took him in then—strong, determined jaw, intelligent eyes, and the honor that had drawn her to him so many years ago. This was a man she could depend on. It shamed her that she had told him she forgave him and trusted him but she so obviously hadn’t. But now they had come full circle. The trust was there as it had once been.
She held out her hand to him and blew out a silent relieved sigh when he took it. Giving him a smile of confidence because she truly believed that between the two of them they could conquer anything, she said, “You’re right. We are.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
Savannah rubbed her throbbing temples as she tried to decipher Mosby’s illegible handwriting. What she could make out was a hodgepodge of opinion, not fact. He arrived at the scene, saw her mother’s body on the dining room floor. He started looking around, found Beckett hanging from a giant oak tree out back with a note of confession stuffed in his shirt pocket. It supposedly said he killed Maggie and couldn’t live with the guilt. So where the hell was the note? Why were there no photographs? No coroner’s report for her father? There was absolutely nothing other than a half-page report of Mosby’s rambling conjectures.
She dropped the worthless report on the table and sighed. “If nothing else, this report confirms that Mosby was in on the cover-up.”
Zach nodded. “Or he did the crime.”
That was true. She had never considered Mosby a suspect, only a dishonest officer of the law. “What about the deputies back then? Couldn’t we talk—”
She cut off when Zach started shaking his head. “I checked. There were only two and they’re both dead.”
“Dead how?”
“Car accident and heart attack. Besides, there’s no indication that any other law enforcement official was even at the crime scene. Apparently Mosby handled this on his own.”
“And the coroner?”
“He’s gone, too. He retired and moved to Florida. Died just last year.”
She huffed out a breath. Everything led to a dead end. “Okay, so even if Mosby did the killings, he would still have to have help. My dad was a big man. No way could he get him in that tree by himself.”
Zach shrugged. “Mosby was a strong man. I had a few run-ins with him and can attest to that. And a motivated man can often do more than what looks possible. His motive to kill your parents is what I can’t get my head around.”
“I agree. It makes no sense.”
“I found out he’d been taking bribes from multiple sources for years. If he didn’t do the deed himself, he might’ve just agreed to a cover-up for the money alone.”
Standing, Zach picked up their coffee cups and went to the kitchen counter. “Want more coffee?”
She shook her head and grimaced. “Don’t think my stomach can handle more caffeine.”
“Which is exactly why you should eat something.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You’ve changed.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Stress used to make you eat more. Remember those first few dates we had? I thought I was going to have to pry you away from the table.”
Her smile self-deprecating, she said, “If my mouth was full, it meant I couldn’t say anything stupid.”
He came and sat across the table from her again. “I don’t remember you ever saying anything stupid.”
She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Then you weren’t listening.”
“I listened to everything, Savannah,” he said quietly.
“I know you did,” she said softly. “You were a great listener.”
“I still am.” He waited a breath and said, “Why didn’t you take my calls when I finally got up the guts to get in touch with you?”
Like an extinguished flame, the light disappeared from her face. She shook her head. “Let’s not go there right now, Zach.”
Would his gut ever stop hurting every time he thought about those days? After finally gathering up the courage to call and apologize and tell her what happened, she had refused to take his calls. He’d been stupid and naïve, believing that was all it would take for her to forgive him. Leaving without an explanation had been the most cowardly thing he’d ever done. And the result had been a broken heart for Savannah and years of remorse and regret for Zach.
“I came to see you in Nashville.”
She jerked, clearly startled at his admission. “When?”
“About a year after I tried calling you. I was about to be deployed to Iraq for the first time. I needed to see you … I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I knew I’d