He shook his head. “Who says ‘on the contrary’?”

This time she raised an eyebrow at him. “Was there something else or did you just stop in to insult my vocabulary?”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry. I just can’t figure you out. In my line of work, I have to get a feel for someone quickly, and I’m usually pretty dead-on with first impressions. But I can’t seem to get a read on you. You’re an enigma.” He grinned. “See, I can also use a fancy word to when I need to.”

Why did this man infuriate and amuse her at the same time? “I am a woman, Finn. You were not meant to figure us out. Besides, even if we came with instruction manuals, men never read the instructions anyway.”

He laughed. A soft chuckle that went all the way to his eyes. He did have great eyes. Brown with flecks of gold. If someone asked her to describe Jerry Finney in one word, it would have to be “average.” He was of average height and build. His face was average and he tended to blend in with the people in the room.

But it was when she got in close that she realized he wasn’t average at all. His eyes were intelligent and sparked with amusement. He hid great muscles under boring Oxford shirts and had a gun holster strapped on under his tweed jacket. Tweed jackets were the poster children for boring and stuffy. Maybe blending in was just part of his job, a way for him to observe and not be noticed. Maybe he wasn’t as dull as she’d thought.

“Well, I was just getting ready to head home and catch a game on TV, and wanted to check on you.”

Nope. She’d been right. Totally dull. “Thanks. I’m fine.”

He stood awkwardly by the door as if he didn’t quite want to leave, but didn’t have a reason to stay. “I did want to tell you that I had an odd client come in today. A gal named Phyllis stopped in and wanted me to look for her missing husband. She filed a missing-persons report but since he’s only been gone since yesterday, she doesn’t think the police took it very seriously. But she’s sure he’s gone. She claims they’ve been married forty years and he’s never missed dinner. Until last night.”

“She stopped in here too. Phyllis is one of my regular clients; she comes in every Friday. She’s a sweet lady but she was really upset today. She told me she thought her husband had gotten himself into some kind of trouble. She wouldn’t tell me everything, but I know it had something to do with some jewels, and I kept feeling diamonds around her. I was going to come over and tell you about it, but I know you think this is a bunch of nonsense.”

“You still should have told me. I don’t believe in coincidences, so if she came to see both of us, maybe this is connected to what happened last night. You were asking that cop earlier about any recent missing-persons cases.” He rubbed his jaw, and she could tell he was thinking through each possibility. She could almost see the puzzle pieces of thought clicking into place. “Diamonds, you said? I was just reading an article about a jewelry heist that happened a couple of days ago. Maybe this is connected.”

“I saw that too.”

He looked at her quizzically.

“Like I saw it in the paper, you dope. Not I ‘saw’ it in the future.”

“Sorry. I don’t know how all this works. I’m really not trying to be an ass. I just have a hard time believing in any of this mumbo-jumbo.”

She gave him a wry look. “No, really, calling my profession ‘mumbo-jumbo’ is not being an ass at all.”

He grinned. “You’re right. I apologize. My mind is just too analytical. I look at facts and evidence. And I’ve seen too much fraud and deceit. It’s hard for me to accept any of this.” He gestured around the room.

Reaching for his hand, she looked up at him. Touching him sent a little thrill all the way up her spine, but she ignored it in an effort to convey the sincerity of her thoughts. “Haven’t you ever lost someone? Someone close to you?”

She watched his eyes soften as he swallowed, and thought she might have a glimmer of a chance to make him understand. “If there was a way to connect with them, even in a small way, wouldn’t you want to try? I believe that there is. Not always, but sometimes. I believe that there’s a whole other spirit realm that exists, and in certain circumstances our realms can connect and we can glimpse the other side. But the first step is believing that it’s there and reaching out to connect to it.”

Still holding his hand, she felt the pulse in his wrist speed up. Was it because of how close she stood, or were her words really getting to him? He leaned slightly forward, and her breath caught as she wondered if he might kiss her. Afraid to move, even to breathe, she looked up at him from under dark eyelashes, willing him to lean closer still.

A glass bowl fell off the counter, smashing to the ground, causing her to jump and let out a little shriek of alarm. She turned to see the cat streaking off the counter, her tail most likely the culprit of the smashed bowl. She laughed, but the moment was lost.

“I appreciate what you’re saying, Zia, but too many times there’s a logical explanation for things that people claim are illogical.” He stooped to pick up the pieces of glass. “Like your cat’s tail knocking this off.”

“That’s why I’m staying here tonight. I feel like something more is going on and our culprit might return. I’m setting up the video camera and plan to wait here all night.”

“Like a stakeout? Now you’re talking my language.”

“Would you care to join me?”

“Okay. But have you ever done a stakeout? Usually you hang around for hours, bored out of your mind, and the only time anything happens is when you grab a thirty-second break to take a piss.”

She grinned. “Then it will be good to have a stakeout partner. We can keep each other from getting bored and can serve as lookout in case one of us needs to…er…piss, I guess.”

He chuckled, and the sound of his laughter gave her a little tingly feeling. Why did she suddenly feel like a schoolgirl who’d just agreed to sneak out to spend the night with her crush?

“Since you’re the expert, what would you suggest we bring to this stakeout party? I’ve got the video camera, and I was going to run home to grab some snacks and change into something more comfortable.”

“I can’t believe you would use ‘stakeout’ and ‘party’ in the same sentence. There is nothing festive about them. But yeah, I would wear something comfortable, and I guess you can bring some food if you want. My stakeout fare usually consists of a thermos of coffee and a bag of sunflower seeds.”

She checked her watch. “Okay, I’ll run home now. Let’s meet back here at eight. We can set up the surveillance equipment then.” She rubbed her hands together in delight. “Let’s catch ourselves a ghost.”

Finn knocked on Zia’s office door. He carried a green thermos of coffee and had a lunch-size cooler and a backpack full of surveillance equipment slung across his shoulder. He wouldn’t trust anything she captured on some crazy gear she bought off the internet. In fact, he wasn’t going to believe that anything supernatural was going on until he saw it with his own two eyes.

Eyes that bugged out now as Zia opened the door. She’d changed clothes and wore a snug black t-shirt and skintight black jeans tucked into black knee-high boots.

Her outfit hugged every curve of her body, and he found himself speechless, his mouth dry as his mind raced with thoughts of holding that body against him. Against him, under him. Hell, over him would be good too.

He cleared his throat. “Nice outfit. I thought you were going for something more comfortable, like those yoga pant deals. You look like you’re getting ready to rob a bank.” Smooth move, Ex-lax. Way to win her over. Women love it when you make fun of their outfit choices.

She grinned, apparently unfazed by his mocking. “Too much? It’s my first stakeout and I just wanted to be prepared. I always go overboard. Sorry.” She wrinkled her nose and gave a nervous little giggle.