“They both had the breath knocked out of them, but Eugene got the worst of it. Bates fell right on top of him, and he’s a big guy. The minute Eugene got his breath back, though, he started cursing. Funny how his voice suddenly dropped about an octave.” I recalled that moment at our first meeting when Eugene forgot and let his voice deepen briefly. That was my first clue, though I didn’t realize it until later. “The wig came loose in all the hullabaloo, but he didn’t realize that. He was still trying to make us believe he was his hundred-year-old grandmother.”

“He’s not all that bright, is he?” Helen Louise laughed, and I did, too.

“He has a certain kind of low cunning,” I said after the merriment subsided. “He just can’t seem to think things through clearly and consider the consequences. Otherwise he wouldn’t have done some of the lamebrained things he did. Searching Gordon Betts’s and Della Duffy’s rooms at the hotel was pretty stupid, though of course he tried to lay that off on Eagleton later. I still don’t know what he expected to find.” I paused as another memory surfaced. “He also tried to con me into thinking he was worried Eagleton’s demands would cause his poor granny to have a heart attack and die.”

“One mistake after another, like planting those manuscripts in poor Mr. Eagleton’s hotel room.”

“Exactly. He wanted to confuse things—and he did—but it was a dumb way to do it. It was obvious to Sean and Kanesha that Eagleton wouldn’t have done such an asinine thing.” I drank the rest of my brandy and put the snifter on the end table beside me. “Eagleton was grateful to Sean for his help, but he hasn’t coughed up the fee yet. Sean will probably end up writing it off.”

“That’s too bad,” Helen Louise said. “Speaking of Sean, any movement in the stalemate between him and Q.C.?”

“Not as far as I know.” I shook my head. “Sean inherited every ounce of my stubbornness and more besides. They’ll work it out eventually.”

“I hope so, because he and Alexandra are so good for each other, I think.” Helen Louise sighed.

I had to laugh. “Yes, she’s as stubborn as he is, and maybe they’ll wear each other down a bit and learn how to compromise.”

“Back to Eugene,” Helen Louise said. “We wandered off track again.”

“Kanesha picked up the wig and waved it in front of him, and that shut him up. He was mad, though, and I thought any minute he’d start hopping up and down like a temperamental child.”

“Where was his mother during all this?”