Page 66 of Fierce-Zander

Zander coughed on those words and she wanted to pat herself on the back for them.

“I’m not his type. I’m your type.”

“You are,” she said, her hand reaching for his and running down his arm. “And now we are going on a fun date and I get to play detective.”

“Do you like playing games?” he asked.

“I never used to, but maybe I could be up for some sexy ones.”

She dropped those words like a mic on stage and strutted right by him and locked up.

When they were inside the restaurant forty minutes later, their drinks and food ordered, and sitting close enough to hear some of the conversation between Tricia and some guy that was clearly younger than her and extremely on the nerdy level, Zander said, “I’ve got some information for you on Sophia that Betsy will bring over tomorrow. Or I can do it.”

“You only want to do it so you can let Miles get a good look at you.”

His face flushed again. “Not quite,” he said.

When Tricia got up to go to the bathroom, she said, “I think I’ll use the ladies room.”

“Regan,” he warned.

“Stop,” she said. “Ladies go in pairs. Maybe I can find something out.”

She got up and walked into the room and noticed one of the stall doors closed and went into the other one. She did her business quickly and heard the toilet flush and the water running at the sink and flushed to join Tricia.

Tricia was looking at her phone on the counter while she washed her hands with a frown on her face. She looked pissed,but Regan kept her head down, washed her hands, and looked at the reflection in the mirror to see Tricia all but grind her teeth, pick her phone up, and walk out of the bathroom while she shoved it in her purse.

She went back to her table a second later and noticed the food there. Tricia had her back to them. “Learn anything?”

She leaned forward. “Did she walk out here pissed?” She started to eat since Tricia and her date were almost done with appetizers. She figured their food would be out next.

“No,” he said. “Not that I could see. She walked past me, but I was looking at my phone.”

“She was pissed in the bathroom. She slammed her phone on the counter and I saw in the mirror Justin’s name.”

“Shit,” he said. “He’s getting frustrated with me not being able to find out what is going on. He said he’d asked her a few times if she was cheating on him in the past.”

“Do you think he is doing it now?” she asked. “Asking if she’s on a date right now and cheating?”

“Could you see anything else in the text?”

“No. Not without being obvious, but she looks like she’s having a great time with the recent college graduate over there. I think he might still have pimples on his chin.”

Zander snorted. “I’m not sure how much longer this can go on. I’m ready to have it end with Justin. I’ve got enough other cases that I’m dealing with.”

“No update on Sandy?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “James was thrilled I found her two days later, but she has no memory of what happened to her or how she ended up two cities away in her car.”

She knew that Zander was happy he found the woman alive and pissed at the same time that the police hadn’t been looking. It was actually Zander’s father, Dave, who was able to get some information out of an old informant.

“Do you think you’ll ever find what happened to her?” she asked.

“James is trying to convince her to hire me to look into it. I want to help but won’t push myself on it. The police need to do their job right now.”

“Were they pissed you found her?” she asked.

“One person was,” he said. “But that happens. I’ve got friends on the force. I’m not stupid. I called in backup once I knew she was there.”

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