Page 138

Honey puts a scone in front of me. “Eat. You get intense and forget you’re a body.”

“I’m very aware I’m a body lately.”

Junie grins. Scarlet laughs into her coffee.

My phone buzzes before I can say anything else.

Theo: When you get home no more evidence. I have plans for us.

My insides go soft so fast it’s embarrassing.

Scarlet sees my face and smiles. “Go.”

“We just got the lead.”

“And Mrs. Delaney is still making calls.” Scarlet points her coffee at me. “You’ve earned a few hours where nobody makes you decode dead women’s filing habits.”

Mrs. Delaney waves me off. “I’ll call Ms. Silver and see what she’s willing to pull. Go home, dear. Let that alpha fuss over you.”

Honey slides two more scones into a bag. “For Ezra. So he doesn’t accuse us of withholding.”

By the time I leave Sweet Tooth, I have a lead, a pastry bag, and a text from my alpha that makes me walk too fast to pretend I’m dignified.

The dock looks different when I get home.

Theo would never erase the old marks or sand away the history carved into the post. But one weathered board has been replaced, the edge near the marked post has been freshly sealed, and towels are stacked on one chair beside three paper bags from my favorite Mexican restaurant in town.

Ezra stands barefoot near the water, looking bright and pleased with himself. Theo is beside the cooler, sleeves pushed up, hair damp at the temples, as though he wrestled lumber and won.

I stop at the edge of the yard. “You worked on the dock and bought tacos.”

“Yeah, all fixed,” Theo says.

Ezra lifts a hand. “And I supervised the taco delivery.”

“Important work.”

“The queso needed guarding.”

The Deacon floats at the far side of the drainage ditch, only his scarred snout and old eyes visible above the water. He doesn’t move toward us, but he lurks.

I point at him. “Is he invited?”

Theo glances over. “He lives here.”

Ezra opens a takeout bag. “And he’s less rude than some people.”

“True. The Deacon has never stolen my notebook—unlike a thief I know.”

“He would if he could read.”

Theo’s mouth curves, and my whole day settles with that smile.

We spread out the food on the dock while the sun lowers over the water, the air thick and golden. Theo sits close enough to me that his thigh presses mine. Ezra steals chips from both of us and calls it redistribution. We eat tacos with paper napkins balanced on our knees, and I let myself be a woman on a date instead of a scientific investigator.

Ezra finishes his second taco and points toward the water. “I vote we test the structural integrity by jumping off the dock.”

Theo scans the channel and the ditch. “That’s a no.”