“I hated them,” he admits. “I wonder sometimes if I hadn’t hated my parents for fucking up my childhood so much, would I have gone along with what they wanted?”
“No one can answer that. You’d have to go back in time and have parents who weren’t toxic pieces of shit to know that.” I ponder my conversation with June. “Making amends is important.”
“Juniper said that.”
“She did.” It’s a sign there’s still hope for us. That we haven’t lost her forever.
“I’ll talk to her. Tonight after the movie, I’ll talk to her. Maybe it’s not too late.”
Who knows what will happen after that?
June’s stuff isn’t at the house anymore. A few days ago, Archer told us what Veronica had done to June’s book, then he went back to the house and moved all of her stuff out of it so Veronica couldn’t destroy anything else.
Now, all her stuff is in a place that no one knows about except us.
We say our goodbyes, and I drain the last of my coffee and leave the coffee shop. Since my coffee and sandwich were both good, I make a mental note to come back here later and get June something hot to drink and something to eat before, hopefully, she agrees to let me drive her back home.
But for now, I’m content to take my time heading back to the apartment to help Torin pick up the crap off the floor. Every last one of us is a slob, and I’d rather June didn’t see how much of a slob we all can be.
4:10.
“She’s usually out by now,” I tell Torin, who came with me to the hotel to pick up June.
I glance at my cell phone for the third time.
“Maybe they asked her to work late?” he suggests.
“She’d have mentioned it before, and she has our numbers now. She’d have texted or called.”
People have been coming and going for a while now. Maids, other staff from the hotel, as well as guests. I was parking my car outside the hotel at four with a hot coffee and a toasted sandwich for June in the passenger seat. I’ve been waiting for her near the entrance of the hotel, the way I always do, and there’s still no sign of her.
“She lied when she wanted to go to the pawnbroker and didn’t want you to follow,” Torin says. “Could she have gone there again? Maybe to buy something else back?”
I shake my head. “I told her how pawnshops like that operate. She would have mentioned if she had something else to buy back, if only because she was scared the guy would sell it before she could buy it back.”
We wait for a while longer, but as the minutes tick by, there’s still no sign of June.
I pull my cell phone from my pocket and glance at the time. 4:30.
A tiny line forms between Torin’s brows. “Tell me I’m being paranoid in thinking something is wrong.”
I call June. She keeps her bag with her phone in the staff room when she works, so I’m not too worried when it rings out. Her boss could have surprised her with a later than usual shift.After tucking my phone back in my pocket, I turn to Torin. “Let's go ask if anyone has seen her.”
In the hotel, we ask five employees if they know Juniper before we find someone who does. Another woman in a maid’s uniform looks worried as she approaches. “The front desk said you were looking for June?”
I nod. “We’re supposed to meet up after she finishes work at four, but she hasn’t come out yet.”
The woman’s frown deepens. “She finished early today, and the boss isn’t happy because she left her cart in the hallway and didn’t clock out. She didn’t finish cleaning all the rooms on her floor either.”
I share a worried glance with Torin.
“What time did she leave?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. I didn’t see her leave, but the supervisor was looking for her at maybe two? Some guests wanted to check in early, and June usually gets the rooms on her floor cleaned fast. But she wasn’t there.”
My fear ramps up. “What floor was that?”
“Fifth.”
