Mayes, Casey - A Deadly Row

“Do me a favor. Put Sherry off and meet with Lorna. Try to find out if she knew Cindy Glass, since we already know she danced with Hank the night he was murdered.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m not crazy about doing that.”

“That’s fine. I’ll ask her myself.”

I shook my head. “No, she’ll never tell you anything she doesn’t want you to hear. I’ll do it.”

“You could always ask Sherry for a rain check.”

“I’m going to do better than that. I’m going to see if she’ll have lunch instead. It’s going to be your treat, by the way.”

“Fine, I’m more than happy to pay for it.”

As we got closer to city hall, I pulled out my telephone.

“Who are you calling, Savannah?”

“I have to be sure Sherry’s okay with the change of plans before I agree to do this.”

I called my friend, and after a minute of conversation, I hung up. “She’s fine with it. But we’re going someplace nice.”

“You should.”

“Zach, it’s no fun teasing you if you’re just going to roll over like that.”

“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 get mad at me.”

“As long as you behave yourself, I won’t have to.”

“Come on. What are the chances of that happening?”

“Too slim to count for anyone but a mathematician,” I said.

I got out my phone as Zach locked the door behind us.

Don’t pick up. Don’t pick up.

She picked up.

“Hey, Lorna. It’s Savannah.”

“Hey yourself. I was just thinking about you. You’re not canceling on me tomorrow, are you?”

“Not a chance. I’m looking forward to it. I have a quick question, though.”

“Fire away.”

“We know you were friends with Hank Tristan, but when exactly did you meet Cindy Glass?”

“Who?”

“The other murder victim.”

There was dead silence on the other end of the phone. “What are you talking about? Who said I knew her?”

“Zach doesn’t like me to reveal his sources,” I said, and my husband gave me a thumbs-up signal. I couldn’t let that go without a comment. I told Lorna, “You know how men can be like little children sometimes.”

“You don’t have to tell me. Does he really suspect me?”

“Well he wants to cover all of his bases. I’m looking at your name on the board at the task force headquarters right now,” I said, a full and blatant lie.

“I didn’t realize anyone knew,” she said softly. I wasn’t even sure she knew that she’d said it aloud.

“Charlotte may look like a big city to an outsider, but it’s really not all that big. People talk.”

“It was nothing. We met at a seminar two years ago. I barely remembered her until I saw her picture in the paper. You’ve got to convince Zach that I didn’t really know her at all.”

“I’ll try, but once he makes up his mind about something, it’s tough to get him to back down. He’s sure there’s a connection here somewhere.”

“You have to at least try, Savannah. Promise me.”

If her tone of voice was any indication, she was more worried about Zach’s theories than she wanted me to know. “I’ll do my best.”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow, okay?”

“Fine. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Me, too. And Savannah?”

“Yes?”