The female stared at her for the longest time. “You look so much like her it hurts.”
The next thing she knew they were embracing like family who had been separated for a generation. And in that moment, Helania did not care about anything other than the fact that this stranger, whom she’d met at a great, tragic turning point in her life, was here.
“They found Isobel’s killer,” Helania said in a rush. “We have him. I was trying to reach you to let you know.”
“They do?” The female pulled back. “They found him?”
“Yes. The Brotherhood has him.”
“Oh, thank God.”
“I tried to contact you on Facebook to let you know. He didn’t just kill Isobel. He killed another female—”
“I know.” The female looked at Boone. “And that’s why I asked to see you tonight.”
It was at that point that Helania put two and two together more properly. “Wait . . . you were arranged to be mated with Boone. You were going to be his shellan.”
“Yes.” There was a long pause. “I’m Rochelle.”
“Rocky B. Winkle. On Facebook.”
“Yes.” The female looked back and forth between them. Then she stepped away. “Helania . . . how much did Isobel tell you about us?”
“She said that you were best friends? And you told me that yourself.”
Rochelle took another step back. “Did she . . . tell you about her boyfriend?”
“Yes, oh my God, do you know him? Can you get in touch with him?” Helania nodded toward Boone, who was sitting with great stillness on the sofa. “He and I have been working on the investigation into Isobel’s death—and also on a second killing. That’s how he and I met, by the way. And we’ve been hoping to find that male who meant so much to Isobel.” She glanced back at Boone. “See, I told you Isobel’s mate wasn’t the one who killed her. I knew he made her happier than I’d ever seen her before.”
When no one said anything else, Helania looked to the female, but Rochelle just kept staring at Boone. Who kept staring up at Helania.
“What?” Helania said.
The other female took a deep breath and dropped to her knees. One by one, she gathered the broken china pieces and put them on the tray that Helania and Thomat had worked so hard on to kit out nicely.
“We’re going to need a cloth of some kind to properly clean this up,” Rochelle murmured. “Perhaps we should call a doggen—”
“You can tell her what you just told me,” Boone said softly. “It’s okay.” Rochelle froze with half a plate in her hands. Lifting her eyes, she stared upward at Helania. And then in a quiet voice, she whispered. “Your sister . . . was my one great love.”
Helania opened her mouth to say something—but then she blinked. Did a double-take. Felt sure that she had not heard what she had, but rather had read the female’s lips incorrectly.
“Isobel . . .” Rochelle repeated, “was my lover. We were so much more than friends.”
Tears threatened in the female’s lovely eyes . . . and then spilled down her cheeks, dripping off into the ruined china.
“I never knew,” Helania heard herself say hoarsely. “I never guessed . . .”
That my sister was gay, she thought.
“I told her she couldn’t tell anyone.” Rochelle placed the half plate onto the tray and sat back on her high-heeled boots. “I made her promise, because of who my family was, that she wouldn’t tell a soul. And that was the first of so many regrets for me after she was gone.”
“I never guessed,” Helania repeated. “She referred to you as her—”
“Boyfriend. I know. I told her to.”
“Wait, that night.” Helania lowered herself down so they could be eye to eye. “That night you came to tell me she was dead . . .”
“I knew where she lived. She’d told me your address. When we found her in that club . . . I can’t even tell you what that was like. I knew she would want you to know immediately—instead of having to wonder and worry about what had happened to her when she didn’t come home. So I took her body to my secret house, the one I bought on my own and my parents never go to—”
“The white house.”
“On Macon Avenue. Where we prepared her for the Fade Ceremony.”
Helania glanced back at Boone. “So we were close tonight.” She refocused on Rochelle. “We were trying to find that house. I couldn’t remember