"Hey," she nodded. "Tough morning in the office."
"Yeah, tell me about it. Seems like I really stepped into things at a bad time." He offered her half a smile, but she couldn't find the energy to return it.
"Right." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "I was here over the weekend with Derrick. Heard about the trouble in paradise."
"Oh? You...did." She tried to keep her face as blank as possible, even despite the stab of panic in the pit of her stomach. Derrick had talked to people about their problems? Had talked to Zac of all people?
The panic twisted into something more sinister at the thought as she pursed her lips, considering. "Must have been a hell of a weekend with all this going on."
"It's looked a lot like this for the most part. Lots of running around. Let me tell you, Derrick wasn't much help. He was MIA most of the weekend."
"Oh?" She tried to sound disinterested, but had a feeling it was no use. The second she heard Derrick's name she knew her ears pricked up like a puppy whose owner had just come home from work. She just couldn't help it.
"Yeah, just like he is now apparently. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Everyone is freaking out about a mole in the department and this guy suddenly can't make it into work?"
"Are you saying Derrick is responsible for all this?" She knitted her brow and stared him down, trying to read his expression. Seriously, what was this dude's obsession with Derrick? If she didn't know better, she'd think Zac was just as interested in the guy as she was.
To her surprise, though, Zac looked taken aback by the question. "No, I would never say anything like that. No, no, I just meant you might want to call him and tell him it does look a little suspicious, you know?"
"Right, good tip, but like you said, I'm not really in a position to be calling him." She frowned.
"Right. I was hoping things might have changed since this weekend. But..." Zac speared a hand through his thick wave of hair. "So, you think you guys are definitely done?"
A cold chill went through her. "What?"
"I'm sorry, maybe that was indelicate. I just meant, you know, you and Derrick...you're cute together, but I think you could do better."
She raised her eyebrows. "Don't you think that's a little..." She couldn't find the word for it. Forward? Rude? Idiotic?
"Look, I'm doing this badly. It's been a while since I..." He smiled at her, losing the full power of his sterling white teeth. "I always sort of had a crush on you."
"You..." She stuttered.
"I know it sounds odd, but I always liked you. You were just always so much smarter than me. I never thought you'd go for a guy like me. But, you know, now that you and Derrick aren't together...Maybe we could give it a try?"
Her mind was reeling. Zac Flynn had been interested in her in high school? That couldn't have been. He'd never even noticed her. Barely spoken to her.
Worse, the feeling of exhilarated joy she thought she would have felt at his declaration was replaced instead by a creeping ache in the pit of her stomach. Something wasn't right here.
She studied his eyes, but there was nothing behind them. No desperation, no anxiety. There wasn't even a glint of hope. They were just blank.
Like the outcome didn't really matter.
"I had no idea you felt that way," she said slowly.
"I'm a little embarrassed to be honest with you. What kind of grown man can't just walk up to a woman and confess his feelings?"
"Right." She nodded. "I can understand that."
"So, what do you say? I know it's a little fast, but I'd love to see you tonight."
"Tonight...I, you know what, I'm not really finished seeing Derrick and-"
"From the way he made it sound, he was finished seeing you."
Ouch.
She wanted to touch her heart from the physical sting she'd felt that the words, but then her mind kicked up into overdrive. What exactly had this alleged conversation consisted of? And why would it have happened in the first place?
"What exactly did Derrick say to you?" She asked, but Zac held his hands up in a gesture of innocence.
"You know what, it probably wasn't my place. I don't want to get in the middle-"
"But you're already getting in the middle by trying to take me out tonight. Can't you just-"
"What does it matter what he said?" His words were a little too forceful and Jade took a step back, trying to get a better read on the situation. His blank eyes were strained now, like he was thinking hard about something.
He shoved one hand in his pocket, and then said, "I think you'd feel better if you didn't hear the particulars."
"Right," she said. "Well, I don't think I'm free tonight. Maybe another time."
"Are you going to make me chase you?" Zac reached out and clasped her wrist with one hand.
One clammy hand. She glanced down at his touch, all too aware of exactly how noxious it was compared to all the times she'd fantasized about it.
"I'm not in a place to-"
"Can you at least tell me what's so much more important than spending some time with me?"
She paused, her eyebrows furrowed. "Look, Zac, you're nice, but I need some space." She measured each word, watching his expression as he listened.
Something wasn't right here. She didn't know what it was, but something about him, his touch, his desperation; it was all ever so slightly off.
Why would a guy like Zac be so desperate to see her tonight? And why was he so clearly lying about his conversation with Derrick?
After all, it had taken her nearly four months to get Derrick to admit anything about himself when they'd first started working together. There was simply no way that Zac had managed to crack the other man's silence in a matter of hours.
No, something wasn't right here. And maybe it was high time she started trusting her gut and figuring out what that problem was.
Zac lifted his grip from her wrist. "Sorry, I must have gotten carried away. I just didn't know what other chance I had and-"
"It's fine. I'm, um, going to get back to work, though." And with that, she shook him off and started pouring over every inch of unfiled paperwork on her desk.
Or, at least, that had been her plan. When she got there, she discovered that, along with the room of records, her desk had been ransacked, too. The stacks of paper Derrick had left for her were gone, and in their place was a big pile of nothing.
She blinked, and then sank into her desk chair, trying her best to make sense of everything that had happened in the last 72 hours. With Derrick. With the case. With Zac.
And when she got to the root of it, she knew there could be only one solution-everything was connected. She just had to figure out how.
So she waited, biding her time as the clock ticked by the minutes and hours to the end of their day. Carefully, she watched Zac as he moved about the office, talking to one detective or the next and making it look like he was hot on the case.
After all, maybe he was.
But there was only one way to know for sure.
When it was time to go home, she slipped out the door early and waited in her car until she saw Zac pull out of the parking lot. Waiting a decent amount of time, she pulled out after him, tailing him to the best of her ability.
It was a risk, she knew. Since she'd gone to the academy, and he'd transferred his training from the military, there was no telling what his skills might be in stealth operations. But one thing she did know? She couldn't afford to care right now.
So, when his car turned into the parking lot of the Slippery Beaver, she followed him with a heavy, suspicious heart.
Chapter 11
Derrick was right.
Jade blinked, unable to tear her gaze from the stripper gyrating in front of a very interested Zac. Beside him, one of the guys she recognized from the case board nudged his arm and laughed about something.
I have to get out of here.
The thought struck her sudden and sharp like a knife between the ribs. She'd already pressed her luck this far. If Zac hadn't noticed her by now, it was only a matter of time until one of the guys turned around and remembered her from the other night.
Or worse, until Zac himself happened to glance over to the bar and saw her for himself.
She hitched her purse higher on her shoulder, sliding from the stool just as quickly as she could, but one of the girls was already striding toward her with long, quick steps. "Don't go so soon, sweetheart. Don't you want a dance?"
"Um, no thank you." Jade mumbled, and the woman, a breasty, barely-clad woman with long, dark hair, offered her another coy smile.
"No need to be shy, sweetie," she said in her most velvety voice, and then it happened.
As the dancer grazed Jade's arm with one slender palm, Zac shifted in his seat and caught sight of them. No doubt hoping for some girl-on-girl action, he turned toward them and Jade watched as the recognition triggered behind his eyes.