“It could be that the boys are telling the truth,” Ronan said. “Maybe they did drop Sawyer off at ten, but his parents are lying. The parents likely don’t know what that kid is doing once he goes up to his room. They built him his own freaking house out in the backyard. I doubt they keep close tabs.”

“None of you swear.” Shauna said this with a frown, as though she’d only just put the information together and Zach had to laugh. Theirs wasn’t a typical police department in that sense.

“The captain fines us if we do,” answered Cal Rylan, who’d just joined them to brainstorm what they had so far on the case.

Shauna’s eyes swung to Zach. “How do you still afford food and clothes?”

Zach grinned. “Funny woman.” It was true. She was funny. He’d always liked that about her. It was also true that he swore a lot and had paid his captain a hell of a lot of money over the years.

Zach motioned to Cal. “Shauna O’Rourke, meet Cal Rylan. He and his partner, Jarrod Harmon, are the guys that worked the sniper case.”

Shauna shook hands with Cal, and Zach fought the urge to growl at the contact. It didn’t matter that Cal was crazy in love with the agent he’d worked the case with. He and FBI Agent Eve Sands would be married the following year. He still didn’t want Cal touching Shauna.

Shauna looked at Zach. “Did you tell me it’s Cal’s sister who’s dating that journalist?”

Cal answered. “Ray Lansing. I still haven’t come to grips with that one, but he’s making Joyce happy.”

“If anyone deserves it . . .” Ronan said and the others nodded. All except Shauna, who looked at Zach.

“Joyce was the victim of a very violent crime years ago. She didn’t leave the house much until Ray Lansing entered the picture.”

Shauna nodded, but Cal seemed eager to move the topic along.

“What next? You can pressure Sawyer’s parents? See if they admit to lying?” Cal offered.

“My gut says they won’t,” Ronan said and Shauna and Zach both agreed.

Ronan looked at his watch. “You guys grab dinner and I’ll check in with Stephanie. See if she’s come up with anything else for us.”

Zach almost laughed at the look of panic that crossed Shauna’s face when Ronan mentioned going to dinner with Zach.

“I don’t need to eat,” she said.

What she meant was she didn’t need to eat with Zach. Ronan and Cal gave them both an odd look.

Zach took Shauna by the arm and laughed. “You do need to eat, so it might as well be with me,” he murmured as they crossed the room. “Smile and pretend you’re thrilled.”

“Nonsense,” she hissed, glancing around like she hoped no one noticed him leading her out of the room by the arm. No such luck. “You and Ronan can go eat. I can check in with Stephanie.”

“Nope.” Zach was grinning now. He couldn’t really have helped it if he tried. She was really going to dig in her heels and refuse to go with him. “We’ll just grab takeout and bring it back. You don’t have to look so damned panicked. Did you really think Ronan would send us out to a four-course meal in the middle of a murder investigation?” He pressed the elevator button as she wrenched her arm free of his hold and glared at him.

He smiled back.

If there were any words to her grumbling, he couldn’t make them out. She kept it up, though, all the way down the street to the diner, where they ordered takeout for the team.

Zach knew from experience he didn’t have much time while they waited for their food. The diner owners and wait staff all put any order from the NHPD ahead of the line, whether it was an order for them to eat there or to-go.

“Let’s grab coffee while we wait,” he said, gesturing to a booth. He gave a nod to the hostess who’d gone to sit at the counter and she gave a tip of the head to indicate they could sit where he’d led Shauna.

Shauna dug in her heels. “We should just take our food and go.”

He gave her a look that dared her to sit. Shauna was never one to refuse a dare, even if it wasn’t a spoken one.

She sat.

It didn’t take a minute for two cups of hot coffee and a dish of creamers to arrive.

“Tell me about your world,” he said. Neither of them poured any cream or sugar into their cups. He took a sip, but Shauna wrapped her hands around the mug, seeming to draw on its warmth.

“Not much to tell. I work.”

“How’s your mom?” he asked.

“She died.”

Shit. Zach knew how much Shauna loved her parents. Hell, her whole family was close. “I’m sorry. How is your dad?” As soon as the question was out, he felt like an idiot. If her mom had died, her dad was not doing well. They were a couple who always seemed to be truly in love.

“He’s dead.”

“What?” Zach almost spit out his coffee. “What the—” He looked at her and saw her blandly sipping from her coffee cup.

The waitress came and dropped their food off, packed into a large plastic bag with the handles tied over Styrofoam containers. She left the check then walked to a table against the far wall to take an order.

Zach narrowed his eyes on Shauna. “That’s messed up, Shauna. You don’t tell a person your parents are dead when they’re not.”

She gave him a quirk of her brow and a look that said she didn’t want his lessons in comportment. “As far as you’re concerned, they are. I’m not getting involved with you personally again, Zach. We’re working a case together. That’s all.”

“You don’t think it’s worth trying to get to know each other again? The right way this time?” He was an idiot for asking a question she’d all but told him the answer to already.

She gave him a long look. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Fair enough,” he said. He couldn’t argue with her on that one. It’s not like he deserved a second chance with her.

The only problem was, he wanted to argue with her.

“Fair enough,” he said again. “So, we’ll just be friends this time.”

She snorted. “What part of nothing personal do you not understand?”

He couldn’t help it. He grinned at her, letting the smile settle over him in the slow easy way meant to tell her he wasn’t buying her line. She’d let him in.

She shook her head, but he saw the slight twinge of her lips, like she wanted to laugh at him.

He’d take it.