“June?” I turned her gently around and saw her unfocused eyes staring out at me. “Holy shit.”
She was clenching the watch, lips slightly parted, her breath leaving her in slow exhales. There was nothing I could do but wait. If this went on for too long, I’d take the necklace off. Hopefully, that would bring her back around.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to resort to any of that. After about three minutes, she snapped back to full wakefulness, the dull, glazed look leaving her eyes gradually with every blink. A massive, joyous smile broke over her face.
“I did it!” She leaped up, forcing me to catch her as she swung her arms around my neck and hugged me.
“You did,” I said, unable to keep from smiling along with her. “What did you see?”
June extracted herself from my embrace and held up the watch again. “It was still Naphele’s point of view, but Winston was there.”
Hope and terror blossomed in my chest. Hope that maybe we had a lead; terror that a man I’d known as well as Winston might be the culprit. He’d been the lone voice crying out that I hadn’t killed her, and for years I’d held a soft spot for him, even given his anger issues.
“What happened?” I asked.
June put a hand to her head, rubbing at her temple. “He and Naphele were talking about something,” she explained. “The vision started after they’d discussed whatever it was, so I have no idea what they were upset about, but Winston lookedreallyagitated.”
“Agitated like he was mad?” I probed. “Or something else?”
She shook her head and sighed. “Not sure. He didn’t seem madatNaphele, though, but he was upset about something she’d said for sure. He stomped off and shifted before running into the woods. The last thing he said before was that he needed to cool down.”
“That’s not a lot to go on. Anything else?”
“I could get a sense of Naphele’s mind, and whenever this discussion happened, it was thesameday she died. I could sort ofsenseit. And she didn’t have any fear toward the other man. She wasn’t worried about Winston, even though he looked agitated. Plus, he took off like a bat out of hell when he shifted. She was thinking about how he’d always like to run for a hundred miles or more when he was upset. I think Winston was nowhere near Naphele when she died.”
“You’re saying Winston is no longer a suspect? We can mark him off?” I asked.
“I think so,” she said, nodding eagerly.
I breathed a sigh of relief. “This is huge, June.”
The proud smile on her face made her look even more beautiful. Her eyes locked on mine, and a powerful tug yanked on my heart, begging me to lean forward to grab her and kiss her. The same thought reflected in June’s face. And for the briefest instant, I thought she leaned forward, moving close to allow me what I wanted so badly, but before either of us could act, the door of the shop opened, and a group of three ladies stepped in, ripping us from the moment.
June cleared her throat nervously. “Hi. Welcome to Hollis Haven.”
The women waved back and went about browsing. I stood there, happy about the exchange, but annoyed that we hadn’t been able to go further. At the back of my mind, my wolf gave a satisfied growl as we watched June walk over to help the customers. Maybe all hope wasn’t lost yet.
64
JUNIPER
The day became steadily better after the vision. My and Levi’s relationship was still being repaired, but things were better than they had been. Apart from that, we’d had a record day of sales at the shop. The morning weather had been trash, and folks decided shopping indoors was a good way to pass the time. By the time I left for Beatrice’s place, I was in a markedly better mood than I’d been in when Levi had arrived that morning.
The weather had cleared up, the sleet and freezing rain dissipating into a bright, cloudless cobalt blue sky. After lunch, the temperature had again crept back up, and it was pleasant going.
My good mood was shattered when I turned on to Clawson Avenue and saw Eugenia coming out of an alley between the hardware store and a small coffee shop. I frowned as she glanced behind her, as if checking to see if she was being followed. She must not have noticed me, and the wind was in my face, preventing her from catching my scent.
That alley opened on the opposite street, Broadway Avenue, and led right to the store. Had she been spying on me? I knew it wasn’t a good idea to follow her, but I did it anyway, becauseI wanted to know what the hell she was doing. Especially since her body language and facial expression radiated sneakiness. Whatever she was doing, she didn’t want anyone to notice her.
“What the hell are you up to?” I muttered under my breath as I picked up the pace to keep her in sight.
When she rounded the corner onto Main Street, I hurried to get to the same corner, afraid I’d lose her, and when I got there, it proved my fear correct. She was nowhere to be seen when I peered around the Central Bank building. All I could see was an empty road. She must have shifted and sprinted off into the trees on the far side of the road.
I contemplated shifting and trying to track her down, but the thought made me laugh. What the hell was I doing? Why did I give a fuck what Eugenia was doing? Hell, for all I knew she was hurrying home to use the bathroom, or maybe she’d banged one of Anders’s buddies and didn’t want him to find out. I’d let her take up too much real estate in my head as it was; I needed to stop obsessing over whatever dumb shit she was doing.
Chiding myself for trying to play private detective, I headed for Beatrice’s house and managed to put Eugenia out of my mind.
Less than a mile from Beatrice’s apartment, my phone rang, and when I glanced at the screen, I stopped walking. Why was Anders’s mother calling me?
