The Neighbours

Seven

A deep voice is talking and I blink awake.

Zack's on the phone in a heated discussion before he sighs. Then he thanks the person and the conversation gets much friendlier before he says his casual "Later" and hangs up. I watch him pace back and forth while massaging his neck.

He looks stressed. And it's my fault.

I get up and grab my laptop, "What are you doing, Keys?"

"Bringing up what was on his computer."

"How about I call for food and we'll look it over with coffee?"

I nod and stretch out before tapping the keys again. I fall back as he dials and the computer loads his files onto my hard drive.

The snacks come and we hunker down to work.

An hour later I groan and fall back as he laughs at me. He puts a hand on my thigh and I still, "Don't worry, we'll find something."

"I don't have the patience for this." His hand wasn't helping either.

He laughs and falls back with me, "What do you do with all your other cases?"

"Zack, I've done like three 'cases'. I usually work smaller stints. I helped my car buddy with his sister, this client and maybe a few others. Most of what I do is simple and straightforward, like this should've been. I don't do this." I say motioning toward the endless data we were reading on the computer.

"I thought you were a case-cracking hacker-chick, Keys." He smiles.

"I'm a loner who hacks because it's all she can do, and I only took on this case because it should've been simple and she paid me too much to say no."

He laughs, looking down at me and pats my hand on my stomach before letting his rest there atop mine, "You're not a loner, I consider us friends. And loverboy definitely considers you friends, or more."

I groan again, "Don't mention Dean."

"Is there a story there?" His tone drops.

"No."

"If he did anything-" Zack starts, his voice a growl again.

"He didn't." Dean might have tried to kiss me. Or I read it wrong. And Dean maybe asked me on a date. But nothing had happened.

Zack gives me a long look and I know he wants to ask questions, but he moves back to the topic at hand. "We'll find something against him to prove he killed his wife. Otherwise-"

"What if he didn't?" I ask.

"He did. Or he hired someone who did. At least, that's our working theory until we find someone with more motivation."

"I thought only the one who pulled the trigger was guilty." I say looking at him, raising my eyebrow.

He sighs, "They are guilty. But if they were hired, then the person who paid is also guilty."

"Okay, so if she had stayed quiet-"

"This isn't your fault."

"I didn't say that."

"It's not your fault." He looks down at me intensely and his hand on mine is too much. "None of this was your fault. You did her a favour and got stuck in a bad situation. You wouldn't hurt anyone. You're not a monster." Something about his last sentence seems like it has a double meaning, but I let it go. I wasn't sure what it meant and I couldn't fathom a guess.

"You said that earlier."

"You don't believe me."

"I know I didn't kill her but I forced her to talk. I took part Zack. You can't convince me otherwise. I gave him reason to kill her." I take a long breath in, "But now we're going to make it right. And that'll be good."