Dead In The Water (Rebecca Schwartz Mystery #4) (The Rebecca Schwartz Series)

Flynns of the world.”
    “I met Ricky Flynn, too.”
    “You really get around, don’t you?”
    “He came over to Julio’s—” Too late, I realized I’d said too much.
    Marty narrowed her eyes. “Oh. ‘Over to Julio’s—’”
    I lied like a teenager. “I took Esperanza home. Ricky dropped by. Actually, I liked him. I see what Sadie saw in him.”
    “I’ll bet he’s worried about losing his job. Warren hates him. With good reason, too. Ricky taunts him.”
    “About what?”
    “About being a stuffed shirt.” We both laughed, just two girls in a dorm, having a gabfest.
    “So what does Ricky do?”
    “He’s not even permanently on the staff. Does seasonal work, actually. I mean—not seasonal. Piecework, I guess you’d call it. He’s a model-maker.”
    “A model-maker?”
    “Makes models for the exhibits. You want some barnacles the size of your hand, Ricky’s your man. A life-sized elephant seal? Actually, he’s doing one of those for the new exhibit. He’s a genius, but he drinks.”
    “Drinks?”
    “You know, like alcohol? I think that’s why Sadie dumped him. Not that he ever was a main squeeze or anything. Ricky’s not the type you take to business parties—leave it to Sadie Stoop-Low.”
    The nickname reminded me that she had said Sadie was unpopular with the staff. It was funny, I hadn’t noticed. As I got up to go, Marty called me back. “Rebecca.”
    “Yes?”
    She stared at the floor. “I’m really embarrassed about last night.” Mustering all her effort, she met my eyes for the big confession. “About falling apart. I’m not usually like that.”
    * * *
     
    Back at the ranch, Ava had everything out of Marty’s kitchen cabinets and on the table. Methodically, she was cleaning each cabinet, a look of utter disgust on her face.
    “I’ll bet these haven’t been cleaned since they moved in. I know they were cleaned then, because I cleaned them.”
    “Marty and Don are busy people.”
    “Nothing wrong with those two strong kids they’ve got.”
    “I guess clean cabinets are more important to some people than others.”
    “Marty hates dirt. Last time I was here, I thought I’d surprise her and scrub the kitchen floor, but Don made me stop in the middle—said it was an ‘inappropriate’ time to do it.”
    “Mmmm.” I could smell a grievance coming on, and I thought life would be a lot simpler if I could head it off.
    She jabbed at a comer with a sponge. “Three in the afternoon and he had to start cooking dinner!”
    I couldn’t help it—curiosity got the best of me. “What was he making?”
    “That’s not the point—the point is, he and Marty got mad at me for trying to help. And then they had the nerve to ask me to help with dinner. Can you imagine? After that? They were having thirty people over, too.”
    “Gosh.” I began to back out of the room.
    “And it was my birthday. They wanted me to work on my own birthday.”
    Rebecca
,
do not say it
.
Do not say a word about the voluntary scrubbing of the floor in the midst of party preparations
.
Keep your lip zipped
.
    I called Judge Reyes again, felt mildly guilty that I was going sailing instead of sticking around to phone every half hour, and then absolved myself by remembering that Marty was where she was because she’d chosen not to murmur a certain word starting with “J.”
    And then I went on a kid-hunt. Keil was in his room sitting at a computer screen. “Hi, Keil. Hacking away?”
    “Naah. Just playing a game.”
    “Want to go for a sail with Julio and Esperanza?”
    He spun around in his chair, eyes excited. “Yeah! I was getting really bored.”
    “I’ll go find Libby.”
    “Oh. She won’t want to go.”
    I shrugged. “Then we’ll go without her.”
    “Grandma won’t let me—unless
she
goes.”
    I’d forgotten I wasn’t in charge. “Okay then,” I said. “I’ll persuade her.”
    “She doesn’t persuade easy.” He sagged in his chair, looking defeated. “She never wants to do anything.”
    “Get on some warm clothes—it’ll be cool on the bay.”
    “Rebecca, I
live
here.” He sounded rude, know-it-all, and obnoxious. The kid was starting to like me.
    I went around the house hollering Libby’s name until I heard a nasty “What!”
    From the TV room. I should have guessed.
    “Hi, honey. What’s on?”
    No answer.
    “Keil and Esperanza and I are going for a sail—want to come?”
    No answer.
    I stepped between Libby and the TV. “Libby, is something wrong,