“Can you get my drink too?” Junie asked.
“Guessing that’s not wine, huh?” Sebastian asked Simone.
Now it was Simone’s shoulders sinking. Sighing, she stood. “Come on, kid. Let’s get your drink.”
“The kitchen’s chaos right now,” Rhiannon said, standing as well. “I’ll get you the cart, but you’re loading it, and you’re pushing it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Sebastian planted a kiss on the top of my head. “I’ll be back.”
“I’ll be here.” We exchanged another one of those sweet expressions as he headed into the sea of people with Rhiannon.
That left me, Delilah, Lizzie, and Axel. I said, “And then there were four.”
Axel glanced at Delilah, then Lizzie. “Shit, would one of you mind doing me another favor?”
“What do you need?” Delilah asked.
“I’ve got to head out in a couple of minutes to plow Main Street.” He reached into his pocket and held out his keys. “Mind starting the truck for me?”
“Yeah, sure.” Delilah gave him a pat on the back as she stood. “Where’s it at?”
“The back alley,” Axel said.
Smiling awkwardly, Delilah’s cheeks got red again. “And where might that be?”
“I’m waiting on a good knife anyway.” Lizzie stood, waving in a come-here motion over her shoulder. “Come on. I’ll show you.”
“You’re the best,” Delilah said, holding on to Lizzie’s shoulders so they wouldn’t get separated in the crowd.
And then there were two.
“Probably shouldn’t be drinking on the job,” I said to Axel.
“I’ll drink it when I get back.” He wiped some food from his lip, eyes unusually heavy against me. “Simone healed up nicely.”
My stomach twisted. I cleared my throat. “Yeah, she looks good.”
“Didn’t look too good that day though.” He took a sip from his water on the table. “I imagine, anyway. Since that’s the day you lied to me.”
Shit. I figured this moment would come eventually. Honestly, I’d been dodging him ever since it happened, because Axel wasn’t the type of guy to drop a grudge.
“Look, I just did what she asked me to. She didn’t want anyone to know, so?—”
“You did it really well. The lying, I mean.” Elbows on the table, leaning in, Axel lowered his voice. “You did what you had to. To protect your friend. I respect that.”
Not where I thought this was going.
He posed those words so carefully. As if he’d rehearsed them. There was something in his inflection that sounded familiar. The blunt nature of it. How poised and blank his face was.
Like the texts had been.
Was this his way of confirming my suspicion? Was he saying, in so many words, that he was the anonymous friend who helped me get rid of David’s body?
“Well, like you said.” I crossed my arms and laid them on the table as well. “I did what I had to.”
“Right.” His eyes flicked between mine. “We’ve all done things we aren’t proud of, but we had to. That’s the nature of this place, isn’t it?”
That tightness in my stomach softened. This was it, wasn’t it? The texter was obsessed with their anonymity. If the roles were reversed, I would be too. If I was the one who’d gotten rid of the body, if I only wanted to make sure the tracks I covered weren’tuncovered by the person who did it, this was how I would address it. I would dance around the point I was trying to make, hoping they understood.
