“Hey, a runner sweats, you know?”
“Then you must have run a marathon,” Zach answered.
“When you two boys are finished with your routine, I’d like to check in to the hotel,” I said. “It was a real strain thinking that something might have happened to you.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m too tough to get hurt,” Grady said.
Zach answered softly, “That’s what I used to think, too.”
That sobered Grady instantly. “Okay, I’ll look into it. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
While he was showering and getting dressed, Zach paced around the living room. “I don’t like his attitude.”
“It sounds the same to me as it always has,” I said.
“That’s the problem, isn’t it? He’s not taking this threat seriously enough for my taste.”
“Then you’ll convince him that he needs to,” I answered.
“He’ll listen to you, Zach. You’ve been friends forever.”
“I think you’ve got a better chance of persuading him than I do,” he said.
“Why do you say that?”
“I don’t know, it’s just something I sense about him. Will you take a shot at it? I honestly am worried about him.”
“I’ll try, but I can’t imagine how I can do any better than you could,” I said.
“Just do what you can,” he said. “I’ve got to make some calls, and I’m going to step outside to make them.”
“Who are you calling that you need privacy from me? Are you letting your girlfriend know that you’re back in town?”
“No, she doesn’t live here anymore.”
He was smiling, but there wasn’t much humor in it.
“Really? Where exactly did she move to?”
“She’s living with me in Parson’s Valley, you nit.”
“Just checking,” I said.
“How about your boyfriends?”
“Maybe it was a little premature, but I gave them all up when we got married.”
“I feel their pain,” he said with a smile.
“All kidding aside, why are you going outside to make your calls?”
“Savannah, sometimes you drive me crazy. How are you going to get some time to talk to Grady if I’m always with you? There’s a lot better chance that he’ll listen to you if I’m not around.”
We heard the door start to open from the bedroom area, and Zach ducked outside, but not before he stopped to wink at me. I didn’t like the pressure of trying to convince our old friend to do something he clearly didn’t want to, but I really had no choice.
“I thought I heard voices out here,” he said as he rubbed a towel through his hair. He’d changed into blue jeans and a crisp T-shirt, his casual mayor look. He glanced at his bare wrist. “You haven’t seen my watch anywhere, have you? I lost it, and it’s driving me nuts.”
I looked around the room. “I don’t see it.”
He shrugged. “Have you been talking to yourself since you moved to the hills? It hasn’t made you crazy, has it?”
“No more than usual,” I said with a smile. “Zach had some phone calls to make.”
He sat across from me. “And he couldn’t make them in here?”
“He said he wanted some privacy.”
Grady shook his head. “For us or for him? Come on, I’ve known you too long for you to lie to me.”
“I’m not lying,” I said. “That’s exactly what Zach told me.”
“No ulterior motives?” Grady asked.
“I wouldn’t say that. We’re both worried about you.”
“I’m fine,” he said, trying to brush off my concern.
“That’s not the way Davis tells it. I have a feeling that he’d like to bring in the state police on this.”
“Trust me, you aren’t telling me anything I don’t know. I told him he could handle it, or he was the wrong man for the job. It took some arm-twisting, but we finally agreed to call Zach as a compromise.”
“Which one of you didn’t want him?” I asked.
“Take it easy, Savannah. It’s not like that.”
