Corpse Whisperer Read Free Page B

behind her back. Something about him awakened her as if she were a female panther reunited with her mate.
    The man in the gray suit with a perfectly pressed, white shirt leaned down to kiss Dolores on the cheek. Not a friendly kiss, but a rather intimate one without being on the lips.
    The father of Dolores’ child? Suspect number one even if he was a cop.
    “Grace, this is my . . .” She stopped as if unsure how to introduce him. “This is Zach. He’s my overprotective ex-husband.”
    Graced nodded and held out her hand. “You wanted to check me out before I moved in.”
    “Yes.”
    His firm grip didn’t hurt or intimidate her. But the fleeting touch sent a ripple of sensation down her spine. Had she ever met this man? A sense of déjà vu swept through her, different than when a corpse touched her.
    Her gaze never left him, never letting on about her emotions. “So you’ve met me. Am I an axe murderer?”
    He tilted his head and his gray eyes bore into her over his sunglasses. “I’ve never met one of those.”
    She cocked her head. “Use your imagination. What would an axe murderer look like?”
    His tongue came out and did a slow trail across his lips. “Probably not like you. You’re much too petite to wield such a bulky weapon.”
    As he spoke his gaze swept over her and she might as well have been naked. Or a steak dinner with all the trimmings for the intensity of his look. His eyes went back to her face, a sly smile tilting his lips.
    “Good. May I move in?”
    “He doesn’t have a say in that,” Dolores said.
    Grace slid her gaze to her new landlord.
    “I have a few questions for Grace,” Zach said.
    Bet he ran a background check. “Oh? Is your name on the lease?”
    His jaw tightened around his already chiseled face. “No, but I have a vested interest in you being the right tenant.”
    Grace looked at Dolores who said, “Just humor him. I have to get back to work. You need anything else? All the utilities are turned on. I took the liberty of putting them in your name, you just have to call the companies with the rest of the information.” She backed away toward her Toyota parked on the street. “The numbers are on the table by the door.”
    “Thanks, Dolores.”
She waved a hand at Grace and slid into her car. Zach watched her drive away as Grace watched him. When he turned his gaze back to her, she handed him a box.
    “I’m not a moving company,” he said.
    “You want to interrogate me, you have to work. I only have today to move in and get settled. I work the next four days.”
    He looked at the box in his hands as if it were an alien, then shrugged. “Fine.”
    Grace didn’t look back to see if he followed her. She assumed he intended to extract information about her last residence and that last case. With a deep breath and a heavy suitcase, she braced herself for the onslaught.
    “Tell me about Ridge Oaks,” he said when they reached the apartment above the garage.
    “What specifically?”
    So he had done his homework. Her name appeared in the database since she’d initially been charged with murder. A shiver moved her spine when she thought about those days.
    “Tell me about the murder of your boyfriend’s mother.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
    Zach dropped the box on the floor and leaned on the wall, his arms crossed. He waited as she collected herself. This could be a Pulitzer Prize winner. Or an Oscar-worthy performance. Either way he braced himself for a lie.
    They all lied.
    Grace placed one box on top of another then wiped her hands on her jeans. “I don’t really know anything about the murder.” Her voice came out scratchy and smooth all at once, like whiskey pouring over sandpaper.
    His ears tingled with the vibrations of it.
    She glanced at him then back down at her sneakered feet. Her pink tongue came out to lick her lips.
    “I talked to the lead detective. He said you knew too much, but