled weakly at Shane. “Tomorrow’s another day.”

“It always is,” Agnes said.

“I’ll go with you, Grandma,” Maria said, and Brenda didn’t say a word about the “Grandma.”

Shane moved aside, and Brenda glided past him, tottering a little on her heels, still beautiful, but very pale. For the first time, she looked close to her real age.

Maria shot one last baleful look at her mother and followed Brenda out the door.

“What’s the Brenda Belle?” Shane asked when they were gone.

“Her yacht,” Agnes said. “She’s been living on it since she sold me this place.”

“It’s an old tub,” Lisa Livia said and looked at Agnes. “Do you believe me now?”

“Maybe,” Agnes said. “Believe what?” Shane said.

“I’ll tell you later.” Agnes picked up the phone and dialed. “I have to tell Taylor first” Lisa Livia rolled her eyes, but Agnes said, “It’s his personal business, LL.” She listened to the phone ring once and then Taylor’s answering machine clicked on. When she heard the beep, she said, “I need to talk to you tonight. No excuses. Nine o’clock is good.” She hung up and turned back to Shane. “So Maria went mental on Evie and Brenda, then Lisa Livia told Evie she saw Xavier feel her up twenty five years ago, and now it turns out there’s a chance I’m going to lose this house, and I’m definitely going to be up to my ass in plastic flamingos by Thursday. How was your day?”

“I talked to Joey, I got shot at twice, and I got you an air conditioner. Why are you going to lose the house?”

“Shot at?” Lisa Livia said.

“This morning while Evie and Brenda were here?” Agnes said. “Because I heard shots then.”

“They missed. Why are you going to lose the house?”

Then the other shoe dropped. “You got me an air conditioner?” Agnes swallowed hard. “You got me an air conditioner?”

He looked taken aback. “Well, you were having trouble with the central air unit you had-”

“It’s too small for the house,” Agnes said.

“-so I checked it before I left and you needed another one. It’s no big deal, Agnes.”

“Oh, my God,” Agnes said. “You got shot at and you still got me an air conditioner.”

“Agnes, it’s an air conditioner, not a kidney,” Shane said, and she wanted to say, It’s better than a kidney, after all that, you still remembered me? but all she said was, “Thank you very much. I’ll pay you back.”

“No, you won’t,” Shane said. “Think of it as room and board. What’s for dinner?”

“Joey brought me a tenderloin last night and I put it to marinade this morning,” Agnes said. “That’s easy and then we’ll have sandwiches from the leftovers for a while.”

“That’s worth an air conditioner,” Shane said.

“I’ll do more,” Agnes said.

“You’re easy, Agnes,” Shane said.

You have no idea. Take me. “An air conditioner. My God.”

“So what happened with the house?”

“That’s what I have to talk to Taylor about first.”

“If you tell me, I’ll fix it,” he said, and she almost told him, just because he was there, and because he bought her an air conditioner, and because he could do anything, she was pretty sure. “It’s nothing I can’t handle,” she lied.

“I’ll go put the air conditioner in,” he said, nodded to Lisa Livia, and went out the back door.

Agnes turned to start dinner and caught sight of Lisa Livia watching her with her arms folded. “What?”

“Finally, something good is happening to you.”

“Yes,” Agnes said firmly. “I got an air conditioner.”

“That’s not all you’re getting,” Lisa Livia said. “And that fathead Taylor is toast. Couldn’t happen to a shallower guy, either.”

“Don’t get all starry-eyed on me,” Agnes said, heading for the refrigerator. “Shane is not staying.”

“I know, that’s the beauty of it. He gives you an air conditioner, evicts that airhead from your life, gives you great sex, and then leaves. My God. The perfect man.”

“Are you staying for dinner?” Agnes asked with studied politeness.

“No,” Lisa Livia said. “He might decide to take you before dessert. I wouldn’t want to be in the way. I’ll come back tomorrow for leftovers after I’ve rummaged around on the Brenda Belle to see if Brenda’s got anything incriminating packed away. She’s about as smart with money in general as you are, so outside of scamming you for this house, I doubt she’s much ahead of you on anything.”

“I’m smart with money,” Agnes said.

“You’re an idiot with money,” Lisa Livia said. “So is Brenda or she wouldn’t be in this cash bind now. You’re the genius with words; I’m the genius with money. We should do something together with that. But not tonight. Tonight you’re going to be playing footsie with the hotsie.”

“You’re disgusting,” Agnes said, trying not to grin.

“Yeah, but I’m going to save your butt,” Lisa Livia said. “I’m not kidding about that Venus. I want it.” She took one more look at the basement door and left, and Agnes sighed.

That made two people who were going to save her butt. The place was filling up with people who wanted to save her.

She tried to feel exasperated about that, but she grinned instead. Then she went to make dinner.


Shane spent the rest of the afternoon wrestling with the new air-conditioning unit and with the idea that his good old uncle Joey was still keeping something from him. Considering what he’d already been told, it had to be something pretty serious, which did not bode well for his getting back to his regular employment, something that didn’t bother him as much as it would have the previous night. Doyle came by but didn’t offer to help with the AC, saying he needed to focus on the house painting, although Shane figured it would be at least a decade before he got the place painted at the rate he was going. About seven, he went inside and cleaned up, and Agnes fed him tenderloin and fresh corn and new potatoes and ice cream with homemade hot fudge, and he thought about telling her he didn’t eat that much and then plowed through all of it. She said, “I think I’m going to make a golf course cake with flamingos for Palmer’s groom’s cake,” and he said, “Okay,” because there wasn’t much else to say after that, and watched her finish her next day’s To Do List. It was long. Then she opened her laptop to work on her column, muttering about wedding cake, and he went out and finished getting the unit hooked up. After that, he sat on the back porch steps and watched the sun set with Rhett and then waited in the moonlight for Wilson to show up, all of which would have been peaceful if Agnes hadn’t been so tense and if Wilson hadn’t been coming to him. It was unheard of for Wilson to come to him. Plus it was well past nine and that waste of a human being Taylor hadn’t turned up yet. Everything was wrong.