“I’ll see what I can do,” Zachary said.
“Overtime pay,” I told him.“Time and half.”
He grinned.“I’ll go now.”
“Take your time.”The strip joints, if there were any, probably didn’t start kicking until later.
“You’d be surprised,” Zachary said.“A lot of husbands like to stop in on their way home from work in the afternoon.”
Ewww.“Maybe that’s how Steven met the girl.”
“Maybe.”Zachary hesitated.“If I find a place, I guess I can ask whether anyone’s seen him.I can probably find a picture of him on the internet, that I can flash around.”
“I’m sure the university website has one,” I said.“Just be careful.You don’t want anything to happen.”
“If I get arrested, Detective Mendoza will get me out of jail,” Zachary said.“He owes me.”
He did.If Zachary hadn’t interceded last month, Mendoza and I would both be dead.
I bent and scooped up Edwina.“I’ll take the dog home with me.”
“I’ll help you carry,” Zachary said.He reached for the bag of dog food beside the door.
I shook my head.“Don’t worry about it.You fed her tonight, right?”
He nodded.
“Then she can wait until tomorrow morning.We’ll see you then.”
“I’ll go turn off the TV and grab my coat,” Zachary said.He headed down the hallway again while I carried Edwina out to the car and put her in the passenger seat.Then I watched as Zachary came back out, shrugging on his jacket, and made sure he locked the door.“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll be here,” Zachary said, and headed for his car.I reversed out of my spot and drove to the street, where I took off in one direction, down Music Row toward the roundabout and the Gulch, while Zachary went in the other, up Music Row toward Belmont University and the interstate.
When the phone rang,I was pretty sure it was the middle of the night.It felt like the middle of the night.A quick glance told me that it was actually twenty minutes after six, though.
Which isn’t exactly the middle of the night, but might as well be.
I fumbled the phone up to my ear.“’lo?”
“Gina!”Diana’s voice practically pierced my eardrum.“Gina, you have to come here!”
I guess I ought to say that I assumed it was Diana’s voice.It was Diana’s phone number.And the voice was female.Pitched so high that Edwina’s ears twitched, all the way on the other side of the king size bed.
But I wouldn’t have recognized Diana if I hadn’t already had her number plugged into my phone.She sounded frantic, hysterical.
“Diana?”I ventured.
“You have to come here!”
I sat up and ran a hand through my hair.It was almost a month since I’d chopped it off, so it had had time to grow out a little, but I could still pretty much wash it and go.This morning, it looked like I wouldn’t even have time to do that.
“What’s wrong?”
“Steven!”Diana shrieked.
“Is he back?”Was he dead?
I stopped myself before asking.
