Page 87 of Puzzle for Two

The look Flint gave Zach was rueful. “I have to hope she’ll occasionally caucus with the opposition party.”

“No fear of that,” Zach muttered. “I let her do one simple background check and she sold the business out from under me.” He was kidding, mostly, but he couldn’t help feeling like he’d left town for a couple of hours and returned to a different planet.

And yet… As the idea of this possible business merger slowly took root, he was not unhappy. He was actually, cautiously, kind of…thrilled.

To not have the weight of everything on him all the time? Just the hope of it was a relief. And together, they did have the combination of skills and experience and resources for success. Together… Well, together was kind of a nice combination all on its own.

Flint was saying, “Plus, I know you well enough to know no way are you going to leave our finances in the hands of a stranger, so I—our company—will be getting an investigatorandan accountant for the price of one.”

“Ha.”

But yeah, probably.

Flint was smiling at him and Zach smiled uncertainly back.

“Youdosee things the way I do.” Flint seemed surprised and happy.

Was this really going to happen? Because there had been nothing in the way the day started to indicate this was on the horizon.

Wellll, okay, well, yes, there had beenonething. Flint waking up in Zach’s bed. But Zach hadn’t wanted to place too much importance on that because Flint didn’t seem to.

Brooke said, “Okay, let’s not get carried away. Zach doesn’t see anything the way other—”

Zach, still holding Flint’s gaze, interrupted, “I see Flint.”

Flint’s eyes flickered, his mouth softened, he leaned toward—

Brooke said loudly, “I see dead people. Like our former client.Hello?”

Flint drew back. Zach sat up straight.

“I mean, we can’t merge anything if we don’t still have a company, right?”

“When she’s right, she’s right.” Flint gave Zach’s knee a final squeeze and rose. He was smiling ruefully down at Zach, and Zach smiled back, although he was half-convinced he was dreaming. He was certainly short enough on sleep.

Brooke, meanwhile, was flipping through a manila folder stuffed full of photocopies and pages of yellow legal paper.

“So. I did what you said. I checked for pending lawsuits, criminal actions, or judgements against Alton. There’s nothing.”

“Nothing?”Zach echoed.

Brooke shook her head. “Nope. I checked everything I could think of. I thought maybe somewhere along the line charges might have been filed and then dropped, but his record is spotless.”

“Suspiciously spotless?” Flint asked.

“How would I know?”

Zach said, “It’s a rhetorical question.”

“Not really,” Flint said. “There’s no way a guy like Alton didn’t cross a few lines, morally, ethically, legally…”

“I agree. But Alton was really fastidious. In all ways.”

“Meaning what?” Brooke asked.

Zach hesitated. Flint said, “She’s twenty-four, Zachariah.”

Brooke laughed. “Zachariah? Oh my God. Hehatesthat.”

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