“Asher,” he said slowly, “what’s going on?”
I exhaled hard and set my fork down. “She’s not here for trouble,” I said. “She’s here because her friend disappeared.”
The table went quiet.
“Disappeared how?” Sandy asked.
“Crossing the border,” I said. “Years ago. No body. No investigation worth a damn. She thinks Val-du-Lys has answers.”
Dad’s jaw set. “That’s dangerous.”
“I know.”
“This town doesn’t give answers easily,” Dad continued. “Especially not to outsiders.”
Harmony nodded slowly. “I understand why she’d want them.”
Dad looked at her sharply.
“She doesn’t even know me,” Harmony said. “And yet… I get it.”
She turned to me. “What’s she like?”
I hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“That’s not true,” Phoenix said.
I ran a hand through my hair. “She’s frustrating. Smart. Stubborn. Acts like she’s not scared when she clearly is.”
Harmony’s brows lifted. “She doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who’d go looking for trouble.”
“She isn’t,” I said immediately.
Then, because apparently, I was incapable of shutting up tonight, I added, “She went to the Frosted Mug. Asked about backroom poker.”
Harmony’s eyebrows shot up. “She did what?”
Becket straightened. “That’s… bold.”
“It was stupid,” I snapped. “She’s not built for that world.”
“And yet,” Harmony said gently, “she went anyway.”
I clenched my jaw. “She’s working on her master’s in criminology.”
That got Becket’s attention.
He nodded slowly. “I get it.”
Dad shifted uncomfortably.
“I understand the need to know,” Becket continued. “To close the loop. Not knowing eats at you.”
Harmony swallowed. “It does.”
She pressed her lips together. “After my mom was killed… I needed answers too. Even the ones I didn’t want.”
The table went still.