And underneath all of that lay the other thing.
The thing she had shoved back down the moment it rose.
Secrets.
Unsaid things.
The conversation she and Holt were supposed to have had all those years ago, and never did.
June turned the water off and stood for a second with her hands braced on the tile wall, her eyes closed.
Maybe tonight would be the night.
Maybe tonight, with the case set aside for just a few hours, they would finally speak about the thing that had stood between them for nearly thirty-eight years.
The thought sent guilt straight through her.
Then almost as quickly, guilt gave way to hurt.
And then anger.
It moved through her so abruptly and so sharply that it felt as though none of those years had actually passed at all.
The memory of that old wound could still rise hot as if it were happening in the present.
June opened her eyes and wrapped a towel around herself.
“Get a grip,” she told her reflection. “That was years ago.”
Another voice in her mind answered at once.
Yes, and he was still the one who betrayed you.
She closed the door on that, too.
By the time she had dressed and gone downstairs, June had forced her thoughts back into order.
Then there was a knock on the door.
She crossed the room and opened it.
Her heart gave a sudden, unmistakable lurch.
Holt stood there with boxes of food in one hand, a cardboard tray of coffee in the other, and the smell of both hit her hard enough to make her mouth water and her stomach clench with gratitude.
“I brought food, snacks, and coffee,” he said with that goofy grin she remembered so well.
“You are a lifesaver,” June told him.
She stepped back to let him in and had to physically stop herself from doing something ridiculous like throwing her arms around him in thanks.
“Go through to the deck,” June instructed him. “I’ll get plates and silverware.”
As she moved through the kitchen pulling out what they needed, the old, dangerous excitement she had been holding at bay all day stirred again at the thought of their date that night. Then Mina’s words slid back into her mind, and that excitement faltered.
Secrets are what get people hurt.
June froze with the forks in her hand.
