“Exactly.” I turn the engine off out of habit and turn it back on again to keep the air conditioner running along with the radio. “I’ll text you if I get anything. I’ll be as fast as I can, but it might take me a while.”
“Take your time, Ace,” he says, and his deep voice reverberates all the way through me.
“Thank you.” I lean over the center console and kiss him before getting out, hiking my purse up over my shoulder. It feels a little weird to be walking through the door of the police station. It used to feel like coming home, offering me a sense of purpose and safety. But right now, I feel like a fraud.
Because I am.
I’m using my badge to lie and get info that has nothing to do with anything I’m officially investigating. I’m not even supposed to be here since I’m on vacation. I went through all my “required” days I had to take after being kidnapped and tied up in a root cellar.
On the other hand, no one will balk if they see me. I used to haunt this place with more frequency than the ghosts in the Eastern State Penitentiary.
I go through the front, smiling politely at the receptionist but keeping my eyes down as I walk back to my desk.
“Ace!” Tiffany says, walking in the opposite direction. She’s zipping up her camera case, making me think she’s heading out to capture photographic evidence of a crime scene. “What are you doing here?” she asks, and then laughs. “Sorry, that sounded rude. I mean I thought you were still on vacation.”
“I am. I left something in my desk,” I say, going with the lie I already planned. I didn’t expect Tiff to be here. She’s the hardest one to lie to because she knows me. I’ve kept to myself over the years, and while I care about my “work family” a lot, I haven’t let anyone get to know me well at all.
“Oh, okay. You know you could have asked me to grab it for you,” she says, and I internally cringe. She’s so nice and I’m lying to her face. “That way you didn’t have to come in and risk being bombarded to come back.”
I laugh. “Thanks, but my house is a ways out.”
“Yeah, I know. But that place is so cool I’d love to come by just to look around.”
Shit. Right. She mentioned before that she loves big old houses and wanted a tour.
“I’m slowly working on decorating.” That’s not a total lie. Gemma helped rearrange a few things and took down some of the ugly dated paintings hanging in the halls. “But you and your husband should come over sometime. We can have dinner or something.”
“We’d like that. Well, assuming I can find a sitter.”
“You can bring Mav if you need to.”
Tiffany smiles. “Thanks, though at the risk of sounding like a terrible mother I’m going to say I’m really looking forward to a date night without her.”
“That doesn’t make you a terrible mother. I don’t have kids, but I can only assume how much alone time you miss out on.”
“I hardly ever get to go to the bathroom by myself when I’m at home.” She adjusts her camera bag and lets out a sigh. “But I miss that little stinker when I’m here.”
I shift my eyes to her bag. “Heading out or going home?”
“Home, thankfully.”
“Well, I don’t want to keep you,” I say, cringing even more at my words. I sound so lame and forced. Because I am being lame and forced.
“It was good running into you.” She smiles. “When are you coming back again?”
“Next week,” I say, and feel like I’m lying. Because I’m not sure I can come back. “Unless I become one of those perma-vacationers or something.”
“Don’t you have to be somewhere warm and tropical for that to happen?”
I laugh. “Yeah, I think so. Though it is warm here. If only there was a white sand beach I could relax on.”
“Ohhhh, that sounds so nice. It’ll be a few years before we go on vacation again.” She shakes her head. “I sound like one of those moms I can’t stand. Having a baby is great. Amazing, really. There is no greater love you will feel than that for your own child. I don’t want to scare you out of having a baby someday.”
I laugh, forcing another smile. “You’re not.”
“Have a good night, Ace. You look good. Did you get a tan?”
“I was outside a lot today.”
