Chapter 34
Holding Hez’s hand, Savannah wandered through their new home. The refinished floors gleamed, and the scents of paint, stain,
and polyurethane permeated the air. The kitchen cabinets held her supplies and utensils except for the single skillet still
at her house and a handful of old silverware and plates. She and Hez had picked out new dishes, Polish pottery she couldn’t
wait to use.
She followed Hez down the hall. The open door to Simon’s room invited her to enter, but she pulled it shut with a decisive
snap. “I can’t look at it right now. We have no guarantee Michael will ever let him stay overnight.”
Hez squeezed her fingers. “I’ll get to work on a visitation agreement.”
She caught his forced tone and knew he had his doubts as well. Michael would relish causing them as much pain as possible.
The torment he planned to inflict was far from over, and she needed to be prepared for anything he might dish out. All that
mattered was getting Simon through the damage his years spent with a psychopath like his grandfather were likely to cause.
Hez tugged at her hand. “Come to our room. Wait until you see it all done.” He led her to the massive main bedroom and took her straight to the room’s view of the sunset settling its red and gold rays over the water.
She caught her breath at the display of God’s handiwork. “I can’t believe we get to see that every evening.”
Turning toward the room, she took in the furnishings. A gorgeous comforter and pillows in shades of blue and white covered
the king bed she’d soon share with Hez, and she’d found a complementing blue rug that stretched under the bed. Bedside tables
held matching lamps, and a stack of books waited on her side of the bed.
She stepped closer to examine the titles. The newest Lisa Gardner book was on top. “I didn’t realize this was out yet.” Under
it were other favorite authors, including a new one by Robert Dugoni. “You know me so well.”
He folded her in his arms. “You are my favorite area of study.”
“I love our home so much. It would be perfect if only . . .”
“If only Simon could be with us.” He pressed his lips on the top of her hair.
“It’s so wrong, Hez. Justice is supposed to win, and yet it so often doesn’t. I don’t know how you continue to fight when
bad decisions like this one come down.”
His arms tightened around her, and he stiffened.
“This isn’t over, babe. I promise you Michael will pay for his crimes.
I’ll never give up no matter how long it takes.
I know he is responsible for Ella’s death, and I won’t be able to rest until the truth is out and he’s behind bars.
” His arms dropped away from her, and he turned toward the door.
“I started an email to Hope with suggestions for how to tie Michael to Erik’s disappearance.
I think I’ll go finish it and get it sent. ”
She caught his arm. The last thing she needed now was to lose him to his obsession with work. “Leave things to Hope, Hez,
at least until after our honeymoon. I’m weary, and I know you have to be as well. You’ve worked long and hard on all the problems
facing us. Let’s rest so we can be ready to fight again later. I don’t want to focus on anything but our upcoming wedding
for a while. Michael is so unpredictable, so let’s not provoke a battle until we’re ready to deal with him.” She cupped his
face in her palms. “And speaking of honeymoons, where are we going? You’ve been very cagey about it.”
They’d stayed in the Caribbean on their first honeymoon, but she wanted something completely fresh and different.
“It’s a surprise.”
“But how will I know what to pack?”
His blue eyes crinkled, and he waggled his eyebrows. “I have an accomplice for the packing dilemma.”
“Nora?”
“Let’s just say you don’t have to worry about packing. I have it all under control.” He took her in his arms again. “And you’re
right. The wedding is in two weeks, so let’s savor these last few days. We can finish the yard and buy any other furnishings
you want here before I finally get to carry you over the threshold.” His lips claimed hers.
All her worry fled, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and sank into his embrace.
She clung to him as the passion flared between them.
When she opened her eyes, they were sitting on the edge of the bed.
Hez’s intense gaze smoldered its way into her heart, and she was so very tempted to shut the door and stay right here with him.
He sighed and stood, tugging her to her feet. “Let’s go watch the sunset from the pier before I forget you don’t have that
ring on your finger yet.”
Hez understood her better than she understood herself sometimes. She clasped his hand and went with him.
Hez paced the empty Justice Chamber as he waited for Hope to call. He touched the plaque on the wall and murmured the words
like a prayer: “‘But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!’”
It certainly looked like the river of justice had been dammed and the stream of righteousness had failed, but appearances
could be deceiving. Michael had beaten them time after time, but Hez only needed to beat him once. If he could just catch
Michael in one of his many serious crimes, that would be enough. Michael would be behind bars and away from Simon—and unable
to interfere with Hez’s investigation of the crime that mattered most.
Hez picked up a framed picture of Ella from the corner of his little desk. She smiled up at the camera, on the verge of a
giggle. “Justice is coming, baby girl. Justice is coming.”
His phone buzzed and he accepted the call. “Hi, Hope. What’s up?”
“Thanks for that email about Michael Willard and Erik Andersen. Your instincts are as good as ever.”
He fought back rising elation. “Did you arrest Michael?”
She chuckled. “If we did, the DA would hold a press conference—and he’d kill me if I told anyone before he announced it. I’m actually calling with a question.”
He leaned against the side of the trefoil window and watched the workers attaching gutters to what Pierre had planned to call
Legare Hall. Savannah had done a remarkable job with it, turning it from a half-finished ruin into a Gothic Revival masterpiece.
It would be a campus jewel for generations. “Fire away.”
“What do you know about Jimbo Clayton?”
Hez searched his memory. “He’s part of the Willard clan, right? The name is vaguely familiar.”
“Do you have any information about him? Anything that might give us a clue to his location?”
“Maybe. I think his name came up once or twice in the report from the PI we hired. Why?”
She sighed. “We have a warrant for his arrest, but he got wind of it and ran.”
The dots connected. “The warrant is for the murder of Erik Andersen, isn’t it?”
She was silent for a heartbeat. “Confidentially, yes. Very confidentially.”
Hez punched the air. “I knew it! He forgot to turn off his phone, didn’t he?”
“Close. He turned off his phone—but he forgot to turn off his smartwatch. We were able to track him to Andersen’s house, through
Gum Swamp, and then to the spot where we found Andersen’s car. He stopped for a while in the swamp, so we took a cadaver dog
out there and found a femur belonging to Andersen. The DNA just came back.”
Hez pinched his lower lip as he absorbed the information. “Michael’s phone was off at the same time, wasn’t it?”
“Nope. On its charger at his home.”
Hez rubbed the bridge of his nose. “We never catch the smart ones, do we?”
“No. No, we don’t.”
A realization hit Hez. “Nora Craft is smart.”
“Uh, I guess so. Why? Where is your brain going?”
His brain was going back to Jess’s funeral, trying to picture everyone who had been there. “You worked with the PHPD on the
warrant for Clayton’s arrest, didn’t you?”
“Yes. It was in their jurisdiction and we’d caught the mole.”
“I don’t think so. Nora wouldn’t have used her own credentials to steal files from the Birmingham PD. That would have been
stupid, and Nora’s not stupid.”
“So who did it? And what about the security camera picture? The angle wasn’t great, but I think that’s Nora.”
Hez’s brain whirred. Who could he trust? “You, Jane Dixon, and I should meet. Now.”