Bitter Sweets

“you’ve got nobody at the top...that means no suspects. You got a whole bunch of people at the bottom, but that doesn’t help you much, if you don’t know how or why they might have done it. And you got two stuck over there in the dead corner.”

    She shook her head and gave Savannah a sympathetic look. “I hate to say it, sugarplum, but so far...you ain’t doin’ too good.”

    Dirk had told Savannah on the phone that he had already informed Colonel Neilson of his former son-in-law’s death, so she wasn’t sure what to expect when she arrived at Neilson’s home the following morning.

    The two men had history, positive and negative, and she wondered how the colonel had taken the news.

    Badly.

    That was the thought that ran through her mind when she entered his backyard and found him bent over a bed of impatiens, looking even more exhausted and bedraggled than he had the day before.

    “Good morning, Colonel,” she said, glancing around the yard for the ubiquitous black beast. For once, he didn’t seem to be around. “I knocked on the front door, but 1 guess you didn’t hear me.”

    “I heard you.”

    He refused to look up at her and continued to dig in the flower bed with his hand shovel.

    “Oh. Then I guess you didn’t want to talk to me.”

    “Don’t take it personally, Miss Reid. Right now, I d^n’t want to talk to anybody.”

    “I can certainly understand that. And I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t feel it was important.”

    He stabbed the shovel into the soil, brushed off his hands, and stood. Obviously, the simple act caused him tremendous pain and his face registered the misery.

    Strange, she thought... he was twenty years or so younger than Gran, but far less flexible. Maybe it was-as she had always suspected-not the years but the mileage.

    As many times before, she wondered if physical disabilities jaairrored the condition of the soul. Of all the colonel’s personality attributes, she didn’t think that flexibility was likely to be at the top of the list.

    “What do you want from me?” he asked as he led her back toward the house. “I’ve told you everything I can think of.”

    “You haven’t told me who might have a motive to kill your daughter and your son-in-law.”

    “Are you sure the same person killed them both?” Pe opened the kitchen door and ushered her inside.

    “I haven’t spoken to the coroner yet, but I’ve seen both murder scenes, and it appears so.”

    After taking two glasses from the cupboard, he walked to the refrigerator and poured them each an iced tea. He handed Savannah’s to her, then sat at the kitchen table. “No,” he said “I can’t think of anyone other than Earl who would kill Lisa. To my knowledge, other than him, she didn’t have an enemy in the world.”

    “Was she seeing any other men after she separated from Earl?”

    “1 don’t know. She kept that side of her life private. 1 didn't always approve of the men she chose, and I never minded saying so. I think she decided it was easier just not to discuss her dat’ ing practices with her father.”

    Savannah took a drink of the tea and found it strong and bitter. “1 noticed that she didn’t have much in her home, not many belongings.”

    “Thanks to Earl, she had to travel light. Besides, his lawyer screwed her in the divorce settlement.”

    “1 was wondering if, perhaps, she kept some things here- Personal letters, memorabilia “

    He thought for a moment. “1 have a couple of boxes up in the attic that were hers. I’m not sure what’s in them.”

    “Would you mind if 1 borrowed them, just for a few days? I’ll take good care of them and return everything intact.”

    He shrugged. “1 suppose so, as long as 1 get them back. What do you think you’ll find in them?”

    “I don’t know. Over half of an investigation is looking for something and not knowing what you’re looking for, until you find it.”

    “Sounds frustrating.”

    “Believe me, it can be.”

    The Capri Inn held several fond memories for Savannah, those recollections stirred accompanying feelings of excitement and sensuality as she walked into the lobby. Long ago-far long ago, she decided-she had enjoyed several romantic encounters within these mirrored walls.

    The glittering, crystal chandeliers, the lush atrium with its rock waterfall, the plush dark plum carpeting, all made her wonder why she hadn’t taken much time the past few years to indulge herself in some of the