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“Man spread?” Cody said as Zenona and Margie both laughed, and Zenona sat beside Demetrius.
“You just like to have room,” Demetrius said. “Nothing wrong with that.”
“Huh.”
Zenona didn’t need a menu either, ordering a steak and a side salad. Once Margie returned to the kitchen, she noticed Cody and Demetrius’s surprised looks.
“Steak for lunch?” Cody said.
“I’ve been feeling really rundown lately. I need some protein and iron.” She gestured toward their food. “Please, go ahead and start eating.”
Cody dug into his pancakes as Demetrius mixed the ingredients of his Cobb salad.
“Have you been involved with the woman who drowned out at Parson’s Pond?” Demetrius asked.
“Oh, you know about that?” Zenona whispered.
Demetrius exchanged a look with Cody who had his mouth full of pancake and simply shrugged at him. “We found her.”
“Oh my God, seriously?”
“Yep. And we were skinny-dipping at the time. I actually bumped into her.” Demetrius shuddered and closed his eyes a moment, willing the visual and tactile memories away. “Awful.”
“I hadn’t heard how she was found, just…” Zenona sat back and shook her head, looking off toward the long bar and stools bolted to the floor on the other side of the diner.
“Just what?” Cody said, having finally swallowed his large bite of food.
Zenona sighed. “I just heard about something I probably shouldn’t have.” She made a face. “I could get in trouble for telling you.”
“Hey, we can keep secrets.” Cody waved his fork back and forth between Demetrius and himself. “You know we’ve been keeping a hell of a lot of scary ones from most people in town.”
“Yeah, I know, but Lucia would be mad if she found out.”
Cody made a face and looked at Demetrius before glaring at his pancakes as he sawed through them with a bit more force. “We’re not really on Lucia’s good side these days.”
“Again?”
“Still,” Cody said, stuffing another big bite into his mouth.
“What Cody’s trying to say is, Lucia came to us and asked our opinions about the drowning. She wanted to know if we thought it might have something to do with the town’s unusual history.”
“Wait, Lucia asked that? Of you two?”
“Right?” Demetrius said, looking at her with wide eyes. “We pretty much told her off about it, and she let in a huff. We haven’t seen her since.”
Zenona looked around to make sure no one was in earshot before turning back and moving in closer. Cody stopped chewing and leaned in over the table as Demetrius moved in closer as well.
“She may not be wrong about that,” Zenona said.
CHAPTER SIX
Everything in Cody’s body felt tight. Not just his muscles, but his nerves, tendons, ligaments, and, hell, even his bones, had tightened up after their lunch with Zenona. Demmy had been quiet since they’d left Margie’s, which usually meant his brain was working overtime. As Cody guided the truck along Main Street heading for home, he realized he didn’t want to go there just yet.
“Feel like coming with me to visit Felicia?” Cody asked.
His Grandma Felicia, his father’s mother, was a resident of the convalescent section of the Parson's Pines Nursing and Convalescent Home of Serenity. She’d had trouble with her memory for several years, but lately Cody had noticed a marked decline in her memory and energy. Because of this, he tried to visit her at least twice a week.
“Oh, yeah, sure,” Demmy said, blinking as if suddenly realizing Cody was in the truck with him. That was Demmy: sometimes falling so deep into thought he forgot about the world around him.
