She was at Faye’s Diner at the cracka dawn this morning, asking all sortsa questions. Some folks say that’s the real reason she came back home.”
A lifetime of not revealing his thoughts kept his face expressionless as he said, “Is that right?”
Her eyes blinked like an ancient owl; she was apparently startled that he hadn’t taken the bait. Undeterred, she pressed on. “Reckon she thinks there were some shenanigans going on?”
That was an odd observation. He’d never heard about any doubts that the crime had happened differently. “You were here during that time. What do you think?”
She cackled again. “I think lotsa things, Chief Tanner. Problem is, nobody pays me no mind.” Inez stepped back onto the curb. “I gotta get to my bridge game. I like getting there early ’cause that’s when I pick up the juiciest news.”
Zach pulled away from the curb and continued on his patrol. There should be nothing unusual in Savannah wanting to know more about her parents’ deaths. There were any number of reasons she might be curious about the night they died. But when they’d been dating, that was one event she never wanted to discuss. So what had changed?
Her going into Faye’s Diner by herself was on the odd side. Had she just woken up hungry and decided to treat herself to a big breakfast, or was there another reason?
He gave himself a mental shake. Inez Peebles had a reputation and a knack for making something out of nothing to stir something up. This was an apparent attempt to do just that.
Besides, ten years makes a huge difference in a person’s life. Healing came with the passage of time. Maybe that was the reason Savannah could talk more easily about it now. If she had any suspicions about their deaths, she would have mentioned it to him. Last night would have been the perfect opportunity.
Their evening together had been good but frustrating. There was no one he enjoyed spending time with more than Savannah. Every smile or sigh she gave him made him want her all the more, but he hadn’t pursued anything other than those simple kisses when he left. Hell yeah, he’d spent a rough night, hard and aching and wanting her with every breath. He’d known he needed to take it slow, he just hadn’t realized how careful he needed to tread. For every step he took forward, Savannah seemed to move further away from him. He had hurt her and asked her forgiveness, but that didn’t mean their way would be easy. But never had he been more determined to win.
The radio squawked. “Chief, you there?”
Zach picked up the radio mic, answering, “What’s up, Hazel?”
“Got a hysterical call from Gibby Wilcox. Hard to understand what she’s saying. Something about somebody being dead over on Wildefire Lane.”
His heart stopped and then kicked into overdrive. Clicking on the siren, Zach stomped the accelerator and zoomed through town as if hell itself were racing to consume him. If anything had happened to Savannah, that’s exactly what would happen.
MOBILE, ALABAMA
COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL
Shocked and unsure of her next move, Savannah sat in her car in the hospital parking lot. Nothing had gone as planned. After spending much of the night tossing and turning, a raging river of questions gushing through her mind, she’d woken before dawn and headed to Faye’s Diner.
The early morning crowd at Faye’s was always the older residents of Midnight. They were the ones most likely to have been around at the time of her parents’ deaths. She had told Gibby she could ask questions without seeming to want to know the answer, and that’s what she had intended. Somehow the Fates had worked against her. Maybe it was the humid, overcast day or the thunderous-looking clouds that promised an upcoming torrential rain. Whatever the reason, the diner was almost empty. The only person who could remotely have been around at the time her parents were killed was Faye herself. Not known for her verbose personality, Faye had grunted out a few yeses and nos to her vague leading questions and then walked away.
Savannah had left the diner with no answers to her questions and a slightly queasy stomach from Faye’s corned-beef hash special. To make matters worse, the instant she walked out the door, she’d run into Amy Andrews, an old friend from high school. The conversation had only lasted about five minutes, but Savannah felt as if she’d been grilled by a skilled prosecutor. The central theme of