Harold’s jaw tightened. “I already told you there’s nothing I can do.”

“Unbelievable,” Halcyon said. “I always thought you were a limp dick. Turns out that body part went missing right along with your common sense and your backbone. The least you can do is cough up money for the attorney we need to find. Your daughter is in jail, Harold. Jail!”

“There’s no money,” he said quietly.

Marina and Halcyon looked at each other, then back at Harold.

“What do you mean, there’s no money?” Marina asked. “We’ve lived well beneath our means our entire lives. Where did it go?”

“I made some bad investments, okay?” Harold said.

“Like hair plugs, and veneers, and your new Mercedes?” Marina said.

“Don’t forget Chastity,” Halcyon said. “How much have you wasted on her?”

“What does it matter now?” Harold asked. “Marina already took half of everything in our accounts.”

Marina felt the blood drain from her face. “That was it? That was every dime we had?”

Harold nodded.

“Oh my God,” Marina said. “What have I done with my life? All that time spent working until my hands ached, then taking care of this house and Avery and you. And I have nothing to show for it except a daughter who will have a record and no college education and a husband who pissed our entire life’s work away on a whore. Everything I’ve done is a failure.”

She whirled around and ran out the door.

“Marina, wait!” Harold yelled after her, but she didn’t slow.

As soon as Halcyon climbed into her car, Marina shot backward out of the driveway while her sister struggled to get the door closed. As she tore off down the street, Halcyon buckled her seat belt and made the sign of the cross.

“We’re Baptist!” Marina yelled.

“I’m nervous, okay?”

The genuine fear in her sister’s voice made her immediately lift her foot off the accelerator. As the car slowed to a stop in the middle of the road, the breath Halcyon had been holding came out in a whoosh.

“I’m sorry,” Marina said. “I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore. I don’t know what to do next. Do I pull over and use my phone to try to find an attorney? Do I drive home? Or maybe into the bayou?”

“You drive to my house,” Halcyon said. “And we’ll use my computer to find an attorney. Maybe there’s one in Double Deuces that can handle something last-minute.”

Someone knocked on Marina’s window and she yelped. She looked up and saw Adelaide staring down at her, her normally dour expression full of concern.

“Adelaide,” Marina said as soon as she lowered the window. “Thank you so much for calling me.”

“Of course,” Adelaide said. “Is Avery all right?”

“Not really,” Marina said and gave the older woman a quick rundown of the situation.

Adelaide let out a stream of cursing that Halcyon gave a nod of approval, then she sucked in a breath and blew it out.