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Authors: Casey Mayes

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“
I
’M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU,” I SAID ONCE HE HAD BRADY tied up with his own belt.

“You were doing fine on your own,” he said.

“Did you get my call?”

He looked puzzled by that. “No, I realized halfway to Murphy that I must have lost my mind leaving you alone. By the time I got here, I figured it had to be Brady, but I’m guessing you beat me to it, didn’t you?”

“I knew two minutes before he showed up,” I admitted. “I just ran out of time.”

He hugged me. “I think you did just fine. I called Murphy, and he’s on his way. He realized Mindi was lying to him the second he heard Cary’s story. Mindi was blackmailing her, but it had nothing to do with murder.”

“What else was it?”

Zach grinned. “I’m glad you don’t know everything. I was starting to get an inferiority complex. Cary was having an affair with a married man.”

“But Derrick was dead,” I said. “How could she blackmail her?”

“Well, I guess I should admit that my initial instincts were wrong. The man she was sleeping with was Frank Lassiter. Mindi told Cary if she didn’t pay up, she was going to the police with some fabricated evidence that Cary and Frank had conspired to kill Derrick.”

“So, his murder prompted yet another crime,” Jenny said as Zach helped her up.

“Throw a rock in a still pond and the ripples go all the way to shore,” he said. “Should we get you to the hospital so someone can look at that ankle?”

She laughed. “No, all I need is an ice pack.” Jenny glanced over at Brady, who’d been silent since I’d stabbed him. “What about him?”

Detective Murphy came up to us, with four uniformed officers. He took the scene in, and then said to Zach, “You were right.”

He shook his head. “She got it before I did.”

Shawn saluted me with two fingers. “Then you’re the one I owe an apology.”

“Seeing him locked up is all I need.”

“That we can make happen. Take him downtown.”

As two of the officers lifted him to his feet, he screamed, “My leg is killing me. That witch stabbed me. I need to go to a hospital.”

“Come on, Brady,” I said with a grin I didn’t feel. “I barely nicked you.”

After he was gone, I asked, “Does anybody mind if we go back to Jenny’s now? I need a long, hot soak in that tub of hers.”

“You’ve earned at least that,” Jenny said.

“Tell you what, ladies,” Zach added, “I’ll even cook for us tonight.”

I looked at Jenny and smiled, and as my husband helped her walk back to my car, I said, “If you really want to reward us, get takeout.”

“Hey, I’m an excellent cook,” he said, with a hint of faux hurt in his voice.

“Sure you are,” I said as I patted his chest, “but it might be nice if we’re all pampered a little tonight.”

Chapter 24

“
I
CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE LEAVING,” JENNY SAID TWO DAYS later as she walked us out to the car. Her ankle was fine now, and from our latest report from Shawn Murphy, Brady was confessing to everything he’d ever done.

“It’s time. I’m behind on my puzzles, and Kelsey is turning out to be a real taskmaster.”

“How is she doing?” Jenny asked, as Zach finished putting our things in my car.

“She still can’t believe Brady killed Derrick, but she’s not going to stop running things for Cary, at least for now.” I looked over at the now-empty house where Charlie had been. “Are you going to be all right?”

“He’s in jail, and even if he gets out, I doubt he’ll come after me again.”

“How can you know that?” I asked.

Jenny lowered her voice. “I’m not supposed to know this, but Zach had a talk with Charlie in jail, and then Shawn spent a little time with him, too. I’d be amazed if he didn’t leave North Carolina when he gets out.”

Zach came back to us. “We’re ready.” He hugged Jenny, and then said, “Take care of yourself. Don’t forget, it’s your turn to visit us the next time.”

She smiled at him. “I might just take you up on that. Now that I’m a partner, I’ve got a feeling I might actually take a vacation or two every now and then.”

I hugged her. “You’re welcome anytime.”

Zach looked surprised when I tossed my car keys to him. “You drive.”

“Seriously? You hate it when I drive your car.”

“I’m learning to adjust,” I said.

We got in, and Jenny waved to us until we couldn’t see her anymore. “Don’t worry about her. She’ll be fine,” Zach said.

“I know she will. I’ll miss her, though.”

“We could always retire in Raleigh instead,” he said. “We’ve got some good friends who live here.”

“Don’t get me wrong; it’s nice,” I said as he pulled out of her development and onto the main highway that would soon lead us to I-40 West, going home, “but the mountains always call me home.”

“I’m glad, because I’d hate to leave our little place in the woods.”

I reached behind the seat and pulled out a legal pad and the special type of pencil I loved.

As I started creating a new puzzle, Zach said, “Hey, nobody said you could work all of the way home.”

“Would you rather talk about that job offer you got in Asheville instead?” I asked as I put my pencil down.

“No, do your puzzle, and I’ll drive.”

As I worked on a new puzzle, I kept wondering what he would do. A full-time job would dramatically change our lives, and not for the better, as far as I was concerned. But in the end, it was Zach’s decision, and I knew that unless I was dead-set against it, he’d make the best decision he could, for both of us.

W
E WERE NEARLY TO STATESVILLE WHEN ZACH SAID,

“I’ve made my decision about the job.”

That was it? There wasn’t even going to be a discussion? “What did you decide?”

“Unless you are completely against it,” he said, his voice low and resigned, “I’m going to turn them down.”

“I understand,” I said, and then it caught up with me. “What did you just say?”

Zach laughed. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Savannah, I like the way our lives are right now. Why would I want to get behind a desk again? Things are good, so let’s not mess them up.”

I put my puzzle down and kissed his cheek. “That sounds wonderful to me.”

“I thought it might,” he said.

By the time we got near the Hickory exit, I thought about my uncles, and their great Alaskan adventure. I wondered where they were at that moment, and Zach surprised me by slowing down and getting off the exit. I glanced at the fuel gauge and said, “We don’t need gas.”

“No, but there are a couple of men who’d love to see you. Tom and Barton called this morning. They’re at Tom’s, and they asked me if we’d stop in and see them.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” I said, slapping playfully at his arm.

“They wanted it to be a surprise.” He just grinned at me as he added, “Surprise.”

I had to laugh. It would be good having my family together again. I’d come close to dying at that park, and there wasn’t anything in the world that made me more thankful for what I had than coming close to losing it all.

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