Page 48 of Murder on Charity Lane

When Mrs. B hugged her, CJ’s wry smile looked warm and steady.

Ocean took her in a firm embrace. “I’m so glad Mrs. B bullied you into this. I missed you.”

“Me, too. I’m sorry. I needed to hide my head in the sand for a bit.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for. How are you holding up?”

CJ tapped a few loose pieces of paper on her table. “Better now.”

“Oh, uh, what are—”

“First, you two order, then we’ll talk!” Mrs. B interrupted, and handed over her credit card. “This is my treat. Get me a black tea with lemon and sugar, and don’t forget the lemon. Or the sugar. And something sweet. Whatever looks good. Shoo, shoo!”

“I’m sorry if you weren’t expecting me,” Ocean said, as she and CJ headed for the counter.

“Stop,” CJ said. “I’m glad to see a friendly face.”

“Oh, right. I suppose his wife doesn’t want to keep you on…”

“I don’t know what I’ll do next. Frank hired me right out of college. Honestly, I don’t know how to do anything else.”

“What exactly did you do for him?”

“Everything. Managing the staff, dealing with the house. Fixing his phone for the hundredth time. Shopping for clothes, organizing his meds, handling financial advisors and lawyers.”

“So you have experience managing a multimillion-dollar property. That sounds pretty transferrable to me.”

CJ’s eyes crinkled with a smile. “I don’t know if I could do this for anyone else.”

“You were close.”

“Like you and Mrs. B.”

“So he made you crazy.”

“Ha! That, too.”

“If you did all that for him, what did his wife do? What’s her name, Karina?”

“Yeah. She bought things for the house and … I guess she gave him something to cherish.”

“He loved her?”

“Yeah. Poor Frank. He so wished that Karina and I got along better. She’s always been insecure about me. I was there first, I’m younger. I guess she saw me as a rival? She always felt the need to make clear that I was staff, not family. Except Frank didn’t really agree.”

“They fought about that?”

“Frank wasn’t big on fighting. He was more of an enabler.”

When they returned to the table with the food and drinks, Mrs. B said, “So enough with your romantic getaway!”

“Is that what that was?” Ocean said.

“Of course! Like a walk on the beach, with less walking. And less beach. So did CJ tell you that she lost her job and her housing?”

“Oh, shit,” Ocean said. “No.”

“Karina kicked me out last night,” CJ said.