Page 78 of The Suit

“She works against you, she’s from Chicago.”

I turned to him, my brow furrowed and in no way following his conversation because my brain was still back with Beulah and that kiss. “Dude, what are you talking about?”

He squeezed my shoulder. “I’ve seen you this weekend. You’re falling for her.”

I scoffed hard at the ridiculousness. I was not. “I am not.”

“Hey, bud, we have your back whatever you decide to do, but youarefalling for her. We can all see it.”

Jesus. Who knew Relationship Murray would be such a big girl? A kiss was a kiss. Even if I couldn’t remember having a better one. It was a kiss. Just because I was disappointed she’d left early, and just because I’d enjoyed the novelty of her company this weekend, and just because I was trying to figure out a way to see her again after this case was over and come up with a plan for when she moved back to Chicago, didn’t mean I was falling for her.

“Don’t be stupid.”

“Pennington!” he called over, gesturing Penn to come and join us, which he did. “Tell Raferty what we were talking about earlier.”

“Oh, you’re going through the five stages of grief, dude,” Penn laughed.

“Grief? What the fuck are you talking about? What am I grieving?”

“Your hatred for Beulah,” he replied smugly. “And you’re clearly in denial about it. Which is stage one.”

He missed my deep eye roll because the door opened and Jupiter Reeves walked through, his presence an immediate tractor beam for Penn, taking all his focus.

“Reeves,” he marched over and cupped his face like some kind of Mafia don before whispering something that had both of them roaring with laughter. Murray joined them as Drew and Felix, plus the girls, all hugged him, slapping him on the back, and congratulating him on his game.

I’d have gone over to join them, but was frozen in place by my thoughts, and by Murray and Penn’s words. Falling for Beulah Holmes. It was a stretch considering I’d only just admitted I liked her.

But actually falling for her?

I didn’t know, but it was something I was going to figure out.

15

Beulah

Aquick tap-tap-tap on the window jolted me out of my sleep, not that you could call it sleep when every hour the standard bloodcurdlingly-terrifying nighttime noises, and the very real possibility of ghosts, had kept me awake.

“Ma’am?” He rapped his knuckle again.

I switched the engine on and lowered the window, rubbing my eyes in the hope they would focus better. “Good morning, Officer.”

“License and registration,” his flashlight shone in my face, totally unnecessarily seeing as it was well into daylight and made absolutely no difference to his visibility due to the blazing east coast, early morning sunshine, but giving me a clear indication of how this was going to go.

Obviously, I hadn’t been the only one to get out of the wrong side of bed this morning, or in my case, the front seat of my rental. I leaned over and reached into my bag for my purse, extracting my license and handing it to him along with the car rental documents I’d signed last night when I’d left Rafe, left the game; left as quickly as I could.

I’d needed to get away from everything, including the city. I’d drivenwithout paying attention to where I was going, and three hours later had found myself at The Kent County Cemetery.

“Ma’am, I need to ask what your business is here.” He didn’t bother looking up as he examined my license then called in the details over his radio for whomever was on the other end to put through the system, and where he’d find nothing on me.

Because there was nothing to find.

I didnothingexcept work.

I reached for the bottle of water the guy at the rental place had given me, glugging it down to help shift the lump in my throat which seemed to have taken permanent residence this weekend. It was worse than trying to swallow medication that had gotten stuck. I attempted to smooth myself down and create an air of respectability, but considering I was still dressed head-to-toe in the Yankees gear Penn had made me wear, it was proving difficult. And given how this cop was looking at me, it wouldn’t take much to guess he wasn’t a fan.

I removed the cap and fluffed my hair in a last-ditch effort to look more respectable, but gave up when I caught my reflection.

“My family is buried there.” I nodded to the ornate twenty-foot-high gates which were now wide open. “I came to see them.”

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