Mayes, Casey - A Deadly Row

There was no use worrying about it now, though.

I smiled as brightly as I could manage and said, “Let me pack a few things, then I’ll be ready to go.”

He looked at me skeptically. “It’s really going to be that easy? I don’t have to twist your arm to get you to go?”

I reached my arms up around his neck and kissed him. “If you’re going, I’m going.”

He smiled down at me. “That’s why I love you so much.”

“One of the many, many reasons, I’m sure,” I said, matching his smile with one of my own.

“ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO HATE THIS, SAVANNAH? I CANturn around and we can go back to the cottage, if you’re that dead-set against it. You’re more important to me than anyone else in the world, even Grady. You know that, don’t you?”

We’d been driving nearly two hours and we were fast approaching Charlotte. Normally the trip felt like it took forever, but it seemed like ten minutes to me this time. I was dreading every mile of it as the markers sped past, and my husband knew it.

“It will be fine, Zach. Grady Winslow is our friend. I just hate to see you putting yourself back in danger.”

“Come on, you know me. If I hear even a car backfire, I’ll run the other way.”

“We both know better,” I said. I patted his shoulder holster and touched his gun. “Don’t ever try to tell me that. You couldn’t wait to get back into that harness.”

“You weren’t supposed to notice that,” he said.

“Zachary Stone, just because you were the police officer in the family doesn’t mean that I don’t notice things, too. My puzzles make me aware of anything that changes or doesn’t fit into a situation. Life is one big math problem waiting to be solved, if you look at it the right way.”

He shook his head and laughed gently.

“What, you don’t believe me?” I asked, trying to keep the slight hurt out of my voice.

“No, ma’am, I would never say that, even under gun-point. It’s just that I never have understood your fascination with numbers. You see them in entirely different ways than I do.”

I tried to snuggle close to him, despite the seatbelt holding me steadfastly in place. “That’s all right; it wouldn’t be any fun if we were exactly the same. I like to think we complement each other.”

He smiled. “You do look pretty fantastic today.”

“Complement with an ‘e’, not an ‘i’, you goof,” I said.

“I knew what you meant,” he answered with a grin, “but I stand by my earlier statement.”

“If I could lose fifteen pounds, I might just agree with you,” I said.

“Don’t you dare lose an ounce. I love you just the way you are.”

I grinned at him. “That’s probably a good thing, because I’m not about to go on a diet in Charlotte. I can’t wait to hit some of our favorite restaurants.”

“Does that mean you’re warming up to the idea?”

I thought about it, considered the possibility that despite his protests to the contrary, my husband might land himself in danger again, but then I realized that this was what he’d been made to do.

Before I could form a reply, he said, “Strike that last question. I’m not sure I want to know the answer.”

“No, it’s fine. I realize that you need to do this, and I want to be with you.”

As he got off the interstate at an exit much earlier than the one for the police station, I asked, “Where are you going?”

“I figured you’d want to go to the hotel and get settled in before I report.”

“Not on your life,” I said. “We’re going straight to the police station, together.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.”

He smiled as he gunned the engine and merged back onto the interstate. “I’m not about to argue with you. Let’s go see what’s going on.”

WE WALKED INTO THE STATION TOGETHER, BUT I MIGHTas well have gone directly to the hotel after all. I’ve never seen so many people that happy to see my husband, and only a few of them even glanced my way as we walked in.

The exception, to my surprise, was Davis Rawles. Davis had been a little heavy during the years he’d worked under Zach, but he must have gone on an eating binge since my husband had left him with his responsibilities. Even at six feet tall, the weight on Davis made me doubt he could pass any police physical in the world. His hair, once thinning, had left him completely, and the lack of it made him look even rounder.

He extended a meaty hand to me, and as I took it, Davis said, “I’m sorry about this, Savannah. If there’d been any other way . . .”

“It’s fine, Davis,” I said as I kissed his cheek. “He wanted to come, and I wasn’t about to stop him, even if I could.”

I looked around the squad room expecting to see Grady Winslow. I knew the mayor had to be busy doing his job, but I was still a little disappointed that he hadn’t shown up.

“Where’s Grady?” I asked Davis.

He looked troubled by my question, and I didn’t think he was going to answer it, but after a few moments of silence, he finally said, “That’s the problem. Nobody’s seen him since last night, and he’s not answering his cell phone this morning.”

I knew things were more desperate than we’d been told on the phone. Grady was attached to that cell phone more than he had been to any woman he’d ever dated, and he never went anywhere without it.

If he wasn’t answering his calls, something serious was wrong indeed.

Chapter 2

“TELL ZACH,” I SAID. “HE NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT’Sgoing on.”

“I wanted to give him a minute to say hello to everyone first,” Davis said.

I studied his frown for a second, and then I asked, “Is that the truth, or are you just stalling?”

“How can I tell him that I lost his best friend?” Davis asked, the pleading clear in his eyes.

“Trust me; the quicker you do it, the better.”

Davis nodded, and then made his way over to my husband. The smile on Zach’s face vanished as he learned the news, and he hurried over to me.

“Did you hear?”

“Davis just told me,” I said. “What are you going to do?”

“What do you think? I’m going to find him,” my husband said.

Zach started conferring with Davis about tracking down Grady when I had a thought. “Have you tried checking the location of his phone?”

“They’ve been calling him all morning, Savannah.”

“That’s not what I mean, Zach. You told me you could use some kind of tracing technology to find a cell phone wherever it is, whether it’s turned on or not. Why don’t you ping his phone? I can’t imagine him going anywhere without it.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Davis said.

“You haven’t tried it yet?” Zach asked him.

“Cut me some slack. I just figured out that the man was missing two minutes ago.”

“Being missing and not answering his telephone are two different things,” I said. “There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation about where he is, and why he’s not answering his phone.”

“I’d rather overreact than assume everything’s all right, given the threats he’s been getting lately,” Zach said.

“I wasn’t suggesting otherwise,” I answered. “Let’s just make sure something’s really wrong before we get the whole city in an uproar.” I looked at Davis. “Did anyone go by his house to check on him?”

“I dispatched a car there right before I told you,” Davis admitted.

My husband answered, “I’m not waiting around to hear what happens. Ping his phone.”

Davis nodded, then stepped away from us to give the order.