“Oh, man, I need a nap,” Zach said as we walked back to our car.
“We could always head back to the hotel for an hour, if you wanted.”
“I’d love to, but we both know that’s not going to happen. Tell me more about Julia Tristan.”
I’d started to tell him what Hank’s sister had told me, but he’d asked me to wait until we could discuss it without anyone overhearing us.
“Well, the first thing she did was break down and cry,” I admitted. “I told her I was sorry for her loss, and that made her fall apart. It appears that no one else has offered her any sympathy for losing her brother.”
“What else did she say?”
I bit my lower lip, and then I began to tell him what I’d heard. “She has Grady at the top of her suspect list after the fight they had.”
“No surprise, there. A great many people saw that fight. Did she have anything else?”
I’d hesitated telling him about his friend, but I really had no choice. “She said that Davis and Hank were business partners in a land speculation deal that went bad. Evidently Davis lost a lot of money, a great deal more than he could afford to lose. Did you know about that?”
“No, this is the first I’m hearing about it.”
“What are you going to do? Julia thinks Davis and Grady aren’t going to be investigated, because of who they are.”
“We both know better than that. I hope that’s what you told her.”
“Oh, yes, I assured her that no one was going to get a free pass on this. Is it true?”
“About Davis? It could be. He was always looking for ways to double his money. I can see him going into business with Hank. He had a reputation for turning things into gold with every venture he became involved with.”
“So, you’ll talk to him?”
“I’ll talk to him,” Zach said as he added a few notes to the book he always carried with him, whether he was on a case or not. I knew that once a note went in there, it would be explored from all angles until Zach was satisfied with the answer enough to strike it out. It might have seemed arcane to people used to BlackBerries, cell phones, and laptop computers, but it worked for him, and I wasn’t about to suggest he change. He’d been too successful in the past for that to happen.
“Who else did she bring up?”
“The women at the ball, as well as their dates. She thinks there’s a chance that Hank stepped on somebody’s toes when he danced with every willing female at the party.”
“Anybody in particular?” Zach asked.
“You should have seen Julia’s face when Lorna walked toward us. It was as though she’d seen a ghost.”
“Did she say anything?”
“Something like, ‘She was one of them,’ I think. She took off before Lorna had a chance to get to us.”
Zach nodded, and then made another note in his book.
“Seriously? You’re putting Lorna’s name down in your Suspect column?”
“Savannah, she was there that night, and she danced with Hank.”
“From what I’ve heard, Hank danced with a lot of women.”
“She also used to date Grady. That ties her to one suspect and one victim. I’d be a fool not to put her name down just because she’s a friend of yours.”
“She’s not that good of a friend,” I said, “but I still don’t think she’s a killer.”
“You know as well as I do that most killers don’t seem like the type.”
Zach put the car in gear, and I noticed that we were heading in the opposite direction of the police station. “Aren’t you going to go talk to Davis?”
“I can find the chief of police whenever I need to,” Zach said.
“You couldn’t yesterday,” I pointed out.
“That’s true, but we’ve got a better chance of knowing where he is than where Samantha Riggins might be. I want to focus on Cindy Glass’s murder for the moment.”
“But you’re not going to forget about Hank Tristan, are you?”
“There’s not a chance in the world of that happening. We’ll deal with Davis after we’ve had an opportunity to talk with Samantha. I just hope she’s home.”
“If she’s not, you’ll be able to track her down. I have faith in you.”
“It’s nice that at least one of us does,” he said.
“Come on, you know you’re good at what you do without me telling you.”
“I have my moments, but this case has more twists and turns than a mountain highway. I’m not afraid to interview my suspects just because they have power in this town, but the chances are good that I’m going to alienate at least one of my friends before this is over, and I don’t have that many to spare.”
I rubbed his shoulder. “No matter what, I know I can trust you to do the right thing.”
