“Did you tell this to the authorities there in Colorado—I mean. about being held hostage?”

  Savannah nodded. “Yes, but I told the kidnapper-crook guy that I’d say I lied.” Suddenly, she stiffened. “Oh!” she exclaimed putting her hands over her mouth. “The dead body…that’s probably why he’s trying to silence me and Holly. He suspects that we saw the body in there where the jewelry was hidden. All of that must have come out in the newspaper.” She began to tear up. “Oh, Craig, I’m so scared.”

  “Okay, okay,” Craig said. “Try not to get all worked up. Now tell me, do you know who this guy is?”

  “I think so. I think he’s a neighbor of Holly’s and Keith’s. His name’s Wayne Morrison. He lives on Birchwood Lane near them. Or it could be his father. I only met Wayne once and—well, he just seems sneaky and a little creepy. He’s known to take things and even kidnap cats. We couldn’t find Rags once and Holly suggested I ask Wayne about him. The next thing I knew Rags was back home, so I don’t know if Wayne had him or not. But I don’t trust him. The masked man who held us hostage and who came to our house—that sure could be Wayne, by his size and all.”

  Craig took a pencil and pad out of his pocket. “Wayne Morrison? How old is this dude?”

  “In his forties or early fifties, I’d say. His parents must be in their seventies. Craig, what do you think I should do?”

  He stared at her for a moment. “I think you should go back into the inn and enjoy visiting with your friends and family. Try to relax. I think if this guy was going to hurt you, he would have already done so. From what you’ve told me, I don’t believe you have anything to worry about. But let me look into it.”

  “Craig, what if he finds out I’ve told you…”

  “He won’t find out, Savannah.” When she looked skeptical, he grinned. “Hey, I’m a professional. I know how to protect my snitches.”

  She giggled a little hysterically. “So I’m one of your snitches, huh? I don’t think I have much information.”

  “From what you’ve told me, honey, this dude has overstepped his bounds by, one; holding you hostage, and two; issuing a threat. And he’s probably guilty of a lot more or he wouldn’t be threatening citizens.” He gestured with one hand, “Now go on in and enjoy the afternoon, will you? No more worries, okay?”

  “Okay.” She hugged Craig. “Thank you.”

  “I haven’t done anything yet.” He walked with her toward the door, then took out his pad and pencil again. “Hey, can you give me the names of the authorities you spoke with in Colorado?”

  “Oh,” she thought for a moment, “there was an officer Peters.” She grinned. “I remember that because of our friend, Peter. And there was a detective—what was his name? It was another easy one…Simpson, Smith, Miller. No, Milner. That’s it; Detective Milner.” She started to open the door to the inn, then turned back again. “Hey Craig, don’t forget that mint. Didn’t you come out here to pick mint?”

  He smirked playfully at her, pocketed his pad, and walked back out to the garden.

  ****

  Two days later, Savannah had just put Teddy down for a nap when her cell phone chimed. She answered, “Hello.” No one spoke immediately and she was about to end the call when she heard a man’s voice.

  “Hello. Do you know who this is?”

  “Um…no,” she said, even though she was fairly certain it was Wayne Morrison.

  The voice became more menacing. “You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone. You didn’t keep your promise, did you?”

  Savannah ended the call abruptly. She then spent the next several minutes trying to figure out what to do. Should I change my cell phone number? Wait a minute…how did Wayne get this number, anyway? I understand how someone could get the landline number. That number’s registered in our name. But my cell phone…?

  Before she could figure it out, she heard a door slam. She jumped and began to breathe hard. “Who is it?” She asked meekly.

  “Sorry,” Gladys called from the kitchen. “Lily closed the door a little exuberantly, didn’t she?”

  Savannah took a couple of quick breaths and willed herself to relax. “Oh, Lily. Yes, I guess she did.” She chuckled nervously. “Looks like it frightened Buffy too.” She spoke to the cat. “It’s okay, Buffy. You can come out from under the buffet.” She asked her daughter, “So why were you in such a rush? What are you so excited about?”

  “Feed Peaches carrot,” she said gleefully.

  Savannah smiled. “You’re happy to have Peaches back home with us aren’t you, sweet pea?”

  Lily nodded. She then started blowing raspberries and laughing. “Peaches do this, Mommy.” She did it again.

  “Silly horse,” Savannah said, laughing with Lily. She poked her in the tummy. “And you’re silly.”

  When her cell phone rang again and Savannah didn’t recognize the number, she immediately blocked it. But it wasn’t long before the house phone rang. When she saw Gladys head in that direction, she called out, “Just ignore it, Mom. Telemarketers have been bugging me this morning.”

  Gladys looked at the screen on the house phone. “I think it’s Craig.”

  “Oh, yes, then answer it, please,” Savannah said.

  “It’s for you,” Gladys announced. She took Lily’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go wash up for lunch, shall we?”

  “Peaches have lunch?” Lily asked as she trotted alongside her grandmother toward the bathroom.

  “Hi,” Savannah said into the phone. “Craig?”

  “Yeah. I talked to an assistant in the detective’s office in Colorado this morning. Thought you’d like to know, they believe someone set the charge that blew up that house, just as you suspected. It wasn’t an accident. I guess they’re investigating motive, which could be the jewels from that heist. I did some research and found probably the same information you found about it being a storybook perfect crime until your cat started uncovering some of the original haul in the Verano home. Oh, and the dead guy is a police officer.”

  “Yeah, I know. So they think Wayne killed him when he stole the jewels? Did you tell the police about my suspicions…I mean, about Wayne?”

  “You’re pretty sure it was him, are you? Well, I’d like to do more checking before I come out with that information. I don’t want to put you in any danger.” He coughed and cleared his throat. “But a surprising thing happened.”

  “What?”

  “The detective brought up Wayne Morrison’s name as a suspect. He said they’re working on a case against him. You know, they want to catch him with the jewelry or some other incriminating evidence.”

  “Good,” Savannah said jubilantly. “So Wayne’s on their radar. Maybe they’ll lock him up soon and I can relax.”

  “Let’s hope so.” Craig’s voice softened. “In the meantime, how are you doing?”

  “Good.” She glanced around to make sure she was alone and said more quietly, “I did get a call from him a while ago on my cell phone. I blocked it. I don’t have any idea how he got that number.”

  “Hmmm. That is odd. You’re sure you didn’t give it to him?”

  “I didn’t give him any information. Whatever he knows about me, he’s found on his own.”

  “Did your sister-in-law give it to him, by any chance?”

  Savannah thought for a moment. “I can ask her, but I sure doubt it. She knows I suspect him. She sort of does too. So Craig, will you keep me informed about what’s going on with him and that case? I don’t like knowing he’s out there and that he thinks I’m in his way or something.” She shuddered. “It makes me so nervous.”

  “I know, honey. I wish I could do something more, but that case is outside my jurisdiction. We’ll have to trust the people there to run a good case and get that guy off the street and out of your face.”

  “So you don’t think I should talk to Detective Milner or anything?” she asked.

  He thought for a moment and said, “No. Not at this time, I don’t. You just stay out of it. You don’t want to bring any more attention to yourself where that possible suspect is concerned.”

  “You’re right, there,” she said. She then asked, “Craig, do you think that detective can do the job? Did you get good vibes from him?”

  “Um…that’s a strange question, Savannah.”

  “Not so strange. Aren’t there sharp investigators and lazy ones?”

  “Sure, I guess.” Craig chuckled. “You’d like me to take the case, wouldn’t you?”

  Her response was quick. “Yes. Will you?”

  “Like I said, it’s outside my jurisdiction.”

  “But you came up to the mountains when Rags found that dead body floating in the river.”

  “Yes, I came up there to support you girls. But it wasn’t my case to work. Just as this one isn’t my case to work.” When Savannah didn’t respond, he said, “But there’s nothing to say I can’t do my own research from the sidelines.”

  “Would you, Craig?” Savannah asked, excitedly. “I’d feel so much better about all this.”

  He chuckled. “Well, I’m already up to my elbows in it after getting briefed this morning.”

  “So what did you think of Detective Milner?” she asked again.

  “Didn’t meet him, of course. I guess he’s out of the area right now, but his office gave me his cell phone number and I did talk to him. Like I told you, he seems to be on top of things. From where I sit at this time, I can’t see a problem with the case. Why do you ask? You have good instincts; what’s your sense?”

  “I’m not sure.” She shook her head. “I guess all investigators work differently. It just seemed as though, when he was taking Holly’s and my statement, he was asking some odd questions and sort of avoiding those I thought would be obvious. But then, I have you as a model and I guess that’s my problem.”

  He laughed, then said, “Okay, let me get off the phone so I can add that case to my workload.”

  “Are you busy? I’m sorry. What’s going on locally? Anything interesting?”

  “Not really. And I’m not actually that busy right now. I’ll be in touch.”

  After ending the call, Savannah checked and saw that Teddy was still asleep and her mother was feeding Lily some lunch, so she picked up her cell phone and punched in Holly’s number. “Hi, girlfriend!” she said cheerily.

  “Hi. I was just going to call you.”

  “Now that’s a sure sign that we’re spending too much time together,” Savannah joked.

  “Are you okay?” Holly asked.

  “Yes,” Savannah said guardedly. “Why? Is something wrong? You sound upset.”

  “I got another call this afternoon. Savannah, I’m scared.”

  “What did he say?” Savannah asked.

  “It was more threatening. The guy sounds—you know, disturbed or something. I think he’s losing it.”

  “Well, you said Wayne’s odd.”

  “If it is Wayne,” Holly said quietly.

  “You don’t think it is?”

  “I’m not sure, but he scared me so badly today that I decided to try what you did. I told him I didn’t really know anything. I hadn’t seen anything and I had nothing to tell authorities.” She chuckled nervously. “I assumed that it was Wayne and I took charge like a mother figure. I was shaking in my boots, but I didn’t let on to him. I said, ‘Wayne, now you know I don’t know anything. I’ve never seen you do anything wrong. I suppose you’re afraid you’re going to be arrested for something you obviously didn’t do. I don’t blame you. That would be scary, but Wayne, no one’s going to hear anything from me because I don’t know anything.’”

  “Good job,” Savannah said. “Maybe that will keep him from phone-stalking us.”

  “One can only hope.” Holly paused, then said, “But he asked me that odd question again.”

  “What question?”

  “He wants to know where I hid the stuff.”

  Chapter 9

  The following day after lunch Savannah answered her cell phone and heard Craig say, “The case seems to be going all to hell.”

  Stunned, she asked, “What do you mean, Craig?”

  “Well, I called Detective Milner this morning to discuss a piece of information I uncovered about Wayne Morrison, and…well…he seems to have disappeared.”

  “What? Something has happened to Detective Milner? Do you suppose Wayne…?”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t show up at his office yesterday and no one has heard from him. He’s not answering his cell phone. So a younger fellow in the office is taking over. I spoke with him just now. His name’s Sully Andrews. He’ll spend some time trying to figure out where Milner left off with the case. He said the detective was rather secretive about it all. He sort of went off and did his own thing related to the case and didn’t take time to share a lot. But Andrews is going to make this case a priority so he can get up to speed with the evidence and the new developments, then he’ll probably take Morrison in.”

  Savannah let out a sigh of relief. “Good. I know I’ll relax some and I imagine Holly will too, once we know he’s in custody.”

  “Now, I’m not saying they’ll arrest him. The case against him has a lot of holes in it. But I’ll do what I can to help Andrews stack up legitimate evidence. If he’s our man, we’ll stop him, that’s for sure.”

  “So what are they going to do about the detective—put out a missing persons report or something?” She paused. “You know, if the detective was close to solving the mystery, those people may have…”

  “If that’s the case, Andrews and his people will soon find out. In the meantime, you gals can rest easy, Wayne Morrison is being watched.” He chuckled. “Your sister-in-law can probably see his tail from her window.”

  “I just hope he or she can do the job. Hey Craig, what about a search warrant—to search the Morrison house for the jewels? If they find them, that would certainly prove the case.”

  Craig chuckled. “Yup. Hey, I have a call coming in from Colorado. I’ll let you know when something breaks.” Within a few minutes, Craig called back. When Savannah picked up, he said, “Good news. They may be able to get a search warrant sooner rather than later.”

  “Oh?” Savannah questioned.

  “Yeah, while one of the shadow men was walking around last night stretching his legs, he found a piece of antique jewelry outside a window of the Morrison house.”

  “Wow! That’s great. So a judge may issue a search warrant based on that evidence, huh?”

  “Yup! Finally we’re getting a break in the case, only…”

  “Only what?”

  “Well, from where I sit, which I admit is far removed from the action, well, it just seems a little too obvious. Know what I mean?”

  Savannah thought for a moment, then said quietly, “It makes sense to me. I tell you, that guy seems like a klutz; he’s not very bright. At least that was my impression.” She then said, “Hey, Craig, I want to call Holly and give her the good news. Stay in touch, will you?”

  “So what are all the phone calls about?” Gladys asked as she entered the living room several minutes later.

  “I just called to tell Holly we finally have good news in the case against her neighbor. They found some jewelry at the suspect’s house—well, outside the house. They’re pretty sure they can get a search warrant now.”

  Gladys studied her daughter. “So is that what you’ve been so worried about, Vannie?”

  “Yes. Does it show?”

  “It does.” She patted her daughter’s hand. “Well, now that you’ve had some good news, try to relax some today, will you? Remember, we promised to take Lily to the park. Aren’t Colbi and little Rosemary going with us?”

  Savannah nodded. “Yes. We’re planning to go after naptime.” She chuckled. “Rosemary loves to swing.”

  “How old is she now? When I saw her at the lunch the other day, she looked like she’s about eight months old.”

  “She’s ten months.” Savannah chuckled. “Yeah, she’s a petite little thing. But then look at her parents. Colbi is super tiny and Damon isn’t a big fellow. So yeah, after Lily’s and Rosemary’s naps we can go to the park.”

  “Did you hear that, Lilliana?” Gladys said. “Let’s get you ready for your nap, then Mommy’s taking us to the park to swing.”

  “Baby Mary?” Lily chirped.

  Savannah smiled. “Yes, baby Rosemary’s coming with us.”

  ****

  The three women had been chatting and playing with the children at the park for about forty-five minutes when Colbi leaned toward Savannah and asked, “Do you know someone who drives a small silver car?”

  “Um…I don’t think so. Oh, wait, one of Iris’s boys has a silver car. Why?”

  “I don’t know, it just seems as though that car has been parked there for a while with someone in it. It appears suspicious to me.”

  Savannah gazed inconspicuously at the car. “Looks like a woman. She probably pulled over to use her cell phone.”

  “Could be,” Colbi said, grabbing the chains on the baby swing and kissing Rosemary before pushing her again. The baby laughed.

  Savannah looked across the street at the car again. Or, she thought, it’s someone impersonating a woman so he can spy on me. Just then the driver drove away and Savannah felt herself relax. I’ve got to get a grip. When Lily edged out of a swing and ran to the merry-go-round, Savannah joined her. She sat down next to the child and began pushing with her feet. “Round and round we go,” she said in a singsong voice. “Where we stop nobody knows.”

  “Fast, Mommy,” Lily cried. “Fast!”

  Savannah stepped off the merry-go-round and grinned at Lily. “You want to go fast, huh? Well, hold on,” she said, pushing the merry-go-round faster and faster and laughing when Lily giggled with delight.