Ghost Mortem (Ghost Detective #1) - Jane Hinchey Page 0,50

a late-night with my family," I said.

"No need to apologize. You've got a lot going on, I get it. But I admit, I am here for another reason as well."

My heart picked up speed and my stomach did a little somersault in anticipation. He was going to ask me out. I knew it. I had to bite my tongue from blurting out yes before he'd actually asked the question.

"I was going through Ben's spreadsheet, and there were some links to some scanned documents that didn't get copied over to the USB. Could I get a copy of those too?" he asked. I knew my mouth dropped open. I felt it. Behind Galloway’s left shoulder I saw Ben laughing, and my face heated in embarrassment. I wanted the floor to open and swallow me whole.

"Sure," I croaked, snapping my mouth shut. At least Galloway was oblivious to what was going on, well, sort of.

He frowned at me and cocked his head to one side. "Everything okay?"

"Yep. Yep." I nodded. He did not know I had the hots for him and I decided it was best to keep it that way, no matter what my ovaries were currently screaming to my brain. We had to work together. He was about to become my supervisor. Mixing work with pleasure was never a good idea. With that little pep talk out of the way I straightened my shoulders and shot him a dazzling smile. "Coffee?" I didn't wait for an answer. Instead, I swiveled on my heel and headed to the office to retrieve my cup. "I'm set up in here," I said over my shoulder.

Galloway followed. I left him peering at the monitor and photos of Sophie Drake while I made coffee. I jerked my head at Ben to follow me. Over the noise of the coffee machine I whisper shouted, "I need you to either make yourself scarce or not distract me when I'm working with Galloway."

"Oh, is working what we're calling it these days?" Ben teased. I slapped him on the arm, only of course he wasn't solid, so instead my hand sailed right through him and smacked into the side of the cupboard.

"Ow." Rubbing my wrist and the angry red mark, I glared at him. "You know what I mean. If I don't want to find myself in a mental institute I need to stay focused around him. He's trained to see things others don't. You don't think he's going to notice things like this?" I was madly pointing from myself to Ben and back again.

"Okay, okay, don't have an aneurysm. I promise I'll stay in the background and won't utter a sound."

I eyeballed him for another minute. Between a talking cat and Ben's ghost it was going to be a gargantuan effort not to let anything slip in front of Galloway. We're not mentioning my hormonal response to Captain Cowboy Hot Pants either. Nope. We're pushing that down into a teeny tiny little box, closing the lid and throwing away the key.

18

"I wouldn't have pegged her as your type," Galloway drawled when I returned to the office carrying two coffees.

Confused, I handed him his coffee. He was studying the monitor and the pictures of Sophie. "Oh!" the penny dropped. "She's not. It's one of Ben's cases. Actually, not her, her dad." I wondered if I should tell Galloway what I was working on. I mean, if he was going to be my supervisor I'd have to share information anyway, but it was going to take some getting used to...cooperating with the police.

It was like he could see the cogs turning in my head, knew the thought processes that were bouncing around like a very bad game of beer pong.

"I'll make this easy for you." He cradled his cup in both hands and looked at me solemnly. "I can see you're having doubts. About trusting me. And I get it, I know what happened to Ben. I know he was treated unfairly and if I'd been around when he was still on the force, believe me, it would never have happened."

"That's easy enough to say. In hindsight," I pointed out.

He inclined his head. "Fair point. But you know I'm working toward fixing that. So be honest with me. What has you so reluctant to tell me what you're working on?"

"I'm worried you're going to take it for yourself. Take credit for it. Snatch it all up and say it’s evidence in Ben's death and leave me with nothing." The words