Cooked Goose

that the ladies hadn’t finished theirs yet. That was the way Savannah liked her pigeons... soused.
    “Those cops are always hassling innocent people,” he said after the bartender had brought another transfusion for him and had removed the women’s barely touched drinks and replaced them with cold brews. “They picked me up yesterday, too, for no good reason and gave me hell for more than an hour.”
    “You? An upstanding legal advisor?” Savannah looked adequately shocked. Tammy grinned and buried her nose in the suds, pretending to drink. “You too? Don’t tell me you were hanging out at Lester and Oak.”
    “Naw, this detective guy, a real jerk, wanted to ask me some questions about these missing cops.”
    Tammy licked her lips. “Really? Why would they ask you about something like that?”
    Edward smiled, but it looked more like a grimace. “Let’s just say I’m not known for being a fan of law enforcement.”
    “So, this cop—the guy who questioned you—was a real creep, huh?” Savannah said, coaxing as gently as possible. Even drunk, he could get spooked and clam up before she heard anything good.
    But, thankfully, Ed seemed to be in a chatty mood. “Yeah,” he said. “He bounced me off a wall; that’s how I got this.” He pointed to his shiner. “I could have ended the talk right away, told him what he wanted to know, but I wasn’t going to make life any easier for him or any other cop, not if I can help it.”
    Savannah glanced over at Tammy, who was all ears. “What do you mean?” Savannah leaned closer to him and lowered her voice. “What could you have told him that he wanted to hear?”
    “Oh, like that I couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with those cops getting burned. I’ve been in a Vegas slammer for the past two weeks. I mixed it up with one of those rent-a-cops in a casino there. I just got back in town day before yesterday.”
    “I see.” Savannah felt her spirits plummet. He was telling her the truth; she could see the sincerity shining in his one good eye. They were back to square one.
    She nudged Tammy. “I think we’d better get going. I’ve got some Christmas stuff to do.”
    Instantly, Ed turned indignant. “What do you mean? I thought we were getting along great here. I thought... you know... this was a date or something.”
    Savannah waited until she and Tammy were well out of the booth and had their purses tucked under their arms, her car keys in her hand before she said, “Sorry, Ed. But like we told you when you first sat down, we’re off duty.”
    “That’s right,” Tammy added. “Even working girls have Christmas presents to wrap.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

    December 18 — 7:40 p.m.

    “ A re you all right, Savannah ?” Ryan Stone asked as he stood beside her in her kitchen and watched as she arranged slices of apple, chunks of banana, strawberries, oranges and cubes of pound cake on a silver platter. “You seem tired or preoccupied. Is there anything we can do to help?”
    She stood on tiptoe and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m fine, Ryan. Thanks for asking. It’s just that... going to a funeral in the afternoon, then giving a Christmas party in the evening... it doesn’t seem right somehow.”
    “Of course not. There’s nothing right about murder, ever.” He took a slice of apple and nibbled on it. “If a person dies of natural causes or even a simple accident, it’s easier to believe that their passing was part of a divine plan. But homicide. Never.”
    She walked over to the stove and stirred the chocolate mixture that was heating in the double boiler. The rich aroma filled the air. For Savannah , the scent of chocolate was as much a part of Christmas as the smell of pine or bayberry. At times like this, she missed her Gran’s homemade fudge and walnut divinity. Mostly, she just missed her Gran.
    “Joe McGivney’s widow was a mess,” she told him as she added a bit of cream to the mix. “Not that the rest of us were much better. When they played ‘Amazing Grace’ on the bagpipes, there wasn’t a dry eye in sight.”
    “I know what you mean. The bagpipes always get me,
    too.”
    John Gibson had entered the kitchen in time to hear their last exchange. “I saw the procession going down Harrington Boulevard ,” he said. “There must have been peace officers there from all over the state.”
    “And some from Arizona and Nevada .” She poured the chocolate into a large fondue pot as Ryan steadied it for her.