I threw a ball of paper at him, smirking when it hit his forehead.
“Very mature,” he grumbled. He fished it out from where it’d fallen and dropped it in the trash can. “Seriously, though, it’s great that you two made up, and I totally get why he wants to have some control over what he can do. I just worry, I guess. It was hard enough to get the chief to lay off him after what happened with the Marcel case. If anymore anonymous calls come in, he’s going to be the first person she wants to talk to.”
“I thought about that, actually. I just haven’t brought it up to Alex yet,” I confessed. “It never felt like the right time.”
“He’s probably realized it already. He’s smart.”
“That’s what I told him when he got upset that he couldn’t get this sorted out in one day.” I leaned back in my chair, resisting the urge to chug my coffee in one go. “I want to help him, but I don’t know what to do. I don’t know anything about this stuff.”
“Cami will help. All her protective instincts are riled up now. She knows all about that weird stuff. She’s been into it since we were kids.”
“I just hate feeling helpless. I’m supporting him as much as I can, but I want to do more.”
“So learn with him.”
“What do you mean? I can’t see ghosts,” I reminded him.
“Neither could that asshole ex of his, but he managed to put all those rocks and symbols in Alex’s house that blocked ghosts, remember? Cami doesn’t have any weird psychic powers or anything, and it doesn’t stop her from learning about magic and crystals and all that kind of thing.”
Alex truly was the smart one in this relationship. How had that never occurred to me? Nate was a psycho who was on his way to prison for a very long time, but he’d still blocked Charlie from Alex’s house.
Worse, one thing I knew about Alex Copeland was that he absolutely hated accepting help. I should have insisted on helping, or at least on learning more.
“I’m a dumbass.”
“I mean, I wasn’t going to say it, but…”
I didn’t even have it in me to glare at Will. It was true, after all.
“I’ll talk to Alex tonight once we’re home and settled in.”
Will tilted his head. “So, I know I asked you this already, but seriously… why are you still bothering to pay rent at your place? Have you spent the night there since you two met?”
“Hilarious. If I weren’t paying rent there, I’d have been crashing on your couch this past weekend instead of you hanging out at my place.”
“You need a new couch if you’re going to stay there, but at the rate you two are going, I’m expecting a summer wedding,” he said with a grin, which only grew when my jaw dropped. “I’d better be the best man, or you’re going to have to find a new partner.”
“We’ve only been dating for a few months. Slow down a little,” I choked. Not that I was opposed to the idea, but there was rushing, and then there wasrushing.
“I said what I said,” he shrugged. “Okay, now that we’ve sorted out your relationship, we should probably actually get some work done before the chief comes looking for those reports.”
Easier said than done, now that Will had put that idea into my head. It took actual effort to push it to the back of my mind and remember that Alex and I had other things we needed to worry about. Then I had to putthosethoughts to the side so I could try to focus on my actual job.
“We’ll have to do follow-up interviews in the next day or so,” I said, pulling up the report I’d been working on and skimming over it. “One from the Perez family and probably one from the DeVor kids, just to cover our bases.”
“Joseph and Eva Perez would be within their rights to press charges against Rebecca’s boyfriend, too, if they wanted. If he crossed state lines with a minor, that could end up with federal charges.”
“Do you want to talk to them or the DeVor family? Or we can go together.”
Will shook his head. “Probably better to split up and get it over with. I’ll call and set up something with the DeVor kids if you want to take the Perez house? You took lead on the first interview, so it makes the most sense for you to be the one to wrap it up, right?”
“I can’t help but notice it also gets you out of writing the longer report,” I said dryly.
“I hadn’t even thought of that. Honestly, I just thought you’d want to finish what you started.”
“Did your sister slip espresso in your drink today? You’re being extra annoying.”
“Rude. And no, because espresso in apple tea would be disgusting,” he added, taking a sip from his cup. “Anyway, I’ll call and get my interview set up.”
