Bitter Sweets

phrase,” she added.

    “He is.” Dirk flipped the butt away.

    “He is?”

    “Yeap. I ran a check on him and he’s got a record. Three arrests, one conviction, ten-year sentence, six served.”

    “All molestation charges?”

    “All.”

    “The conviction?”

    “Forced oral copulation-an eight-year-old girl. One of his girlfriend’s daughters.”

    “Oh, man... that fits what Vanessa told me. She said Lisa was dating the guy, but broke it off because of something he did, or tried to do, to Christy.”

    “Do you believe her?”

    Savannah thought for a moment. “She was pretty peeved at the time...at me...but she seemed sincere enough. And it goes along with what Mrs. Abernathy, the neighbor, said about Lisa having a fight with Warner and telling him not to come around anymore.”

    Dirk pulled the Buick into a dirt parking area beside a windowless, cement building with a bright red lightning bolt on the side and a sign that said: Warner Electric.

    Beside the building was parked the van which Lisa’s neighbor had mentioned. The white one with the red lettering and the vanity plate.

    Dirk turned to Savannah and smiled. “I’m gonna enjoy this,” he said. “Nothing quite makes my day like rousting a child molester.”

    The moment Dirk and Savannah walked through the front door of Warner Electric, a small, dark man in blue coveralls darted out from behind the counter and greeted them.

    “Hi, can I help you?”

    “Yeah,” Dirk said. “We need to have a word with Ian.”

    “He’s busy, can I-?”

    “So are we.” Dirk flipped open his badge. “And we have to talk to Ian. Right away.”

    Savannah walked on into the room, picking her way between reels of coaxial cable, bundles of conduit, and shelves, bristling with strange-looking metal boxes that sprouted wires and exotic connectors. At the other end, standing between a couple of heavily loaded pallets, was a tall, good-looking man with a leonine mane of golden curls that any woman would have envied.

    Savannah chuckled to herself. The hair was another reason why Dirk would enjoy hassling this guy. If there was anything on earth that Dirk hated more than a child molester, it was a child molester with more hair than he had. And that included a large slice of the pervert demagoguery.

    As Mrs. Abernathy had noted, Ian Warner wore his long sleeves rolled up to the elbow to reveal muscular forearms. He was, indeed, a handsome man. Long ago, Savannah had stopped trying to figure out why a man who could so easily find a willing woman to warm his bed would turn to a helpless child for gratification.

    Savannah turned back to Dirk and nodded in Warner’s direction. Dirk caught the look and walked past her toward the back. Toward Warner.

    When Dirk was only halfway across the room, Ian glanced his way and suddenly tensed. He seemed to lose all interest in the customer he had been speaking with. A knowing look crossed his face...a look that Savannah knew well.

    Damn, he’s gonna run , she thought.

    A heartbeat later, he bolted for the back door.

    “Police! Freeze!” Dirk shouted, running after him.

    “Yeah, right.” Savannah whirled around and headed back out the front door. “The day one of them does what Dirk tells them, he’ll keel over with a heart attack.”

    She ran straight for the HI VOLT van in the parking lot, and her hunch had been right. Warner was running straight to her with Dirk in his dust.

    Holding her Beretta in both hands, she leaned over the hood of the van and braced her feet, pointing it straight at him.

    “Now you’re gonna freeze, Mr. Warner,” she said as she sighted down the barrel, “just like the nice policeman told you to. Because if you don’t, I’ll plug you one right between the eyes.”

    Ian nearly tripped over his own feet as he skidded to a stop on the other side of the hood. He glanced back at a fuming Dirk, who was closing the distance, then at Savannah. He looked genuinely confused.

    “Are you with him?” he asked her.

    “Yeap.”

    “Are you a cop, too?”

    “Not anymore,” she replied. “But I’m still a damned good shot.”

    It didn’t improve Savannah’s mood any to have to leave Ian Warner in Dirk’s hands and miss out on the questioning. But it was still business hours at the station, which upped her chances of running into Hillquist or Bloss. Besides, it would be stretching the rules considerably for Dirk to allow a civilian, such as herself, to hang around