Deadly Row, A - By Casey Mayes Page 0,5
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’S going 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.
While he was gone, my husband said, “I know he’s probably fine, but we can’t take any chances.”
“I’m as worried about Grady as you are.” I shivered slightly as I said it.
“He’s at home,” Davis said when he rejoined us. “At least his phone is.”
“Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?”
Zach answered for him. “Maybe, maybe not. One thing’s for sure; I’m not going to stand around here waiting to hear one way or the other. I’m going to Grady’s. Are you coming, Savannah?”
“Just try to leave me behind,” I said. There was no use arguing with me, and he knew it.
“We can take my car,” Davis said.
“Who invited you?” Zach asked, an edge in his voice. It was clear that he held Davis responsible for Grady’s disappearance, whether it made any sense or not.
“I’ve got a siren, flashing lights, and a badge. What have you got?” Davis wasn’t holding back, either. He obviously wasn’t in the mood to be anybody’s whipping boy, not even for his former boss.
I asked, “What are we standing around here for, then?”
I wasn’t sure Davis was all that thrilled about me coming along, but it was a good bet that he wasn’t about to make an issue of it, not after butting heads with my husband. We raced out of the precinct parking lot, and I knew if we hadn’t been with the chief of police, we would have surely