Cereal Killer

rough, whisker-bristly, hot and hard kiss on her lips.
    And he didn’t release her all that quickly either. She had plenty of time to savor it, think about it, and compare his technique to Ryan’s before he finally let her g°-
    Her final analysis was: What Dirk lacked in Ryan’s finesse, he more than made up in raw enthusiasm.
    Not bad, she thought. Not half bad at all.
    As they continued on across the lot, Dirk chatted on brightly, ecstatic about the case’s latest turns—as though nothing unusual had just happened. “I’m gonna get Jake McMurtry to come over here and sit on that locker,” he was saying, “so that nobody unscrupulous breaks into it before I can get that search warrant. We don’t want those jeans to take a walk.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “And I’m gonna swing by your place and drop you off on my way to Murray’s house. I don’t want her to see you, face to face, just yet. We might need to use you in some other ‘nonofficial’ capacity later, and we don’t want her to know that we’re a team.”
    “Hm-m-m....”
    When they reached the Buick, Dirk was still scheming, joyfully plotting the demises of Charlotte Murray and Kevin Connor—a very happy boy.
    But for the moment, Savannah had forgotten all about the investigation. She was too busy wondering at the odds of her getting kissed—and kissed very well, indeed—by her two favorite guys in one week.
    Gran's right , she thought. Wonders never cease.
     

Chapter
    22
     
    “W here’s my sister?” Savannah asked Tammy when she walked into her living room and didn’t see Marietta attached to the telephone.
    “Upstairs taking a bath,” Tammy replied as she shuffled a pile of papers on the desk.
    “How’s she doing?” Savannah was afraid to ask, but even if the news was bad, it was best to be informed. “She’s singing.”
    “The blues?”
    “No. She’s actually really cheerful. And I’m pretty sure that I heard her packing in the guest room earlier.” Savannah held her breath, barely daring to hope. “Really? Don’t mess with my head, girl. I’m much too fragile right now.”
    “Really. And I thought I overheard her phoning the airline earlier. I think she’s Georgia bound.”
    “And happy about it?”
    As though to answer her question, a voice drifted downward from the upstairs bathroom. It was Sister Mari, in fine form.
    “‘I ne-e-ever got over those blue eyes. I se-e-ee them e-e-everywhere,’ ” she wailed, murdering the old Johnny Cash ballad. Splash, splash. ‘“I mi-i-is those arms that held me... when a-l-l-l the love was the-e-ere!’ ”
    Savannah tried to mentally assemble the puzzle that was her sister and, as usual, couldn’t quite put the pieces together. “How can she be this happy about going home?” she asked Tammy. “I was threatening to lock her out the other night, and you should have seen the hissy fit she threw. And now...”
    “‘I wo-o-onder if he’s sor-r-ry, for le-e-eaving what we’d begun,’ ” continued the concert upstairs.
    Savannah shook her head. “Go figure. I’m going to eat some lunch, fuel up. I have a feeling it’s gonna be a long afternoon.”
     
    By the time Marietta had finished her bath and countless verses of her song, Savannah and Tammy had eaten their lunch, and Savannah had filled Tammy in on all the newest developments.
    “He’s gone out to Murray’s house to pick her up if she’s there,” Savannah told her. “And I think I’ll buzz over to Charlotte’s brother’s place and do some plain, old-fashioned surveillance.”
    A cloud of jasmine-scented perfume arrived in the kitchen a few seconds before Marietta appeared, wrapped in a red chiffon robe over a black lace teddy. Her carefully poofed hair and meticulously applied makeup hadn’t been disturbed during the long bath.
    And, as well as smelling like the cosmetic counter of a drugstore, she was beaming from ear to ear.
    “Good afternoon!” she said, giving Savannah the full radiance of her smile. “How are you this fine, fine day?”
    “O-o-okay,” Savannah replied suspiciously. “Boy, aren’t We chipper.”
    “Chipper? My cup of joy is just plain boiling over!”
    Savannah glanced down at the teddy’s built-in pushup bra and the abundance of cleavage swelling above it. “I can see that,” she said. “Both cups, in fact. What’s up... besides your boobs?”
    “I’m going home! This evening!”
    “And that’s good news?” Savannah asked.
    “It’s the best! I’m going home