“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 FOOLish 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.
“As far as we know, she doesn’t, but that doesn’t mean you can’t imply differently. What do you say? Are you up for it?”
“I’m here to serve,” I said as we got on the elevator and went upstairs. I wanted a little privacy when I called Lorna, so I was at least going to wait until we were behind locked doors. I was kind of surprised when we got up there that Steve wasn’t outside the door. I figured he’d be there, despite my husband’s earlier orders.
“Where’d your guard go?”
“Yeah, I thought he’d sneak back up here, too. He’s probably off licking his wounds. You were kind of rough on him.”
As Zach unlocked the door, I asked, “Does that mean that you don’t approve?”
“Are you kidding? It was all I could do not to start applauding when you went after him. Do me a favor; don’t
