Bitter Sweets

growled and shrugged his broad shoulders. “Just get goin’, both of you. I’ll give you a ring later, when I know what’s what.” Pulling a small, cellular phone-his only capitulation to advanced technology-from his inside coat pocket, he punched in some numbers.

    “Coulter here,” Savannah heard him say as she hurried out the door of the cabin and down the dirt path with a weeping Tammy in tow. “I got a stiff at the Whispering Pines Resort on Lake Arroyo. Yeah, that’s right. Better get a wagon rollin’ and call Dr. Liu.”

    “Are you dreading it?”

    Tammy sat on the end of Savannah’s living room sofa, a box of tissues in one hand, the other arm wrapped tightly around a floral, satin-fringed pillow, which she was hugging to her chest.

    “What?” Turning from the front window, where she was keeping watch, Savannah tried to concentrate on what her distraught assistant was saying. “Am 1 dreading what?”

    “Telling Brian O’Donnell that his sister is dead.”

    Savannah placed one hand on the windowsill for support and resumed her vigil. Any minute now, Brian was due to arrive. He didn’t know yet. And she felt she should be the one to tell him.

    “Of course I’m dreading it,” she replied, her voice husky. “Informing the next of kin was one of the worst things I had to do on the police force, and it looks like I can’t get away from it even now.”

    “Are you going to tell him it’s our fault?” Sniffing loudly, Tammy tossed the used tissue into a nearby wastebasket and reached for a fresh one.

    He’ll probably figure that one out on his own, Savannah thought, but she kept it to herself.

    “No,” she said, “and neither are you, because it isn’t our fault. Dirk was right, Tammy; the only person responsible for this murder is the one who committed it.”

    “Do you really believe that? I mean, completely, truly?”

    Savannah opened her mouth to deliver the routine reassurances, but they caught in her throat. “My head believes it,” she said, when she finally found the words. “My heart is going to need some time. The truth is like that; it takes a while to filter down from the mind and through the emotions.”

    “How did you get to be so wise?” Tammy asked. Savannah could hear the sincerity in her voice. It both flattered her and made her ashamed.

    If I were all that damned smart, Lisa Mallock would be alive right now and her little girl would be safe, her lacerated conscience whispered. But she didn’t need to place any of her own guilt on Tammy. Judging from the kid’s hunched shoulders and bowed head, she was toting more than a full load already.

    “I’m not wise. Just old,” Savannah replied. “Let’s say, I’ve been around the Monopoly board a few times more than you.” For several long moments, neither woman said anything. At last, Savannah was pleased to hear Tammy take a sip of the cognac-laced, whipped cream-topped, hot chocolate she had made for her earlier. A little hedonism, once in a while, was good for everyone.

    “What are you going to do now?” Tammy asked. “I mean, what’s next?”

    “I’ll talk to Brian O’Donnell and make sure he doesn’t hear about his sister on the news. Then I’m going to find Earl Mallock.” Again, she gripped the windowsill, but this time the gesture wasn’t one of weakness, but anger. “And when I get my hands on him, I’m going to send him directly to hell.”

    Brian took it better than Savannah had hoped. Much better. In fact, he was so calm and matter-of-fact about the whole thing that she entertained a few doubts about his own agenda.

    “Are you absolutely sure that her ex-husband did it?” he asked.

    At this point, I would say it’s likely. But you never know until a case is closed,” she replied.

    “I think I’ll stay in town until then...until you know for sure.”

    “We’ll stay in touch.”

    Other than the usual “hello” and “good-bye” pleasantries, that was the extent of their conversation, and Brian O’Donnell was on his way.

    As Savannah watched his rental car pull out of her drive and disappear around the corner, Tammy appeared, a bunch of computer printouts in her hand and the glint of a smile showing on her tear-swollen face.

    “I decided I was wasting time and energy feeling rotten about what happened to Mrs. Mallock,” she said, pulling Savannah over to the sofa and forcing her to sit. “So, I got busy. You’d be surprised what you can find out about