Then the world came crashing back, and anger exploded inside her like a volcano. She shoved the car door open and climbed out on unsteady legs.
“Are you completely out of your mind?” June couldn’t control her voice as shock and fury collided. “I could have killed you!”
Holt watched her, and a grin spread across his lips, which only made her more infuriated.
“I don’t think you would have even bruised my leg at the speed you were traveling,” he said with obvious amusement.
“You think this is funny?” June hissed, her hands shaking with residual adrenaline.
“I’m sorry,” Holt said, holding up his hands in surrender. “I need a ride somewhere, and I knew you’d be arriving this morning, so I waited for you.”
“So you thought you’d jump in front of my car to test my reflexes?” June snapped.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” Holt admitted, glancing back toward the police station. “I have a delicate matter that needsimmediate attention, and I wanted to ask you to take me somewhere without anyone in the office overhearing.”
“And that prompted you to scare me half to death?” June was still seething. “Do you have any idea that I had a serious car accident not long ago? I’ve only recently been able to get back behind the wheel, and...”
“Oh no,” Holt said, the color draining from his face. “I’m so sorry, June. I wasn’t thinking about your accident.”
He looked so genuinely apologetic that June felt her heart soften despite her anger. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t stay furious with him.
“Where do you need to go?” June asked, her voice still tight but calmer.
“I’ll explain on the way,” Holt promised, glancing back at the station again, making June realize he didn’t want anyone inside to know what he was planning.
“All right,” June breathed, then turned toward the car and nearly collapsed as her legs suddenly turned to jelly.
“June,” Holt rushed toward her to steady her. “Are you all right?”
“Just a little shaken,” June admitted, grateful for his strong hands on her arms. “I’ll be fine in a moment.”
She looked at the open driver’s door and suddenly felt dizzy. The combination of the near-accident and the emotional shock was catching up with her.
“Why don’t I help you to the passenger side, and I’ll drive,” Holt suggested gently.
“I can walk,” June said, holding up her hands. Being in his arms was making her feel even more unsteady, though for entirely different reasons, and her pulse was racing.
He released her reluctantly, and she grabbed onto the car’s hood, keeping one hand on it to steady herself as she walked around to the passenger side. She gratefully sank into the seat as he took the driver’s position.
“I’m so sorry,” Holt said again as she buckled her seatbelt and he pulled out of the parking lot, heading toward the outskirts of town.
“Where exactly are we going?” June asked.
“To the next town over,” Holt told her. “We need to visit the automotive salvage yard.”
“Why are we going to a junkyard?” June asked, confusion evident in her voice.
Holt explained the situation with Clive and Harvey’s auto shop, describing the discrepancy between Clive’s story about minor parking lot damage and the photographs showing extensive front-end collision damage.
June was shocked, her eyebrows shooting up in disbelief. “You think Clive ran Lacey off the road?”
“I think he might have,” Holt clarified carefully. “It’s suspicious that one minute he’s telling Tom someone backed into him at the Henderson farm parking lot...”
“Then Harvey shows you photographs of a completely destroyed front end,” June finished for him. She was quiet for a while, processing this information. “Why would Clive deliberately run Lacey off the road?”
“I’m not certain he would,” Holt said thoughtfully. “Clive might have many faults, but I’ve never known him to be a reckless driver.”
“Maybe, if it was him, the collision was accidental,” June tried to reason. “He knew how it would look to Tom, so he crashed the car into a tree afterward to cover up what really happened.”
