Page 56 of Murder on Charity Lane

CJ left her arms. “They wouldn’t care.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”

She stepped out the front door. “Stop apologizing and tell me which way to find Anthony.”

“Oh!” Ocean said, following her. “I think he’s…”

“Not here at the moment,” Lily-Ann called from her porch, making Ocean wonder if she’d been listening through the window.

CJ gave a little wave. “Oh! You must be Lily-Ann. I’m CJ. Mrs. B said Anthony might help me move in? There isn’t much but I’m renting the van by the hour.”

“I’ll help,” Ocean said.

“We need a man,” Lily-Ann said, then saw Ocean’s expression. “What? That’s what they’re for.”

“Well, I brought one,” CJ said. “But I want two. I’d rather not wrestle half that couch again. Pax is here.”

Ocean tilted her head. “Pax the masseuse?”

“He’s the closest thing I have to a coworker.” CJ’s cheeks pinked as she gestured toward the street. “He offered to help.”

“You have a crush on him!” Ocean said, enjoying CJ’s uncharacteristic embarrassment.

“I do not! Well, maybe I did, but only for a second. Wait till you see him.”

“I am immune to the charms of men,” Ocean loftily informed her, then gave a soft whistle when a compact, beautifully built man ambled onto the property. “Okay, yeah.”

His light eyes contrasted prettily with his unshaven face. He was wearing a tight T-shirt with the words KNEAD YOU across the chest. He looked like Michelangelo’s David, dressed in SoCal casual, with amazing sandy-brown hair. His jawline alone could launch a thousand ships.

“All that and he’s into astrology, too,” CJ whispered.

“You’re such a girl,” Ocean murmured.

Pax gave a yawning smile as he reached them. “Morning.”

“I knew this was too early for you,” CJ said. “Pax, this is my Ocean, and that’s Lily-Ann.”

Ocean said hello, trying not to parse how she’d been introduced.

“You also worked for Frank DeYoung?” Lily-Ann asked.

“Well, not on the payroll.” Pax stifled another yawn. “But he always felt so much better after a massage that his wife had me coming by four days a week.”

“Plus, once for her,” CJ added. “Because she felt left out.”

“Maybe I’m just that good.”

“Uh-huh. Anyway, when Pax heard I got kicked out, he offered to give me a hand moving. He’s sweet that way. I just thought Anthony would make it easier.”

“We’ll manage,” Ocean said, then heard a tapping from across the courtyard.

When she peered closer, she saw Hamilton at his window. He caught her eye and gestured frantically toward Mrs. B’s cottage, mouthing unintelligible words.

“Er, though apparently I’m needed…”

“We’ll get started without you,” CJ said, and invited Pax inside to show him the cottage.

Ocean stood there for a moment, unsure. She was so unsure that she didn’t even know what she was unsure about. Then Hamilton tapped more urgently, so she bustled across the courtyard toward Mrs. B’s front door. When she turned the corner, she found Detective Enible on the stoop.