Page 65 of Last Date

I laughed at his perplexed expression. “Thomas would say I’m overthinking things.”

“Thomas would be correct.”

I nodded. “Okay. You’re right. It’s just lunch.”

“Exactly.”

“I’ve known you way longer than Peter.” I almost sounded resentful, so I made sure to change my tone to something lighter. “I can have lunch with you if I want, right?”

“Damn straight.”

“Okay then.” I leaned back in the booth, feeling less anxious.

Merrick smiled. “Better?”

I gave a sheepish laugh. “Yes.”

“Good.” He nodded approvingly. “I’ll be right back. I need to use the restroom.”

I nodded and sipped my iced tea. Glancing around the room, I met the dark gaze of a guy across the restaurant. I really only noticed him because he was watching me so intensely. My heart sped up as I noticed he had a black mustache. Had the police ever followed up with the Luscious Stems Florist? They must have done, right? Maybe it hadn’t panned out. If it had, Merrick probably would have mentioned that to me. Or would he not have revealed it because I was involved? I was never sure with Merrick.

Merrick returned and must have seen something in my expression. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah, but I was wondering about that van that followed me one night. I gave the police the name of the florist shop painted on the side. Did they ever dig deeper on that?”

Nodding, Merrick said, “Yes. The flower shop insisted none of their vans would have been driving around at that time of night.”

“But I saw one of their vans.”

“It’s possible you got the name wrong?”

I frowned. “No. It was very clear.”

“They insist all their vans are accounted for.”

“Is it possible one of the drivers took a van out after hours? Maybe they aren’t allowed to do that, so the person hid it.”

He studied me, looking undecided. “I don’t have the report in front of me. I assume my officers would have put that question to them.”

“But you don’t know that for sure?”

“No. Not offhand.”

I glanced back toward the dark-eyed man, but he was now focused on his food. “The majority of your resources are probably going toward Allister’s murder.”

“While that’s true, we take all the cases seriously.”

“What if the guy who choked me is the same guy who attacked Elon?”

His gaze flickered. “That thought crossed my mind.”

“You should compare the tire tracks you found at the Green home to the florist trucks. They might match.”

“We’re already doing that, Kip.”

“You are?”

He nodded. “We’re not as stupid as we look.”