Mind Tricks by Adrianne Wood Page B

find someone who can place you
elsewhere when Ginny was killed—give you an alibi.”
    “Or find someone who can lead me to
who really murdered Ginny.”
    Emma blinked. “Is that what you’re
doing? Trying to track down a killer? This isn’t an Agatha Christie novel or a
movie. Bad people are…bad.” She shivered, even though it was the hottest day
they’d had so far all summer. “They hurt people. I don’t want to offend your
macho sensibilities, but we should concentrate on finding you an alibi and leave
the killer to the police.”
    We. The magic word again. And one that smoothed out the jagged emotions swirling
through the car.
    He pulled into her driveway and
then walked her to the front door. “I have to get back to the office,” he
apologized. Though what he was apologizing for, he didn’t know. She probably
didn’t want him hanging around her house all day.
    “Sure. And I have work to do here.”
She paused, her hand on the knob. “Are you still interested in coming over
tonight? To look at my business?”
    She put an odd emphasis on business , and he felt his lips twitch.
Was Emma afraid he might have something other than business in mind?
    If so, she was right on target.
Whether he kept those non-business thoughts in his mind or acted on them,
though, he hadn’t quite decided. Now wasn’t the best time for pursuing an
unexpected attraction.
    “Sure. What time?”
    “How about seven thirty? It’s late,
I know, but my busiest hours are early morning and early evening, when people
drop off or pick up their pets. And not all owners are available during the day
to bring in their pets for readings, so I do some readings then too. Saturdays
and Sundays, in fact, are my busiest days, and—” She stopped and gave a quick,
almost nervous laugh. “I’m rambling.”
    He had a million things to do
today, not least of which was find a better lawyer. But he didn’t leave.
    “So, seven thirty?” He was
stalling, trying to figure out his next move. Should he offer to shake her
hand, as he’d done with Mark?
    Before he could decide, Emma shoved
her hands into her hip pockets.
    Well, that left him with only one
other good option. He cupped her silk-covered shoulders with his palms, leaned
in, and dropped a quick kiss on her mouth while her hands were still trapped in
her pockets, unable to bat him away.
    “See you later,” he said, stepping
back. If he arrived tonight to find the doors locked and the lights out, he’d
know he’d just made a serious mistake.
    “Uh, okay. Sure.”
    As he got into the car, he let
himself grin. Instead of looking offended or annoyed by his fast kiss, Emma had
looked…stunned. And when he stretched his arm out the window to give her a
good-bye wave before he turned onto the main road, she slowly raised her arm to
wave back.

Chapter Six
     
    Emma groaned, stretched, and stood,
the doorbell’s ring still ricocheting through her house. She’d been reviewing
the business’s numbers for hours, pulling them into shape for Jake. Her
shoulders felt like a pair of sandbags.
    A figure stood outside, barely
visible through the glass blocks set on each side of the front door. Must be a
new UPS driver or someone filling in for her usual guy.
    She pulled open the door. It wasn’t
a new UPS man. It was a fifty-something white man with blond-gray hair cut
close to his head and blue eyes that seemed to pin her in place. Even though he
wasn’t uniformed, his whole bearing screamed Police . Her eyes dropped, and sure enough, there was a badge on his
belt.
    Another man, also in plainclothes,
stepped out of the gathering shadows to join him on the stoop.
    The first man smiled, but it was as
warm as a punch to the stomach.
    “Emma Draper?” he asked. “I’m
Detective Cooperman, and this is Detective Millhouse. Could we ask you some
questions?”
    It didn’t take a genius to figure
out what sort of questions they wanted to ask. “Um, sure. Let’s go into the
kitchen.”
    She checked