All hands were on deck. Quinlan and Celeste had just finished hammering a piece of plywood over the broken windowpane of the police station door. When she’d been out with Celeste, Juliet had prepared herself for the worst. Luckily, the tornado had confined the bulk of its damage to property. Life and limb had been spared. Leland and Deagle were out patrolling the community again, making sure that everyone was safe and that the elderly and disabled were taken care of. And Juliet was collecting the paperwork and files that had been scattered everywhere.
“Just hung up with MEMA. They’ll be coming first thing in the morning to survey the damage and see what kind of relief we can get. Power crews are already out and about trying to restore the electricity, but that could take up to a few days. Jeffries, what kind of calls have been coming through from the public?” Quinlan pushed his glasses up on his head and sighed. Juliet didn’t think she’d ever seen him so fatigued.
Celeste grabbed her notepad. “Could be worse, Chief. Reports of some minor injuries, those people have been taken to Coastal Creek either by ambulance or by themselves. People are upset, of course, but all in all everyone seems to be handling it okay. We’ve put the word out that electricity may not be restored right away, and that always causes a minor panic. The town council is setting up cooling stations and buffets in the high school gym using their backup generator. If nothing else, this storm will break the heat. We’re really lucky, Chief. No deaths and no serious injuries. It seems the worst to come out of this is property damage.”
“Great news,” Juliet said, along with the chorus of the others agreeing with her. She wished her house hadn’t been hit quite so badly, but she was still grateful that everyone had made it out of the storm with their lives intact. “We’ll need to get that basement door fixed, but I just stuck a wedge under it for now to keep the door closed.”
Nobody seemed to care much about the broken basement door, but Juliet decided she’d be sure to put some emergency supplies down there. Just in case.
By the time they’d finished getting everything in some semblance of order at the police station, it was nearly ten o’clock. Juliet was exhausted, but the thought of going to Sienna’s worried her. Sienna and Will’s. But if she didn’t accept their invitation, it would open up a whole line of questioning she wasn’t prepared to deal with. If she could just get the thought of Sienna’s mouth on hers out of her head, it would make the whole thing a lot more manageable. But that was easier said than done. Every time the image of the two of them on the tablecloth in the basement snuck into her mind, her stomach would do flip-flops and her face would flush. This was madness.
Once she was in her car, she shook her head, trying to rid herself of what she was feeling. There was too much going on, too much work to be done to spend time pining over someone she couldn’t be with.
She drove slowly up her driveway, not allowing herself to grasp the full impact of the fact that her house was in shambles. She wanted to cry, which would have been a perfectly normal response, but she pushed it down. Her roof was completely obliterated. If anything, Celeste had understated the damage. Juliet stepped over a few shingles and shoved open the door. She stood in the hallway, looking up at the night sky. Stars were everywhere now, a cruel erasure of the tempest that had blown through just hours earlier. She hurriedly packed a bag with some clothes, some toiletries, and a phone charger. She took the family photos from where they’d hit the floor and wrapped them in an old T-shirt. She contemplated taking them, along with the lock box that held her passport and other important documents but left them under the bed instead. The house wasn’t any less secure than it was when it had a roof, since all the walls had remained intact, and it wasn’t like someone was going to scale them to go through the debris inside. She locked the door behind her and cast one last glance at the damage before she drove away. It doesn’t matter. It’s just a thing, and things can be replaced. I’m very, very lucky.
Juliet pulled up to Sienna’s house and parked behind her Volvo. She grabbed her duffel bag from the back seat and slung it over her shoulder. She felt like she’d been in the same uniform for a week and she desperately needed a shower.
“Hey, Mom,” Declan said as she dropped her bag on the floor near the door. “Look at us, one big happy family.”
He was clearly joking, but Juliet could only manage a half smile. “Yeah, look at us.”
“Jules, Dec told me about your house. That totally sucks. I called Brian Walsh in Nashua, remember him? He’s going to come out tomorrow to see what needs to be done and how quickly they can get it fixed,” Will said. He gave her a quick hug before picking up her bag.
Yes, Juliet remembered him. He was a townie who had moved north after college and opened up his own contracting business. She was so ecstatic someone was coming to help she considered throwing her arms around Will and squeezing him until he cried for help.
“That’s amazing. Thank you so, so much. I didn’t even know where to begin. My brain is complete mush at the moment.”
“No problem,” he said. “You know you’re welcome here as long as it takes.”
Sienna came in from upstairs and seemed startled at the sight of Juliet. The feeling was mutual. “I didn’t even hear you come in,” she said.
Juliet noticed that she had showered and put on comfy clothes, black yoga pants and a baggy yellow tank top. She looked absolutely adorable.
“Yeah, I just got here, actually. You wouldn’t know the town was without power,” Juliet said. Declan was already flipping channels on the television.
“I’m glad Will had the foresight to have a whole-house generator installed. We thought it would be more for snow than tornadoes, but the end result is the same.” Sienna shrugged.
“Definitely. Do you mind if I grab a shower?”
“Of course,” Sienna answered. “Follow me, I’ll show you to your bedroom.”
Juliet swallowed and walked behind Sienna. Her hair was still damp, and her body smelled like a mixture of baby powder and lotion. It was intoxicating.
“I’m sorry,” Juliet said when they were well away from the living room. “I know this is awkward.”
Sienna turned to her. “It doesn’t have to be. What happened down there was a reaction to what was happening around us. I don’t want you to feel like I’m some sort of predator who’ll be waiting to jump on you at any moment. I’m not. We can talk about it later if you want, or we don’t have to talk about it at all. It’s completely up to you.” Sienna toyed with the hem of her shirt and looked straight ahead. Juliet’s heart sunk in her chest.
“I think we should. You know, talk about it. We can wait until a better time, though, that’s fine. I know we’re both exhausted. I’m just going to get clean and then fall right into bed.” Juliet avoided Sienna’s eyes at all cost.
“Sure,” Sienna said. “The bed has fresh sheets and there’s an extra blanket in the closet if you get cold. I’ll be in my room if you need anything.” She pointed to the far end of the hallway. Sienna hadn’t been kidding. She really had put Juliet in the guest room farthest from her.
“Thank you,” Juliet muttered as Sienna closed the door behind her. The room was tastefully decorated in earth tones, with a small television perched on the side of the dresser. The attached bathroom had a stand-up shower and a double sink. No wonder Declan enjoyed spending time there. Everything was neat and organized and she’d feel comfortable eating off the spotless floor. It sparkled like floors do in commercials.
And the shower was exactly what Juliet needed. She scrubbed her face with a bar of Ivory, probably a little harder than she needed to. She wasn’t trying to remove Sienna from her lips; she was trying to wash away the feelings that had welled up inside her when their lips had touched. Her son, Sienna’s stepson, was just down the hall. Will, her friend, Sienna’s estranged husband, was in the pool house, which could be seen from the bathroom window where Juliet had just pulled down the blinds. There had been a sort of flirtation between the two of them since that day in the car, and while they’d both semi-acknowledged it that night at Neptune’s, Juliet had sealed the deal in the basement. It was no longer a hushed secret or an unspoken crush. It was there, out in the open, and they’d both felt something. It would be hard to ignore that going forward. Juliet continued to scrub until her skin was a bright pink.
* * *
The following morning, Juliet finished buttoning her uniform and headed out before anyone else was up. She’d slept pretty well considering she was in a strange bed, while a few miles away her own house was in ruins. It was much earlier than she was used to, but she didn’t think she had it in her to make small talk.
She drove by her house on her way to the station. Nothing much had changed in the few hours or so since she’d seen it last. Shingles and wood were everywhere. She was lucky her windows had all remained intact. Juliet sighed deeply and continued on to work.
Quinlan and Leland were already there. The smell of fresh coffee was a perfect invitation to begin what would probably be another shit storm of a day.
“Morning, L.T.,” Leland greeted Juliet at the Keurig machine. “You’re all set with the library at this point, right?”
Juliet frowned. “We’ve been over everything in the building, yes. Why?”
“It’s our biggest public structure that didn’t sustain any damage. Town council has set up relief in the school gymnasiums today for those who had their houses destroyed or badly damaged, but we want to get the kids back on their normal routine as soon as possible. The chief gave me the okay to set something up in the library. It’s comfortable and spacious and there’s plenty to keep small kids and adults alike entertained. And honestly, it’s been closed long enough. We have to reopen it.” Leland said the last part softly, like she expected Juliet to take issue with it.
She knew it had been closed too long already, and if they were in a city district, it most likely would have been reopened the following day. But since the town was small, and law enforcement was on her side, she had the luxury of keeping the public out of the one place she felt like she’d be able to find a link to Richard Kowalski’s murder. The heart medication that had presumably been used to kill him was kept in his desk. Thirteen pills were missing from the bottle. Tara Wolfe’s secrecy and Richard’s booze and the way he must have stumbled out of there…Juliet shook her head. If the county detectives wanted to come in and close it as suicide, there wasn’t much she could do to stop it. She just had to try to work smarter and faster.
“Sure.” Juliet dumped a packet of sugar into her mug and stirred furiously. “Just keep Kowalski’s office locked up, okay? I don’t want anyone in there for any reason.”
Leland nodded. “Of course, Lieutenant. We can do that.”
Juliet’s cell phone buzzed as she sat at her desk. MEMA would be there soon, and she was sure calls would start flooding in once people realized what hazards the storm had left behind.
The text was from Will. Heard from Brian. Good news. They can have a new roof installed in about a week. I told him to go ahead and get started today. You’ll be back home in no time, Jules. We’ll figure out the insurance thing after the fact.
Juliet sent him back a quick thank you with a bunch of hearts while guilt flooded her, hot and uncomfortable. He was a good man, and a good friend, and all she could think about was his wife. She cracked her knuckles and shoved the phone to the side of her desk. She officially felt like a living, breathing, piece of shit.