Bitter Sweets

silently for a minute or so as Dr. Jennifer’s two assistants carried the blue-bagged body of Earl Mallock out of the shed on a stretcher. The blue bags were for homicides; their zippers had locks.

    “It sure looks like the same MO as Lisa. The wire around the wrists and ankles, the shot to the head.” She thought she had never felt so tired, so completely wrung dry. “And I was sure Earl had killed her. Somebody out there has been laughing up his sleeve while I’ve been running around like a decapitated chicken, chasing the wrong person.”

    “Do you have any ideas who.7”

    “Sure, several. And as soon as I get back, I’ll get to work on them. But for right now, I just want to know where that littie girl is. My God, I can’t imagine what she must be going through, what shape she must be in. She’s probably witnessed both of her parents being murdered.”

    Savannah shuddered, and Ryan reached over to put his arm around her shoulders. “There’s no way a kid could ever get over something like that,” she said. “Even if she’s alive and physically healthy, that is,”

    “One thing at a time, Savannah. You’ve got enough to handle mentally and emotionally, just with what you know. Don’t let your imagination torture you...if you can help yourself.”

    “Can you?” She searched his green eyes for an honest answer. “Can you control your imagination at a time like this?”

    He sighed and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “No, I can’t. But be a good girl and do as I say, not as I do.”

    “Okay, Dad. I’ll try.”

    Fat chance, she thought, returning his kiss. Savannah saw Dirk standing by the door of the shed, giving her and Ryan a jealous, pissy look. She wondered how he could be so petty as to even think of such foolishness under the circumstances.

    Reluctantly, he returned to his job at hand, scribbling notes and diagrams on a yellow legal pad that Dr. Liu had provided. The team was carrying bag after bag of evidence from the shed. Apparently, Earl Mallock had stashed a lot of equipment and supplies. One assistant had even shinnied up the oak tree and untied the pack of provisions. Someone had disappeared inside the shed with a fingerprint kit.

    “I wish Dr. Jennifer would hurry up and get this mess over and done with,” she said, tucking her knees up under her chin and leaning on them. “I’ve got to get back to town, back to my car, back to a phone, back to work .. . like you said, back to square one.”

    "Well, if it helps at all, you won’t be standing there all alone.” Ryan squeezed her hand.

    Her eyes misted, and for a moment harsh reality went out of focus. A pleasant relief. “It helps,” she said. “A lot.”

    In the middle of her living room floor, Savannah sat with her suspect board in her lap, moving the bits of sticky-backed papers from one corner to the other.

    “What do you have there, sugar?” Granny Reid asked as she entered the room and slipped a cup of hot chocolate into Savannah’s hand.

    Savannah looked at the mug and smiled up at her grandmother. “Whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles on top... just like you used to make it for me when I was a girl.”

    Gran chuckled. “Not exactly. You’re a big girl now. It’s got a good stiff shot of Bailey’s in it, too.”

    Savannah never had to wonder from where she had inherited her hedonistic tendencies. The almost-black hair the blue eves, and the sweet tooth had definitely come from her father’s side, because Gran still had hers. Except for the dark hair, which had turned silver some years ago.

    “This ...” Savannah pointed to her piece of red poster board with its tiny notes. “... is where I keep all my information once it becomes too much for my brain. It keeps me from overloading the circuits between my ears.”

    Gran pulled the footstool over beside Savannah and sat down. “How does it work?”

    “Up here at the top I put possible suspects, beneath each name I put the motive, opportunity, and physical evidence-if I have some. Down here at the bottom are individuals who are involved in the case, but, if I don’t have enough information yet to establish a motive, opportunity, or incriminating evidence, I can’t consider them actual suspects.”

    “Ummmm...I see. And over there in the lower righthand corner?”

    Savannah cleared her throat and swallowed hard. “That’s where I stick the dead ones.”

    Gran studied the board for a long time. “Well,” she said at last,