used to. She now felt rested, sated, and ready for whatever the day brought. Hopefully it would bring a killer out of hiding.
Everything ran smoothly, if unenlighteningly, until it came time to question Lamont Kilgore.
“I can’t believe you think I had anything to do with your mama and daddy’s deaths.”
Lamont’s accusing, tearful statement was directed at Savannah. Though Zach was conducting the interview and had made her promise to keep her questions to a minimum because of her voice, she felt she had to answer.
“We’re just looking for the truth, Lamont.” She winced at how raw and strained she still sounded. “I know you loved Mama and Daddy enough to want their killers to come to justice.”
Zach gave her a glare of warning to stay quiet before he turned back to Lamont. “How long were you and Beckett friends?”
With one last wounded glance at Savannah, Lamont turned his gaze to Zach. “Almost from birth. My mama and Camille, Beckett’s mama, were best friends. Beckett was born just a few months before me, so we grew up together.”
“You shared a lot of experiences.” Zach smiled slightly, conspiratorially.
Lamont’s face lit up as though remembering. “Yeah, we were always trying to one-up each other.”
Zach pinned Lamont with a hard stare. “You had quite a few problems when you were younger, didn’t you? Got in trouble with the law. Got kicked out of college a couple of times.”
Lamont had been a politician too long to be totally caught off guard, but his answer was very un-politician-like. “I was an idiot. Got too big for my britches.” He threw Savannah a tight smile. “Your daddy and I saw some rough times back then. We were both hell-raisers. Nothing serious but we did some stupid things.”
“You got kicked out of school and Beckett didn’t,” Zach said. “Bet that pissed you off.”
“Best thing to have happened to me.”
“Why?”
An expression of joyful amusement swept across his face, and Savannah already knew what he was going to say. “My daddy made me earn my own way for a few months. I was working at a fast-food joint and that’s when I met Nesta. She told me I had to straighten up and fly right or she would never see me again. I took her at her word and got my act together.”
“And you and Beckett stayed friends through all of this?”
“Absolutely. When I went back to school, I took extra classes to make up for what I had missed. We graduated together … were best men at each other’s weddings. Our wives became best friends.” He glanced down briefly, swallowing hard. “If we’d had children, I figure our kids would have been friends of their girls.” His smile was sad as he looked over at Savannah. “We went to your granddaddy after their deaths and asked if we could adopt one of you. Understandably, he refused.”
“Which one?” Zach asked.
Lamont blinked in confusion. “Which one what?”
“Which one did you want to adopt?”
“It didn’t matter. We loved all the girls equally. If he’d let us, we would have taken all three.”
Savannah knew Zach was pursuing this because of Gibby’s claim that someone wanted only Savannah because she looked so much like Maggie. At that thought, an idea flashed through her mind. Promising herself to come back to it later, she listened as Zach continued his questions.
“So you stayed friends with Beckett all those years without any kind of disharmony?”
Lamont’s brow furrowed as if he was wondering where Zach’s questions were leading. She was wondering the same thing, but she held her tongue. Not only because it would undermine his authority in the interview, but she trusted Zach. He had more than proven himself, in competence and integrity. The process had been a long, painful journey, but her trust in Zach was once again all-encompassing and complete. What a joy it was to finally be able to admit that to herself.
Zach could feel Savannah’s questioning gaze on him but was relieved that she didn’t interrupt. The fact that she didn’t gave him encouragement. She was beginning to trust him again. That meant the world to him.
“Disharmony? I’m not sure what you’re insinuating, Zach. We might have had our petty disagreements like most friends have, but Beckett remained my best friend until the day he died.”
“What about the night of Maggie and Beckett’s argument? Seems like you took sides.”
Lamont shrugged. “Beckett was behaving like a jackass that night. It was obvious Maggie had had a rough day. Nesta told me that Maggie had