Voodoo and Paws by Brooke Penny

Author:Brooke, Penny [Brooke, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-13T23:00:00+00:00

9

HEADS UP

“I want you both to sit down at the table, and we’ll talk this out over a hot cup of coffee,” I said, pulling closed the pocket door that separated the dining room from the foyer and front desk.

“You’re not going to like this,” Sylvia muttered.

Gretchen shot eye daggers at her.

“Well,” I said, “how about if we let me in on this first and then we’ll know whether I like it or not.”

Two women with grudges sat down and stirred cream into their coffee. I did the same but added a double sugar. I deserved a little treat.

“Now then… Gretchen, does this have anything to do with your email to me today?”

Gretchen shrugged her shoulders and looked across the room.

I continued, “I’m wondering when you and I stopped being friends and started being boss and employee. You know we’ve always worked together to build a rooming house that would support all of us. The idea that you’re using such a formal, impersonal tone with me at the same time that you are doing the job you’re assigned to do, feels like a personal betrayal.”

“Oh, you haven’t heard the worst part, yet,” Sylvia threw in. “I overheard this wicked woman on the telephone. I couldn’t believe my ears.”

“Gretchen, why don’t you tell me what it is that Mrs. Markham is so eager to tell me?”

“Oh, Fiona, I am so in love with him.”

“I’m going to guess that you’re referring to Damien?”

Gretchen nodded her head enthusiastically with a big smile. “Isn’t he just the most gorgeous thing you’ve ever seen?”

“Somehow I think there’s more to it than that,” I said.

Gretchen glared at Sylvia. “Well, it wouldn’t be, if Miss Big Ears there would respect other people’s privacy.”

“Ask her what she told him about Mortimer House,” Sylvia said. “Go ahead and ask her. And don’t you be calling me names, Missy. You’re in a boatload of trouble, and the last thing you need is someone else drilling a hole in the hull.”

Gretchen let out a long, tortured sigh, throwing her arms out at her side and rolling her eyes back in her head. “Okay, so maybe I pretended just a little.”

I became curious, and I could see I would have to get to the bottom of things quickly if we were to get any sleep that night at all. “Gretchen, out with it. What did you tell Damien?” I asked.

Gretchen opened her mouth to speak, then closed it abruptly.

I leaned forward. “Well…”

“Okay, so I might have said a little something about being a part owner of Mortimer House.”

I drew in my breath but did my best to control my temper. “Of course, you know that’s not true. You always have a home here, but the property is in my name and always will be.”

“That’s just a technicality.” She looked me straight in the eye as she said that. Why was she spoiling for trouble?

“It’s the law, Gretchen. You know it, and I know it. And Mrs. Markham knows it. No wonder she’s upset.

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