Felicity watched her go with quiet contemplation. Perhaps Ivy was even stronger than she originally thought. If Ivy could feel something she couldn’t, that meant Ivy was more advanced than anyone realized.
“Well, that’s mighty interesting,” Felicity muttered. “Too bad she couldn’t hold off her meltdown until we actually contacted a ghost. She always ruins my fun.”
“DO you have anything?” Brian asked, dropping a deli bag on Jack’s desk and moving to his own before settling.
Jack eyed the bag suspiciously. “Did you spit in my food?”
“No.”
“Did you have the girl who made it spit in it?”
“No,” Brian replied. “Thanks for giving me the idea for next time, though.”
Jack sighed as he yanked a hand through his messy hair. He had nervous energy and he’d expended it by tugging his hands through his hair every thirty seconds for the past two hours. “I feel like I’m going in circles.”
“Laura Simmons didn’t give you anything?”
“She said her brother was cremated and that she had no idea his gun was even missing until I told her about the shootings here,” Jack replied, digging into the bag. He wasn’t really hungry on the surface, but his growling stomach told him he should eat something. He bit into the roast beef sandwich and made a face.
“I honestly didn’t have anyone spit in your food,” Brian said. “I’m not twelve.”
“It’s not that,” Jack said. “It’s just … Ivy’s was better.”
“Oh, good grief,” Brian grumbled. “Are you going to spend the next week mooning over Ivy?”
“Probably.”
“Why don’t you go to her house, fall to your knees, and beg her to take you back instead? That way we can focus on the case instead of your lovesick heart. How does that sound?”
It sounded exactly like what Jack wanted to do. That didn’t mean he should do it. “I can’t do that until I know she won’t be in danger because of me,” he said.
“Have you considered that she’s already a target and that putting distance between the two of you is only going to make her easier to get to?” Brian asked.
Jack balked. “No. Why would you think that?”
“Everyone knows you were together up until … this,” Brian said. “That’s all anyone can talk about.”
“I didn’t realize I was so popular.”
“It’s not you,” Brian clarified. “Ivy Morgan has been the ‘girl to get’ for years. Every man in her age group has tried and she shot them all down. You’re the only one to get close to her since … well, it’s been a really long time.”
“That makes me feel worse.”
“Good,” Brian said. “I talked to her the other day. Did she tell you that?”
“We were too busy fighting … and then sleeping … and then fighting some more,” Jack replied. “I knew someone told her what happened. I figured it was you.”
“You slept together?” Brian was stunned. “You broke up with her and then slept with her? What kind of deviant are you?”
“We didn’t sleep together that way,” Jack hissed. “That’s none of your business, by the way. We just … Ivy took her painkillers and they knocked her out. I was tired from the hangover so I kind of … slept next to her.”
“Oh, well, that makes it perfectly all right,” Brian said, nonplussed. “By the way, it is my business because I happen to love Ivy. As long as you’re going to be moody and pining for her it affects our partnership. Suck it up.”
“I’m not pining for her.”
“Son, if you were pining any harder you would turn into a literal tree,” Brian countered. “I’m not joking with you. I think we’re kind of stuck here because you can’t think outside the box as long as Ivy is on your mind.”
“I won’t put her in danger,” Jack snapped. “What kind of man does that?”
“Jack, she’s already in danger,” Brian argued. “Just because you decided to dump her in the dirt like a jackass, that doesn’t mean whoever is after you cares. She’s still a target.”
Jack’s heart rolled. Was that true? Was he making things worse by staying away from her? Could he keep her safe if he was close?
“Just think about it,” Brian prodded. “Finish the rest of your sandwich. If we’re lucky your stomach will outsmart your brain and go running to Ivy for comfort.”
Jack chuckled hoarsely. “Maybe.”
“Make sure you beg her good,” Brian said. “She’s going to be mean as all get out to you when you go crawling back. I think we both know you deserve it, but she’s going to take a lot of convincing.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
IVY was shaken when she left Felicity’s. She knew it was juvenile to run out on her aunt like that, but she couldn’t get the feeling of “touching” something she knew shouldn’t be there out of her head. She’d never experienced anything like it. She could hardly process what she was feeling.
Her mind was muddled for the duration of the ride back to Shadow Lake. Ivy couldn’t get her hands to stop shaking until she pulled onto the road that led to her cottage.
She was anxious to get home. She wanted to lock the doors, grab a blanket, and curl up with Nicodemus and a good book so she could close out the rest of the world for a few hours. She was almost to her driveway when a loud “bang” jolted her. She didn’t have time to focus on it, though, because her car careened toward the ditch in front of her house.
Ivy couldn’t control the car, and she was thankful there was no oncoming traffic when she sailed across both lanes and into the ditch. Her momentary feeling of relief didn’t last long when she realized what happened: Someone shot out her tire.
Twelve
“What about Simmons’ mother?” Brian asked, opening his bag of potato chips. “Would she be willing to talk to you?”
Jack shrugged. “I honestly don’t know,” he
