gossiping. They’d recover and return to their ways as soon as some other juicy tidbit caught their attention.
Out on the sidewalk, he walked to his car and said, “Okay. Where?”
“The high school.”
Now, that was different. Was his theory wrong or was this an unrelated incident? “Don’t guess there’s any need of asking about witnesses.”
“Nope. Nobody saw nothing.”
“Okay. Get photos of the crime scene and canvass the neighborhood again. I—”
“I think you’re gonna want to see this one for yourself.”
He planned to when he had time, but something in Bart’s tone seemed off. “Why?”
“You’ll know when you see it.”
About to suggest to his deputy that he stop being so dramatic and tell him the damn news, Zach held on to his patience and said, “Okay, write up the report and I’ll check it out after—”
“I think you might want to come now, Chief.”
Now even more curious, Zach jumped into his car. “Be there in five minutes.”
Three minutes later, Zach grimly took in the new act of vandalism. The other graffiti had been random drawings and a few vulgarities. This had a distinct message. One he most definitely did not appreciate. In large, blood-red letters splashed on one side of the beige brick building was a warning: Go Away Wilde Bitch.
Barring the probability that the X-Kings gang had come all the way to Midnight to leave a written message for Savannah, he considered the other possibilities. Some jerk’s idea of a joke? Savannah was the talk of the town right now. It could be meant for him—it was damn close to the area where he and Savannah had first met. And the man at the top of his suspect list had been present at that meeting. Or he could be reading too much into it and it was just a random act of stupidity.
Whatever the reason, Zach wasn’t amused.
He shot Bart a hard look. “Take photos of the scene and rope off the area. I’ll be back later.”
Once in the car, he headed toward Wildefire Lane. His gut told him she wasn’t in any danger, but until he saw or heard for sure, he wouldn’t be able to concentrate. She wouldn’t appreciate hearing from him again, but she’d have to get over it. Making sure she was safe was his priority.
As he drove, he made a quick call to Gibby Wilcox. Stupid to not have gotten Savannah’s cellphone number last night, although he wasn’t sure he would have been successful. Thankfully Gibby seemed preoccupied and provided Zach with the number without her usual chatter. He tapped out Savannah’s number, quickly added it to his phone book, and then hit Call.
“Hello?”
“Savannah, it’s Zach.”
The soft little gasp that came through the phone line went straight to his groin. Hell, hardening at such an insignificant sound made him feel like a teenager, when anything and everything could turn him on. And that’s the way it was with Savannah—just about anything and everything she did had turned him on.
“What do you want, Zach?”
The cool, hard tone doused the desire like an ice-cold shower. His tone matching hers, he said, “As we established last night, I’m checking to make sure you’re safe.”
“And as I told you last night, I don’t need your protection.”
“Whether you want it or not, you’ve got it. I’m assuming since you answered the phone, you’re fine.”
“How astute of you, Chief Tanner.”
Zach slowed to a stop in front of the Wilde mansion. Need warred with common sense. What he wanted to do was bust open the damn door, pull her into his arms, and devour that beautiful snarling mouth until she groaned with the same arousal running through him. Common sense told him to get his ass to the office and do his job.
“Call me if you need me.” He ended the call before she could hurl another insult. Having accomplished his goal of assuring himself she was fine, he made a U-turn and headed to the police station. He had a pile of paperwork to wade through, but first and foremost, he was going to start making some inquiries. Did the pricks not realize that bringing Savannah into the equation upped the urgency quotient about a billion percent? No way in hell would he allow her to be threatened in any way.
Savannah pocketed the phone with a huge sigh, resisting the temptation to throw it across the room. Her anger wasn’t with Zach, but herself. Why the hell couldn’t she act like a mature person with him? Why was it she could be