Page 20 of Out to Get Her
“That’s it.”
“What’s it?”
“I make the case go away.”
Zach scrunched his face. “How the hell you plan to do that?”
“We speed things along,” she said. “We find out who murdered this guy and solve the case. Then the house is mine to sell, free and clear.”
Zach’s jaw went slack, then a second later he shook his head. “What’s this we business?”
“You said you’d help however you could.”
They stared at each other for a good long while, but Erin knew that look. She recognized that sparkle in his eye. She had him.
After a few more moments, he let out a low whistle. “Sam isnotgonna like this.”
Samantha.
Samantha with the dark, soulful eyes that made Erin’s insides melt. Samantha with that wide smile Erin couldn’t get enough of. Samantha with the tight pants and the BLT delivery service.
Samantha the fucking cop.
“Sam doesn’t need to know about this.”
“It’s your funeral.” Zach frowned. “And dang it, I’ve already been to one Sonnier funeral this month.”
A stabbing pain seared through Erin’s gut. She hadn’t been able to bring herself here for the funeral. The whole town had shown up at the little church for her grandpa’s last goodbye, and as far as they knew, she couldn’t be bothered to show up.
What none of them knew was that she couldn’t. Erin couldn’t get out of bed that week. She’d cried in her pillow the whole day of the funeral and was in no condition to drive. She’d spent the week after his death in a haze of sedatives to keep herself in a calm depressive state instead of a hysterical fit.
So Erin had used up all her days off—unpaid, of course—crying over the loss of her grandpa and the guilt over not being there for his funeral. She couldn’t waste any more time waiting around here to sell his house and all of his stuff.
She’d shed enough tears over this place and the last of the people she loved. There was nothing in this world left to upset her.
“Sam doesn’t scare me.”
Zach scoffed. “She scares me enough for both of us.” He gave her a sideways glance. “There any particular reason she doesn’t scare you?”
“No,” she said, probably too quickly. “Besides, she’s married. To an Ardoin at that.”
“Was.”
“Was what?”
“Wasmarried,” he clarified. “As in past tense. They divorced a couple years back.”
“Oh.”
Zach grinned.
“Wipe that off your face,” Erin said. “I’m still not in the habit of actively crushing on potentially straight women. Or cops. Especially not that second one.”
“A crush never hurt nobody.”
Erin rolled her eyes and reeled the subject back in. “So you’ll help me, right?”
“For the record,” he said, “I don’t like this plan. And you don’t even know the first place to start looking for a murderer.”
