The Root of All Trouble Read Free Page A

drinks on a fancy tray and carried them over to Mr. Cabrera and me. The tray was a nice touch of normal in the midst of all the dust and chaos. The walls had been torn down to the studs, the bricks from the fireplace lay in piles on the warped wooden floors, and the only furniture in the open living and dining room was a beat-up table with four mismatched chairs.
    " Nice watch," I said, taking hold of his wrist. The vintage watch had a decorative golden crackled dial and a dark brown leather band.
    " This is the one I told you about."
    Perry had begun receiving anonymous gifts right after he moved in, and the watch was the latest to arrive. He 'd yet to uncover the identity of his admirer. "It's a beauty."
    Abandoning his drink for a moment, Perry stopped and admired the timepiece, holding his arm out to let the light glint off the crystal lens. "It's a shame I can only wear it when Mario is at work."
    Mario was a court stenographer downtown, and I wondered if Mario was on his way home or if he was in a hearing and hadn 't yet heard the news about Joey Miller.
    " Why?" Mr. Cabrera took his drink off the tray.
    " Because Mario thinks it's from an old boyfriend who's trying to get me back. He's the jealous type."
    Mario, a dark-haired, dark-eyed Latino was definitely the jealous type.
    "Could it be from an ex?" I asked.
    " I don't think so. If any of my exes had this good of taste I'd probably still be with him."
    Mr. Cabrera grunted. "A watch is a watch."
    " Said the man with the flamingoes on his shirt," I said.
    He raised his glass to me. "Said the woman with the There's Something About Mary hairdo."
    My hands went to my hair and Perry knocked them away. "Let me." He twisted and tucked and next thing I knew, my hair was pulled up in some sort of chic knot.
    Perry was a magician, I was convinced, his hair brush his magic wand.
    As my stylist, he knew my hair better than anyone else. Maybe even better than I knew it myself. Until I met him I hadn't cared much about my hairstyle. Now I was in his chair getting highlights every eight weeks—my one vanity.
    Mr. Cabrera frowned. "You don't have any idea who's sending the gifts?"
    " None. I also got a silk pocket square and some expensive cologne. Mario doesn't know about those, so if we can keep them between us, I'd appreciate it."
    " I can be persuaded," Mr. Cabrera said.
    Perry sighed. "Which one do you want?"
    " The cologne. The ladies love a great smelling man."
    " You're making me queasy," I said. "Besides, why do you need to impress 'the ladies' when you have Mrs. Krauss?"
    " I have a right to smell good, Miz Quinn," he snapped.
    I rolled my eyes and grabbed my drink. I had a feeling I 'd need a refill soon.
    Perry motioned toward the back yard. "I hate to think about how long he's been out there." He cocked a hip, swirled his ice, and said, "I started smelling something bad back there yesterday but couldn't figure out what it was. I thought it was a neighbor's trash. Mario joked that we'd moved into a trashy neighborhood."
    " That's not funny," Mr. Cabrera said. "This neighborhood was just fine until—"
    " Yeah, yeah," I said. "We don't need to go through all that again." I leaned on the edge of the table, and was glad that Mario wasn't home, or he would have chastised me to use a chair. He was a stickler like that.
    Mr. Cabrera squeezed his lime. His dark eyes were as big as moonpies when he asked, "Did you see how his head was dented in like Mario's car that one time you crashed it?"
    Despite his commentary about the state of the Mill, there was nothing Mr. Cabrera liked better than a little commotion in the neighborhood. He was the gossip king, and all this hubbub would be great fodder at his weekly to-do, which once included a cribbage match or a poker game. On tap this week was a Scrabble tournament.
    "Makes sense," Perry said, "considering, and thanks for bringing up the car, Mr. C. Mario still gets peeved about that. See if I share that cologne with you after