“Yes, and I don’t know when or how becausesomeoneinterrupted my vision today,” I said, glaring at Rafe. He shrank to hide behind Miss Elva.
“You leave Rafe alone. He means well.”
I hate when people say that. It’s not necessarily a positive thing and I feel like it’s kind of a cop-out – a way to excuse bad behavior. I gave Rafe the stink eye before returning to the conversation with Beau.
“Is that what you were doing tonight? Gathering clues?” Beau asked as he washed glasses. He paused to wave at a couple who were leaving.
“We were going to, but the festival took a turn for the worse,” Luna said, and I continued to eat my meal, letting Luna fill Beau in on the night’s events. By the time she finished, he was fanning his face with a dishtowel.
“Lawd, remind me to get off work more often. Y’all had yourselves some excitement tonight,” Beau exclaimed.
“Trust me, it’s not as much fun as it sounds.”
It really wasn’t. I hate thinking about a murderer lurking amongst us. It messes with what I really want to think about – which is Cash and when I’ll see him next.
“So, all roads lead to this Horace character?” Beau asked.
“It certainly seems like that,” Luna agreed, biting at her lower lip. I didn’t say anything, and only looked up when the silence grew and I realized that everyone was looking at me.
“What?”
“Do you think Horace did this?” Beau asked, enunciating slowly as if I couldn’t understand English. I picked an ice cube out of my drink and threw it at him.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly, fidgeting with mynapkin. “It’s like, yes, I do, because Horace is crazy and it’s easy to hate him. But then there’s a side of me that feels like this is too neatly wrapped up in a bow for us.”
“You think it’s a setup,” Beau said.
I shrugged. “Could be. I don’t know. I will say that, in my brief time around Horace, he’s ordered me around and tried to steal power from me, both of which I do not like, so you pretty much know where he stands with me.”
“So what now?” Beau asked.
“Tomorrow night we go back to the beach.” I shrugged as Miss Elva and Luna both gaped at me. “What? We have nothing else to go on. Might as well get a feel for it,” I said.
“Why not tonight?”
“I’ve reached my limit of crazy for the night. It’s a full moon, and we’ve had enough shit go down. I want my pajamas, a glass of wine, Hank, and a good night’s sleep before I drown Sienna in the morning.”
“Girl, you’d better get your jealousy in check real quick. Sienna isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and you know it,” Beau called.
Didn’t I just.
Chapter Twenty-Two
After a verydisgruntlednight of sleep – even Hank got annoyed with my tossing and turning and eventually hopped from my bed to go sleep on his own –I glared at my phone when it blared the alarm.
Cash hadn’t called last night, which had annoyed me even more. I’d been studiously working on not being a clingy girlfriend, so I hadn’t texted him either. Let him wonder just what I was up to.
Hank seemed to sense my crankiness, and he tilted his head at me as he pawed to get up on the bed.
“Sorry, buddy,” I said, reaching down to pull him up onto the bed for a quick snuggle.
Nothing makes you feel better in the morning than sweet puppy snuggles. Feeling marginally better, I got up and took a quick rinse in the shower to clear my head, and shaved all the pertinent spots. The thought of Sienna in her neon bikini stopped my hand when I went to pull my usual dive swimsuit out of the drawer. Typically I wore a pretty skimpy swimsuit that fit easily under my skinwetsuit for diving. My hand hovered over my bikini as doubts flooded in about being directly compared to Sienna’s svelte figure.
Annoyed with myself for feeling insecure, I grabbed my bikini anyway. Just because I had a few extra pounds on my body didn’t mean I wasn’t gorgeous. Wondering why I couldn’t channel Miss Elva’s confidence, I slipped the suit on and pulled a simple tank dress cover-up over it.
“Let’s get you breakfast,” I said to Hank and he snorted in agreement as he raced down the steps in front of me, his little body wriggling in joy for his most favorite part of the day.
“Sit,” I ordered, standing above his bowl with a scoop of food in my hand. Hank sat obediently.
