A Grid For Murder by Casey Mayes Read Free Book Online Page A

we could come up with on such short notice.”
    “Let me get something to write these down on,” I said, diving into my bag for a pen and a piece of paper. They were there in case any good puzzle ideas—or, more likely, snippet thoughts—came to me while I was out. I couldn’t build a puzzle in my mind any more than I could play three games of chess at the same time, but it was impossible to predict when creativity would strike.
    I looked at the paper in my purse and saw that I’d scribbled,
Compare autumn with computers in next snippet.
What in the world could that possibly mean? I flipped the paper over and looked expectantly at Barbara.
    She’d been watching me, and before she spoke, she took another full ten seconds to study me. “Remember, no one can know that I’ve fed you this information. Agreed?”
    “Not even Zach?” I asked.
    “No, I’m sorry, but this has to be between the two of us alone.”
    “My husband was the chief of police for Charlotte, North Carolina,” I said with a little more stiffness than I intended. “Trust me when I tell you that he knows how to keep a secret.”
    “I’m sorry, but I insist,” she said. I could tell from the look in her eyes that she wasn’t going to back down, so anything I said would just be a waste of good breath.
    I put the paper and pen back in my bag and stood. “Then I’m sorry I bothered you. I do appreciate the thought.”
    “Where are you going?” Barbara looked absolutely startled by my reaction to her demand. I doubted that many folks had told her no before.
    “If I can’t tell my husband, I don’t want to know anything you’ve got to say. It’s as simple as that.”
    Barbara frowned, clearly in uncharted waters. “Even if it means not finding the real killer?”
    “Even then,” I said as I headed for the door.
    Barbara snapped out, “You can’t bluff me, Savannah; I’m too good at reading character for that to work.”
    “I wouldn’t dream of trying to make you back down. I know better. That’s why I’m just going to give up and start digging around town myself.”
    “No one’s going to talk to you,” she said in a threatening voice as I headed for the back door.
    “Maybe not. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
    I was at the door when she said with an air of finality, “You’ll be back.”
    I turned to face her, and it took every ounce of energy I had to keep smiling. “Barbara, if there’s one thing in my life that I stand by, it’s my relationship with my husband. I’m sure I could get along fine without him, and he could probably do the same, but there’s something magical about life when we’re together, and I wouldn’t do anythingto risk that, ever, not even if my very life depended on it.”
    I left her with that, and as I closed the door, the frown on Barbara’s face was obvious. She’d tried to back me down on one of the few things on earth that I would never budge from, and she’d lost. I’d probably pay for my disobedience, but if that meant that my reputation around town would take a hit, it was worth it.
    I’d meant every word I’d said. There was nothing more important to me than my marriage, and I would never do anything that might harm it in the slightest way. The sooner folks around town realized that, the better off we’d all be.
    M Y PRINCIPLES WERE ALL WELL AND GOOD, BUT THEY weren’t going to help me find a killer and clear my name. Now that I’d lost my first and best chance of putting together a list of folks who might want to see Joanne come to harm, I’d have to formulate a backup plan. I returned to my car, but I made no attempt to start the engine until I had a specific destination in mind. As I went over all the people I’d met in Parson’s Valley over the past few years, I thought of—and just as quickly discarded—most of the people I’d ever met there. Sure, there were plenty of folks I’d share a seat with at the Saturday night buffet on Town Square, and some