Chapter 6 June
JUNE
The Sandpiper Inn's parking lot felt oddly peaceful after the emotional intensity of their stop at the accident site.
June watched Lacey disappear through the inn's front entrance, moving slowly but steadily despite her injuries.
The afternoon sun slanted through the car windows, and for a moment, June allowed herself to appreciate the quiet comfort of sitting beside Holt in Carmen's car.
Then his phone rang.
"Hello, Rad, did you get everything?" Holt answered.
June tried not to listen, but the car was small, and she caught fragments of the conversation despite Holt's measured tone.
"That's a good idea," Holt said, his eyes flicking toward her briefly before focusing on something in the distance.
There was a pause as whoever was on the other end spoke.
"Lock the original in my office and the other one in the evidence lockup," Holt continued, and June felt her attention sharpen. Evidence lockup. This had to be about the missing evidence Rad had logged the night before. There was another pause in the conversation from Holt’s side as he listened to his son.
"I have a few at the lighthouse, and they are easy to install and hard to detect," Holt said, and June found herself wondering what he was talking about installing. “Yes, there is remote monitoring. I’ll do so from my phone.”
There was another longer pause from Holt’s side as he glanced at her once again.
"June and I just got back from the Henderson farm," Holt continued. "We'll stop by the lighthouse on our way back to town. You and June can create a distraction while I install them."
June's eyebrows rose slightly at being included in whatever plan was being discussed without her knowledge, but she waited for Holt to finish the call before asking questions.
"Okay, son, we’ll be there in about fifteen to twenty minutes," Holt finally said, then ended the call.
"What was that about?" June asked as Holt slipped his phone back into his pocket. “I’m only being nosey because I heard that I was being included in a diversion plan.” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously wondering what he was up to and if they were both going to need attorneys.
Holt was quiet for a moment, his hands resting on the steering wheel as he stared through the windshield. When he finally spoke, his voice carried a weight that made June's stomach tighten.
"I’m going to let you in on a secret,” Holt said quietly. “No one can know about this. Not Tom or anyone.” His eyes locked with hers.
“Of course,” June said. “You have my word.” She frowned. “I thought we already covered the covert-just-between-us pact.”
Holt gave a soft laugh despite the serious look on his face. “We did.” He nodded. “But this is about Rad.”
“Oh?” June’s eyes widened. “You know I’ll never say anything.”
“I do,” Holt acknowledged with a nod. “Rad didn't lose the evidence from Lacey's accident scene," Holt said quietly.
“You said it was taken from the evidence room,” June remembered what Holt had told her earlier.
“Fake evidence was removed from the evidence room,” Holt told her.
June stared at him blankly. "Fake evidence?"
"Yes, fake evidence. Rad hid the real evidence and put a decoy set in the evidence lockup. When Tom went to review the file this morning, he found the empty bag Rad had planted there," Holt explained.
The implications hit June like a cold wave. "You're telling me Rad knew someone would try to steal the evidence?"
"He suspected it," Holt confirmed. "Since the first case Rad had when he moved here and took the detective position, evidence Rad has logged either got tainted, misfiled, or just vanished.”
“That sounds off,” June said, her brow crinkling. “If you combine that with the other incidents that have happened to him, like the filing cabinets toppling toward him, the shelf…”
"It looks like someone is systematically targeting Rad for some reason,” Holt finished grimly.
June felt pieces clicking together in her mind, forming a picture she didn't like. "Do you think that the same someone who is targeting Rad is targeting Lacey or Lucy?”
"And Margo," Holt added quietly. “While I have no evidence just yet, my gut says it’s the same person.”
June's head snapped toward him. "Margo? What's happened to Margo?"
Holt hesitated, and June could see him weighing how much to share. "There have been incidents around Teacups, like things being moved, the stove was switched on, and threatening notes. Margo asked me not to mention it to Lucy because she didn't want her mother worrying."
"I won't say anything," June promised immediately, understanding the protective instinct.
Holt gave her a brief smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I figured you wouldn't."
June's mind was working through the connections, trying to find the common thread. "What do Rad, Lucy, Lacey, and Margo have in common? Why would someone want to target all of them?"
She saw something flicker in Holt's eyes, a look she knew well, even after not seeing him in thirty-eight years. It was a look that said he had more to tell, but wasn’t going to.
"Is there something else I should know?" June asked him directly.
“No. That’s all I have for now.” Holt started the car instead of answering immediately. "We need to stop by the lighthouse first," he said, deflecting with practiced ease. “We need to pick up the surveillance cameras I have there.”
June recognized the evasion for what it was, but she also understood that Holt would share information when he was ready. Pushing him had never worked, even when they were married. But she made a mental note to try to fish it out of him subtly.
"Why do you have cameras at the lighthouse?" June asked instead.
"Force of habit," Holt replied as they pulled out of the inn's parking lot. "I was going to set up a security system at the lighthouse."
"For who?" June’s brows shot up, remembering how he had wanted to put security cameras in their small apartment in Cambridge when they were married.
"My son and grandson." Holt didn’t turn toward her as he answered her.
There was something in his tone that made June look at him more carefully. "Is there something specific you're worried about?"
Holt was quiet for several minutes as they drove through the residential areas of Sandpiper Shores. Finally, he spoke. "Rad was shot in New York," he said simply. "During a drug bust, his partner was killed."
June felt her breath catch. "Oh no, Holt. When did this happen?"
"It was just before he moved to Sandpiper Shores.” Holt glanced at her.
“Is that why he moved here?” June asked.
"Yes.” Holt nodded in confirmation. It was a wake-up call for both of us. Rad nearly quit law enforcement entirely after his partner was killed and he nearly came close to death himself.”
“I can understand that,” June said. She’d lived that experience with her mother when she was barely a teenager.
She had also been a firefighter and had died in a fire.
Even though Carmen was an EMT, she’d fretted each day when her sister went to work.
Then Willa had followed in June’s mother’s footsteps, and every single day since Willa joined the fire department, June lived with that fear.
“My uncle.” Holt paused as they turned onto the road leading toward the lighthouse. "You remember Uncle Abe Sands?” He looked at June, who nodded. “He left the lighthouse and the sporting goods store to Rad in his will.”
"That was generous of Abe," June said, then added carefully, "I thought he was going to leave it all to you."
"I didn't want it," Holt said, and she heard the catch in his voice.
In fact, June heard all the things he didn't say in those four words.
Neither of them had wanted to return to Sandpiper Shores because of their shared history here.
The lighthouse would have been a constant reminder of everything they'd lost. This is where Holt and June had met and first fallen in love.
It was once their special place and was going to be their summer holiday retreat with their kids and a place they would finally retire to.
But that was just a dream in the past that went up in smoke the moment Holt had walked away from their marriage, right into the arms of another woman.
Unexpected pain ripped through her heart, but June breathed through it and refused to acknowledge it.
It had been a long time since. Time had moved on, and so had she.
"Mina helped Rad secure the detective position here," Holt continued.
"That was nice of her," June said. “At least he gets to continue working, but he and his son are safer. Or at least it’s usually safer here.” She shook her head and blew out a breath.
“It will be again,” Holt said with resolve. “We will figure this out and bring peace back to this beautiful town.”
As they pulled into the lighthouse driveway, they hadn’t spoken for a few moments, and wanting to lower the temperature a bit, June asked, "What about the sporting goods store? Who is running that now?"
"My mother hired a manager to run it when Uncle Abe got sick," Holt replied. "She watches the books like a hawk, but the day-to-day operations are handled by someone else."
As they climbed out of the car, June took in the structure in front of her.
The lighthouse looked exactly as June remembered it, though the white paint was fresher and the gardens around the base were more carefully maintained.
When they walked toward the cottage beside it, Holt tried the door, and it was locked.
“My mother and Tyler are probably still in town,” Holt said, pulling out his keys and unlocking the door.