added, “He also wanted your opinion, but I told him you couldn’t help him this time, even when he agreed to pay your fee. You’re retired, remember?”
“I’m trying to get my consulting business going,” he said as he dialed the number by heart. “I can’t be too picky about the jobs I take on at this point.”
“He sounded scared, Zach. I don’t want you to get involved.”
My husband’s voice softened as he explained, “If it was easy, they wouldn’t need me.”
I tried one last thing. “The money’s not worth it, even if they really do pay you, which I still doubt.”
Zach’s finger hovered over the last digit before he pressed it. “They will this time, or I won’t do a thing to help them. Savannah, I know you feel like they’ve been taking advantage of me, but we could use the extra money, and you know it.”
Great, I’d brought up a point I didn’t really believe in without meaning to, and my sweet but literal husband had taken it at face value. It was time to switch positions, an art I’d mastered over the years. “Nonsense. We’re doing fine. We have everything we need.”
“True, but we don’t have everything we want, do we?” he asked with a grin. “It won’t hurt to hear what the man has to say,” Zach said as he pushed the last number.
During the one-sided conversation, I had no idea what they were talking about, but my husband’s face turned darker and darker in the silence. After a few minutes of mostly brief comments, Zach hung up the telephone.
“Pack your bags, Savannah. We’re going back to Charlotte.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. In all our years of marriage, my husband had never given me a direct order before. “Are you kidding me? Don’t I even get a say in this? Business is business, but at least you’ve run it past me before you’ve taken a job.”
Zach nodded contritely. “I’m sorry, you’re right. I should have asked you first. But we have to go. This is important. Grady Winslow has been getting some pretty nasty threats that Davis is sure are tied to someone who’s already committed two murders, and there’s a dark tone to them that’s too serious to ignore.” Grady was the mayor of our former fair city, a powerful man and a dear friend who had introduced us to each other a long time ago. My husband knew there was no way I could turn down that particular summons.
After a moment’s hesitation, he offered me a slight grin. “You’re welcome to stay here and enjoy the summer heat, but they’re putting me up at the Belmont, and they’ve agreed to pay me a nice fee to go along with it, though to be honest with you, this is one time I’d do it for free. Think of it, Savannah. There will be full maid service, shopping in Dilworth, eating out at Morton’s Steakhouse. And don’t forget. We’d have air conditioning.”
“I’ve got things to do here,” I said stubbornly.
He wouldn’t let me pout though. The big bear wrapped me up in his arms and said, “You can work on your puzzles just as easily there as you can here. They have pencils and erasers in Charlotte, too, you know. Come on. It’ll be like a second honeymoon, only this time it will be on someone else’s dime.”
“Some honeymoon. You’ll be at police headquarters all day and half the night, if I know you.”
“They need me, Savannah,” he said somberly. “More importantly, Grady could be in some real trouble. This guy isn’t messing around.”
I studied him a moment before I trusted myself to speak. “And don’t forget the other highlight here; you get to be a cop again, don’t you?”
“Nobody’s going to shoot at me. Don’t forget, I’m just a consultant,” he said. “I won’t be anywhere near the line of fire.” He touched his chest lightly as he said it, gently rubbing the scar where the bullet had entered.
I knew there was no point in arguing with him. I looked wistfully around the cottage and realized that he was right. There was no way he could refuse to help our best friend. Besides, a getaway might be nice. It was just too bad that my husband, despite his protests to the contrary, would probably be putting his life on the line, and that was something I never thought I’d have to deal with again.
There was no use worrying about it now, though.
I smiled as brightly as