A Deadly Row Read online

  “Wrong number,” I mumbled, hoping he’d take me at my word.

  There must have been something in my voice that told him I was lying, no matter how hard I’d tried to disguise it.

  “Savannah,” he said softly. There was a steel edge as he said my name that made me bite my lower lip.

  “It was Davis,” I admitted. Never lie to your husband, I told myself yet again, especially when he’s a retired police detective.

  “What did he want?” Zach asked keenly. I could see his yearning for another murder or jewel theft. He was like a racehorse waiting for the gate to open, eager and chomping at the bit.

  “He was asking about the weather here,” I said lamely. Even I wouldn’t believe that one. Without waiting for my husband to comment, I added, “He also wanted your opinion, but I told him you couldn’t help him this time, even when he agreed to pay your fee. You’re retired, remember?”

  “I’m trying to get my consulting business going,” he said as he dialed the number by heart. “I can’t be too picky about the jobs I take on at this point.”

  “He sounded scared, Zach. I don’t want you to get involved.”

  My husband’s voice softened as he explained, “If it was easy, they wouldn’t need me.”

  I tried one last thing. “The money’s not worth it, even if they really do pay you, which I still doubt.”

  Zach’s finger hovered over the last digit before he pressed it. “They will this time, or I won’t do a thing to help them. Savannah, I know you feel like they’ve been taking advantage of me, but we could use the extra money, and you know it.”

  Great, I’d brought up a point I didn’t really believe in without meaning to, and my sweet but literal husband had taken it at face value. It was time to switch positions, an art I’d mastered over the years. “Nonsense. We’re doing fine. We have everything we need.”

  “True, but we don’t have everything we want, do we?” he asked with a grin. “It won’t hurt to hear what the man has to say,” Zach said as he pushed the last number.

  During the one-sided conversation, I had no idea what they were talking about, but my husband’s face turned darker and darker in the silence. After a few minutes of mostly brief comments, Zach hung up the telephone.

  “Pack your bags, Savannah. We’re going back to Charlotte.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears. In all our years of marriage, my husband had never given me a direct order before. “Are you kidding me? Don’t I even get a say in this? Business is business, but at least you’ve run it past me before you’ve taken a job.”

  Zach nodded contritely. “I’m sorry, you’re right. I should have asked you first. But we have to go. This is important. Grady Winslow has been getting some pretty nasty threats that Davis is sure are tied to someone who’s already committed two murders, and there’s a dark tone to them that’s too serious to ignore.” Grady was the mayor of our former fair city, a powerful man and a dear friend who had introduced us to each other a long time ago. My husband knew there was no way I could turn down that particular summons.

  After a moment’s hesitation, he offered me a slight grin. “You’re welcome to stay here and enjoy the summer heat, but they’re putting me up at the Belmont, and they’ve agreed to pay me a nice fee to go along with it, though to be honest with you, this is one time I’d do it for free. Think of it, Savannah. There will be full maid service, shopping in Dilworth, eating out at Morton’s Steakhouse. And don’t forget. We’d have air conditioning.”

  “I’ve got things to do here,” I said stubbornly.

  He wouldn’t let me pout though. The big bear wrapped me up in his arms and said, “You can work on your puzzles just as easily there as you can here. They have pencils and erasers in Charlotte, too, you know. Come on. It’ll be like a second honeymoon, only this time it will be on someone else’s dime.”

  “Some honeymoon. You’ll be at police headquarters all day and half the night, if I know you.”

  “They need me, Savannah,” he said somberly. “More importantly, Grady could be in some real trouble. This guy isn’t messing around.”

  I studied him a moment before I trusted myself to speak. “And don’t forget the other highlight here; you get to be a cop again, don’t you?”

  “Nobody’s going to shoot at me. Don’t forget, I’m just a consultant,” he said. “I won’t be anywhere near the line of fire.” He touched his chest lightly as he said it, gently rubbing the scar where the bullet had entered.

  I knew there was no point in arguing with him. I looked wistfully around the cottage and realized that he was right. There was no way he could refuse to help our best friend. Besides, a getaway might be nice. It was just too bad that my husband, despite his protests to the contrary, would probably be putting his life on the line, and that was something I never thought I’d have to deal with again.

  There was no use worrying about it now, though.

  I smiled as brightly as I could manage and said, “Let me pack a few things, then I’ll be ready to go.”

  He looked at me skeptically. “It’s really going to be that easy? I don’t have to twist your arm to get you to go?”

  I reached my arms up around his neck and kissed him. “If you’re going, I’m going.”

  He smiled down at me. “That’s why I love you so much.”

  “One of the many, many reasons, I’m sure,” I said, matching his smile with one of my own.

  “ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO HATE THIS, SAVANNAH? I CAN turn around and we can go back to the cottage, if you’re that dead-set against it. You’re more important to me than anyone else in the world, even Grady. You know that, don’t you?”

  We’d been driving nearly two hours and we were fast approaching Charlotte. Normally the trip felt like it took forever, but it seemed like ten minutes to me this time. I was dreading every mile of it as the markers sped past, and my husband knew it.

  “It will be fine, Zach. Grady Winslow is our friend. I just hate to see you putting yourself back in danger.”

  “Come on, you know me. If I hear even a car backfire, I’ll run the other way.”

  “We both know better,” I said. I patted his shoulder holster and touched his gun. “Don’t ever try to tell me that. You couldn’t wait to get back into that harness.”

  “You weren’t supposed to notice that,” he said.

  “Zachary Stone, just because you were the police officer in the family doesn’t mean that I don’t notice things, too. My puzzles make me aware of anything that changes or doesn’t fit into a situation. Life is one big math problem waiting to be solved, if you look at it the right way.”

  He shook his head and laughed gently.

  “What, you don’t believe me?” I asked, trying to keep the slight hurt out of my voice.

  “No, ma’am, I would never say that, even under gun-point. It’s just that I never have understood your fascination with numbers. You see them in entirely different ways than I do.”

  I tried to snuggle close to him, despite the seatbelt holding me steadfastly in place. “That’s all right; it wouldn’t be any fun if we were exactly the same. I like to think we complement each other.”

  He smiled. “You do look pretty fantastic today.”

  “Complement with an ‘e’, not an ‘i’, you goof,” I said.

  “I knew what you meant,” he answered with a grin, “but I stand by my earlier statement.”

  “If I could lose fifteen pounds, I might just agree with you,” I said.

  “Don’t you dare lose an ounce. I love you just the way you are.”

  I grinned at him. “That’s probably a good thing, because I’m not about to go on a diet in Charlotte. I can’t wait to hit some of our favorite restaurants.”

  “Does that mean you’re warming up to the idea?”

  I thought about it, considered the possibility that despite his protests to the contrary, my husband might land himself in danger again, but then I realized that this was what he’d been made to
do.

  Before I could form a reply, he said, “Strike that last question. I’m not sure I want to know the answer.”

  “No, it’s fine. I realize that you need to do this, and I want to be with you.”

  As he got off the interstate at an exit much earlier than the one for the police station, I asked, “Where are you going?”

  “I figured you’d want to go to the hotel and get settled in before I report.”

  “Not on your life,” I said. “We’re going straight to the police station, together.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m positive.”

  He smiled as he gunned the engine and merged back onto the interstate. “I’m not about to argue with you. Let’s go see what’s going on.”

  WE WALKED INTO THE STATION TOGETHER, BUT I MIGHT as well have gone directly to the hotel after all. I’ve never seen so many people that happy to see my husband, and only a few of them even glanced my way as we walked in.

  The exception, to my surprise, was Davis Rawles. Davis had been a little heavy during the years he’d worked under Zach, but he must have gone on an eating binge since my husband had left him with his responsibilities. Even at six feet tall, the weight on Davis made me doubt he could pass any police physical in the world. His hair, once thinning, had left him completely, and the lack of it made him look even rounder.

  He extended a meaty hand to me, and as I took it, Davis said, “I’m sorry about this, Savannah. If there’d been any other way . . .”

  “It’s fine, Davis,” I said as I kissed his cheek. “He wanted to come, and I wasn’t about to stop him, even if I could.”

  I looked around the squad room expecting to see Grady Winslow. I knew the mayor had to be busy doing his job, but I was still a little disappointed that he hadn’t shown up.

  “Where’s Grady?” I asked Davis.

  He looked troubled by my question, and I didn’t think he was going to answer it, but after a few moments of silence, he finally said, “That’s the problem. Nobody’s seen him since last night, and he’s not answering his cell phone this morning.”

  I knew things were more desperate than we’d been told on the phone. Grady was attached to that cell phone more than he had been to any woman he’d ever dated, and he never went anywhere without it.

  If he wasn’t answering his calls, something serious was wrong indeed.

  Chapter 2

  “TELL ZACH,” I SAID. “HE NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT’S going on.”

  “I wanted to give him a minute to say hello to everyone first,” Davis said.

  I studied his frown for a second, and then I asked, “Is that the truth, or are you just stalling?”

  “How can I tell him that I lost his best friend?” Davis asked, the pleading clear in his eyes.

  “Trust me; the quicker you do it, the better.”

  Davis nodded, and then made his way over to my husband. The smile on Zach’s face vanished as he learned the news, and he hurried over to me.

  “Did you hear?”

  “Davis just told me,” I said. “What are you going to do?”

  “What do you think? I’m going to find him,” my husband said.

  Zach started conferring with Davis about tracking down Grady when I had a thought. “Have you tried checking the location of his phone?”

  “They’ve been calling him all morning, Savannah.”

  “That’s not what I mean, Zach. You told me you could use some kind of tracing technology to find a cell phone wherever it is, whether it’s turned on or not. Why don’t you ping his phone? I can’t imagine him going anywhere without it.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Davis said.

  “You haven’t tried it yet?” Zach asked him.

  “Cut me some slack. I just figured out that the man was missing two minutes ago.”

  “Being missing and not answering his telephone are two different things,” I said. “There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation about where he is, and why he’s not answering his phone.”

  “I’d rather overreact than assume everything’s all right, given the threats he’s been getting lately,” Zach said.

  “I wasn’t suggesting otherwise,” I answered. “Let’s just make sure something’s really wrong before we get the whole city in an uproar.” I looked at Davis. “Did anyone go by his house to check on him?”

  “I dispatched a car there right before I told you,” Davis admitted.

  My husband answered, “I’m not waiting around to hear what happens. Ping his phone.”

  Davis nodded, then stepped away from us to give the order.

  While he was gone, my husband said, “I know he’s probably fine, but we can’t take any chances.”

  “I’m as worried about Grady as you are.” I shivered slightly as I said it.

  “He’s at home,” Davis said when he rejoined us. “At least his phone is.”

  “Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?”

  Zach answered for him. “Maybe, maybe not. One thing’s for sure; I’m not going to stand around here waiting to hear one way or the other. I’m going to Grady’s. Are you coming, Savannah?”

  “Just try to leave me behind,” I said. There was no use arguing with me, and he knew it.

  “We can take my car,” Davis said.

  “Who invited you?” Zach asked, an edge in his voice. It was clear that he held Davis responsible for Grady’s disappearance, whether it made any sense or not.

  “I’ve got a siren, flashing lights, and a badge. What have you got?” Davis wasn’t holding back, either. He obviously wasn’t in the mood to be anybody’s whipping boy, not even for his former boss.

  I asked, “What are we standing around here for, then?”

  I wasn’t sure Davis was all that thrilled about me coming along, but it was a good bet that he wasn’t about to make an issue of it, not after butting heads with my husband. We raced out of the precinct parking lot, and I knew if we hadn’t been with the chief of police, we would have surely gotten a ticket for speeding.

  Davis’s car radio went off as we neared Grady’s house. “His truck’s here, but he’s not answering the door. Should I break in?” It was clear in the patrolman’s voice even over the radio that he was reluctant to bust in on the mayor of Charlotte, and a man who was—several rungs up the ladder—his boss.

  Davis snapped, “Don’t do anything. I’ll be there in two minutes.”

  There was no more conversation as we raced to Grady’s house. The last time I’d been there had been during our going-away party that he’d hosted for us. Long ago, Zach and I had become friends with Grady separately, and without his introduction, it’s quite possible I never would have met my husband, the man who quickly became the love of my life. When Zach had been a local attorney just starting out, Grady had taken him under his wing, helping him find his way around Charlotte, both within the legal system, and outside of it. I’d tried to return the favor by fixing him up with some of my younger friends, but Grady hadn’t been in the mood to settle down then any more than he was now. If anything had happened to him, I didn’t know how I was going to deal with it.

  When we pulled up in front of his place in Myers Park, it didn’t look like a house that might belong to the mayor. There were McMansions on his street, homes overbuilt for the lots they sat on, but Grady had chosen a rather modest Cape for his home, painted moss green with beige shutters and trim. It was neatly kept, but I knew Grady used a lawn service for that. He considered himself no better than his lowliest constituent, but he had never had any interest in lawn care, let alone gardening, no matter how much I tried to convince him otherwise.

  Davis, Zach, and I got out of the car and met the patrol officer at the front door.

  “No signs of life, sir,” he said.

  I wasn’t sure if he was directing his comment to Zach or Davis, and it was all I could do not to laugh when the two men answered, “Okay,” at the same time.

  “Let’s break it down,” Davis s
aid.

  “Hang on a second,” I said before they could muscle the door down. “Grady has a spare key hidden, if it’s still there.”

  “I doubt the mayor has a hide-a-key,” Davis said.

  “That’s where you’re wrong.” Grady had told me about the key years ago when I’d come by to drop off one of my homemade apple-crisp pies. I’d teased him about it at the time, but I was glad I knew about it now.

  There was a rock garden near the trees by the porch, and I knew Grady had hidden one of those fake rocks there, but the problem was that they all looked a little too artificial to me. After all, it wasn’t all that common to find a streambed in Myers Park, but there the stones were.

  “We don’t have much time,” Zach said.

  “Hang on a second.” I studied the rocks, searching for one that didn’t fit the pattern, much like what I did when I was designing one of my puzzles. I couldn’t see it when I looked directly at the stones, but when I turned my head, the fake one made itself obvious by the way the light reflected off it.

  I picked it up with more confidence than I felt, and was relieved to find that the weight of the stone was less than it should have been.

  As I handed the key to Zach, Davis said, “We still don’t know the alarm code.”

  “It’s 0607,” I said.

  “Why would he choose that?”

  “It’s his birthday,” I said.

  Davis shook his head as we approached the front door. The key slid in quickly, and I moved to the alarm pad. Zach raised an eyebrow as I did this.

  “Hey, I’m the one who found the key,” I said.

  “Go ahead before it goes off,” he said.

  I punched in the numbers, and was relieved to see that Grady hadn’t changed the code since he’d told it to me years before.

  The house was neat and tidy, thanks more to the mayor’s housekeeper than his personal habits. Grady liked things neat, but he wasn’t all that consistent in keeping the things around him that way. If I had to bet, I’d say that his bedroom was a mess.

  “You need to wait outside now,” Davis said to me.