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thing.” Jack switched the air conditioner to high then reached in the back seat. “I forgot about these and left them in the car. They’ve wilted. Pity.” He handed her a bundle of flowers wrapped in green tissue.
    “Jack, these are gorgeous.” The bouquet was a burst of color: delicate pink tulips, yellow snapdragons, deep blue hyacinths, orange mums, and tiny wild roses in red, white, and pink. “But you didn’t have to get me flowers. I was only in the hospital for a few hours. Thank God.”
    Jack pulled into the traffic. “They were for our date.”
    “Our date? Oh, our
date
.”
    Jack kept his attention on the road. “Which I can see you were anticipating with baited breath.”
    “Sorry. With everything that’s happened, I’d completely forgotten.”
    “Understandable.” Jack sent her a quick smile before he changed lanes. “A dead body and a blow to the head would override dinner plans.”
    “But these really are beautiful. I’ve never seen a bouquet like this before.”
    He lifted one shoulder. “A dozen red roses didn’t seem like your style. Too trite. And boring.”
    Zoe fingered one of the petals. “I’d never turn down flowers of any kind, but you’re right. I’m not exactly a hothouse flower kind of girl.”
    Jack stopped at a light then held her gaze. “No. You definitely need something more...exotic.”
    Zoe felt a blush spreading across her cheeks again. What was it with these blushes lately? The car behind them honked, and Jack slowly transferred his attention to the road. “So, dinner? Do you want something to eat?”
    “Yes. I’m starving.”
    “How about Chinese? It’s not the dinner I had planned, but...”
    “Oh, egg rolls and sweet and sour chicken. Excellent idea. We can call in an order when we get home.”
    “Okay.” Jack merged into traffic on the freeway. “So you want to tell me about the other half?”
    “What?”
    Jack glanced over his shoulder before changing lanes. “When Helen said she wanted all the details, you said she didn’t know the half of it. What’s the other half?”
    “You’re going to think I’m crazy.” Zoe rubbed a hand down her jeans. “The police think I’m some sort of mental case.”
    “Try me.”
    She blew out a breath. Even she was beginning to doubt what she’d seen. She’d been so sure of what happened when she first came to in the car, but the more time that passed, the more uncertainty crept in. How could Lucinda’s body be there, then gone? It didn’t make sense.
    Could it have been some elaborate trick? But who would play a trick like that? She could almost see it being part of a prank reality show and, normally, she wouldn’t put anything past her mom, who had been the driving force behind her family’s appearance on a reality show when Zoe was in her tweens. But Donna had a steady gig as a retirement lifestyle correspondent for a morning show with a major network now. The producers were strict about what Donna could and couldn’t do—appearances and promotions—and Zoe was pretty sure that the producers of the morning show would nix any idea of Donna pranking someone with a dead body or being involved with a show that did that.
    “Zoe?”
    Zoe shook her head. “It seems surreal now. Unbelievable.”
    “I’ve had some unbelievable experiences myself, and they were true. It can’t be worse than someone taking out a hit on you. That’s not exactly common.”
    “It’s worse. Lucinda’s body is gone.” Zoe cringed as she said it. It sounded even more absurd when she said it aloud. The evening rush-hour traffic swished around them, all those normal people hurrying to get home and fix dinner or get the kids to soccer practice.
    “What do you mean gone?”
    “Gone. Disappeared. Not there. Taken. I don’t know. She was sprawled on the chaise lounge with a knife in her back. I was staring at her when I was hit on the head. I woke up in my car and called the police. When I led the police into the backyard,