“I haven’t a clue who she is.” Zach’s gaze zeroed in on me. “How do you know who I am?”
What a bunch of idiots! “Well, maybe because Kipp just said your name when you walked into the room.”
Silence and blank stares were the only reply I received. I could’ve counted thirty Mississippis before anyone moved, blinked or did anything to show they were still alive.
Zach blinked, stepped further into the room and approached the table. “Leave her with me for now so we can have a little chat.”
Max and Eddie didn’t argue and left the room.
I gulped, watching Zach making his way around the table. If bodybuilders were my thing, then he’d be something to look at. His dark eyes showed a resolve that could, and did, shake me in my boots. The tight line of his lips declared he wasn’t the type of guy you pissed off and lived to tell about it.
He grabbed a chair across from me, spun it around and straddled the seat. “Now tell me what you told them.”
I shrieked in frustration and dropped my face into my palms. “If I have to say this one more time, I’m seriously going to lose my mind.” Kipp laughed and I raised my head to glare at him. “It’s not funny.”
He nodded. “Yeah, it kinda is.”
“I didn’t laugh,” Zach said.
The continued insinuations I was slow or somehow mentally instable was irritation in its top form. “I know you didn’t laugh.” I pointed at Kipp. “He did.”
Zach’s gaze followed my finger. He looked around the room a couple times. “And the he you’re talking about is Kipp?”
I huffed. “No, I’m talking about Casper the Ghost.”
Zach sat straighter in his chair and laced his hands behind his head. “Your story is that Kipp, who is a ghost, has come to you and said he knows how to solve the Reid cold case.”
“Precisely. Do you believe me or not? Because if you don’t, I’d like to go home.”
“You won’t be going home,” Zach retorted. “As to the matter of whether I believe you? That remains to be seen. The only way to discover if you’re being truthful is to ask you a few questions.”
“Get on with it then, I’d very much like the show to end.”
Zach lowered his hands, placed them on the table and stared at me intently. “So Kipp is here with you now?”
I smacked my forehead. “Oh my fucking God.”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” Zach raised his hands in surrender. “All right, if he’s here with you, ask him what we did last Sunday.”
“Watched the football game,” Kipp responded.
“First of all, I don’t have to ask him. He can hear you and he said you watched football together.”
Zach’s brow furrowed, but he shook his head and relaxed his features. “Too easy. Sunday night football, everyone watches that.”
&n
bsp; “Ask something more personal. This isn’t rocket science.”
Zach looked at his hands on the table, stayed silent a moment before raising his gaze to mine. “What do I take in my coffee?”
“Two sugars,” Kipp replied.
“Two sugars.”
Zach’s expression flashed with surprise, but he removed the shock in an instant and settled back into a focused look. “Who was my last girlfriend?”
“He doesn’t have girlfriends,” Kipp said.