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Smith started cackling. “Tough guy murder cop freaking out over an alleged ghost. That was gold.”

He swore at her.

Jake wasn’t reacting at all. He was flipping through the folder Cox had brought. “We need to bring the girlfriend in again. See if we can get her to talk.”

“Patricia said the girlfriend is afraid of Thomas. Because, you know, he puts bags over women’s heads and suffocates them,” I said.

“It’s been six months,” Smith said to Jake. “Maybe he has a warrant or he’s in jail right now on unrelated charges. If we’re lucky.”

“You’re idea of luck and mine and two completely different things,” I said. “For the record.”

Debby Smith cracked a grin at me. “Oh, I’m sure. And I don’t believe you see ghosts. For the record.”

“I do,” Cox said. He shoved his arm at her. “I still have goosebumps. Look at my arm hair.” He rolled up his shirtsleeve.

“I’m not looking at your arm hair, Jesus.”

I shrugged at Smith as I stood up. “I don’t actually care if you believe me or not. For the record.”

She had tried to intimidate me every single time we’d encountered each other and I was done. Let’s see how she would react to having a conversation with a corpse. She might not be so impressed with herself then.

Okay, so not technically a corpse.

But the ghost as the person appeared at the time of their death, so close enough.

We stared each other down, waiting for the other to either shoot first with another barb or back down.

She broke eye contact and reached for her phone.

Haha!I felt an unholy triumph over my minor victory.

Jake walked out with me and we got on the elevator. “Nice work, Trouble.”

And here I thought the nickname he’d given me a while back had disappeared for good. Lucky me, it was back. “Thanks.” The elevator started moving. “Patricia had the bag on her head when she was talking to me.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Seriously? Babe. That’s…disturbing.”

I nodded. “Yes. Yes, it is. Being a spiritual medium is in fact disturbing.”

He reached out and pulled me up against his chest and smoothed back my hair. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to do that again if you don’t want to.”

“I want to help though,” I said, words muffled by his tie. “It’s just not always easy.”

“Okay, well, we’ll just take it one case at a time.” He kissed the top of my head. “I won’t ever let anything hurt you, I swear to you.”

I knew he wouldn’t if he could at all prevent it. “I know.” I lifted my head up for a kiss.

Unfortunately, the elevator door popped open right then and two detectives eyed us.

Ruining all the chutzpah I had just gained by winning my silent showdown with Detective Debby Smith, I leaped away from Jake like a middle school girl caught by her mother playing spin the bottle in a closet.

Jake started laughing. “What wasthat?”

I rushed off the elevator, a little embarrassed. Okay, a lot embarrassed. We were barely touching and I had jumped three feet in the air. “I have no idea,” I admitted. “I’m just emotionally tapped out. I’m not sure if I was helpful or not and Detective Smith clearly doesn’t like me.”

Jake took my hand and pulled me to a stop in the lobby. “She’s just a skeptic. You were very helpful.” He leaned in close to me and murmured in my ear. “I have something for you.”

I shivered. “Oh, that sounds promising. What time are you coming home?”