Murder by the Sea by Danielle Collins

Author:Danielle Collins [Collins, Danielle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

12

SKYE EXHALED and closed her eyes. Not this again. Would it go the same way it had with the old man—a sudden change in Tabitha’s personality and amnesia about what she’d just said? Skye found herself holding her breath.

Thankfully, Tabitha didn’t change her personality, but that left Skye really confused.

“Excuse me, but why would you say that?” Skye prodded.

Tabitha chuckled. “You’ll know why soon enough. Come inside, you all look hungry.”

“You don’t have to. We—” Skye began.

Tabitha raised her hand to silence her. “I’ll have none of that. We can’t talk until you have eaten my food. Come on in.”

She didn’t have the heart to tell Tabitha that they’d recently eaten. Besides, Skye could always eat more, and she had no doubt Kris could eat more. Skye nearly burst out laughing when she looked over at Kris, who was patting her stomach and wiggling her eyebrows.

The inside of the clean yet sparsely furnished house was cooler than outside, so it offered some relief to the visiting party. Except Skye. She was restless. There were too many questions racing around in her mind.

As Tabitha cooked in a small adjacent building, Skye and Kris whispered to each other.

“She basically said the same thing as that old man,” Skye said. “That’s no coincidence!”

Kris agreed. “That was creepy.”

“It sure was. But why is everyone saying that? What do they know that we don’t? Do I have a curse written on my forehead or something?”

Kris glanced up. “Your forehead looks fine to me. Just a few sweat streaks.”

Skye shot her a disapproving look. “You know what I mean.”

“I hear you. Something’s in the air. It would be good to find out what.”

Skye chewed her lip. Something was definitely going on, and she couldn’t just ignore it. “I have to ask her again. There are no coincidences.”

It wasn’t long before Tabitha served them spicy tea with mahamri. An hour later, they had a flowing plate of pilau with coconut-flavored beans, the main course. A whole yellow banana, some chili sauce, and freshly squeezed mango juice completed the feast.

It all tasted amazing, so even though Skye wasn’t hungry, she couldn’t stop eating. She looked over at Kris and Johnny and giggled—they were both shoveling it in as well. Finally, as Skye pushed away her plate, she had the fleeting thought that she probably wouldn’t be hungry for days.

“You’ll leave here remembering our hospitality,” Tabitha said.

Skye laughed, nodding her agreement. “There’s no doubt about that!”

“Well,” Johnny said, standing. “As much as I’d like to stay and chat, I need to get going. I have work that needs to be done.”

Skye let out a deep, satisfied sigh. For a moment, she’d forgotten about Tabitha’s strange words earlier. “I think I need a nap.” She looked over at Kris. “How about you? Should we get going?”

Tabitha scoffed at this and instead directed them to two hammocks behind the house.

“This is where we do our siestas. Relax here for a bit and just make yourself at home,” Tabitha said.

Skye didn’t need to be told twice.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.