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Zach ran a hand through his hair, leaned up against the house and put one foot up on the brick wall. “It’s good we’ve ruled out your theory—it’s bad that our assumption of the killer being a cop is right.” He glanced around the yard. “Have you found anything out here?”
I glanced sideways at Kipp. He shook his head. I heard his message loud and clear. He wanted to keep what he experienced private. “No, just like you, we found nothing out here.”
Zach yawned, stretched and pushed himself off the wall. “Figured so much.” He rubbed his hands across his face.
I sympathized, equally as ready to crawl into my bed. “So-o what are we going to do now?” It’d been an exhausting couple days. I’d always been a stickler for being in bed at ten, up at seven. My body was used to a routine and this Kipp business messed me all up.
Zach bent down to stretch his muscles, then he straightened up and looked straight at the ground. “Whatcha thinking, Kipp?”
I laughed under my breath. Zach had resorted to looking down now instead of making a fool of himself. I couldn’t blame him. Without knowing Kipp’s location, he did look rather silly talking to thin air. “Kipp is standing right in front of me.”
Zach raised his head and smiled a thank-you, which I returned.
“From Hannah’s description,” Kipp said, “I think we’re safe to say that neither Max nor Eddie is involved.”
“Why would you suspect either of them?” I retorted. “Shouldn’t you know and trust the people you work with?”
Kipp shook his head. “You can never take chances.”
“Suspected who?” Zach asked.
“I can see Eddie, but Max?” He had to be in his late forties and he was no Sean Connery either. “Robbing the cradle a little bit, don’t you think?”
“Women make strange choices sometimes,” Kipp responded.
“What are we talking about?” Zach asked in a huff.
“Kipp doesn’t think Max or Eddie had any involvement in Hannah’s murder.” I glanced back at Kipp and needed to state my point. “No woman in her right mind, who’s Hannah’s age, would chase after Max’s tail—that’s all I’m saying.”
Zach laughed. “I think I might make you repeat that when we get back to the station. I bet Max would get a real kick out of hearing he’s less than appealing to women.”
Insulting Max was the least of my worries, especially since something Zach had said hit a nerve. “What do you mean, when we get back to the station?” They could not be thinking…
The implication of what he meant sat hard on Kipp’s face—his expression became a little pleading, a lot of sorry, with a big chunk of demanding. “No way,” I said, adamant. “I’m not doing that again.”
“It won’t be as bad as before.” Kipp smiled.
I would refuse this until I went blue in the face. There was no way I’d go through that embarrassing moment again. I put my hands on my hips and glared at Kipp. “Do I look stupid to you?”
“No.”
“Really?” I practically growled at him. “I find that hard to believe, since you just fed me some serious bullshit.”
“Tess…”
I shot my hand up in front of his face to stop his next words. I didn’t need—or want—him to give me some lame excuse. “They didn’t believe me before. In fact, I seem to remember them laughing in my face. What makes you think they’ll act any different now?” Kipp opened his mouth to speak, but I shot up my hand in front his face. “And furthermore, what makes you think I’m about to agree to this?”
Kipp examined me. Was he waiting me out to see if I would stop him? I waved him on, releasing a loud huff. His reassuring smile returned. He gestured toward Zach and looked at me knowingly. “Just as we did with Zach, we’ll get them to believe.”
“It’ll be easier this time,” Zach said, missing Kipp’s comparison. “I believe you now. Once they hear that, it’ll make them more open to the idea.” He pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and turned away to place the call.
I kept my glare firmly aimed at Kipp, not knowing what to say. I did know I wanted to say something that involved every single curse word known to man.
Kipp’s eyes squinted in amusement, though he never outright laughed. Zach rambled something on the cell phone, but my anger wouldn’t allow me to hear what he said. It’d been hard enough going through all that the first time around with Zach. Repeating the event was so not on my to-do list.
“Max and Eddie will come back to the station,” Zach said. “They’ll be there in twenty, so best we head off and meet up with them.” Without waiting for my response, he walked by me toward the front yard.
Kipp grinned, a smart-ass special, before he followed in behind Zach.
