Chapter 7
MARGO
Margo had planned to march into the police station, straight to June and Director Dillinger, where she planned to plant herself in front of them and insist they stop trying to handle everything in little separate pockets of information while the rest of them stood around piecing scraps together like children left with a puzzle and no box lid.
Margo understood why law enforcement couldn’t simply open the floodgates and tell civilians everything. She wasn’t unreasonable. But she, Rad, Willa, Ace, Carmen, and half the people they cared about had already been dragged into this, whether anyone liked it or not.
And if what was happening now had anything to do with ten years ago, whether it was a copycat or something much worse, then the people who had lived through that time might remember something that mattered.
That was valuable information that could help crack this case wide open.
Margo smiled at her choice of words. She had always wanted to say that line.
She gave her head a shake and got back to the task of giving herself the pep talk she needed to keep moving.
It was a task Margo had decided she was going to tackle while buttering her toast that morning.
She was barreling toward the police station, rehearsing exactly what she was going to say in her head when she saw June and Holt turning toward Harvey’s auto repair shop.
She stopped for a few seconds and watched, wondering if she should go into the police station and wait for them there or… Margo frowned as she read the body language. Harvey looked rather keyed up, and the way the three of them were moving made it clear they were heading toward something important.
Curiosity changed Margo’s direction before common sense could interfere, and she veered away from her original destination.
Margo slowed only long enough to give them time to enter the auto repair shop. Her head tilted as she watched Harvey glance around as if to make sure no one was watching before he followed them inside.
That’s very curious, Margo thought as she started walking again.
Whatever they were going into Harvey’s shop for had the shape of something interesting, secret, and probably terrible.
Which, lately, seemed to cover most things in Sandpiper Shores.
Margo crossed the street and slipped inside behind them.
The front of Harvey’s shop smelled like oil, warm metal, and old rubber, just as it always had.
The sounds of tools and low conversation bounced around the main work area, but Harvey had already led June and Holt farther in.
Margo moved past the open bay, through the side passage, and then into the older rear section of the building.
She stopped dead.
For one awful second, Margo saw her mother’s truck. But something was off about it.
The color was right. The shape was right.
The general size and lines were so close that her stomach dropped before her brain caught up.
Then she heard Harvey’s voice and whatever he had just said about bumpers and identification being stripped, and the scene rearranged itself into something even stranger.
“What on earth is going on?” Margo hissed before she could stop herself.
All three of them spun around, wide-eyed.
Harvey looked startled. June looked caught off guard. Holt’s expression hardened instantly into that particular look of his that suggested he would have preferred a private room, three locks, and a less persistent audience.
Margo had already blown her cover, so she might as well press for answers, and she folded her arms.
“Well?” she asked.
Holt recovered first.
“Margo, this is not something we can discuss right now.” Holt’s voice brooked no argument, but Margo was sick of being kept in the dark like a mushroom.
She gave him a bright smile that held no surrender whatsoever.
“That’s unfortunate, because I’m involved, and so are half the people I love.
” Margo let her gaze drift deliberately over the truck and then back to him.
“Also, I already know enough to make the entire town lose its mind if I start talking.”
“Margo.” June sighed softly. “Don’t be like this.”
“No.” Margo lifted one hand. “No, I’m serious. I’m done being told there are things I can’t know while everyone keeps nearly dying around me.”
Harvey looked faintly impressed that she was going toe to toe with the foreboding Director Dillinger.
Holt stared at her for two silent seconds that seemed more like an hour.
“Fine. We’re going to get everyone together and discuss this with the group.”
Margo’s victory was immediate and deeply satisfying. “When?” She held his stare.
“As soon as we can get everyone in one place.” Holt didn’t flinch or change his stance.
“I can do that. Get everyone together for you.” She straightened at once. “Who do you want? Me, Rad, you, June, Willa, Ace…”
“We’re not sure about Ace…” Holt began.
“Yet,” June corrected. “We’re not sure about Ace yet, and we have our reasons.”
“I know Ace. I grew up with him, and he’s a good guy.” Margo’s eyes narrowed. “Are you going to elaborate on those reasons for not wanting to include Ace?”
“No,” Holt said in a tone that shut the door firmly on that line of questioning.
“And me,” Harvey put in, waving a hand. “I’ve got a stake in this too.”
“And Harvey,” June said, smiling warmly at him. “We need Harvey, because he’s been very helpful with the accidents.”
Harvey’s brow furrowed. “Is Ace on the maybe list because he’s casually dating Sienna?”
“What has Sienna got to do with this?” Margo blinked and glanced at June and Holt.
“We’ll discuss it at the meeting,” Holt said.
Margo’s thoughts tumbled over each other as she tried to figure out why Ace having a relationship with Sienna would relegate him to the maybe list.
Something nagged at the back of her mind as her brain ticked over, and then it hit.
A flash of a day at the beach when Ace and Sienna had made a rare public appearance together.
Then she remembered why their fun in the sun had ended so abruptly, thanks to Sienna, and that was where Margo had seen the…
“This is because of the bracelet, isn’t it?” Her eyes widened. “How could I have missed it? Sienna wore it a few weeks ago.” The memory rose with uncomfortable clarity. “We were all at the beach. It came off while we were playing volleyball.”
“Rad said the same thing,” Holt told her.
“You think Sienna is involved with everything going on?” Margo stared at him. “She could’ve dropped that bracelet at any time in my kitchen. She’s always barging in there to moan about something.”
“What bracelet?” Harvey asked.
“A white gold one,” Margo explained. “It’s delicate and looks antique.”
“Oh, I know that one.” Harvey nodded. “She’s not supposed to wear it, but she sneaks it out whenever her mother is not home.”
“Sneaks it out?” Holt frowned. “Why doesn’t her mother want her to wear it?”
“It’s a family heirloom,” Harvey told them, and the stiffening of Holt’s shoulders didn’t go unnoticed by Margo.
“Really?” Holt’s eyes narrowed on Harvey. “On her mother’s side or her father’s?”
“That, you’d have to ask her,” Harvey told them.
“Harvey, I trust you won’t say anything about finding the bracelet.”
It was more of an order than a question from Holt.
“Of course,” Harvey assured him. “But I don’t think Sienna was involved in any of this. She’s a lot of things, but she would never try to harm anyone.”
“Harvey, Sienna has always been the mean girl.” Margo turned toward him. Then she softened it with a brief smile. “You’ve just always had a soft spot for her.”
“No.” Heat crept up Harvey’s neck. “She’s just very misunderstood, and all of you know who her mother is.
” He shook his head, anger flashing in his eyes.
“My father is a nightmare, and even he wouldn’t throw his own under the bus, tear me down for sport, or criticize me every time I breathed wrong. ”
Margo’s smile faded. That, unfortunately, she believed.
Victoria Morrison had never cared who was watching when she went after Sienna. Now, with Harvey looking as disgusted as he did, something in it landed differently.
“Victoria does that?” June asked, appalled.
“Yeah.” Margo nodded. “Victoria can be brutal.”
“A few times I’ve gone to the Morrison place for dinner,” Harvey said, “she’ll do it right at the table.
Things like, ‘Are you sure you want to eat all of that? You’ve been looking a little…
’” He paused theatrically, then continued in a cutting falsetto that was unsettlingly accurate.
“‘Bloated lately.’” His mouth twisted. “Then she laughs and blames it on Captain Morrison’s side of the family’s genes.
Says something like, ‘Sienna was a little plump as a baby, and we simply have to watch that baby fat doesn’t come back.
’ Then she’ll talk about how her own side of the family has impeccable genes. ”
“What?” June and Holt said together.
“That’s despicable.” June’s face tightened with disgust.
“She’s always been like that,” Margo said. Then, unexpectedly, she found herself feeling the tiniest flicker of pity for Sienna. “I suppose I’d be mean too if I had a mother like that.”
“Yes,” June said. “But pain and poor treatment can explain some behavior without excusing it. You can understand why someone turned sharp without giving them permission to keep cutting other people.”
“That’s fair,” Harvey admitted. “Still, if you get past all that armor, Sienna’s not that bad.” He frowned, then looked back and forth between them. “What are you thinking about that bracelet?”
“We’ll tell you at the meeting,” Holt said. His eyes pinned Harvey with quiet force. “And none of this leaves this room. You do not alert Sienna, Clive, Victoria, Tom, or anyone even loosely connected to them. Not a word.”
“That’s why you don’t want Ace included. Because you think he’s too close to Sienna.” Harvey’s expression sharpened. “He’d never betray Willa’s family.”
“I agree with you, but Holt doesn’t,” June told him.