June paused on the sidewalk for a second, letting the warmth hit her face while she watched Margo. Harvey’s words still seemed to hang in the air around them, invisible and heavy. The bracelet. Sienna. Victoria. The truck. The terrible new possibility that whoever had orchestrated the crash and the confusion around it might not have been after Lucy, Lacey, or June at all. They might have been after Margo.
Margo stood with her purse tucked tight beneath one arm, her expression composed in the way people got when they were holding themselves together by sheer will. Her face had lost some color, and there was a stillness to her that made June uneasy. Margo was not usually still. She was warm hands, quick smiles, dry comments, and steady motion. Seeing her like this unsettled June more than she wanted to admit.
“Are you okay?” June asked quietly.
Margo glanced at her and gave a small nod that did not fool June for a second.
“I’m fine,” Margo lied, and June knew it as she lifted one brow.
“Really?” June remarked.
“All right. Fine is probably generous. I just need a little time to clear my head.” Margo let out a breath that might have become a laugh on another day.
“Go back to the inn. Get everyone together for a meeting when you feel up to it.” Holt, standing on Margo’s other side, kept his voice even.
“That’s what I was thinking. We can use the conference room at the Sandpiper Inn. It’s private, and I can control the surroundings and who comes in and out.” Margo straightened slightly, as if the practical instruction had helped her get a firmer grip on herself.
“That makes sense.” June nodded.
“The sooner we do it, the better,” Holt said.
“This afternoon, then. If everyone can make it.” Margo looked between them.
“I agree,” Holt told her. “The sooner, the better.”
For a moment, Margo looked as though she might say more. Instead, she gave a short nod, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“I’ll go and start letting everyone you said needed to be there know,” Margo told them. “Just to clarify, it’s you two, me, Rad, Willa, and Harvey.” She glanced between them again. “You’re not sure about Ace, so I’ll keep him on the no list for now.”
“I thought we were going to get Carmen and Zane involved as well?” June asked Holt.
“Yes,” Holt agreed with a nod and turned to Margo. “We need Carmen and Zane there as well.”
“What about Chief Mori…” Margo stopped and pursed her lips. “Of course, now I know why he’s taken a back seat to all the car investigations and fires. Because his son and now his daughter may be involved.”
“Margo…” June started.
“Tom doesn’t know about the bracelet of Sienna’s involvement,” Holt finished June’s sentence, and his look said it all.
“Of course, I won’t say a word,” Margo promised and glanced back at the auto repair shop. “And I can tell you again, neither will Harvey. He may be head over heels in love with Sienna and Clive’s good friend, but he also knows what it means to not impede an investigation. Goodness knows he’s been through a few with his father in his time.”
“I know,” Holt stated. “I knew Harvey’s father. We grew up here in Sandpiper Shores together. Harvey is more like his uncle, who was instrumental in ending his brother’s criminal car theft empire.”
“But for all Harvey’s father’s flaws, he was still a good father, unlike a certain mother we all know and frown upon,” Margo said and nodded across the street where Victoria’s car was parked. “She’s doing her usual order at the store for the yacht club. I’m not sure who is going to take over running that place when she finally takes her coffin and leaves Sandpiper Shores.”
“Margo!” June said, unable to hide her smile.
“You know she’s moving to Miami, right?” Margo pointed out looking at June.
“Yes,” June said, frowning as she remembered. “I think I did hear that somewhere. Luckily, Miami is a big place.”
“Just be careful,” Holt warned, something flashing in his eyes. “Victoria can be as sweet and charming as anyone when she needs something and she’s moving to a city where she doesn’t know a lot of people. But she knows you are there and how prominent your family is in Miami.”
That jolted June as she hadn’t thought about that and really didn’t need the likes of Victoria trying to break into June’s limited social circle in her hometown.
“Don’t worry, I’m not in Victoria’s social league,” June told them, and her gaze settled worryingly on Margo once again. “Margo, you don’t have to get everyone together and host this meeting today if you’d rather not. You’ve already been through enough without this revelation on your mind.”
“No, really, it’s fine. Right now, I need something useful to do.” Margo gave her a look that was part gratitude and part stubbornness.
