“What?” Margo spluttered, her eyes flying to Ace and then June and Holt. “Is it?”
“We’re asking the questions,” Holt told her, calmly. “And before we go any further with any of yours, you’ll answer ours and then tell us everything you know and what you have uncovered about ten years ago.”
“You think Gilbert was investigating that?” Willa ignored Holt’s warning and honed in on her mother. “Actually, that would make a lot of sense.”
“What would?” Holt asked.
“It would make a lot more sense as to why Gilbert Fry would be here than what we thought,” Margo quickly answered for Willa. “We thought he was chasing an arsonist.” She swallowed and glanced at Willa, who gave her a slight nod. “Judy told us that when she asked Gilbert why he was adamant about coming to Sandpiper Shores with them for that summer, he’d told her he was chasing someone who’d evaded the law for far too long. That this time they weren’t going to burn down the evidence.”
“Okay, I can see why you’d be looking for an arsonist,,” June said, holding up her hands. “It looks like we have a lot to talk about.” Her eyes shifted between all of them. “And this time, you’re all going to tell us the truth. No more lies or holding back.” Her eyes narrowed a little more. “And we mean, thewholetruth.”
Margo stood frozen to the spot as she saw in June’s eyes that they knew more than they were letting on, and that this interrogation they were about to get was merely them verifying that and filling in the blanks. She blew out a long breath and looked at the coffee pot as it finished dripping. The soft domestic sound cut strangely through everything else.
“I’m making coffee,” Margo told them. “And breakfast.” It came out sounding more practical than she felt, but she pressed on. “Why don’t we do this over breakfast? Everyone will think more clearly after coffee.”
There was a small chorus of reluctant agreement.
“I am starving,” Ace admitted. “Even more so now than when I arrived.”
“That sounds good,” June accepted and glanced at Holt.
“Yes, I could do with some coffee and something to eat,” Holt agreed with June. Margo couldn’t help but notice the warm smile he gave June before his gaze turned hard again when he looked up. “Thank you, Margo. What can we do to help?”
“Nothing,” Margo told them. “Go take a seat at the dining room table.”
“We’ll set it,” Ace and Rad offered.
Margo nodded and turned back to get coffee cups as Willa instructed them where everything was.
The kitchen and dining room gradually filled with movement again, but this time it felt less like normal breakfast chores and more like people taking their places before judgment was passed.
Coffee was poured. Plates and cutlery appeared. Margo and Willa worked side by side at the stove with a speed born of long friendship and many family breakfasts. Bacon crackled. Eggs were beaten. Bread went in the toaster. Behind them, chairs scraped softly in the dining room, and low voices rose and fell.
Margo kept her eyes on the pan. “Your mother and Holt look really mad,” she said under her breath.
“Yes.” Willa gave a small, humorless smile. “My mother is seething.”
“Yup, I got that.” Margo nodded.
“When she gets that still.” Willa nudged the bacon over and lowered her voice. “The set jaw. The eyes that don’t wander. The voice that goes even instead of sharp. Trust me, she’s holding back a volcanic eruption.”
“That’s comforting.” Margo winced.
“It wasn’t meant to be.” Willa transferred the bacon to a serving platter.
“Harvey was right. We should’ve told them from the start.” Margo slid scrambled eggs onto another plate.
“We did tell them we were looking into the old case,” Willa reasoned.
“Yes, but we told them the version that made us sound less reckless.” Margo placed the pan back on the cooker.
Willa didn't argue, which was answer enough.
Margo glanced toward the dining room.
Holt had already taken the head of the table without seeming to mean to. June sat at his right. Harvey, looking deeply uneasy, had ended up on Holt’s left. Rad sat opposite his father, at the other end of the long table. His shoulders were tight, arms folded. Ace had taken the seat beside Rad. There was a place mat beside him, presumably for Willa, and another empty one on Rad’s other side that Margo presumed was for her. There was one empty place between June and where Willa would sit. There were two between where Margo would sit and Harvey. The line of the table looked almost formal now, like a hearing disguised as breakfast with the interrogators at the far end.
Margo’s nerves tightened.
