“I, unfortunately, am also now aware of that.” I look at Tillie Jean again. “Last chance to ask questions before I forget this ever happened.”
She slides a look at Sloane, then back to me. “Will it be the last time I ever see you?”
“No.”
“Okay then. Sloane? You okay?”
“She hasn’t had coffee,” I tell Tillie Jean.
“On it.” Cooper jumps back up. “I make the best coffee.”
“He really does,” Waverly agrees. “Maybe when we’re both retired, he’ll take over the Muted Parrot.”
“This looks worse thanshe hasn’t had coffee,” Tillie Jean says.
Sloane pulls her knees to her chest and drops her head to them. “Adrenaline crash.”
“Been there. Usually after Long Beak Silver makes me fall off a roof.” Tillie Jean smiles at her. “You wanna hang out for a while? Official historical society secret business? Or we can take you back to Beck’s. Peggy’s still at the pool house, right?”
“I want—” Sloane pauses.
Her eyes go shiny.
She darts a look at me, then glances down again.
I want to go home.
That’s what she was about to say.
And now I’m feeling myself go ruddy in the cheeks. “I can take you. It’s…clean.”
She lifts her gaze to me again.
Does one slow blink.
“Your house.” Shit. My voice is getting husky. “It’s clean. I had a crew come in. They took inventory of everything broken. Replaced what they could. Probably put a few things back wrong in the kitchen, but it’s clean.”
“When did you have time to do that?”
“Doesn’t take much time when you know who to call.”
“My house is… It’s normal?”
“As normal as they could make it.”
“And Patrick’s behind bars?”
I check my phone, find a message from Giselle confirming the sheriff has pulled away with him, and I nod to her. “Yep.”
Her eyes get shinier. “Thank you.”
“Least I could do.”
She visibly swallows.
Glances at her friends, who are all watching us entirely too closely with smiles that are entirely too big.
Then back at me. “I’ll stay and answer any more questions the mayor has for us. You can…do what you need to do.”
