Zach nodded, made another note, and then asked, “Why did you want to get into this room? What was so important?”
“I’m getting a lot of pressure from high up. I wanted to see if you’d made any progress yet.”
“Who’s pressuring you? Grady?”
“You play things close to the vest, so I can, too.” He stood. “Are we finished here?”
“For now.”
Davis clearly didn’t like that answer, and it looked as though he was going to say something, but he thought better of it and left.
“What do you think?” I asked Zach the second Davis was gone.
“I’m still not sure. The fact that I can’t rule him out is bad enough though, don’t you think?”
“Were you really going to walk away?”
Zach grinned at me. “Not on your life. I was bluffing, plain and simple.”
“You had me fooled. I was starting to get excited about going back home.”
He touched my shoulder lightly. “Is it really all that bad here?”
“No, it’s been nice coming back, but it’s not home anymore, is it?”
“Not so much. I wish I could tell you that this will all be over soon, but I can’t. I’ve got a feeling this killer isn’t going to stop on his own.”
“Then you need to figure out who it is before he kills someone else.”
“I’m doing the best I can,” he said as he reached for the phone. “Send Sanders to the task force room,” he ordered, and then he hung up before he could have possibly gotten a reply.
“You’re good at giving orders; you know that, don’t you?”
“That wasn’t an order. It was a request.”
I laughed. “You might think you formed that as a question, but trust me, it was a direct order.”
“I guess old habits are hard to break.”
“Sometimes.”
He stood and started pacing around the room. “There’s something here. I can feel it. It’s so frustrating knowing that there’s a clue I’m missing out on completely.”
“It will come to you. Give it some time.”
“I’m afraid that’s one thing we don’t have a great deal of left.”
I saw the concern in his eyes. “Do you think he’s going to do something soon?”
“What do you think? You read the note, too.”
Zach walked over to the board, and then read the last communication to us aloud. “He’s taunting me. I can’t believe he threatened you, and I didn’t send you away.”
“Even if you could get rid of me, which you can’t, where could I go? He knows where we live, Zach. The only way either one of us will ever be safe is if you catch him.”
“Any luck with this code?”
“I’m stuck,” I admitted. “There’s got to be a pattern to it, but I don’t know what it is.”
“So, we’re both having trouble seeing the truth. The question is, is he really that good at hiding his intentions, or are these notes and codes just part of one big lie?”
“I wish I knew.”
“That makes two of us.”
I could see that Zach was getting into a funk, and I had to help him stop it before it took over. If he began to doubt himself, and his abilities, I knew there would be no chance of stopping the killer.
“What do we do next?” I asked.
“What? What do you mean?”
I waved a hand around the room. “We’re stuck when we look at these walls. Let’s get out and talk to more people. You always said that if all else failed, it was a good idea to stir the pot. So, let’s go stir.”
He frowned for a few moments, and then nodded. “You’re right.”
“Of course I am,” I said with a smile. “Who should we talk to first?”
“Is there anyone more involved with this case than Grady? It’s time we had another chat.”
We were walking out of the room as Steve Sanders showed up. “I thought you needed me.”
“I changed my mind.”
“That’s fine,” Steve said. “If there’s anything I can do, all you have to do is ask.”
“How much did you lose on that mountain land deal?” I asked impulsively.
“What? How’d you hear about that?” He frowned, and then Steve said, “Strike that. Davis told you. I lost five grand. It wasn’t a fortune, but I wasn’t happy to see it go, either.”
“Five thousand dollars is a great deal of money,” I said.
“Yeah, but Davis lost ten times that. It’s the only thing that lets me sleep at night.”
“Did you know Cindy Glass very well?”
“Who?” Steve asked.
“The murder victim.”
“Oh, yeah, I blanked out on her name for a second. No, not really. Why, what have you heard?”
Zach was listening to our conversation—I knew it—though he didn’t appear to be paying attention.
“Just a snippet here and there,” I said. “It was enough to make me want to ask the question.”
Steve looked uncomfortable. “We had some mutual friends. I might have met her at a party once, but I can’t be sure.”
“But you never dated her.”
“No, nothing like that.” Steve looked at Zach, who had remained silent during the conversation. “What’s this about, Chief?”
“We’re trying to cross as many names off the list as we can,” he said. “You know the routine.”
“Sure, I just never thought I’d make it onto one of your lists.”
“Neither did most of the people who’ve ended up there.”
“What’s taking that elevator so long?” Steve asked.
“I forgot to push the button,” Zach said, as he finally did so.
“If that’s it, I’ve got work I can be doing downstairs, unless you want me to hang around here and guard the door.”
“No, I don’t think that’s necessary. I’ll let you know when I need you again.”
“Then I’ll take the stairs. I need a little exercise anyway.”
After he vanished down the stairway, I said, “You didn’t forget to push the button at all, did you?”
“I wanted to hear what he had to say.”
“Then why didn’t you ask him yourself?” I asked as I pushed the button again. The elevator was as slow as cold molasses.
“I was about to, when you stepped in and did it for me.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to butt in.”
Zach smiled at me. “On the contrary, it was better coming from you anyway. If I’d have thought about it, I would have asked you to talk to him before.”
“What do you think about his answers?” I asked as the elevator finally arrived.
As we stepped in, Zach said, “I’m not sure. Is he hiding something? Did he have a relationship with Cindy Glass? He didn’t make it sound like five thousand dollars was a lot to lose, but I have a hard time believing it, don’t you?”
“Then we’re no further along than we were before.”
“That’s not true,” Zach said as the elevator opened and we stepped out onto the ground floor. “The more information we have, the better chance there is of solving the case.”
It was overcast when we went outside. “Should we take the car? It looks like it might rain.”
“It’s just a block. Let’s walk it.”
“That’s fine with me.”
As we walked toward Grady’s office, I asked my husband, “Should we call first?”
“No, I don’t want to give him the chance to get away before we get there. It will be best if we can catch him off guard.”
“I never dreamed this case would take this direction when Davis called you, did you?”
“No, but I can’t help wondering what Grady was doing the first day we got here.”
“You mean when he disappeared?”
“Exactly. He couldn’t have been jogging the entire time, not if he just took it up. I keep trying to put each of my suspects in the killer’s shoes. It would have been easy for Grady to take that photograph of you in his truck, and then stash the camera somewhere safe until he could get back to it.”
“Davis could have taken it, too. Or Steve, for that matter.”