Damned matchmaking busybodies. He should have moved to Sweden with Inga.
Although maybe this was a blessing in disguise. Hadn’t he decided he needed to keep an eye on Ms. Savannah Moore? This was certainly one way to do it. Who knows, maybe he’d learn something from her, too. Nothing like watching the fox scope out the weaknesses in the henhouse walls to discover what needed to be strengthened.
Zach looked across the table at the soap maker. She looked a little sick, he decided. A little green around the gills. A little brown around the peach pit.
He smiled at her. Nodded.
She closed her eyes.
He felt better.
As Hank Townsend began moving quickly through the other items on his agenda, Zach focused his attention on his other worries and concerns. With a summer schedule like this, he needed to get deputies hired fast. The fax from Denver that had arrived just before he left the office was promising. He’d follow up on that as soon as possible.
The final item on the agenda was a report from Cat Davenport about the summer camp she and her husband, Jack, were in the process of building up on Murphy Mountain. Since the camp would have private-hire security, Zach’s interest was primarily personal rather than professional. The Davenports were his friends, and their project—a camp for children who had suffered a significant loss—was a labor of love.
“Unfortunately, negotiating the bureaucracy of regulations is taking longer than we’d anticipated, so we’ve had to push back our start date again,” Cat said. “However, we still want to do a test run inviting local youth as our guests, and we should have the dates for those sessions soon. We’ll announce sign-ups in the Eternity Times.”
“What age group, Cat?” Celeste asked.
“We’ll do a day camp for the little kids—first through third grade. Overnight camp will be two separate sessions: fourth through eighth grade, and ninth through twelfth.”
Mayor Townsend asked, “When you say guests, do you mean no fees?”
“That’s right. No fees. The kids who want to go will be our guinea pigs.”
“My grandkids will do back flips. You and Jack are doing a wonderful thing up there on Murphy Mountain.” Jim Brand beamed a smile at Cat, then turned to include Sarah. “Let’s not forget your husband’s part in it, too. The camp wouldn’t be a reality if Cam hadn’t donated the land for it.”
Sarah waved a dismissive hand. “What in the world was he going to do with a whole mountain? He was happy to contribute the land. Besides, it was either sign Jack’s contract or shoot him.”
Savannah cut Sarah a sharp look. Sarah said, “I speak the truth. It was a close call.”
“What is it with you people and guns?”
Sarah laughed and patted Savannah’s arm. “Jack interrupted our honeymoon—at an inopportune time, I might add. I will admit Cam eyed his pistol with more relish than warranted.”
Because Zach was watching Savannah closely, he saw her flinch at Sarah’s touch. Even as he noted the reaction, her lips lifted in a bright, genuine smile.
Zach felt the smile like a punch to the gut. He closed his eyes, swallowed a curse, and sighed. What the hell was the matter with him? Why did he react this way to Savannah Sophia Moore? So she was a babe. So what? She was a babe with a sheet. The worst kind of sheet.
Zach had worked in law enforcement all of his adult life. As a result, he recognized the gray areas in the commission of a crime. He understood extenuating circumstances better than most, primarily because he had witnessed them. Sometimes he had more sympathy for the criminal than he did for the victim. Sometimes the criminal had a damned good excuse for what he or she did.
There was never a good excuse for what this woman had done.
Savannah Sophia Moore, the sexy Georgia peach, was a drug dealer.
FIVE
As the meeting broke up, Savannah’s thoughts were spinning. How had she gotten herself into this mess? Volunteering to help Zach Turner? He didn’t look any happier than she was about the whole thing.
How could she get out of it? Her stomach certainly felt queasy—was it bad enough to make her throw up?
Look at Celeste Blessing and think of Francine Vaughn. That should do the trick.
It was as if the woman had heard her. Savannah looked up and Celeste was there, standing before her, a wide smile on her face. To Savannah’s distress and despite the fact that they’d never exchanged