She smacked his arm. “Don’t be dense. Growing up, Johnny. Changing. Going through puberty. She’s hormonal as hell. She got her first period two days ago. Thanks to a complete lack of interest on Susie’s part, she had no one to talk to, so she gave in to her hormones and started crying. Turn here.”
“Onto a goat path?”
“Sorry, no. And try to cheer up. At least you don’t have to be my cousin from Cali while were visiting… Oh wait, maybe you do.” She peered through the sun-dappled cypress trees to a tidy little house with a gravel driveway, a rose-covered trellis, and a verdant vegetable garden. “Joseph’s got company. I see Linda’s car. She and her husband come in once a week. They take care of any fix-ups that are needed in the house and the yard.”
“Linda and Carl what?”
“Miner.”
“How long have they lived in Deception Cove?”
She offered him a tolerant look. “Longer than two weeks. Ten or eleven months, in fact. They came when a very old local died. She willed her house to Carl. He was her nephew and only living relative.”
“I find that hard to believe in these parts.”
“I’m told the woman was a recluse. I never met her. She died shortly after I got here.”
“Meaning you only knew her as a corpse?”
“It happens sometimes. Anyway, I didn’t have much to do with her death. The county coroner came, and off she went to the morgue in Bellwater. I could have pushed in, but I prefer to work with the living.”
“So do I. Still…”
“Death happens sometimes,” she finished for him. “There’s Joseph. He’s on the porch as usual, with his sketchbook.”
“He looks healthy enough to me,” Johnny remarked. “Why are you here?”
“He wants a tetanus shot. He said he picked up an old trap behind the house. It had rusty teeth and a pigheaded spring.”
“Hi, Mel.” Her cousin set his sketchbook aside when he spotted her. “Cut back all the roses, Carl,” he called to his gardener. “I keep getting pricked by thorns.” His expression grew curious as Johnny climbed from the truck. “Hey, this is great. You’ve met a new… Oh shit, it’s you.”
“Take a swing at me, and I’ll put a bullet through your man bun,” Johnny said calmly.
Joseph’s eyes were glacial. “You tore her up inside and out, you mother. Whatever mistake Mel made, it wasn’t intentional. Don’t tell me you’ve never had too much to drink and done something completely idiotic.”
“Yes, okay,” Melia intervened before the hostility between them escalated. “There’s a really long story involved here, Joseph. I’ll tell you about it after Carl and Linda leave.”
“Linda’s working on the vacuum. It’s making a funny sound.”
“I hear that. Show me your wound. Medical stuff should be priority in any case.”
“Give me a second here. This chair’s low and I’m a little stiff today.”
“Why?”
“Because I worked out yesterday.” He winced as he stood. “New regime. Very intense.”
“You worked out, or you went out?” Aggravation colored Melia’s tone. “Were you drinking last night?”
“No. I wasn’t drinking last night. I haven’t forgotten what you said about Uncle Raymond. Cirrhosis, bloating, blotchy skin, horrible, painful death. I’m in a semi-healthy routine these days. The only things I drink now are water, coffee, and light beer.” He shot Johnny a resentful glare. “Bastard.”
Johnny smiled. “Haven’t said a word.”
“You didn’t have to. Your expression says it all.” Joseph spoke over Melia’s head. “She’d have forgiven you, you know… Ouch! Take it easy, Mel.”
Ignoring the tension in the air, she pushed up his sleeve. “With what? I don’t see anything.”
He crooked a bandaged finger, then pushed her hand away from his sleeve. “It’s here. Stop trying to undress me.”
“Why are you all covered up?”
He jerked a shoulder, then rubbed it gently. “It’s hot. This is how people dress in hot countries.”
Melia glanced at Johnny. “Is this how you dressed in Istanbul?”
“Indian cotton’s not really my style. Or man buns,” he added, and grinned as the fingers of Joseph’s uninjured hand twitched.
When Joseph merely glowered back, Melia stepped on Johnny’s toe. “Back off, both of you. What’s between Johnny and me isn’t your concern,” she told her cousin. “Show me where you cut yourself.” Her brows went up as he eased off the taped gauze. “Seriously? That’s it? All that padding for a scratch? I’m not even sure the skin’s broken.”
“It was a rusty trap.” Joseph’s reply was huffy. “Very old. I don’t believe in taking chances. I want a tetanus shot.”
The screen door opened, and a woman stuck her head out. “Afternoon, doc. I’m about finished here if you want to come in out of the heat. Mosquitoes are terrible this year, don’t you think?” She beamed a smile at Johnny. “Hello. I’m Joseph’s handyperson, Linda. I’d be Doc Rose’s, too, if Bette could talk old Gert into moving west. Gert and I don’t see eye to eye when it comes to what needs to be fixed up.”
The woman had a wide mouth, and bright blue eyes behind a pair of pop-bottle glasses. Her hips were broad her legs slightly bowed. She walked with a limp born of arthritic joints, but according to Joseph, she was an even better handyperson than her husband.
Melia examined her cousin’s barely damaged finger. “Johnny’s my cousin from Los Angeles, Linda. He’s not related to Joseph.”
“We’re a complicated family,” Johnny put in. He gestured sideways. “Something wrong with your vehicle, Joe?”
“What? No. Why?” Annoyance flashed in his eyes. “You can’t borrow it, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“No, I’m good. I was just wondering why you didn’t drive into town to see Mel instead of dragging her all the way out here.”
Joseph made an irritable sound. “I don’t like going into town. Mel knows that. Too many people get on my nerves.”
All people got on his nerves, as far as Melia could tell. She reached into her bag. “Butt or arm?” she asked.
He bared his teeth in a grimace. “Butt. I’m being cautious, right? This is what you always said we were supposed to do if we, you know, get cut by metal or whatever.” He frowned at the syringe in her hand. “Can we go inside?”
“Probably a good idea.” She smelled cigarette smoke and offered back a pleasant, “Hi, Carl. Still working on two packs a day?”
“He has the cough to prove it,” Linda said. “And the belly shows off his beer consumption.”
Grizzled and generally unflappable, Carl blew a stream of smoke into the steamy air. “I’m not set on living forever. I got my vices, you got yours. I’ve been doing a pack and a half for the past few days, doc. Garden’s good, Joseph. Should we be getting introduced?” he asked Johnny.
Melia went through the ritual before nudging her cousin, who was limping slightly, through the screen door past the living room and into the kitchen.
When it slammed behind them, Joseph hissed, “What’s he doing here? And why the lie?”
“Because, and I can’t tell you. I will,” she said when he started to protest. “Just not right now. Why are you limping?”
“I told you, heavy workout. Is he in trouble?” her cousin demanded. He glanced around nervously. “Are you?”
“No,” she said.
“To both questions?” Bending, he let her pull the drawstring pants down over his butt cheeks. “Make it fast, okay. I hate needles.”
“So do I.” She swabbed him and chuckled when he sucked in a quick breath. “Wimp,” she accused.
“Bully,” he fired back.
She inspected the injection site again. “This was your idea, remember? I’m all about safety, Joseph, but I think you’re overreacting in this case. You want to see a bad wound, you should take a look at Pappy Laundy’s foot.”
“Pappy Laundy.” Joseph carefully pulled up and retied his pants. “I’ve heard about him. Only met him a couple of times. He’s that crazy old guy who likes to shoot anything that moves, isn’t he? Has a guard dog with big fangs?”
“He has a dog. I’m not sure about the fangs.”
“Johnny has fangs.”