“Either. Just set it on my desk, please.” It doesn’t matter because I won’t be drinking it anyway. I still don’t trust either cup. Jeff sets one down, switches, and then switches back before throwing me a wink.

“You promise?” I ask one more time.

Dipping his head, Jeff vows, “I do. Now clean this mess up.”

He added a little spice to that bit, probably for Alver’s sake because he smiles triumphantly.

As Jeff turns around to leave, I catch Alver’s eye and draw my thumb across my neck with a dark look that threatens murder and mayhem. Alver squawks and follows Jeff out, quick-stepping to get to his side. With a sigh, I look at my work. Everything I’ve done, that I knew would be helpful, reduced to . . . trash.

* * *

“Hey, sugar snookums!” a voice says with barely restrained laughter. I want to be amused by it, but my brain is a big, gray blob of ‘fuck everything’, and I don’t think there’s a thing in existence, not even one of Jacob’s pranks, that could make me smile right now.

Maybe I should install a revolving door in my morgue. With as many interruptions as I’m getting today, it’d make sense. Hell, it’d make moving bodies in and out easier too.

Don’t be grumpy because Jeff pissed on your parade.

I plaster a smile on my face. “Hey, Blake.” I aim for flirty but must miss the mark by a mile because Blake’s smile melts into a frown.

“What’s wrong?” He comes to me, gathering me in his arms with his hands on my hips, and looks deep into my eyes.

The worry is plain to see, no filters or walls, just pure openness and readiness to listen. I want to fall into him and rage out my frustration by yelling and sweeping the whole invoice into the trash.

But I don’t do that.

It’s not who I am.

I’m the calm in a storm, handling whatever shit life throws my way with a shrug of ‘never expected anything different’ and making sure other people don’t feel what I do. But I failed this time, like so many times before. Blake’s going to be disappointed . . . in Jeff, that our work isn’t going to result in a big arrest victory, and mostly, in me.

I can’t hold his intense gaze, so I focus on the tiny line between his brows instead.

“I talked to Sheriff Barnes. He says that I should drop this investigation while in the same breath telling me he’d look into it. Not sure I believe him, though. I think he was just placating me. Even though I figured out how Yvette did it.”

“You did?” Blake’s excitement is palpable, and he doesn’t seem upset about Jeff at all.