His pulse picked up in a way he was fairly sure was absurd for a man his age and experience.
But absurd or not, there it was.
“I’d like that,” he said, nodding. “And as it turns out, I’m free tonight.”
Then he looked toward his mother. “I’ll get a deputy to park outside the house. Tyler is at the campout tonight.”
“Willa and my grandkids are there too,” June said. “So tonight is perfect for me.”
“It’s a date then,” Holt said, and couldn't quite keep the smile out of his voice. “How about you come get me at seven? You’ve got the car.”
“Great,” June said, then failed to suppress a yawn. “But if we’re finished for now, I’m going back to Willa’s. I need a shower and a few hours of sleep.”
“I think that’s a very good idea,” Holt agreed, because now that the adrenaline was no longer carrying him, the lack of sleep from the previous night was starting to settle in his bones. “Should we regroup at the station this afternoon?”
“Or,” June said, “we can regroup at Willa’s. Carmen won’t be there. I think even Blaze will be out of the house, so there won’t be anyone at home. We’d be away from eyes and ears to discuss the case without it being overheard.”
“That’s another good idea,” Holt said, unable to suppress a stretch and yawn any longer. “Excuse me.”
He rolled his tired shoulders, ignoring the ache from the still-healing bullet wound and sore ribs. Holt was feeling too elated to give pain a second thought and hoped he wasn’t smiling like an idiot.
“Well, now that is settled,” Mina said, as though she had single-handedly negotiated a peace treaty, “I’ll take you home, Holt. I need to change, and then I’m heading to the club. Mr. Henderson and I have a tennis match.”
Holt and June looked at her together.
“Oh?” they said in perfect unison.
“Yes. He called the other day, we got talking, and the next thing I knew I had agreed to a game.” Mina smiled with infuriating satisfaction that she’d once again managed to shock them with another revelation she’d been holding onto for just the right moment to get the response she wanted.
“Well, enjoy,” June said. “I know how you love a good game of tennis.”
“When you’re healed, June,” Mina said, “we’ll have a game.”
“I look forward to it,” June told her, accepting the future invitation.
June moved toward the door, and Holt followed, helping her lock up behind them. He checked Margo’s door a second time before stepping back. They had not made as much progress as he had hoped on the case when he and June had squeezed the “secret five,” as they had privately started calling them, but they had made some. They had a line of inquiry. They had a plan. It was not one Holt would have chosen on his own, but it was something.
And tonight, unless the whole town fell apart again before then, he had a date with June.
The thought warmed him far more than he wanted to admit.
23
JUNE
When June woke, she had the thick, disoriented feeling of someone who had meant to close her eyes for an hour and had vanished for nearly five.
She stared at the clock on the bedside table.
Just after two.
Her stomach growled so loudly in the quiet room that she laughed at herself despite everything.
“Well,” she muttered, throwing back the covers, “that answers that.”
The shower helped.
It woke her properly and washed the heaviness of the night and morning off her skin, but it didn't quiet her mind. Mina’s words kept circling back around. The nudging. The old tea shop in Miami. The certainty that everyone else had apparently had about Holt and June needing another chance.
