A Grid For Murder (18 page)

I couldn’t believe it when I saw that he was talking to Harry Pike, one of the suspects on my list. From the clouds on Harry’s brow, it was a good bet that they weren’t discussing the chances a dried-up tomato plant had of producing a crop this year, either. There was clear and obvious tension between the two men.

But I had no idea what it could be about, so I tried to get a little closer to hear.

Harry said, “I’m not telling you that, so stop asking.”

Rob replied, “Do you honestly think you have any choice? Talk to me, Harry. I’m not messing around here.”

Harry said something I couldn’t hear, so I took another step closer. Too close, it turned out, as a terra-cotta potted fern slipped off the hook and plummeted to the concrete, shattering the pot it had been in.

Both men looked at me as though I’d fired a shotgun at them, which, on reflection, was probably what the pot had sounded like when it had exploded on the ground.

“Hey, Savannah,” Harry said as he quickly scurried away.

I walked up to Rob and said, “Sorry about killing your pot. I’d be glad to pay for it.”

“Don’t worry about it, Savannah; it was cracked anyway.”

“What were you and Harry talking about? And don’t try to say it was ferns, because I know better. I saw the look on his face when you pressed him. You were asking him about Joanne, weren’t you?”

Rob knelt down and picked up most of the major shards of pottery after he threw the dead fern on a compost bin in one corner. He looked almost relieved as he admitted, “Harry knows something. I’m sure of it. I was just about to get it out of him when that pot fell.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sabotage your investigation. Why didn’t you wait for me, though?”

“You were busy at Joanne’s,” he said. “Harry came by unexpectedly, so I decided to take a chance and talk to him without you.”

“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” I said as I got a broom and started sweeping up the remnants of the soil and the pot as Rob finished with the pottery pieces.

“I’m not going to apologize,” he said with a smile. “I saw an opportunity, and I took it.”

I knew arguing with him about it was just a waste of breath. “If you have to go out on your own, at least keep me posted on what you find out. Can you do that much for me?”

“If you return the favor.”

“You know I will,” I said as I finished with the broom.

Rob looked at me with a smile on his face as he asked, “What happened at Joanne’s, anyway? I was expecting Laura to scream at you when she found you snooping around in the bedroom, but when I came in later, you two were acting like old buddies. I don’t understand how you were able to manage that.”

“It might have helped that I found a box full of money,” I said.

Rob’s eyes lit up. “Are you serious? How much did you find?”

“A little over eleven thousand dollars,” I said. “But keep it to yourself. No one’s supposed to know.” I realized too late that I’d promised Laura to keep her secret. I just hoped it didn’t come back to bite me later.

I wasn’t expecting the level of his disappointment at my discovery. “It’s not exactly a fortune, is it?”

“I wouldn’t turn it down if someone gave it to me. Would you?”

“Of course not,” he said. “Was there anything else?”

The letters were an entirely different story. They were now a part of the police investigation, and I felt hesitant about sharing that particular bit of information with him. I was about to tell him no when my phone rang. It was squawking ducks, so I knew it had to be Zach. “Hang on.”

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked as I answered my phone.

My husband’s voice was somber as he asked, “Have you said anything to anyone about the notes you found?”

“No. I just told Rob about the money.”

Zach let out a breath, and then said, “That shouldn’t be a problem, but the captain wants to keep the existence of the notes to the three of us. Laura doesn’t know, either, does she?”

“I didn’t mention it,” I said.

“Good enough. That’s it. I’ve got to go.”

I said good-bye to dead air, and looked up to find Rob staring at me curiously. “What was that all about?”

“He wants us to keep the money found between ourselves. I probably wasn’t supposed to mention it to you, but we made a deal. Can you keep the secret?”

“Of course I can,” he said. “Was there anything else?”

“Just something unrelated to what we’re doing,” I lied.
I owed a great deal more loyalty to my husband than I did to Rob. I tried to sound disappointed when I added, “That’s too bad. I thought the money was a real clue.”

“I don’t know,” Rob said. “I keep a fair amount of cash on hand in a safe myself. It’s just natural given the volatile times we live in. What did Zach say about it?”

“He’s not sure that it means anything yet, but he doubts that it has any real significance.”

“But we can keep digging into the case?” Rob asked.

We were on delicate territory now. “I have to say that until the officer heading the investigation tells me personally to stop what I’m doing, I’m considering it a green light to keep snooping.”

“Then I will, too. Who’s next on our list? Is there anyone else we should speak with, or should we focus on the suspects we have so far?”

“There’s something else we need to discuss first,” I said.

He didn’t look at all pleased by my statement. “Whenever a woman tells me we need to talk, it’s never good news, is it?”

“It’s not that,” I said as I put the broom away. “Barbara has had a change of heart, and she’s decided to help as well.”

Rob looked a little deflated by the information. “Did you promise to shut Zach out on what you find?”

“No,” I said carefully, “but he’s the only one I can tell. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to exclude you, but I had no choice. I appreciate all you’ve done, but if you want to drop out, it’s okay with me.”

“No,” he said after a few moments of thought. “I think you did the right thing. Barbara can be a help, but so can I. I say we keep going.”

“It’s a deal.” I was relieved by Rob’s acceptance of another coconspirator working on the case.

“What’s next?” he asked.

I thought about it, and tried to come up with a viable suspect we could talk to. Maybe it was time to speak with Sandra again and see why she’d suddenly had a falling-out with Laura. It might reveal more than she wanted us to know.

W
HEN WE GOT TO NATHAN’S LAW OFFICE, THERE WAS
a sign on the door saying that it had already closed. It had been a long shot, but one worth taking.

“We could always try her at home,” Rob suggested.

I stifled a yawn. “Let’s save it for another day. I haven’t been sleeping well, and I’m beat. Do you mind?”

He looked clearly disappointed as he said, “No, that’s fine with me.”

I had a sudden hunch that my friend was putting on a show. “Rob, don’t talk to her without me.”

He shrugged. “If I run into her, I’m not going to ignore the woman.”

“You know perfectly well what I mean. Sandra can wait until another day. Surely there’s got to be something else you can do this evening.”

“Nothing comes to mind,” he said.

I suddenly felt a little guilty having someone to go home to, even if Zach wasn’t there at the moment. Rob must have been lonely, given the years since his wife had passed away. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean anything by that.”

“Go home, Savannah,” he said with a slight smile. “I’ll stay out of trouble so you can go and get some rest.”

“It’s a deal,” I said. I dropped him off at the hardware
store and drove back to the cottage. Darkness was already creeping in, but I knew that the worst of it was just beginning. Sometimes I loved daylight saving time, but there were moments when I wished we’d leave time alone. It always took me a few weeks to get my internal clock matched back up with most of the rest of the country, and I found myself admiring those pockets of resistance that had refused to go along with the majority.

Zach’s car was still gone; no real surprise there. I parked out front and walked up onto the porch. The motion detector in the porch light switched on for one minute, giving me time to dig my keys out of my purse and unlock the door. I had lobbied for a longer delay before it shut itself off, but Zach had insisted that a minute was plenty of time.

I grabbed my keys as I looked at the front door.

There was a note taped there.

In block letters, it read, drop it or die.

It was short, to the point, and emphatic, with a promise attached if I disobeyed.

It seemed that I’d managed to get under someone’s skin.

I started to pull it off the door, then changed my mind, staring at it as I tried to figure out who I’d goaded into threatening me.

I
MUST HAVE BEEN STANDING THERE MOTIONLESS FOR AT
least a minute, because the light snapped itself off. I was about to move to activate it again when a pair of headlights came up the drive. I couldn’t make out who it was, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to broadcast my presence on the front porch. I felt vulnerable standing there alone and
unarmed, but if I moved, I’d give the visitor light to see me by. That would make me an easy target in case they decided to come back and put their threat into action.

I held my breath as the car approached, and when I finally realized that it was Zach, I started toward him. The light came back on, and I was caught in his headlights.

The note fluttered in the breeze as I ran across the drive toward my husband.

As Zach got out of his car, I nearly knocked him over with my flying tackle. He held me for a few moments, and then he asked, “Savannah, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”

As I buried my face into his chest, I said, “I’m so glad you’re home.”

“What is it? What’s going on?” he asked as he stroked my hair. It was clear from his tone of voice that he was worried about me.

“Someone left us a note on the door,” I said.

“Let me see it.”

He finally broke our hug and walked toward the house.

After he read the note, Zach shook his head. “We’re dealing with an amateur; there’s no doubt about it.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked as I stared at the note.

“Anybody with any experience wouldn’t have warned you first.” Zach took a pair of gloves and a plastic bag out of his pocket. He was always prepared, something that I teased him about from time to time. After taking a photo with his cell phone, Zach collected the note, careful to preserve the tape. Once it was secure, he said, “If they’d been pros, they would have been waiting for you in the bushes when you drove up and taken care of you without announcing anything as dramatic as this.”

I searched wildly around for a few moments, knowing all the while that I was being paranoid, but still not able to help myself. “If they were trying to scare me, it’s working. Can we go inside?”

“You can drop your end of this investigation; you know that, don’t you? Why don’t you go visit one of your uncles? I know either one of them would be thrilled to see you.” One lived in Hickory, and the other stayed in Charlotte most of the time, so visiting either one would get me away from Asheville, Parson’s Valley, and a murderer who wasn’t pleased with me, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“I’m sorry. I’m just not made that way,” I said. “I might not like being threatened, but I’m not letting anyone run me off.” I tapped the bagged note in his hand. “Besides, I’m clearly getting to someone.”

“Any idea who that might be?” Zach asked.

“I have a suspect list,” I admitted.

“I would have been surprised if you didn’t,” he said with a reassuring smile. “Why don’t we go inside where it’s warm and talk about it.”

Zach checked the door, saw that it was still locked, and then led me in. I noticed that he wasn’t easy until he was certain that the visitor hadn’t made their way inside our home.

“Aren’t we going to call Captain North and tell her about this?” I asked as we walked into the living room together.

“To be honest with you, I’m still not sure what I should do about it. We’re on precarious ground here, Savannah. On the one hand, she probably has a right to know, but on the other, the only thing telling her would do would be to
rub her nose in the fact that you’re digging into the murder investigation. It took everything I had to get her to allow me to keep tagging along. Something like this would end every last shred of her patience with both of us.”

“Then we keep this to ourselves,” I said.

“For now.” Zach put the note on top of the bookshelf in our living room. “I’m starving. How about you?”

“As a matter of fact, I am. Are you offering to cook?”

“Given my limited range, I am.”

I laughed, happy for the opportunity to do so. Zach recognized the tension in me, and he also realized the best way to break it.

“No chili,” I said.

“That limits what I can offer you, then,” he said.

“Then I’ll cook,” I said with a smile. “I don’t have time to make a full dinner, but how about some chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches?”

“Is the soup going to be homemade?” he asked.

“Would I serve you anything else?”

“Is the cheese cheddar?”

“Yes, I know what you like.”

“I don’t like those little processed squares,” he added.

“I’ll save those for mine. Is there anything else, your majesty?”

“Nothing I can think of, but I’ll get back to you if I think of something.”

I laughed as I started the soup. Zach was doing his best to wipe away the remnants of my fear, and he was doing a great job. That was one of the advantages to being married so long to the same person. We could read each other most of the time as though we were holding up big signs.

I found a great deal of comfort in that, and I knew that Zach did, too.