Page 63 of Through the Fire
Juliet? Who’s that? Jules? He frowned, trying to think of why Elena would be running anyone’s fingerprints, and how that could be connected to Jules.
“Wes? Weeessss! Did we lose our connection? If we did, I might die of curiosity. Why do you have to live in the middle of nowhere with the crappiest cell service in the history of the world? Why?”
Elena either sensed him or heard Leila, because she whipped around, fear flickering across her face before her usual shy expression locked into place. “I’ll need to call you back,” she said quickly, some of her uncharacteristic confidence still lingering in her voice as she let the hand holding the phone drop to her side.
“Hang on a minute, Leila,” Wes said, not looking away from Elena. She’d just become a very interesting puzzle, and he wanted to know whether Jules was in any kind of trouble.
“Wes? Yes! Go someplace with better reception. I don’t want to miss a word of this,” Leila said, but his attention was focused on Elena, and he barely heard his sister. He lowered his own phone as well.
“Is something going on with Jules?” he asked baldly.
Elena blinked rapidly, either because she was confused by his question or because she was trying to think of a lie. “Jules? No, why?”
“Who’s Juliet?”
“Oh!” Elena gave a small laugh. “Juliet works at the public library. After what happened last week, I don’t want to work at the viner anymore. Don’t mention it to Jules, though, please? She gave me such a good reference, and I don’t want to let her down, but it’s really hard being in that kitchen. You understand that, right?” Even in the low light of the moon, he could see the tears starting to pool in her eyes, but his discomfort was outweighed by his need to find out what the call had been about. Apparently, his curiosity was as strong as his sister’s.
“If that was about working at the library, why were you talking about running someone’s fingerprints?”
“What?” She shook her head slightly. “We weren’t. You must’ve misheard.”
He knew he hadn’t, but he also knew that was a pointless argument, so he said nothing. She gave him a tight smile and hurried back inside. He stared at the back door, lost in thought, until he heard Leila calling him and remembered that she was still on the phone.
“Sorry,” he said, refocusing. He’d worry over the puzzle that was Elena Dahl later.
“It’s fine.” He could almost picture her dramatically waving away his apology. “I can hear you really clearly now. So, tell me everything.”
He opened his mouth and then closed it again, not sure of where to start or what Leila’s version of “everything” entailed. “Why don’t you ask questions, and I’ll answer them.”
“Okay. How many dates have you been on?”
“One and a quarter official dates.”
“A quarter?”
“There was a fire and a possible but unlikely kidnapping.”
Silence filled the line for several moments, and Wes waited patiently for the next question.
“Were you involved in either the fire or the kidnapping?” she finally asked.
“No. I—” He broke off when the back door opened and Kit poked her head out.
When she saw him, she smiled and stepped onto the porch. “You okay? I was worried that you might’ve turned into a human-shaped ice sculpture.”
“I’m fine, but you don’t have a coat or boots on. Go back inside before you freeze.” Despite his scolding words, he found himself smiling back at her.
“Is that her?” Leila demanded. “Is she right there? Let me talk to her! No, take a picture, and send it to me, and then let me talk to her. Oh, we can just Facetime!”
“She can’t stay outside to talk to you. She’d freeze. Inside it’s too loud. We’ll hike up to the bat cave soon and maybe you can talk to her then.”
“Fine. At least take a picture!”
Lowering the phone, Wes said, “Leila would like a picture of you.”
“Leila?” Kit repeated.
“My sister.”
