beer?”
“I’d love one.” A hundred of them to wash away the past hours sounded even better. I settled down on the couch, quite pleased to note that neither laughter nor tears were on the brink. I had caught Zach up to speed on the past events on the drive over and he never doubted a word I said. Feeling less crazy gave me a newfound strength.
“What about the house surprises you?” Kipp asked, sitting down on the leather recliner across from me.
“Um, that men live here.” I laughed.
“Pardon?” Zach called out from the kitchen.
“Kipp and I were chatting about how your house surprises me.”
Zach smiled, striding back out from the kitchen holding two frosty beers. “A good surprise?” He handed me one.
I nodded and took a big gulp of the beer, almost sighing in pure pleasure. The crisp taste swept across my tongue and tasted so damn good. I lowered the bottle and shrugged. “You have great taste.”
Zach downed half his beer and wiped the remnants away from his lips. “Not me.”
I glanced sideways at Kipp. “You did all this?”
“I did.” His eyes danced with amusement. “Why, do I not seem the type to care about my house?”
“Well, truthfully, no. You’re all…” I waved my hand up and down his body.
His eyebrow arched. “All what?”
Sexy piece of hunky male who is too busy being tough to worry about a neat house. “A guy.”
Kipp chuckled. “Is that really what you were going to say?”
My thoughts apparently showed on my face. I needed to get control of my emotions. Not only had he created a spark of lust, but his personality appealed to me. I desperately searched for a reason to dislike the ghost in front of me and hoped I’d find one soon.
“I have no idea if y’all are done talking, but I’m ready to move on.” Zach took a seat next to me on the couch. He pulled a bag onto the steel coffee table and extracted a large brown expandable file folder. “You found something without telling me?”
“I didn’t find anything out,” I retorted.
Zach’s gaze lifted to mine. “Yes, I know. I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Oh.” I giggled. “Right—you were talking to Kipp.”
“Go to the witness report and flip to page thirty,” Kipp said.
I sighed deeply in preparation for an exhausting game of telephone. “He wants you to look at the witness report.”
Zach shifted through the file folder until he lifted out a thick stack of papers stapled together. “All right, I have the report here.”
I sipped my beer. “Turn to page thirty.”
Zach did so and trailed his finger along the words. Seconds later, he glanced up. “Am I supposed to see something here?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea.”
A smile played at the corners of Zach’s mouth. “I didn’t think you would.”
“Then why are you looking at me?”
Zach shook his head in clear disbelief. “Maybe because I haven’t the faintest idea where Kipp is.”
“Crap, sorry.” I pointed to the leather recliner. “He’s right there.”
Zach followed my gaze. His brow furrowed. “I’d just like to point out how incredibly fucked up this is.” His gaze stayed glued on the chair. “What did you see that I don’t?”
“Hannah’s best friend told me that on the day before she went missing, she saw Hannah coming out of a house on Allandale.”
The sexy cop persona worked for Kipp and, boy, did it do a number on me. Smart and sinfully sexy—the list of attractive qualities in him piled up. I grabbed my beer and took a sip to wash away the not only erotic but also intriguing feelings, which were going to land me in heaps of trouble.
After I lowered the bottle, I realized no one had said anything in a while. I glanced between Kipp and Zach. “What?”
Zach sighed. “I didn’t hear what Kipp said.”
Yikes. “Stop looking at me like you’re going to smack me, the both of you. I’ve never shared a conversation before, so cut me a damn break.” I cleared my throat. My cheeks warmed.
Pattie Mallette, with A. J. Gregory