Page 32 of Mile High Mystery

Janie laughed. “Oh, that’s funny,” she said. “I thought maybe you were Zach’s ex-girlfriend or something.” She turned to Zach. “But what does a fed want with you?”

“Zach is a potential witness in an investigation I’m involved in,” Shelby said. She looked less sure of herself now. She turned to Zach. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. But get in touch with me as soon as you can. I may have found something.”

“Really? On Camille’s laptop?”

She frowned and shook her head. “We’ll talk later.” With another glance at Janie, she pivoted and left.

Janie leaned in even closer to Zach. “Now that was interesting! You helping the feds? What was that all about? Who’s Camille?”

“It’s a long story.” What had Shelby found that she needed him to see? Was it a clue as to who had killed Camille, or something else?

“I’m gonna call it a night.” Eldon pulled out a wallet and tossed a twenty on the table. “That ought to cover my half of the tab.”

“I need to go, too,” Zach said. He forced a smile and turned to Janie. “It was good seeing you again.”

“You don’t have to say goodbye yet.” She looped her arm in his. “Maybe we could go back to my place?”

Eldon made a choking sound, as if he was trying—and failing—to hold back laughter, either over Janie’s heavy-handed seduction or Zach’s obvious discomfort. Zach freed his arm. “Thanks, but I really do need to go.”

She pouted, but it was such a put-on look he couldn’t take it seriously. He saw Kiki headed their way and raised his hand. “We need to settle up,” he said.

They paid their bill, and Janie reluctantly moved over and let Zach out of the booth. “I’m sure we’ll see each other again,” she said, and threw her arms around him. He froze, and when she stretched up as if to kiss him, he turned his head so that her lips brushed his cheek. He mumbled goodbye, then moved past her and out of the restaurant.

Outside, he remembered that Eldon had ridden with him. He waited until his friend emerged from the restaurant. “I was half afraid you were going to drive off without me,” Eldon said as he slid into the passenger seat. “You were in a hurry to get out of there.”

“Sorry,” Zach said. “I wanted to get away from Janie.”

“That wasn’t what I expected when we decided to stop off for a beer,” Eldon said.

“All I did was help with a rescue. I don’t know why she was coming on so strong.”

“She obviously has the hots for you,” Eldon said. “But you can’t complain about having two good looking women pursuing you.”

“Agent Dryden’s ‘pursuit’ isn’t exactly the kind most people want,” Zach said. “And Janie is gorgeous, but she’s a little over-the-top, don’t you think?”

“Over-the-top can be good,” Eldon said. “But I know what you mean. She came across as kind of fake. The attitude, anyway. I don’t know about the rest of her.”

Zach nodded and blew out a breath. “I don’t have the energy to deal with her right now.”

“What about Agent Dryden?” Eldon asked.

“I’ll call her when I get back to my place. She’s here investigating my sister’s murder. Maybe she’s found something.”

“That’s got to be rough,” Eldon said. “I couldn’t believe Todd kept going on about that, even after you let him know you didn’t want to talk about it.”

“Some people are just socially awkward,” Zach said. “I don’t think he meant any harm. Does that happen often? People you rescue glomming onto you afterward?”

“I’ve never run into it personally, though I’ve heard stories about Search and Rescue groupies who pursue volunteers. But most people are just grateful and not pushy. I had a guy buy my dinner once when he saw me in a restaurant, but it was all very low-key. He didn’t try to be my new best friend or learn my life story. And I never had a woman come on to me the way Janie did you.”

“A groupie, huh?” He shrugged. “I don’t get it, but whatever.” He glanced at Eldon. “Are you seeing anyone?”

“Yeah. May is a local artist. We met when she worked at the coffee shop. Kind of an ordinary way to meet, I guess.”

“Ordinary is good,” Zach said. Ordinary wasn’t something he had had much of in his life since Camille had returned to the restaurant that night. How could life be ordinary again, when he had a sister who had died twice and a file with the FBI with his name on it?

Chapter Ten

Shelby paced back and forth in the small space between the bed and the door in her hotel room. She had handled this evening with Zach all wrong. When she had spotted the message on Camille’s laptop, she had been so anxious to figure out what it meant that she had contacted him right away. But his phone had gone to voicemail, and he hadn’t answered her texts. She had started to drive to his townhouse, but when she passed Mo’s Pub, she saw his truck parked at the curb and decided to go inside.

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