by Casey Mayes
“Fine, I know how you get when you’re hungry,” I said. “Let’s go eat, and then we’ll tackle the rest of them.”
AFTER A QUICK MEAL, WE WENT BACK TO THE HOTEL TO finish our second round of interviews.
Zach asked, “Can we stop off at the car for a second?”
“Sure, what did you forget?”
“Nothing. I just want to get another pen.” He’d taken notes about what had happened so far during our lunch, and his pen had slowly failed him.
“I have one in my purse that you can use.”
As we walked back past the car, I noticed that it was sitting lower than it had before. Was it sinking into the pavement of the hotel’s parking lot?
Zach must have noticed it the same time I did. “Hang back a second, Savannah.”
He reached into his jacket and pulled out his gun. “I didn’t even know you were carrying that.”
“It’s a new holster,” he said. “You should go inside.”
“I’m not leaving you out here by yourself.”
“Savannah, stop arguing with me.”
“Then stop ordering me to do things you know I have no intention of doing,” I said.
He shook his head in disgust, but he quit trying to drive me away. If anything happened, I was going to be there for it, no matter what. The not knowing was the worst part about it.
I’d learned that lesson the hard way.
Zach moved back to the rental car, his gaze taking in our surroundings with laserlike precision. Once he was satisfied no one was around, he reholstered his gun. “It’s all right.”
I joined him, and we examined the car together. All four tires had been slashed. There was no patching that could fix it, no hope for them at all.
“The question is,” Zach asked, “was this random, or was it directed at one of us?”
I noticed a note on the back windshield wiper. At first I’d taken it for just another menu that littered some of the other cars around us, but as I reached for it, I saw that someone had written on it with a black marker. The note said simply, STOP DIGGING, OR DIE.
“What do you make of that?” I asked Zach as he read it over my shoulder.
“You probably ruined any prints that were on it.”
“Hey, I held it by the edges.”
“Maybe that’s good enough.” He took the note from me using one corner of his handkerchief, a faded old bandana that he always carried around with him. “It looks like we hit a nerve somewhere.”
“Yes, but where?”
I studied the note. “I can’t tell if it’s in a woman’s hand, or a man.”
“That’s kind of the point of block printing,” Zach said. He opened the car door and put the note on my seat.
“We need to call a tow truck,” I said.
“Four new tires aren’t going to be cheap,” Zach replied. “We’re going to have to pay for them, too. I didn’t get any extra insurance on it.”
“So we’ll pay whatever it takes. It beats running around on rims. At least we’re getting closer.”
He shook his head. “I don’t see that. It feels like we’ve antagonized most of our suspects with the same amount of grief. How do we know what we’re getting to?”
“That’s a point,” I said. I looked at the tires again, and then added, “Then that means that all of this was for nothing.”
He hugged me. “I wouldn’t say that. I think it’s a call to start pushing harder and see what happens.”
I pointed to the note in the seat. “That means nothing to you, does it?”
“Savannah, we’ve both been threatened before. The only way we can lose is to give up, and I know neither one of us is about to do that. Now, let’s see about getting those new tires.”
“We’re calling the police first, aren’t we?”
Zach nodded. “As soon as I call a tow truck, I’ll call Murphy. How much do you want to bet on who gets here first?”
“I’ve waited on two tow trucks before. No bet.”
DETECTIVE MURPHY SHOWED UP SEVEN MINUTES AFTER Zach called him. I’d been expecting speed, but nothing this fast.
“Were you just around the corner?” I asked.
“I was having a late lunch at my desk,” he said. I remembered from my previous visit that the police station was just a few blocks away from the hotel where we were at the moment.
He took the note, sealed it in a clear plastic bag, and then looked at it again. “The message is pretty clear. You’re not going to take the advice though, are you?”
Zach shrugged. “Would you, if you were in my position?”
Murphy did something that surprised me. He smiled. “Officially, I have to say that what you’re doing is dangerous, and could undermine an ongoing investigation.”
“And off the record?” Zach asked.
Murphy just shrugged, really all the answer my husband needed. As we stood there, a flatbed tow truck pulled up. “This for you?”
“It’s tough to drive in this condition,” Zach said.
Murphy nodded, and then said, “Have him take it to Lakeland Tire and use my name. You’ll get a good price.”
“Thanks.”
He nodded, saluted with two fingers, and then left.
“What was that about?” I asked. “That’s not the same man I spoke to the day Derrick was murdered.”
“Sure it was.”
“You couldn’t tell by his behavior today.”
Zach frowned. “Savannah, we didn’t know each other then. He gets what we’re trying to do, though he can’t officially endorse it. As long as we keep him up to speed, he’s not going to have a real problem with us digging around the edges.”
“You got all of that how, exactly?”
“We speak the same language.”
“Cop, you mean.”
“Sure,” Zach admitted. “We might not be on the same force, but we’ve both seen a lot of the same things. That counts for something, even these days.”
“I’m just glad you’re on my side,” I said.
“There’s nowhere else I want to be,” he said.
After the tow truck driver loaded my car up, he asked, “Where we going?”
“Lakeland,” Zach said. He turned to me and added, “Savannah, why don’t I take care of this myself? There’s no need for both of us to be bored while we get new tires for this thing. Will you be all right without me?”
“Zach, I can take care of myself,” I said as I touched his hand lightly. “There are plenty of people around for safety’s sake, and I don’t plan on taking any chances.”
“We never mean to, though, do we?” he asked.
“Go on, I’ll be fine. Besides, there isn’t enough room there for me in the truck anyway.” My husband enjoyed taking care of the maintenance of automobiles, and I generally didn’t mind letting him.
“If you’re sure.”
“Absolutely certain.”
My husband climbed up into the passenger seat of the truck, rolled down the windows, and then said, “Don’t do anything crazy while I’m gone, do you hear?”
“Me? Crazy?”
“You know it,” he said.
“I’m not making any more promises I can’t keep.”
Zack just shook his head and laughed as the tow truck pulled away. I had a few hours to burn while he was getting us new tires for the rental car, but that didn’t mean I had to sit around waiting.
There were people of interest I could talk to, with or without my husband by my side, and I was going to do just that.
Chapter 13
THAT SHOULD MAKE MY MESSAGE CLEAR. IT WAS A REAL thrill slashing that nosy woman’s tires. I was amazed at just how easy it had been to destroy all four of them without getting caught.
One instant they were intact, and the next they were so much useless rubbish.
I’m not a creature of violence by nature, but I am beginning to enjoy the feel of a knife in my hands.
I feel powerful, almost unstoppable, and it w
ouldn’t be wise for anyone to cross me.
If she and that husband of hers don’t take my advice, they are going to pay the ultimate penalty.
I cleaned the knife again, feeling the hard, cold steel slip between the folds of my towel.
There is a cost associated with every action, a penalty that has to be paid for every offense.
And I am naming myself the ultimate arbiter.
They’ve been warned.
Now it is in their hands.
I can’t be held responsible for my actions if they choose to ignore my promise of what will happen next.
Chapter 14
AS I STEPPED BACK INTO THE LOBBY, MY CELL PHONE rang. It was a number I didn’t recognize, so I answered tentatively, “Hello?”
“Savannah, it’s Kelsey.”
“Hi, Kelsey. What can I do for you?”
“I’m afraid it’s your puzzle. I’m sorry to say that it’s not quite what the papers wanted.”
I wasn’t about to stand for that. “Kelsey, I already did a new one, remember? You can’t expect me to keep making puzzles until they find one they like.”
“My hands are tied here, Savannah. I need it in two hours. Thanks for understanding.”
I was about to tell her I didn’t understand, or accept that, at all, when she actually hung up on me.
“Oh, no, you didn’t just do that,” I said out loud. I dialed star 69, and her voice came back on. “Hello?”
“It’s Savannah,” I said.
“I thought we had that cleared up,” she said.
“You did, I didn’t. I need to see you. Are you still at the Crest?”
She hesitated, and then said, “I don’t see what that has to do with anything. You’re not going to be able to change my mind.”
And then she hung up on me again! My blood was boiling when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder.
“Savannah? Are you all right?”
It was Sylvia Peters, the Bridge Queen herself. “I just got off the telephone with Kelsey.”
The woman arched one eyebrow. “She’s dreadful, isn’t she?”
“Is she making you rewrite your columns, too?”
Sylvia looked confused. “No, of course she isn’t. Hold on, you just said, ‘too.’ She’s actually making you resubmit your work like some kind of neophyte? I wouldn’t put up with that if I were you.”
“I’m not, but she won’t even take a meeting with me to discuss it. What a wretched little weasel she’s turning out to be.”
Sylvia grinned, and I asked her heatedly, “Is there something you find funny in all of this?”
“I know her room number,” Sylvia said.
“Tell me.”
She hesitated, and then said, “I don’t suppose there’s any chance I can talk you out of this, is there?”
“No chance whatsoever.”
Sylvia shrugged. “Well then, I tried. She’s in one-two-two-four. Good luck.”
I waved back to her as I rushed toward the elevators. Kelsey might think she was going to muscle me again, but she was sadly mistaken.
I got to her room and knocked on the door.
There was no reply.
“Kelsey, I know you’re in there.”
“Savannah?” she asked through the closed door. “Is that you?”
“In the flesh. We need to talk.”
“I don’t think so,” Kelsey said. “I’ve said all I need to say.”
I pounded again. “Then you can listen while I talk.”
“There’s no way I’m opening this door while you’re so agitated.”
I tried to take a few deep breaths to calm myself. She was right. It wouldn’t do to start shouting and threatening. I’d already done that once in the past few days, and look where it had gotten me, on top of the police’s prime suspect list.
“Okay, I’m better now,” I said a minute later. “Could I please come in?”
She hesitated longer than I would have liked, but after thirty seconds, the door opened.
Before I could say a word, Kelsey said, “If we can keep the conversation civil, I’d be happy to hear your concerns.”
I started to snap at her again, but then realized that would get Security up here. I focused on remaining calm. “Kelsey, surely you can see that it’s not fair to keep rejecting my puzzles and giving me shorter and shorter deadlines.”
“I understand your predicament, but one of our biggest newspapers called me two minutes after I faxed your puzzle to them and they turned it down.”
“It was Cragen, wasn’t it?”
She hesitated, and then said, “Yes, as a matter of fact, it was. How did you know that?”
“He turns one down every month as a matter of form. Trust me, he doesn’t even read the snippet, let alone work the puzzle. Did anyone else complain about it?”
“No,” she admitted reluctantly, “but we can’t afford to lose his paper as a client.”
“Trust me, you won’t. Do you still have the easier puzzle I sent you?”
Kelsey nodded. “Of course, but I still don’t think it’s strong enough to go to the newspapers, especially while we’re transitioning into a new management organization.”
“Send it to him,” I said.
“Savannah, weren’t you listening?”
I stared hard at her, but fought to keep a friendly expression. “Kelsey, take my word for it. He’ll run the easy one, and then for the next puzzle, send him the one he bounced today.”
She looked shocked by the idea. “But he’ll just reject it again.”
“If he does, I’ll write another one just for him. But if he doesn’t, I want a promise from you.”
Kelsey looked clearly uncomfortable by the request, but finally, she asked, “What would that be?”
“If I’m right, stop bouncing my puzzles, at least without giving me a fair chance to explain myself before you do.”
“Yes, I can understand how that could be aggravating.” She added, “Would you excuse me for a second?”
Was she going to start crying? I hadn’t meant to be so rough on her. “Absolutely. I’ll wait right here.”
She disappeared into the bathroom, and I walked around the room, admiring the view from her window. When I glanced at the chair, I saw something poking out from under one of the pillows. It looked like a yellow sticky note, and when I lifted the cushion up, I found Derrick’s planner! There were handfuls of yellow notes bristling out from it like quills on an angry porcupine, with the exception of a single lime green note. This might just hold a clue that would lead to figuring out who had killed him. Why was Kelsey hiding it? I could understand why she’d want it, since it had Derrick’s plans and notes all through it. I started leafing through it when the bathroom door opened. It was too late to put it back where I’d found it, so I shoved it into my bag, hoping she wouldn’t notice its absence.
Her makeup had been freshened when she reappeared. “Savannah, I hope you’ll forgive me. I’m new at this, and it’s turning out to have a pretty steep learning curve.”
“It’s all right to ask questions,” I said.
“That’s one thing I don’t have the luxury of doing. I should explain why I didn’t want to see you earlier. I haven’t had a minute to myself all day. It’s been a string of malcontents coming through my door since nine o’clock this morning, and I’m at the end of my rope.”
“Who’s been here?”
“Who hasn’t? First there was Brady Sims, then Sylvia Peters, and then Cary came by with some man named Lassiter.”
“What did they want?” I asked, not being able to see those as a team, unless they were actually having an affair after all.
“They were asking questions about Derrick’s businesses that I didn’t have the answers to.”
At least I wasn’t the only one she’d suspect of the theft.
“Well in that case, I’ve taken up enough of your time,” I said as I headed for the door. The sooner I could dig into that planner, the better chan
ce I’d have of seeing if it had any clues that Zach and I could use.
I had one hand on the doorknob when Kelsey said, “Stop. Something’s wrong.”
It was clear that I was busted.
How in the world was I going to be able to explain this?
“What’s wrong?” I asked Kelsey as I turned around.
“Something’s missing,” she said.
“You’ll have to give me a better clue than that.”
“Derrick’s planner,” Kelsey said, and I felt the bottom go out from under me. “It was right here.”
“Right where?”
“Under the cushion of this chair.”
I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of this, but I wasn’t ready to confess that I’d taken it just yet. I had one chance to muddy the waters, and I was going to take it. “When’s the last time you saw it?”
She frowned, and then admitted, “It was last night. I was going through a few of his notes for the week, and I jammed it under there when Mindi Mills came to the door with some story about missing Derrick so much.”
“Mindi was in here, too?”
“For a minute. I got her a cup of water, and then she left.”
“Did you look at the planner after that?”
Kelsey paused for a second and then said, “No, I sort of forgot about it. I had so many other things to do, you understand.”
“So then, it could have been Mindi, Brady, Sylvia, Cary, or Lassiter that took it,” I said, carefully leaving my own name off the suspect list.
“I suppose you’re right, but why would any of them want it?”
“Could there be something incriminating somewhere in the pages and notes?” I asked.
“I don’t think so, but then again, anything is possible.”
“Maybe it will turn up,” I said as reassuringly as I could.
“I hope so. I’d be lost without it.”
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed,” I said, and promised myself that I’d find a way to get Derrick’s planner back to her once I was finished with it. If she needed it, it was wrong of me to keep her from it, but for now, I didn’t have any choice.
I finally got outside into the corridor, and Kelsey actually smiled at me as I left, something that made me feel that much dirtier about taking the planner, and then diverting suspicion away from myself at the expense of the other people on my list.
