“Give me a minute,” Margo told them. “I’ll meet you at the car. I just want to have a word with Holt and June.”
“All right.” Rad nodded. “See you later, Dad.” He waved at June. “Night, June.”
“Night,” June said back.
Eventually, only June, Margo, and Holt remained.
“As you didn’t mention it,” Margo began. “I just wanted to know if you found out anything more about the bracelet?”
The question landed lightly, but June saw the instant effect it had on Holt.
It was subtle. Little more than a faint stiffening across his shoulders and the smallest pause before he answered. Anyone who didn’t know him would’ve missed it. But June knew him well enough to notice it. She knew his expressions, his silences, the slight changes in his breathing when he was deciding what to say and what to hold back.
“As soon as I have something concrete,” Holt said to Margo, “I’ll let you know.” He gave a smile. “I promise.”
It was a carefully built answer. Too careful.
“All right, thank you.” Margo wasn’t fully convinced as her eyes narrowed slightly, but she didn’t press. “I’d better get going. Thank you for tonight.”
“It was a good session,” Holt told her. And there it was again, that subtle tell that he was not being entirely honest.
June realized then, he’d realized what she had. While this was supposed to be a meeting of everyone laying their cards on the table and updating each other on whatever they knew, over half the room was holding back.
But then again, Holt was also holding back that closely veiled answer, “As soon as I have something concrete,” which wasn’t an outright lie; it was a deflection. It really said, yes, but I can’t divulge that right now.
When Margo returned, Holt was behind her, and the two of them carried the last board together. June stood before they reached the door.
“Goodnight…” Margo paused. “Sorry, do you want to join us?” She suddenly realized they hadn’t been invited.
“No, thank you,” June said instantly. She had too much on her mind to sit at the only pizza place in Sandpiper Shores that catered to families, and the place, in the summer, was always packed full of rowdy families. “You all go and have fun.”
“Okay,” Margo said and smiled, turning to go.
“Be careful tonight,” June told Margo. “And keep vigilant.”
Margo gave her a tight smile. “I will.” She turned and left.
That left June and Holt alone in the conference room.
The silence that followed wasn’t awkward.
It was familiar.
That was somehow worse.
June bent to pick up the last of her papers, though they were already in order. Holt gathered his folders and tucked the markers into the plastic tray.
“I still have Carmen’s car,” Holt reminded her.
June looked up at him.
“Yes. I know. That’s why I stayed behind.” She smiled at him.
His eyes met hers.
And her stomach clenched as his eyes darkened and the room seemed to shrink around them.
Neither of them spoke for a moment after that. A door slammed down the hallway, making them both snap out of the moment.
