Page 40 of Shadow Justice

Claire paused. “Do you know Shaw?”

“No. Holly says he started coming in recently, lives outside the city limits, and keeps to himself. I was looking into him when you called.”

“Send me what you have.”

Reid rubbed his eyes. “I’ll also send timestamps from the shop cameras.”

“Anyone else?”

He heard movement in the hallway before he answered. Holly stood near her bedroom door in sleep-soft clothes and bare feet, one hand resting against the frame. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and her face had gone pale enough that Reid knew she’d heard more than he wanted.

He looked away, hating what he was going to have to tell her. “No, no one. I’ll send the files.”

“Keep Holly close. I’ll update when I can.”

The call ended.

For several seconds, Reid stood there with the phone in his hand. She watched him from the hallway with fear she was trying hard not to show.

Blue moved first, crossing to stand beside Holly.

“What happened?” she asked.

Reid set the phone on the counter. There was no gentle way to make this gentle. “That was Claire. Hoyt Sullivan is dead.”

Her fingers tightened on the doorframe. “Hoyt?”

“They found him tonight.”

“Tell me it was natural causes.”

“It wasn’t.”

The words seemed to move through her slowly, rearranging the day in her mind the same way they were rearranging his. Hoyt at the counter. Holly making the flat white. Reid speaking to him. Hopper watching outside. The support group in the afternoon.

Holly swallowed. “Was there…?”

She didn’t finish, but he understood what she was asking. Was there something from Sanctuary? Had the killer used her shop again?

Reid stepped closer, ready to steady her if she needed it. “Yes. His Sanctuary cup was stuffed in his mouth.”

She gave a little gasp and leaned hard against the doorframe.

He reached for her before he could stop himself. His hand landed on her arm. She looked up into his face, her eyes wet. “Why?” Her voice came out strangled. “Why are they doing this?”

A tear slipped free. He caught it with his thumb. “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

She gripped his hand, still on her arm, squeezing hard. “We have to stop them. Now.”

He took her hand in his. “We will,” he said. “I promise.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

For a few seconds after Reid answered her, Holly couldn’t move.

The hallway felt too narrow, the apartment too quiet, the air too thin. Blue pressed against her leg, solid and warm, but even that didn’t steady her the way it usually did.

She kept seeing Hoyt standing at her counter that morning in his expensive coat and polished boots, impatient and faintly offended by the fact that coffee required time and human labor.