Page 48 of A Midsummer Night's Ghost

It was a photo of James looking rather cozy with a man I thought was the guy with the fresh tattoo.

Did a deep dive into socials. Found this. Besties? Brothers? Lovers?

At least someone took my concerns seriously.

I showed the photo to Alyssa. “Isn’t this the tattoo guy?”

She glanced at my screen. “Yep. That’s him.”

“Tattoo guy?” Lawson asked.

“He was friends with the janitor and he had a memorial tattoo with the date of his death before James’s ex-wife slash girlfriend seemed to know. She did look genuinely shocked to hear he was dead so we believed her. But that guy had to know. Unless someone else close to him just happened to die the same day.”

It was very coincidental to me.

Alyssa was perusing the menu and didn’t seem to agree with me. Or just didn’t care.

Neither did Lawson. He tapped Alyssa’s menu. “Want to share the oysters?”

“No. Get your own.” She gave him a flirty smile. “The description says it’s only two oysters.”

I put my phone back on the table and flipped it so the screen was face down.

“You’re so cute,” Lawson said, leaning over and kissing Alyssa on the temple.

She giggled.

Jake squeezed my knee under the table. I gave him an “oh boy” smile in return. Alyssa never giggled. She was definitely a smitten kitten. I was genuinely happy for her. I had always held out hope that someday she would get off the dating app merry-go-round and find a guy who understood how incredible she was.

It would be great if Lawson Hill was that guy.

“So is this your thing?” Lawson asked. “Doing this Nancy Drew thing?”

Or maybe it would be great if Alyssa fell in love with someone other than Lawson Hill.

“Nancy Drew thing?” I asked. “Can you define that? There were different variations of Nancy Drew over the years. There was the original book series, then the movie, and a TV show. I think it’s even an interactive game now. But at any rate, in most versions she’s blonde and sixteen to eighteen years old.”

Alyssa frowned at me. “Stop being a smart ass.”

“I think he was being a smart ass first.”

Or dismissive and patronizing. One of the two.

Jake squeezed my knee again.

“Bailey has a background in criminal justice,” he said. “She’s currently working with our department as a consultant.”

I was grateful that he had my back and made me sound way more professional than I actually was. I was also annoyed that his explanation was so readily accepted by Lawson.

“Oh, understood,” Lawson said.

I didn’t know what he understood exactly.

But when Alyssa shot me a pleading please-be-nice look, I let it go with a bright smile.

“I have better shoes than Nancy Drew. In the original series she seems to be wearing very practical shoes all the time.”

He had seen me screaming about a corpse that hadn’t existed. Maybe he had the right to wonder about me. Whatever.

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