Page 85 of Death on Gallows Path

“I met Teague’s former partner—”

“Quincy.”

She knew that from Clara. Possibly knew more of their interactions than I did.

“—and Teague’s cousin. They grew up together.”

“Oh?”

Fifteen years as Kit’s front person on Abandon All taught me a lot about the world, publishing, marketing, writing, and about Kit herself.

In that second, I knew my great-aunt already knew Teague’s story.

“How do you know?” I demanded.

“About his cousin’s son dying and Teague’s injuries?”

“Of course about that,” I snapped.

She said evenly, “Looked him up. Found news articles. It was no deep dive, no calling on sources, no feat of research. You could have done the same thing. You have the skills. I taught them to you. Better question than how did I know is why didn’t you apply those skills to finding out about his past?”

“I . . . I don’t know.”

But I did.

Before I’d told Teague about my past, I hadn’t wanted to risk introducing the topic of secrets.

Then why not bring it up in the months since New Year’s? My secret was out. Why not research his background, as Kit had?

Our secrets were different.

He’d suspected my connection to Abandon All early and researched it well before we . . . connected.

By the time I acknowledged there was something between us, I didn’t ask because I was afraid he wouldn’t tell me. I didn’t research because that would be admitting I didn’t think he would tell me.

“Well?” Kit demanded that I abandon my I-don’t-know excuse.

A notification popped up on the car’s screen.

“Clara’s calling, Kit. I need to answer.” Before she could dispute that, I offered, “I’ll let you know right away if it’s something big on the investigation.”

“Go. Bye.”

Saved by Clara and by Kit’s murder case curiosity.

* * * *

“I have so much to tell you,” Clara said, instead of hello.

“Maybe I should step out of an inquiry more often.”

I’d aimed for lightness.

She said seriously, “No, no, no. I never know if I’m asking everything that should be asked and you always pick up on things that never occur to me.”

“Same back atcha.”

I heard her grin in her next words. “We make a good team — stronger together. That’s why I asked Willow to meet us to talk before training tonight. I told her I’d check with you. If you’re not going to be back in time—”