Her voice trembled a little as she outlined the situation for Mac. He replied, “I’ll be right there. Don’t you or TJ say anything. If they ask you any questions at all, tell them I instructed you not to answer and that I’m on my way.”
“Thanks, Mac.”
She no sooner hung up the phone than Zach stepped out onto the porch. “Did you call Mac?”
“He’s on his way.”
Zach nodded, then said something to Varney. The deputy went out to the sheriff’s truck and retrieved a small black case and a camera bag. Both men disappeared inside.
“They found something,” TJ said.
“Yes.” It was in that moment that Savannah acknowledged the fear that had grown inside her from the instant she’d recognized that Zach hadn’t come to patch things up between them. “They found the stolen stop sign, didn’t they?”
TJ’s chin dropped, then he shut his eyes. “Oh, crap.”
Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. What do I do now? How the hell had he gotten himself into a fix like this?
He tried to think, to consider what choices he had, but that was all but impossible to do because his aunt had taken hold of his arm and started squeezing it and her eyes were looking a little wild. “You lied to me not five minutes ago.”
He couldn’t concentrate.
Oh, crap. Oh, crap. Oh, crap.
“TJ, talk to me. You have to talk to me.”
He heard the door open and Gabi came out onto the porch. Savannah said, “No. Don’t say a word. Say nothing until Mac gets here.”
Then, to his horror, his aunt started to cry. She dragged him into her arms and hugged him hard and whispered in his ear. “I love you, Teej. It’ll be okay. Somehow we’ll make it okay.”
He wiggled away from her and did the only thing he could think to do. “Don’t cry, Aunt Savannah. I didn’t do it. I didn’t take the stop sign. I’m innocent.”
TWENTY-TWO
I’m innocent.
Savannah froze, then dragged him three steps to the left, to where the porch light illuminated his face. Dear Lord. This is history repeating itself. She studied his expression and realized she believed him. Then it was as if someone had flipped a switch and turned her into a mama grizzly bear.
“Okay, then. I promise you this. No matter what I have to do, you will not pay for something you didn’t do.” She wouldn’t let that happen. She would not let him down.
Mac arrived and went inside to speak with Zach. Returning a few minutes later, he confirmed her suspicions. “They found a stop sign in your kitchen.”
“My kitchen! That’s not possible. I would have seen it.”
“Behind the refrigerator. They’re dusting it for prints now.”
“They won’t find mine,” TJ told him, defiance ringing in his tone. “I didn’t touch it. I don’t know anything about it. They can’t pin this on me.”
“I told Zach I’m taking you to my office to talk, then we’ll come to his office for an official interview. Let’s not discuss anything until we’re behind closed doors.”
It was a short two-block walk to Mac’s law office. Savannah spent part of the time trying to figure out how that sign had ended up behind her refrigerator. Mostly, however, she tried to fight back her panic.
She had minimal success. When Mac escorted them into his office and asked them to take a seat, she managed to remain sitting for less than a minute before she was up and pacing the room.
Mac asked her for a dollar as a retainer, then focused on TJ. “Okay, son. The most important thing for you to understand now is that you must tell me the truth. If a client lies to me, nine times out of ten it comes back to bite us in the butt. I cannot stress the importance of this too much. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now, tell me what you know about the stop sign.”
“That won’t take very long. I don’t know anything. Honest.”
“Okay, then. Savannah, what about you?”
She understood that Mac had to ask the question, but it still annoyed her. She had some really bad memories of being questioned by lawyers. “I don’t know how it got into my home.”
“Then let’s try to figure out when it could have happened. The sign went missing, what, five days ago? When has your house been empty during that time?”
“Sunday morning was about it. I closed the shop today, but TJ was working in the workshop.”