Justin turned to face the camera, the waters of the bay behind him. “We tried to reach Tidewaters’ developer, Geneva Chandler, for a comment, but she declined to speak with Channel Six news. We can only hope that her construction project won’t continue to be plagued with bad luck. For Channel Six news, this is Justin Gregorio in Carnelian Cove.”

GENEVA PRESSED a button on the remote to switch off the television. Too bad she couldn’t do the same with the nasty campaign waged by Howard Cobb and his accomplices in the media. “Cleverly done,” she said. “I’m quite impressed. And I didn’t think that was possible.”

“Oh, it was clever, all right.” Tess pushed out of her seat to pace the room restlessly. “What an outrageous, slimy pack of innuendoes and outright-Arghh!”

“Makes me feel dirty just listening in,” Julia muttered as she set the tray on a table near Geneva’s chair.

“I have to agree with you both,” Geneva said as she smiled and nodded her thanks to Julia. “Although I’m not sure which slimy thing or person you’re referring to.”

“Does it matter?” Julia straightened and brushed her hands over her apron. “If you’ll carry this tray into the kitchen when everyone’s finished, Miss Tess, I’ll deal with it in the morning.”

“That’s fine,” Geneva said. “Thank you, Julia. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Tess folded her arms, lifted one hand to her mouth and began to chew the side of her thumb in a nervous childhood habit Geneva had thought she’d cured. “I’m glad you didn’t talk to that Gregorio creep,” Tess said. “He’d have found some way to mess it up.”

“Which is precisely why I declined his invitation.” Geneva lifted the coffeepot and one of the cups. “Coffee, Quinn?”

“Sure. Thanks.” He stood and took the cup Geneva offered and then moved across the room to stare through the window facing the ocean.

“And why is Howard Cobb sticking his hairy, bulbous nose into any of this?” Tess paused in her pacing to grab two cookies from the plate. “He had the good sense to recuse himself from the council votes on the permit process. Why is he talking to the news now?”

“He may be reconsidering the wisdom of investing so much in the development of his commercial park along the river.” Geneva lifted a dessert plate and napkin for Tess to take when she passed by again. “There aren’t all that many professionals needing office space in Carnelian Cove, and Tidewaters will be stiff competition for him.”

“He should have seen this coming when you started the permit process on Tidewaters.” Tess bit into one of the cookies. “He should have known he might have trouble finding enough tenants to fill his building.”

“He thought he could stop me.” Geneva’s lips twisted in a tiny smile. “He should have known better about that, too.”

She stirred a bit of cream into the coffee she’d poured for herself. Quinn stood utterly still at the window, his back to the rest of the room. A quiet, curious man. Steady and resolute, in spite of his past shortcomings-or perhaps because of them. Geneva suspected his brooding appearance sometimes masked an impatience with the dramas swirling around him.

Time to draw him into this one. “I am concerned, however,” she said, “about the points Mr. Gregorio made about the curious history of problems Quinn has had on his construction sites. I wouldn’t want those problems tainting Tidewaters’ reputation before it’s completed.”

“That’s not fair.” Tess dropped her cookie on her plate. “Anything that happened before has nothing to do with this. The first ‘problem’ Gregorio mentioned at Tidewaters was a random act of vandalism. And Quinn told me the second problem wasn’t an accident at all-that board had been cut.”

Geneva gave her a long, bland look. “And do you believe everything that Quinn tells you?”

“Of course I do.” Tess’s plate clattered as she set it on the tea table. The second cookie-one of Tess’s favorites-was still untouched. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because of the specific types of problems he’s had before on his job sites.” Geneva sipped her coffee. “Because he has an alleged history of negligence.”

“That’s…that’s ridiculous.” Tess spun toward Quinn, who continued to stare out the window. “Isn’t it? Quinn?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors, too,” Geneva said quietly.

“Gossip.” Tess resumed her pacing. “He hasn’t been negligent, not one bit. Hell, I haven’t been able to find five minutes to enjoy that site for myself since-”

She turned slowly, suspicion evident in her expression. “You wouldn’t have hired him if you’d had any doubts.”

“It was your doubts that most concerned me.” Geneva finished her coffee and set her cup aside. “I’m relieved to see you seem to have resolved them.”

“Don’t you have anything to say?” Tess strode across the room toward the spot where Quinn remained, silent and impassive. “Are you just going to stand there and not say a word about any of this?”

“You were doing enough talking for both of us.”

He turned his head, and his features seemed to soften as he gazed at Tess. A quick, shadowy creasing around his eyes, a momentary twist of his lips. But his expression hardened as he moved to face Geneva. “The only thing I want to know,” he said, “is whether you think Cobb had anything to do with the vandalism. Or with the scaffolding-with hurting Ned.”

“I’d like to say that I’m certain Howard would never arrange anything so stupid. Or dangerous.” Geneva looked up at them both. “But I can’t. He’s a clever man, and an ambitious one, but he’s done some incredibly foolish things.”

“How can we find out?” Tess added several cookies to her plate and sank back into her seat on the sofa. Crisis averted; appetite back in place. “If he’s behind this, I want to nail his ass to the wall.”

“Please, Tess. That statement is disturbing on so many levels.” Geneva sighed and ran her fingers along the fold of the napkin still in her lap. “I suppose I could hire an investigator.”

Quinn’s frown deepened. “Isn’t this police business?”

“The city police won’t want to look in Howard’s direction.” Geneva leaned her head against the chair cushion, suddenly weary of the twists and turns this project had taken. She’d hoped that once construction had started, opposition to Tidewaters would fade. “An investigator will act on our suspicions,” she added.

“And what if we’re wrong?” asked Tess. “We might send him off on a wild-goose chase-an expensive one-while the real culprit gets away with it.”

“There’s something else an investigator could do.” Quinn set his cup on the table. “He could keep an eye on the site. I can’t be there twenty-four hours a day.”

“And I’m not about to hire a bodyguard for a city block.” Geneva laid her napkin on the tray. “I think we’ve exhausted this topic for the evening. I’m sure that after we’ve all had time to rest and consider matters from different perspectives, we’ll be much better equipped to put a plan in motion.”

She rose from her chair. “Is there anything else we need to discuss tonight?”

“Just one thing.” Tess stood and brushed cookie crumbs from her dress skirt. “J. J. Quinn?”

The corners of Quinn’s mouth lifted in the semblance of a grin. “Yeah. Stands for John Jameson.”

“I never knew,” Tess said.

“You never asked.”

Tess gave him one of her sly, catlike smiles. “Guess it’s time to start filling in the blanks.”

Geneva hid a smile of her own at their teasing, feeling much less weary than she’d felt a short while ago.