Bitter Sweets

doodling and was giving her his full attention. “I’m not finished with you yet.”

    “Yes, you are,” said a deep voice from the door. “This has gone far enough.”

    Savannah turned and was astonished to see that her new advocate was the venerable Colonel Neilson himself.

    “I called your home to apologize for my behavior earlier this evening, Ms. Reid,” he explained. “A pleasant houseguest of yours said you had been arrested for my daughter’s murder. Is that true?”

    “I’m afraid I don’t know yet.” She glanced at Hillquist, and her watch. “You’ll have to tune in later. Film at eleven.”

    The colonel turned his intense, blue-eyed scrutiny on Hillquist. “I know you’re trying to help, Norman,” he said. “For old time’s sake and all that. But you and I both know this woman didn’t kill Lisa. Earl did it. And the four of you are sitting here in this office, playing mental chess, while he gets away. There has to be a better way.”

    He gave Savannah a kind, sad half smile that gave her spirits a better boost than an intravenous drip of Black Forest chocolate. “I was...shall we say, ‘in my cups’ when I visited you earlier, Savannah, but I recall something you said about us being on the same team, about us needing to work together.”

    Savannah held out her hand to him, and he shook it. For once, neither Hillquist nor Bloss seemed to have anything to say-

    “I’d like that very much, sir,” she told him.

    “Do you need a ride home?” His hand, arthritic though it was, felt warm and strong wrapped around hers.

    She thought of Granny Reid and the attention she had paid him earlier in the evening. Gran, at least, would be quite pleased to see him again.

    But she could feel Dirk standing beside her, tense and waiting for her reply. Good oP Dirk...still a faithful partner.

    “Why, thank you, kind sir.” She batted her eyelashes and deepened her dimples. “But my grandmother taught me that a lady always leaves with the gentleman who brought her.”

    She gave the chief and her ex-captain her best “Kiss My Ass” look, took Dirk’s arm and said, “Let’s go, Beauregard. You can walk me home in the moonlight by way of the river...but only if you promise not to take liberties.”

    Savannah’s bravado failed her the moment she stepped across her threshold and into the sanctity of her own home. For the past twenty-four hours, she had been running on raw nerves, and she had reached her limit.

    Most of the lights in the house were off. Only one lamp glowed, turned down low, in the living room. She was relieved and a wee disappointed-that Granny hadn’t met her at the door. Good, she had taken Savannah’s advice and gone to bed. After all, an octogenarian needed her beauty rest.

    However, her arrival hadn’t gone unnoticed. Cleopatra and Diamante came running to her and twined their sleek black bodies around her ankles. Their pale green eyes and rhinestone collars glimmered in the lamplight.

    “Hi, girls,” she said, feeling a tenderness for the two animals well up inside her. Dropping her purse onto the foyer table, she scooped one up in each arm and gave them kisses. Their bellies were pudgy; Granny had always boasted the reputation of overfeeding every living creature within her domain.

    As she passed through the living room, she was surprised to see that Gran hadn’t gone to bed after all. She was curled against the end of the sofa, her reading glasses nearly sliding off the tip of her nose, her open Bible across her lap, and her eyes closed. She was snoring softly.

    Savannah thought of all the times she had come home late from dates and found her grandmother in exactly this position. Gran had always been a better mom than Savannah’s own mother, the most positive maternal influence in her upbringing.

    “Gran ...” After setting the cats on the floor, she placed one hand on the older woman’s shoulder and shook her gently. “Granny, it’s Savannah. I’m home now, and you should go along to bed.”

    “Huh? Oh, it’s you, sugar.” She stirred and pulled out the antique, locket-watch she wore around her neck. Flipping it open, she squinted down at its mother-of-pearl face. “High time you got back, too.”

    Savannah chuckled. “Well, it’s not like I was out kicking up my heels, you know. I wasn’t exactly making out with Tommy Stafford up at Lovers’ Peak.”

    Closing her Bible, Gran set it aside and rose from the sofa. “How did it