Cooked Goose

found, and he helped search the scene. Why that would make him a target, we don’t know.”
    “Well, we’re terribly grateful that this young lady escaped that brute,” Gibson said, patting Margie’s hand. “You displayed extraordinary courage and resourcefulness in the face of danger. Your family must be enormously proud of you.”
    Margie’s smile faded. “Not so’s you’d notice,” she replied- Savannah pointed to a triple-layer fudge cake drizzled with raspberry sauce. “Have a slice or two of that heavenly concoction, Margie, and you’ll forget al-1-1 your troubles, guaranteed.”
    Before Savannah could make her own selection, a buzzing sounded from her purse. She reached inside it and pulled out her cell phone. “Excuse me,” she told her fellow dinner guests. “Normally, I don’t carry this thing to dinner with me, but I wanted to be available for Dirk.”
    “Go right ahead,” Gibson told her. “I’m afraid it’s one of those dubious technological advances that we have to accept.”
    “Hello,” she said. “Hi, Dirk. Margie and I are having dinner at Chez Antoine with Ryan and Gibson. We’re about to eat dessert, so this had better be good, buddy.”
    She listened to Dirk’s reply as Ryan ordered for her and everyone else at the table, then excused the waiter. He, Margie, and Gibson politely pretended not to be listening to Savannah’s conversation, until she said, “What? Oh, no. When? Okay. I’ll meet you there in twenty minutes.”
    She refolded the phone and put it back in her purse. All three were staring at her, sumptuous desserts forgotten.
    “Well?” Ryan asked.
    “I sense something foul is afoot,” Gibson added in his best “Christopher Plummer Plays Sherlock Holmes” impression.
    “Foul, indeed,” Savannah said. “Ryan, Gibson, would you two enjoy Margie’s company a bit longer this evening? Maybe she could go back to your apartment for an after-dinner soft drink?”
    “Of course, we’d be delighted,” Gibson replied.
    Savannah turned to the girl. “Is that all right with you,
    Margie?”
    The teenager gazed at Ryan, lovestruck, and mumbled, “Sure.”
    “What’s up?” Ryan asked, less subtle than his dignify partner.
    “Dirk wants me to join him out on Turner Canyon Road Officer Joe McGivney was patrolling that area tonight. His radio car was found abandoned there in an orange grove. Now he’s missing, too.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that,” Ryan said softly, looking as worried as Savannah felt.
    “That’s bad news, indeed.” Gibson cleared his throat and turned to Margie. “But don’t worry about Miss Bloss. We would be pleased to entertain her for the remainder of the evening.” Ryan rose along with Savannah and helped her into her jacket. “I’ll walk you to your car,” he told her, then said to Gibson and Margie. “You two go ahead with your desserts. I’ll be back in a minute.”
    When he and Savannah reached the foyer, he took her hand and slipped it comfortingly into the crook of his arm. “So, what’s really going on?” he asked her.
    “Is it that obvious?”
    “You don’t turn pale over a missing cop. Besides, you left without taking a doggy bag full of chocolate cake. That isn’t like you at all.”
    She didn’t laugh or even smile. “Dirk says there’s blood spray all over the inside of the vehicle.”
    “Like Titus Dunn’s apartment.”
    “Worse. There’s brain matter, too.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

    9:04 p m.

    “ Y ou know, I used to like orange groves,” Savannah told X Dirk as they stood several yards from the abandoned cruiser that was anything but empty now. Dr. Jennifer Liu and her technicians were at work again, taking photos, making sketches, collecting samples—bits and pieces, swabs and wipings—and combing the area surrounding the car.
    “When I was a kid in Georgia ,” she continued, “I used to go for long, peaceful walks in the peach orchards.”
    “I know what you mean. When me and the old lady were breaking up, I spent a lot of time walkin’ up and down rows like these, and it helped settle my nerves. After this mess, I don’t think a citrus grove is ever gonna settle anything for me.”
    “I hear you. Why couldn’t he just do his meanness grungy back alleys?”
    Savannah watched as Dr. Liu studied the gruesome splattering of blood and other gore on the upper portion of the driver’s seat.
    When she had first arrived, Savannah had taken a close look herself. She wouldn’t be eating rare