Sour Grapes

and...”
    The phone rang again. And again.
    Savannah stared at Anthony Villa, watching as his anxiety seemed to grow by the second. “Are you going to answer that?” she asked.
    He shook his head. “No, it’s probably nothing. And I have to get in there for the judging.”
    “Okay. Then I’ll answer it,” she said. “It might be important.”
    Savannah strolled over to the telephone, feeling his eyes on her, feeling the tension radiate out of him in almost palpable waves.
    She picked up the receiver. “Hello?” She listened for a moment, then said, “No, this isn’t Henry’s Pizza. I’m afraid you have the wrong number. This is a pay phone.”
    Hanging up, she turned to Anthony, who looked like he was going to melt into a big puddle right there on the floor. She had never seen anyone look so relieved.
    What the hell had he been expecting? A call from the grave?
    “I... I... really should get back now,” he muttered.
    “Yes,” she said smoothly. “You really should, you being a judge and all.”
    For a few seconds their eyes locked, and Savannah knew.
    She saw his guilt, she saw his fear, and she knew.
    And Anthony Villa knew that she knew.
    Turning on his heel, he hurried to the door and disappeared into the tasting room.
    Savannah glanced back at the phone. “Well, I’ll be damned,” she whispered.

    “Now let me get this straight: You want me to lock up a guy who may be our next state senator because you say he looked at a phone funny. That is what you’re telling me, isn’t it?” Dirk was staring at Savannah as if she were one queen of hearts short of royal flush.
    “I know it sounds stupid,” she said. “You had to have been there. Really. He looked like a ghost from the past was trying to reach through the phone and grab him around the throat He was white, I mean, the guy turned blanc de blanc right there in front of me.”
    She and Dirk were standing, nose to nose, in the middle of the room that Barbie and Atlanta had shared. Dirk had been searching it yet another time when Savannah had marched in to give him her news.
    He was less than impressed.
    Considerably less.
    “Well, I think I’ve already got the guy who did it,” he said. “He’s locked up right now in juvie, and it’s going to take a heck of a lot more to convince me that he ain’t the one than some nonsense about Villa lookin’ at a phone.”
    “But that’s the phone she called him on. We know from the records that she called that particular pay phone right before she went out to the parking lot and got nabbed.”
    Dirk shook his head. “We don’t know that he was the one who answered that night. We don’t even know if her making that phone call had anything to do with her getting killed. Besides, Villa’s got phones at his house, in his office, probably in his car. Why would she call him on a pay phone?”
    “Because she had a cell phone, and there’s a record of every call she makes. And Anthony Villa is a married man.”
    “So, what are you saying? That little Miss Barbie and future senator were doing the grizzly-bear hump?”
    “Well, he wouldn’t be the first politician to screw up his life that way. Besides, he’s a judge here at the pageant. She’s been known to drop her knickers for judges before.”
    Dirk thought that over for a moment, then shook his head. “Naw, it’s the kid. Don’t ask me how I know, but I know. That’s it.”
    “Er-r-r-r. You’re as stubborn as a mule’s behind, you know that?”
    He grinned. ‘You’ve mentioned that... several times in fact. I don’t know what it means, but... Now, if you don’t mind, I need to get to work here.”
    He turned away from her, walked into the bathroom, and began searching under the sink.
    Savannah left, grumbling beneath her breath, “... men... won’t listen... think they know everything... pee-pee heads... baboon butts.”

    Surveying the acres of cars in the dark lot, Savannah had no idea which vehicle belonged to the Villas. She had searched the rows for the green Jeep that she had seen Catherine driving previously, but it wasn’t there. She had seen the height of Catherine’s heels tonight and she was sure that she had driven, not walked down from the house on the hill. Apparently, they had driven another car. But which one?
    Savannah stepped back into the center and grabbed the first waitress she could find.
    “Hi, would you do me a big favor?”
    The waitress smiled, eager to please. “Sure, if I