Read Online Diver Down (Mercy Watts Mysteries) by A.W. Hartoin - Free Book Online

nemesis and it was sure to get back to him that I’d gone to someone else. It wasn’t worth the asspain. I didn’t know if anything was going on for sure other than the nagging feeling that something was up.  
    Aunt Tenne snorted and began snoring even louder. I slipped out of bed and wrote her a note. I was getting coffee, not telling Mom she’d been out until two. I was definitely not going to be the one to let that news out. Mom was the younger sister, but you’d never know it. She hovered over Aunt Tenne and fretted about her all the time. Once when I was fifteen Aunt Tenne went away for the weekend without telling Mom. She nearly called out the National Guard. Mom called every ER in the city and made me sit at a cemetery with her for hours. It was the weirdest thing. Mom wouldn’t say why she was so worried just that it was August, like that somehow explained things.  
    I threw on a cover-up and decided not to wear shoes. The morning was clear and sunny and the smell of coffee wafted around the palm trees. No sound from Graeme and Lucia’s bungalow, so I walked down to the restaurant to find a coffee bar had been set up. Dixie stood in front of it with her finger on her lips.  
    “What’s up?” I asked.
    “Their milk’s sitting out,” she said. “Should I tell them?”  
    I picked up a carton and checked the side. “It’s UHT milk. You don’t have to refrigerate it.”  
    “That’s weird. I don’t know,” said Dixie.
    “It’s fine. They use it all the time in Europe.”  
    The Girls had taken me to Europe multiple times when I was a kid. The boxes of warm milk freaked me out at first, but you get used to it. Dixie’s face changed and the corners of her mouth pulled down.  
    Oh, no. What’d I say?
    “Gavin never wanted to go to Europe.”
    I poured her a big mug of coffee. “You should go now. I recommend Paris. You’d fit right in.”  
    She perked up. “That’s right. The Girls took you. You’re one lucky girl, growing up the way you did.”
    “I was. I am. I wish The Girls had a touch of luck right now,” I said.  
    “Case not going well?”  
    “Judge extended the freeze,” I said.
    “I wish I knew what all the fuss was about. At least I’d know what to expect,” said Dixie.
    “You’ve been subpoenaed?” I took a sip of my coffee and tried to look uninterested.  
    “Yes. Big Steve’s going to prep me when we get back.”  
    We found a swing overlooking the ocean and sat down gingerly so as to not spill our coffee. I watched the Land’s End couple’s children splash around in the water while I worked up the nerve to get nosy.  
    “So what’s he going to prep you for?” I asked.
    “He wants to go over everything that happened the year before you were born. I told him I was in grad school. I barely remember anything but that.”  
    That’s right. Dixie knew my parents back then.
    “Were you there when the deed to the house was signed over?”  
    “No. I wouldn’t be there for that,” she said.
    “Were you surprised when The Girls gave Mom the house?”  
    “I barely remember it happening. I think Gavin helped your parents move in. I must’ve been working.”  
    “Did Mom say anything at the time about getting the house?”
    “No.”  
    “When did you meet The Girls?” I asked.
    Dixie took a sip and peered over the rim of her mug at me. “Are you interrogating me?”  
    “No. Just curious.”  
    “You’ve got that look again,” she said.  
    “I’d just like to know how we ended up with that house.”  
    Dixie looked out at the ocean, her face lit up from the sun’s reflection off the perfect blue. “You’ll have to ask Carolina.”  
    I suppressed a groan. Lucky for me that I did. Mom ran around the side of our swing. “Where’s Tenne?”  
    “In bed,” I said.  
    “She’s not answering the door.” Mom’s cheeks were flushed.  
    “I just left her. She was snoring her head off.”
    “So she’s acting fine?”