Bitter Sweets

and-”

    “Tammy, listen to me.” She gripped the wheel, fighting her temper. Sure, the man must be worried out of his mind, but that was no excuse for... “You take the colonel into my sitting room and tell him to ‘Sit’, then get him a cup of coffee. Stick it in his hand, leave the room, and close the door firmly behind you.

    Lock it if necessary to keep him in there, but don’t put up with any more guff off him. Got that?”

    “Yeah. And Savannah...thanks.”

    “No sweat, kiddo. I’ll be there in four minutes, five tops.”

    She put the Camaro’s pedal to the metal. Maybe three and a half.

    CHAPTER NINE

    Savannah stood in the middle of her living room, staring up into the angriest eyes she had seen in ages. “Colonel Neilson,” she said, keeping her voice low and even, “I’m going to assume that you are, at heart, a gentleman, and this momentary lapse in your manners is due to the fact that you are overwrought with grief.”

    The moment she had walked through the front door, he had verbally attacked her, calling her names that-as Granny Reid would put it-”No man should say and no lady should hear.”

    In the corner of the room stood Tammy, still quietly crying. Apparently, the colonel had not accepted her offer of refreshments or obeyed the command to “sit.”

    “You’re damned right, I’m overwrought,” he said. “You saw what he did to my baby. That bastard had her trussed up like an animal. And he shot her in the head like a ...”

    His voice broke and she thought he was going to start sobbing, but he seemed to rally. She could see the war of emotions in his eyes, the grief versus the fury. It was a battle she had seen every day when she had patrolled the streets.

    Rage won.

    “And you led him straight to her.” Neilson’s fists were tight balls at his sides. “For all I know, you helped him do it.”

    “Surely, you don’t believe that, Colonel.”

    She could smell the heavy odor of liquor on his breath as he leaned close to her. For a moment he swayed on his feet and she thought he might go down.

    “The police believe it,” he said. “At least, they’re considering the possibility.”

    “The brass of the San Carmelita Police Department and I have an old vendetta going,” she said, feeling about 107 years old with another birthday pending. “They hate me. I swear, they would be plumb giddy if they could prove I was Jack the Ripper, but that doesn’t make it so.”

    Again he weaved, unsteady on his feet.

    “Colonel, why don’t you have a seat before you fall down.”

    “I told her-” He jabbed a thumb in Tammy’s direction. She cringed as though it had been a loaded pistol. “I don’t want to sit down. I’m all right.”

    “Tammy,” Savannah said, sensing that the young woman was near the end of her emotional tether, “why don’t you run along home. It’s been a long day.”

    “But... shouldn’t I stay...I... ?”

    “No. Everything is fine here. You run along.”

    With an expression that contained a mixture of misgivings and intense relief, Tammy seized the opportunity, grabbed her purse and jacket, and bolted out the door.

    “Colonel,” Savannah said gently, turning back to Neilson, “I know that you aren’t all right. In your circumstances no one would be. You’re exhausted, you’re terribly upset, and I suspect you’ve had a bit too much to drink. Please sit for a spell and let’s talk. Just the two of us.”

    She saw the momentary flicker of vulnerability in his eyes and knew he needed understanding and sympathy from someone. She would have been honored to give it, but right now, for reasons she could certainly understand, he considered her the enemy.

    “We’re on the same side, really, Colonel,” she told him as she gingerly took his arm and led him over to the sofa. “We need to find your granddaughter and bring your daughter’s killer to justice. I know that’s what you want, too.”

    He jerked his arm out of her grasp and refused to sit. “You caused my only daughter to be killed, my little granddaughter to be stolen from me. What kind of fool do you think I am? I’m not going to sit here in your house and drink coffee as if we were best buddies. You’re not going to get off that easily, Miss Reid.”

    “Colonel, please, I-”

    He headed for the door with a purposeful, if unsteady, stride and jerked it open. Outside, the night was dark and a soft rain was beginning to fall. “I’ve said what I came to