Haunted Moon by Yasmine Galenorn Page B

still blissfully unaware of his faux pas. “Broke the ankle. Shouldn’t take too long to heal, though. It was a clean fracture. Hurts like an SOB.” Chase, still blissfully unaware, picked up the reports. Sharah pulled away, scowling, and left the room. The minute the door closed, I swung around.
    “Idiot. Can’t you see she was upset?” Hands on my hips, I glared at him, then turned to Delilah. “And you…you know better than that.”
    “What? What did I do? What’s wrong now?” Yep. He had that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look. Clueless.
    “Use your brain. Sharah’s very pregnant, and very volatile. She comes in here, sees you and Delilah exchanging a kiss—albeit a friendly one—but given your history, I imagine she feels a little insecure. And being pregnant isn’t going to help. Instead of dropping what you were doing and greeting her like you really love her, you brushed her off with a peck on the cheek.”
    “But we’re at work…”
    “Dude.
Pregnant woman who loves you?
Work, schmerk. You could have at least given her a smile or something.”
    Chase groaned, his expression shifting from clueless to
oh-I-am-so-fucked
. “Oh man, nobody warns you about this stuff. Why isn’t there a father-to-be manual that gives you the heads-up on everything you should know during your woman’s pregnancy?”
    Delilah let out a sigh. “I am so stupid. I didn’t even think about what she might think. Camille’s right. You’d better apologize, but give her time to cool off. And some flowers wouldn’t hurt.” She rubbed her temples. “She might still think we have feelings for each other—”
    “We do.” Chase stared at her. “And we always will, but they aren’t…I’m not…”
    “I’m not in love with you, either,” Delilah said gently, smiling. “But Sharah’s the one who needs to know that.”
    “Fine. Chase is going to buy flowers and eat crow, and you both are going to be careful about the touchy-feely stuff. Let’s get on with it. Lindsey Cartridge is on the way down here right now, Chase. She has some information that may be important in your investigation of this morning’s events.” I quickly outlined what she’d told me. “I promised her that the kid wouldn’t get in trouble.”
    Chase let out an exasperated sigh. “You do know desecration of a grave is a misdemeanor?”
    I stared at him. “Uh, yeah.
I
use graveyard dust, too, so you want to lock me up while you’re at it?”
    After a long pause, Chase shrugged and flipped through the report. “Whatever. We’ve got more worries than a kid trying to steal some dirt. If he really did see the graverobbers and knows what happened to my officer, then I don’t care what he was doing…within reason.”
    “What cemetery did they hit this time?”
    “The Wedgewood. So, really, is there any way to find out if they drained off the souls or spirits or whatever spooks were hanging around there?” He frowned, pausing over the papers Sharah had given him. “Zombie attack probably killed this officer, too. His neck was broken and his arm was…gnawed on. Hell of a thing to tell his wife.”
    “Can you tell her it was a dog?” Delilah asked.
    “And that would be better, how? Might turn her against dogs the rest of her life.” Pursing his lips, he closed the file and tossed it back on the desk. “I won’t tell her it was zombies, but I have to tell her he was mauled. Maybe I’ll just leave it at that.”
    Just then, Yugi knocked on the door and peeked in. “Lindsey Cartridge to see you. She’s with another woman, and a teenage boy.”
    Chase glanced around his office. It wasn’t the most spacious cubicle. He reached for his crutches, wobbled to his feet, and motioned for us to follow him. “Is anybody using conference room B right now?”
    Yugi shook his head. “Nope, it’s free.”
    “Have them meet us there, then.”
    “Sure thing, Chief.” Yugi saluted and headed back the way he’d come.
    Delilah and I followed