temperatures helping install a shelf I didn’t really need was just one more check in the worse column, though that side was happily sparse.
My foot was on the bottom step when the telephone rang, and in my ignorance, I nearly skipped as I raced to answer it. If I’d known who was calling—and more importantly why—I would have pulled the blasted thing out of the wall and chucked the telephone out the window instead of picking the receiver up.
“Hello,” I said, not suspecting a thing was amiss.
“Er, hello, Savannah. I need to speak with Zach.”
Before I could protest, he hastily added, “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
I didn’t need caller ID to tell me who was on the other end of the line. At least he’d had the decency to sound embarrassed by his request.
“Sorry, Davis. You can’t. He’s busy right now.” Zach would have killed me if he’d overheard my end of the conversation, but I was tired of him being bothered by his former employees. It wasn’t just because they were reluctant to pay for his services, though they felt free to tap into his knowledge any time it suited them. I didn’t care about the money—we were doing just fine on his retirement and my income—but I didn’t like anyone taking advantage of him.
I started to hang up when I heard a whining protest. “Savannah, please. This is something he needs to hear.”
I took a deep breath, and then said, “Davis Rawles, my husband is retired. He doesn’t work with you anymore. He’s a consultant now. If you’d like his fee schedule, I’d be glad to fax it over to you.”
“Send it. You know the number. There shouldn’t be any problem covering it this time.”
That caught me off guard. I’d never dreamed I’d hear him say he was actually willing to pay for Zach’s services. He must be in real trouble. “What’s going on, Davis?”
“Savannah, Zach is my very last option. We’ve got a killer case on our hands, and there’s no one but your husband who can solve it.”
Davis Rawles had been my husband’s immediate subordinate on the police force, and upon Zach’s retirement, Davis had stepped into his shoes. At least he’d tried to. But no one could get inside a criminal’s mind like my husband, and Davis had grown to rely on him too much in the past few months since my husband’s retirement.
I’d never heard that level of desperation in Davis’s voice before, and there was something about it that chilled my blood. This sounded too dangerous to me, and it wasn’t my husband’s battle anymore. “You know what? I’m sorry, but the answer’s still no. You’ll just have to muddle through this time by yourself,” I said, and then on an impulse, I hung up the phone.
Please, oh please, don’t let Zach have heard that ring.
To my dismay, his size 12 shoes clomped down the steps two at a time a second later. “Who was that on the phone?”
“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.
“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
