“What do you think?” I asked Zach the second Davis was gone.
“I’m still not sure. The fact that I can’t rule him out is bad enough though, don’t you think?”
“Were you really going to walk away?”
Zach grinned at me. “Not on your life. I was bluffing, plain and simple.”
“You had me fooled. I was starting to get excited about going back home.”
He touched my shoulder lightly. “Is it really all that bad here?”
“No, it’s been nice coming back, but it’s not home anymore, is it?”
“Not so much. I wish I could tell you that this will all be over soon, but I can’t. I’ve got a feeling this killer isn’t going to stop on his own.”
“Then you need to figure out who it is before he kills someone else.”
“I’m doing the best I can,” he said as he reached for the phone. “Send Sanders to the task force room,” he ordered, and then he hung up before he could have possibly gotten a reply.
“You’re good at giving orders; you know that, don’t you?”
“That wasn’t an order. It was a request.”
I laughed. “You might think you formed that as a question, but trust me, it was a direct order.”
“I guess old habits are hard to break.”
“Sometimes.”
He stood and started pacing around the room. “There’s something here. I can feel it. It’s so frustrating knowing that there’s a clue I’m missing out on completely.”
“It will come to you. Give it some time.”
“I’m afraid that’s one thing we don’t have a great deal of left.”
I saw the concern in his eyes. “Do you think he’s going to do something soon?”
“What do you think? You read the note, too.”
Zach walked over to the board, and then read the last communication to us aloud. “He’s taunting me. I can’t believe he threatened you, and I didn’t send you away.”
“Even if you could get rid of me, which you can’t, where could I go? He knows where we live, Zach. The only way either one of us will ever be safe is if you catch him.”
“Any luck with this code?”
“I’m stuck,” I admitted. “There’s got to be a pattern to it, but I don’t know what it is.”
“So, we’re both having trouble seeing the truth. The question is, is he really that good at hiding his intentions, or are these notes and codes just part of one big lie?”
“I wish I knew.”
“That makes two of us.”
I could see that Zach was getting into a funk, and I had to help him stop it before it took over. If he began to doubt himself, and his abilities, I knew there would be no chance of stopping the killer.
“What do we do next?” I asked.
“What? What do you mean?”
I waved a hand around the room. “We’re stuck when we look at these walls. Let’s get out and talk to more people. You always said that if all else failed, it was a good idea to stir the pot. So, let’s go stir.”
He frowned for a few moments, and then nodded. “You’re right.”
“Of course I am,” I said with a smile. “Who should we talk to first?”
“Is there anyone more involved with this case than Grady? It’s time we had another chat.”
We were walking out of the room as Steve Sanders showed up. “I thought you needed me.”
“I changed my mind.”
“That’s fine,” Steve said. “If there’s anything I can do, all you have to do is ask.”
“How much did you lose on that mountain land deal?” I asked impulsively.
“What? How’d you hear about that?” He frowned, and then Steve said, “Strike that. Davis told you. I lost five grand. It wasn’t a fortune, but I wasn’t happy to see it go, either.”
“Five thousand dollars is a great deal of money,” I said.
“Yeah, but Davis lost ten times that. It’s the only thing that lets me sleep at night.”
“Did you know Cindy Glass very well?”
“Who?” Steve asked.
“The murder victim.”
“Oh, yeah, I blanked out on her name for a second. No, not really. Why, what have you heard?”
Zach was listening to our conversation—I knew it—though he didn’t appear to be paying attention.
“Just a snippet here and there,” I said. “It was enough to make me want to ask the question.”
Steve looked uncomfortable. “We had some mutual friends. I might have met her at a party once, but I can’t be sure.”
“But you never dated her.”
“No, nothing like that.” Steve looked at Zach, who had remained silent during the conversation. “What’s this about, Chief?”
“We’re trying to cross as many names off the list as we can,” he said. “You know the routine.”
“Sure, I just never thought I’d make it onto one of your lists.”
“Neither did most of the people who’ve ended up there.”
“What’s taking that elevator so long?” Steve asked.
“I forgot to push the button,” Zach said, as he finally did so.
“If that’s it, I’ve got work I can be doing downstairs, unless you want me to hang around here and guard the door.”
“No, I don’t think that’s necessary. I’ll let you know when I need you again.”
“Then I’ll take the stairs. I need a little exercise anyway.”
After he vanished down the stairway, I said, “You didn’t forget to push the button at all, did you?”
“I wanted to hear what he had to say.”
“Then why didn’t you ask him yourself?” I asked as I pushed the button again. The elevator was as slow as cold molasses.
“I was about to, when you stepped in and did it for me.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to butt in.”
Zach smiled at me. “On the contrary, it was better coming from you anyway. If I’d have thought about it, I would have asked you to talk to him before.”
“What do you think about his answers?” I asked as the elevator finally arrived.
As we stepped in, Zach said, “I’m not sure. Is he hiding something? Did he have a relationship with Cindy Glass? He didn’t make it sound like five thousand dollars was a lot to lose, but I have a hard time believing it, don’t you?”
“Then we’re no further along than we were before.”
“That’s not true,” Zach said as the elevator opened and we stepped out onto the ground floor. “The more information we have, the better chance there is of solving the case.”
It was overcast when we went outside. “Should we take the car? It looks like it might rain.”
“It’s just a block. Let’s walk it.”
“That’s fine with me.”
As we walked toward Grady’s office, I asked my husband, “Should we call first?”
“No, I don’t want to give him the chance to get away before we get there. It will be best if we can catch him off guard.”
“I never dreamed this case would take this direction when Davis called you, did you?”
“No, but I can’t help wondering what Grady was doing the first day we got here.”
“You mean when he disappeared?”
“Exactly. He couldn’t have been jogging the entire time, not if he just took it up. I keep trying to put each of my suspects in the killer’s shoes. It would have been easy for Grady to take that photograph of you in his truck, and then stash the camera somewhere safe until he could get back to it.”
“Davis could have taken it, too. Or Steve, for that matter.”
“If we’re naming suspects, I’d like to add Lorna’s name to the list.”
I was surprised by that addition. “Honestly, do you think she could have had anything to do with these murders?”
“Why, because she’s a woman?”
“No, I fully realize that women can kill just as easily as men can. I just don’t see her motivation.”
“What if we’re looking at it all wrong?” Zach asked. “What if these murders are part of a bigger puzzle?”
“What do you mean?”
“It might explain the clues on the backs of the notes and photographs, if they are indeed important, and not just a way to throw us off the killer’s scent. What if the two murders are connected, but not in a way that we’ve been considering so far?”
“You’ve got my attention,” I said. “But I’m not sure where you’re going.”
“Let’s say Lorna is our killer. She could have killed Cindy and Hank as a part of a frame-up to make Grady look bad.”
“Would she commit multiple murders just to get back at an old boyfriend? She seems so happy now.”
“Did you know that a lot of people who are about to commit suicide act more serenely than they ever have in their lives? Once they make the decision to do it, a kind of peace comes over them.”
“Do you really think she’s going to kill herself?”
“No, I don’t mean that. All I’m saying is that once she came up with a plan to ruin Grady, she could very easily have become more content with her life. She keeps pushing these breakfasts on you, and the two of you have never really been all that close before.”
“I thought she wanted to make amends for the past.”
“It’s possible, but she could also be trying to get information about the investigation out of you.”
I thought about that for a few seconds. “She
has
asked about it every time we meet.”
“When are you getting together again?”
“We were supposed to have breakfast tomorrow,” I admitted. “But I’m going to have to cancel on her. I’m eating with Sherry instead.”
“Do me a favor. Put Sherry off and meet with Lorna. Try to find out if she knew Cindy Glass, since we already know she danced with Hank the night he was murdered.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m not crazy about doing that.”
“That’s fine. I’ll ask her myself.”
I shook my head. “No, she’ll never tell you anything she doesn’t want you to hear. I’ll do it.”
“You could always ask Sherry for a rain check.”
“I’m going to do better than that. I’m going to see if she’ll have lunch instead. It’s going to be your treat, by the way.”
“Fine, I’m more than happy to pay for it.”
As we got closer to city hall, I pulled out my telephone.
“Who are you calling, Savannah?”
“I have to be sure Sherry’s okay with the change of plans before I agree to do this.”
I called my friend, and after a minute of conversation, I hung up. “She’s fine with it. But we’re going someplace nice.”
“You should.”
“Zach, it’s no fun teasing you if you’re just going to roll over like that.”
“So, my plan worked,” he said with a smile.
“Don’t be smug. It doesn’t suit you.”
“Sorry,” he said, though the grin on his face showed that he wasn’t sorry at all.
“WHAT IS IT? I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR A LOT OF FOOL
ish questions right now,” Grady said as we were shown into his office. I was more than a little surprised that he’d even agreed to see us at all after our last conversation.
“This won’t take long, and we’re in Charlotte because of you, remember? Are you absolutely positive you didn’t know Cindy Glass until the night of the ball?”
“That’s what I told you, wasn’t it? She was a last second fix up.”
“Who made the match?”
Grady leaned forward in his chair. “What does it matter?”
“I won’t know that until you answer the question.”
“An assistant here got us together. Like I said, it was all last minute. Is there anything else? I’m busy.”
Zach wasn’t finished, not by a long shot, but I could tell by the expression on his face that he knew it was time to move on. “Were you a part of a land development deal with Hank Tristan?”
“You wouldn’t be asking me the question if you didn’t already know the answer. Yes, we made a few deals together.”
“One in particular lost a great deal of money, didn’t it?”
Grady scowled. “Trust me, he made more for me than I ever lost. The man had a real knack for turning a profit.”
“But he didn’t always make money, did he?”
“Remember, even the best baseball player on the field strikes out more often than he hits the ball when he’s standing at the plate.”
“Spare me the sports analogies,” Zach said.
“Okay, I was trying to be nice fitting you into my schedule, but if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a city to run.”
Before I knew what was happening, we were being expertly shuffled out of the room by his secretary.
“What just happened there?” I asked my husband.
“We hit a nerve. There’s more to that story than Grady’s telling us.”
As we walked back toward the police station, it started to sprinkle. “Maybe I should have brought my umbrella.”
“Come on, we don’t have that far to go.”
As we hurried on our way, I asked Zach, “So, tell me again why Grady holding out on us is a good thing.”
“It’s simple. The more we can shake things up, the better off we’ll be.”
“You do realize that most likely we’re aggravating the killer, too.”
“Hey, it won’t work if we’re not willing to take any chances. You’re not getting cold feet, are you?”
“No way. I want to see the killer caught now more than ever.”
“So be happy with our progress.”
As we rushed up the steps to the station, I said, “If irritating the people we know is our goal, we’re doing remarkable work. We’ve agitated Grady, who happens to be the mayor, and Davis, the new chief of police. Throw in Steve Sanders, and we’re losing friends fast.”
“That just leaves Lorna.”
“There’s time to pick a fight with her tomorrow, isn’t there?”
“I’d really rather you did it now,” Zach said.
I looked at him to see if he was serious, and there was no trace of a smile on his face. “Fine. I’ll call her. Is there anything in particular you want me to say, or should I just start hurling insults at her?”
“It won’t do any good if it’s not focused. I want you to work into the conversation that I’m thinking about her ties to both victims.”
“How does she know Cindy?” I asked as we walked back into police headquarters.