Deadly Row, A - By Casey Mayes Page 0,4
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 CAN turn 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 MIGHT as 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