“I wonder who she is getting to test those drugs?”
“A friend, maybe.”
“I don’t like secrets, Jake. They make me edgy.”
“Everyone has secrets, Noah, even you. Lani’s nice, sweet even. But she’s definitely trying to keep her distance from us, not easy in this town, and there’s no doubt in my mind she’s been hurt—”
“Hurt how?” Noah didn’t like the thought that someone had hurt Lani.
“Now how the hell am I supposed to know that?”
Noah grunted.
“You like her, so why not explore that, Noah. Maybe you could get her to stay.”
“I don’t want a relationship, Jake. We’ve covered this already. Besides, no one knows shit about her. She’s elusive. Hell, she could be a murderer on the run for all we know.”
“Don’t be an idiot. Anyone with two eyes can see she’s a good person.”
“How? Besides that one night in Brook, no one has had a deep conversation with her that I can see.”
“Brook? What night in Brook?”
Noah realized his error and clamped his lips together.
“Spill.”
“Nope. And I don’t want a relationship with anyone at this stage in my life.”
“Lani is not Samantha.”
“That particular sentence has been playing on repeat for the last few days, and I have to say I’m about over it. Now shut up and go home to your family. Call if you need me.”
“Will do. Go and have that coffee with Lani, and don’t think I’ll forget about the night in Brook comment.”
He watched his friend back down the drive and turned to knock on the rear door of the Howlery. It was only when he looked that he realized the Bronco wasn’t there.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Iurgent couriered you something.” Lani spoke into the cellphone she’d bought a few days ago. “I need you to test it, then call this number with the results ASAP.”
“I don’t hear from you in months and you can’t even say hello?” Mel knew instantly who she was.
“Hello, Mel.”
“Hello, Nutty, where are you?”
Closing her eyes, Lani pictured her friend. She was probably in her lab coat, hair pulled back in a clip, and tapping notes into her computer. She felt a tug of longing to see her face.
“In a small town, Mel, and you know I won’t tell you so don’t ask.”
Mel was the only friend she’d kept in touch with, a friend she’d had since her first day of college. She’d called her Nutty since that day, because she’d watched Lani pull out a jar of peanut butter and devour it.
“What stuff are you sending me?”
“Drugs. A boy I know took them and ended up really sick. I think it has something in it, Mel. Something bad, and whoever put it there needs to be held accountable. But first we need to know what we’re dealing with.”
“What boy? How do you know this boy? And who are the ‘we’ you’re talking about? You haven’t made personal connections since you left, and now you’re speaking in ‘we’ terms.”
