She hummed in agreement, going to the stove to put a large pot on one of the burners.“Clam chowder for dinner Tonight, for the out of towners,” she added with a hint of disdain.“And don’t sound so surprised about us going to college, Mister Movie Star.Me and Carmel have degrees in literature and art conservation.”She glanced back with a surprising wink.“I’ll let you figure out who’s got what.Now, you ain’t here to talk about my schooling or to help me with dinner.If I had to guess, it’s because you’re a Nosy Parker.”
“I’d protest but you know me better than that.”
She went to the fridge and pulled out a small tray of vegetables, setting it in front of me.“Here.Eat while we talk.”
I nibbled on the roll and some carrot sticks while filling her in on my stop by the tea shop.“Belinda seemed kind of freaked out about it,” I added.“Like she’s afraid of that Anmorata woman.”
Sienna tipped her face skyward and shook her head.“That Anmoratagirlis playing fast and loose with her own safety.Carmel’s not a violent woman but she came pretty near to it on Thursday because of that girl and that asshole Tubbs.”
“Wow.Not a big fan of not speaking ill of the dead?”I asked, selecting a carrot stick and dipping it into some chunky hummus.“This is really good.”
“Carmel.She’s good at dips and such.And if the dead want to be spoken of kindly, they should be kind in life.”
“Can’t argue with that much,” I sighed.“And yeah, I’m snooping.Professional curiosity I suppose.”Sienna raised her brow at me in a bemused, slightly disapproving expression.“Not because I think I’m a PI or something,” I hastened to add.“I just knew Tubbs in LA.He wasn’t a nice guy then.Liked to hurt people with words.”
Sienna hummed dismissively, turning back to doing horrible things to some shellfish on the stove.“He was a jerk to everyone.And I’m not saying he deserved whatever happened but it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving fellow.”
“Wow,” I laughed uneasily.
She sniffed.“The Sentinel said it was an accident aboard his boat.”
“The what now?”
“Sentinel.”She shot me an unamused look over her shoulder.“The town paper?Comes in print and online format?Really, Damien, wedoread the news here!”
“Sorry!I just thought it was the Post or something.”
“The Post,” she sneered, smacking a shell as she got back to work.“That rag!The Sentinel is therealnews.And they reported Tubbs had a slip an’ fall on his boat.Not uncommon.People playin’ at sailor, they don’t watch their heads when the boom comes ‘round andsplash.Or they forget the damn things move with the water, they’re nothousesfor crying out loud.”
“So you’re on Team Slip and Fall?”
“I’m on Team Not My Problem.Well,” she hesitated.“Maybe he still is.He was supposed to be stayinghere, you know.Not on his fancy boat.”
“He change his mind?”That would be a very Tubbs thing to do, I thought.Put someone out and then pretend like it wasn’t his problem.
Sienna snorted.“Nope.I did.Carmel wanted me to back down but no way in Hell was I going to let him stay on here.He and that cat were in our place—welivehere, for crying out loud!—for four hours and the room was absolutely trashed!Trashed, Damien!I can’t even look at it right now and we have a wedding party coming in at the end of next week that has it reserved!”
So he was without a place to stay, kind of.And he’d decamped to the boat with his cat in tow.He’d fought with not only the Moons but this Anmorata Blue person as well...Okay, to be absolutely honest with myself (ugh), none of it added up to murder but it definitely did the math to wind up as weird.Or maybe not so much weird as...icky.Now, Damien, you’re being paranoid, my inner Max chided.He was always the voice of reason in our relationship but that really was kind of damning with faint praise, considering some of my past decisions.
Can you blame me, though?I asked that annoying inner bestie.I know you remember Renee Rhoades.And Charlie and—
Sienna lobbed a bit of potato peel at me.“You’re doing a terrible job at being nosy.Not even listening.”
“Sorry,” I muttered sheepishly, flicking the potato peel towards the sink.“I was just thinking how one of the last thing Tubbs ever did was get into fights with people.”
Sienna stared at me for a long, quiet moment.“On Thursday afternoon, Carmel and I were setting up for tea.One of the women started screeching about how could he, he would ruin everyone’s lives, calling him names even I didn’t know.”With a ferocious twist, she turned up the heat under the pot of chowder before turning to glare in my direction.“I went up to see what the fuss was about and that room wasdestroyed.The rug was torn, the bedding was trod on, cat pisseverywhere.Not a litter pan in sight!”
“He’s potty trained,” I muttered, frowning.The cat was potty trained but there was no bathroom attached to any of the bedrooms in the inn.
Why would he have done that?I knew Tubbs was vile butseriously?
“Potty trained,” Sienna repeated, incredulous.“Well, he must’ve forgotten because he pissed all over that handmade ring quilt we had on the bed.Andthe hand-knotted rug.And the floors.And—”
“My mom used to work for one of those services that helps hoarders clean up,” I offered.“Sometimes it was pretty extreme.Want me to ask her how they used to do it?”
Sienna didn’t answer outright, just gave me a slight tip of the chin before she turned back to steaming the quahogs.I took it for ayes pleasein her taciturn way.
All was quiet for a few minutes as she worked on the chowder and gave the potatoes another stir.I waited—Sienna was, by nature, quiet and I knew she’d run out of steam with her words for the time being.She’d come back around and trying to push her would just end up in getting kicked out of the kitchen.
