A Deadly Row

by Casey Mayes

  Zach matched my soft tone. “You look so intense when you’re working. It’s just like you’re creating a puzzle.”

  “I wish that’s what it was. There’s a logic to my puzzles, but this is all just a jumble.”

  “Well, you gave it your best shot,” he said. “Thanks for trying.”

  “Are you kidding? I’m not giving up that easily. I’ve got a couple of ideas, but I need more information.”

  “We may not get it,” Zach said. “Do you have anything so far?”

  I looked at my sheets, and kept coming back to 5E. “I think there’s a chance that the police missed a note.”

  “What do you mean?” The smile was suddenly gone from my husband’s face.

  I showed him what I’d done, and he caught the missing 5E faster than I had, but to my credit, I’d laid it out for him. “There should be a 5E, but how do we know that’s not what the next note will have on it?”

  “If that’s true, we’ll just have to wait until another one arrives. But what would it hurt to go through the stack of letters no one’s had a chance to really dig into yet? Couldn’t there be something there that was missed the first time around?”

  Zach frowned, and then he called Steve over to us. It took him two tries to get the man’s attention, and I smiled when I realized I’d been right about his sharp focus. “I need you to go down to records and search through everything we’ve gotten since the first murder. Then again, go back a week before that, in case there’s something there.”

  “Absolutely. What exactly is it that I’m looking for?”

  Zach pointed to the wall. “Hunt for anything that looks like it came from the killer. Study these for a few minutes before you go.”

  “I don’t have to,” he said. “I’ve already stared at them for hours.”

  After Steve was gone, I said, “It’s a long shot, and he’s probably not going to be able to come up with anything.”

  “It doesn’t cost a thing to have him check,” Zach said. “That was a good spot, Savannah.”

  “It could be nothing.”

  “Or it could mean everything. I’d hate to tell you how much of my time I’ve burned over the years looking for clues that weren’t there. This is part of the procedure. You keep digging into things, no matter how unrelated or impossible they might seem at times, and every now and then you hit pay dirt.”

  “I don’t know how you do it,” I said.

  Zach laughed. “Do you think I could make a puzzle?”

  “Don’t sell yourself short.”

  “Only if you promise not to do the same thing yourself. There’s real skill in what you do. You’ve got a mind that works in ways mine never could.”

  I stifled a yawn. “I’m beat.”

  “It’s just past five,” Zach said.

  “The level of my exhaustion has nothing to do with the hands of a clock. I made up a puzzle this morning, and I’ve been working on this all afternoon. My brain’s fried.”

  “Why don’t you go back to the hotel? I’ll be along later.”

  “You could always come with me,” I suggested.

  “Sorry, but I quit early yesterday. If I do it again, Davis is going to think I’ve gone soft on him. Go ahead. Take a long shower, order up some room service, and I’ll call you a little later.”

  “I know I should argue with you, but I’m too tired. Don’t forget to call.”

  I grabbed my things, and I was just about to leave when the door burst open. Steve looked excited as he showed us an envelope in his hand.

  It appeared that I’d been right about something, at least.

  We suddenly had another clue.

  ZACH CAREFULLY REMOVED THE NOTE FROM ITS ENVElope, slid it into a clear plastic sleeve, copied both sides, and then handed the duplicates to me.

  The note simply said, “The game’s afoot. Try to catch me. I dare you.”

  And that was all that was written on the front.

  As I was turning to the copy of the back, Steve asked Zach, “How did you know it would be there?”

  “Don’t give me any credit. It was all Savannah’s idea.”

  Steve nodded. “That’s good police work.”

  “It just made sense that something was missing,” I explained.

  “Trust me, it’s a lot harder to see what’s not there than what is.”

  I shrugged as I studied the copy in my hands.

  There was no number or letter sequence there, and aside from a smudge or two, the paper was blank.

  “It’s not from him.”

  Zach looked surprised. “What are you talking about? It matches his handwriting perfectly.”

  “But there’s no sequence on the back.”

  Zach looked at my copy, and then retrieved the original. After a moment of silence, he said, “It’s there, but the copier missed it. The paper must have buckled.”

  I took the offered plastic sleeve from him and flipped it over. I didn’t know if it was my imagination, but I could swear I felt an electric shock when I touched it. I had to look hard, but I finally found the missing entry, so softly written that it had been easy for the copier to miss.

  I walked to the machine, set the darkness to its fullest setting, and then made another copy of the original.

  Faint, but clearly there, I saw a letter and number sequence on the paper as if I’d willed it to be there.

  5E.

  It was our missing letter.

  But I still didn’t know what it meant.

  Chapter 10

  “SAVANNAH, YOU’RE A HARD WOMAN TO TRACK DOWN.”

  I’d gone back to my hotel, enjoyed a long and hot shower under those lustrous jets of water, and I was waiting on my room service order to arrive when my phone rang.

  “Uncle Thomas, how are you?” My uncle, my mother’s little brother, was all the family I had left besides my husband and his clan. He lived in Hickory, about an hour and a half drive from Charlotte, and oddly enough, about the same distance from Parson’s Valley, the central point of two ends of a line.

  “I’m better, now that I know you’re safe. Don’t you ever check the messages on that answering machine of yours?”

  “We haven’t been home the past couple of days. What’s up?”

  “I was wondering if you might be coming this way anytime soon. There’s something I need to discuss with you.”

  I didn’t admit that we’d passed the Hickory exits off I-40 just the day before, and though I’d thought of him briefly as we’d driven past, there had been no time to stop.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “It’s nothing, really. It can wait until we see each other again.”

  I knew my uncle wouldn’t have kept calling unless it was important. He avoided every bit of modern technology he could, and for him to call me on my cell phone number, I realized that it was likely more important than he was letting on. “Come on, don’t try to kid a kidder. What’s happening?”

  “I went to the doctor the other day,” he said, and a wave of dread raced through me. I couldn’t bear losing my uncle. He was the last real tie I had to my family, at least as far as I knew. My mother’s only other brother, Jeffrey, had left North Carolina the day he’d turned eighteen, and no one had heard from him since. There had been rumors that he’d gotten rich, but just as many that he was in prison serving a life sentence. As far as I was concerned, Uncle Thomas was all I had left.

  “It’s nothing, but I realized that I’m starting to get older, and there are a few things that need to be settled now.”

  “Is it serious?”

  “I just told you, it’s nothing. But every now and then, a man has to take stock of his life, and there are a few things I need to get off my chest.” He sighed deeply, and then added, “I’m probably just being a silly old fool. Forget I said anything.”

  “Honestly, I was thinking about driving over to see you sometime soon. We’re in Charlotte right now.”

  “You didn’t move back there, did you? I lo
ve your place in Parson’s Valley. It suits you, Savannah.”

  “Don’t worry, we’re just visiting. Actually, Zach’s working on a case.”

  “He’s still freelancing, is he? They just can’t seem to let him go.”

  “What can I say, my husband’s good at what he does.” I glanced at the clock. It was just after seven, and though the shower had helped some, I was still tired from my mental exercises all day, but I couldn’t let that stop me. “Let me get dressed, and I can be there in an hour and a half.”

  “Hang on, I didn’t mean you had to come tonight.”

  “I don’t mind. Honestly. You’re not going to bed anytime soon, are you?”

  He chuckled. “I don’t sleep much more than six or seven hours a night. I put it off as long as I can, usually.”

  “Then I’m coming right now,” I said.

  “Take it easy. There’s no hurry.”

  “It will be fun,” I said when there was a knock on the door. I’d forgotten all about my dinner. “Hang on one second.”

  I opened the door without quizzing the hotel employee as Zach had done, and I was certain he would have disapproved, but I found it awkward to do. The same man who’d delivered food to us the night before smiled briefly as I let him in, and after he was gone, I returned to the phone. “Sorry about that.”

  “Is Zach there? Do you need to go?”

  “No, it was just room service,” I admitted.

  “Then eat your dinner, and get some rest. It would be foolish to drive up here at night.”

  “It’s summer; the sun won’t go down until after I get there.”

  “But then you’d have to drive back in the dark, wouldn’t you?”

  I laughed. “Okay, you got me. But I’m coming up first thing in the morning. I’ll leave early enough so we can have breakfast together.”

  Uncle Thomas laughed. “Then you’d better head out by four thirty, because I always eat at six.”

  That was too early for my tastes, by at least an hour. “Why don’t we make it lunch, then?”

  “I eat at eleven,” he said. “But I can push it back an hour for you.”

  “Don’t be silly, eleven sounds fine. I’ll try to get there earlier so we can hang out a little. And Uncle Thomas?”

  “Yes, Savannah?”

  “Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”

  “Not a thing that can’t be fixed. I’ll see you tomorrow, child.”

  “Bye.”

  As I ate my dinner—a chicken taco salad this time—I wondered what had brought on the need for Uncle Thomas to see me. He was normally a loner, quite content to be left alone, even by those of us who loved him. For him to make a concerted effort to see me had me more than a little worried. I knew there was no use fretting over it tonight, so I tried to get my mind off it. I briefly considered getting back to the puzzle of the number and letter sequences that I was working on for Zach, but the futility of that was too depressing. If I weren’t so tired after I finished eating, I could jump on tomorrow’s submission, but puzzles were the last thing on my mind at the moment.

  Zach came in half an hour after I’d finished my meal.

  “You look wiped out,” I said.

  “I’m not used to this grind,” he admitted. “Sometimes I forget just how hard I used to work.”

  As he rubbed his chest, I asked, “Is your scar hurting?”

  “Truthfully, I think it’s all in my head.”

  I hugged him. “Zach, I saw you on that hospital bed with bandages on your chest and tubes coming out of you. It wasn’t your imagination.”

  “You know what I mean.” He looked over at the cart I’d been too tired to shove out the door. “What did you eat?”

  “Chicken taco salad,” I answered. “Would you like me to order you something for dinner?”

  “I’m too beat to care about eating right now. I think I’ll just grab a shower and go to bed.”

  “I’m going to see Uncle Thomas tomorrow,” I blurted out.

  “I know I’m not paying enough attention to you, but you don’t have to take off on me.”

  “He’s been trying to call me for two days. He wants to see me, and for him, it sounds urgent.”

  “Is there anything wrong?” Zach and Uncle Thomas got along incredibly well, and there were times when the three of us were together that I felt like the third wheel.

  “He went to the doctor, but he swears there’s nothing wrong with him.”

  “Then why the sudden urge for company? Should we go right now? I’m game if you are.”

  I kissed him, and then I said, “Thanks for offering, but we’re both exhausted. I’m going to see him at lunch tomorrow, if you can spare me.”

  Zach frowned, and then he said, “I could probably get away, too.”

  “That’s crazy, and we both know it. I don’t need to stay here, but you do. You’ve got a case you have to work on.”

  “Family comes first,” Zach said resolutely.

  “I love you for saying it, but we both know what our priorities are. I won’t be gone long. You won’t even have a chance to miss me.”

  “There you’re wrong,” he said as he hugged me tightly. “Now, if you’re sure you don’t want to go tonight, I’m going to hit the shower.”

  “Go,” I said.

  After I heard the water running, I ordered him a dinner of stir-fried beef tips, despite his earlier protest that he was too tired to eat. Once Zach smelled the food, I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist it any more than I could say no to a chocolate cupcake.

  When the food arrived, he was still in the shower, and I was about to go get him when he came out wearing a robe.

  “What smells so good?”

  “Room service,” I answered.

  “Savannah, I told you that I wasn’t hungry.”

  “Then don’t eat it. I might peck at it a little myself, if you’re sure you aren’t going to have any.” I was full from my salad, so at least for the moment, I was bluffing.

  Zach walked over and lifted off the lid. “Stir fry. That looks great. Maybe I’ll have a bite or two after all.”

  He took the plate, along with a bottled water on ice, and moved to the window. “Care to join me?”

  “Sure thing,” I said as I took a seat.

  As Zach ate, he nodded a few times, but conversation was kept at a minimum. When he finished, I saw him looking longingly back at the cart. “Wasn’t there enough for you?” I asked.

  “I was just thinking some dessert might be nice.”

  I laughed. “I thought you were too tired to eat.”

  “What can I say; I just got my second wind.”

  “If you’re serious, we could always order something else.”

  He clearly thought about it for a few seconds, then said, “No, I’d better not. You can if you want to, though.”

  “Maybe later. Were you able to make any more progress after I left?”

  “Nothing worth talking about. I need to let things percolate a little right now.”

  “In other words, you don’t want to discuss it.”

  “If you don’t mind,” Zach said a little apologetically. “You know how I get.”

  “Better than anyone else in the world. We could watch a movie, or some television, if you’d like.”

  “To be honest with you, I’d rather just sit here and watch night fall on Charlotte. We’re never going to get a view like this again, and I want to memorize it as much as I can.”

  “I think that sounds perfect.”

  As we sat there in relative silence, I marveled at how lucky I’d been to find someone who matched me so well. There were no awkward silences between us, or words spoken just to fill the emptiness. Zach and I were in sync enough to let those quiet times envelop us, and to enjoy the lack of chatter like the gift that it was. When we went to sleep later that night, I felt as though my center was calm again, just as it had been in Parson’s Valley. It was my new home, and I loved it, but wherever Zach was, that was
truly where I belonged, and everything else was just a matter of geography.

  WHEN I WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING, THE BED WAS empty. I started searching for a note or something from my husband when I realized that I’d forgotten all about my scheduled breakfast with Lorna. It was too early to call her, so I’d have to phone her from the road. I’d been looking forward to seeing her again, but if I waited to leave until after we had breakfast and chatted a little, it would cost me too much time. I was sure she’d understand, and if she was free, I’d have to try to reschedule for the next day.

  I found Zach in the shower when I walked into the bathroom.

  “I thought you’d already be gone,” I said.

  “Hey, it’s only seven.”

  “I know, but you get obsessed when you’re working, and don’t try to deny it.”

  “I went for a run,” Zach admitted. “You know how sometimes it helps clear my head.”

  As the shower stopped and I handed him a towel, I asked, “Did you have nightmares again?” When my husband was wrapped up in a case, he often had bad dreams from trying to put himself into a killer’s mind. It was no wonder he reacted that way, though he didn’t want anyone else to know that he wasn’t always the calm, levelheaded guy he presented to the world.

  “Yeah, they were pretty tough.” He frowned for a second, then said, “You’ve got a big day today. Breakfast with Lorna, and then a drive to Hickory.”

  “I’m canceling breakfast,” I said as I took over the shower. “From the sound of Uncle Thomas’s voice, I’m not delaying my visit by an hour.”

  “Are you afraid he’s not telling you everything?”

  “He’s a man,” I said. “Most of you seem to be reticent by nature when it comes to talking about your health. I’m amazed he even went to the doctor in the first place. That alone tells me it must be serious.”

  “We think we’re bulletproof most of the time,” Zach admitted. “When we’re not, we try to deny it until we can’t.”

  “I don’t get you,” I said.

  There was no response.

  “Zach? Did you hear me?”

  From the bedroom, I heard him ask, “Were you talking to me?”

  “No, but you could tell me when you leave the room.”