Midnight Secrets

chapter

SEVEN


TEN YEARS LATER

PRESENT DAY

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

“Has the jury reached a verdict?” Judge Henry Houseman asked the group of twelve men and women to his left.

The jury foreman, her expression carefully blank to give no indication of the result, answered solemnly, “We have, your honor.”

As the court clerk took the jury’s decision from the foreman’s hand and handed it to the judge, Assistant District Attorney Savannah Wilde stood behind the prosecutor’s table, still and stiff. Though she had been through this process dozens of times, that moment of not knowing always twisted every muscle in her body into intricate knots of tension. She always found herself asking the same questions. Had she proven the case? Had she done everything she could to bring justice to the victim? Was this scumbag going to be set free like too many others had been?

His craggy face characteristically expressionless, Judge Houseman silently read the verdict. The anxiety throughout the room was like a living, palpable entity as the tension increased to a fever pitch. The entire audience held a collective breath, waiting.

The judge nodded at the foreman, who then read, “We the jury find the defendant Donny Lee Grimes guilty of murder in the first degree.”

Breaths were expelled, some with anger, most with relief. Savannah fought the urge to shout, “Hallelujah!” Exhausted she might be, but the long days and nights she had worked this case had paid off. The murdering son of a bitch was going away, hopefully for a lifetime.

As the judge finished his instructions and set the date for sentencing, she glanced over at her boss, District Attorney Reid Garrison. Though his expression remained impassive, triumph gleamed in his eyes and the tension lines around his mouth had eased. They had needed this win. Not only because Donny Lee Grimes was a murdering creep who’d taken the life of a young father and husband, but because their record lately had been dismal. Watching murderers and rapists walk out the door due to technicalities or the prosecutors’ inability to prove their case was not only gut-wrenching but reflected badly on the entire office. The mayor had chewed out Reid so many times lately, Savannah was surprised he still had an ass.

And the ass chewing he got from his superiors he gladly turned around and gave to his own people. Savannah had been on the receiving end much more than she cared to remember.

But all of that could be set aside today. This was a good day for justice. Donny Lee’s connections hadn’t saved him. The X-Kings, the gang he’d once been a prominent member of, had apparently cut him loose. Only a few veiled threats had been made against her—prompting an increase in her security—but nothing she hadn’t been through before. Whatever influence Donny Lee once had with them was obviously gone.

The instant the judge stood and stepped down from behind the bench, Savannah allowed her tense muscles to finally relax. Exhausted, she dropped into the chair behind her and released a giant relieved whoosh of air. One more scumbag off the streets. One more victim’s family had been given a slight amount of peace.

She ignored the weakness in her knees and the shakiness of her limbs. Having lived with the feeling for the last few weeks, she knew full well what it meant. She was on her final reserves. This was her last case for two weeks. Fourteen days of doing nothing more taxing than ordering takeout and turning pages of novels. She was about to take the first lengthy but very well deserved vacation of her career.

The sound of a ruckus caught her attention. Her head jerked up, too late. A large male body flew across the table toward her. A glimpse of Donny Lee’s pockmarked face, red with fury, was all she saw before his two-hundred-pound body slammed into hers. Breath left her with stunning suddenness and Savannah crashed to the floor.

From a distance, she heard curses, screams, and shouts roar through the room. The disgusting man on top of her grunted almost unintelligible words of warning in her ear. Though dazed, Savannah wasn’t too incapacitated to lift her knee and jam it directly into Donny Lee’s groin.

Howls and curses almost split her eardrum. Donny Lee was lifted off her and Savannah could at last breathe. She sat up and leaned against the railing behind her, shaking her head to clear it.

The worried and furious face of her boss appeared above her. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she answered, holding out her hand for him to help her up.

Eyeing her carefully, he pulled her to her feet. The lines around his mouth and eyes had deepened. “We’ll charge the bastard with assault.”

Savannah breathed shakily as she flexed all moveable body parts, assuring herself that nothing was broken. The ache in her shoulders and back told her that she was going to be moving slowly and carefully for the next couple of days. Those fourteen days of doing absolutely nothing were going to be even more welcome.

As Donny Lee was hauled out of the room, shouting obscenities and threats to the room at large, Savannah kept a careful eye on him. He’d gotten away once; she wasn’t betting on him not being able to do it again. She’d be ready this time. When the door closed behind him, she allowed herself to slump against the railing for support.

“You sure you don’t need to go to the doctor?” Reid asked.

Savannah shook her head. “I’m fine. Just going to be sore for a few days.”

“That bastard say something to you?”

“Nothing new. That it wasn’t over … that they were coming for me.” The silence after her statement had her gazing up at her boss. “What’s wrong?”

“Maybe you need to extend your vacation till after sentencing.”

A trill of fear swept through her. Not work for two months? She would go crazy. “I had to work my ass off just to take these two weeks. There’s no way I can afford more—there are too many cases for the ADAs already.”

“We’ll make do. I’d rather have you alive and able to come back to work.”

“Reid, seriously. Donny Lee was blowing smoke. Besides, I have police protection, I’ll be fine.”

He shook his head. “That police protection will be going away in a day or so.” The stern, determined look that all his ADAs hated crossed his face. “I could order you.”

A huff of exasperation caused the pain in her back to increase. Dammit, she wished she’d kneed Donny Lee even harder.

Reid continued his argument. “Just because we believe the X-Kings cut Donny Lee loose doesn’t mean he doesn’t have some old friends who wouldn’t mind coming after you as a favor. As of now, you’re off—two months minimum.”

“I can’t—”

Reid added, “Of course, I can’t pay you full salary.”

Though money wasn’t scarce for her and he knew it, that wasn’t the issue. “I’ll hire a bodyguard. There’s no reason for—”

He snorted. “Hell, Savannah, you’d think I was sending you to jail. Get out of town; get some sun. Go visit your sisters or take a long cruise. You’ve been working nonstop for more than three years without a break. You’ve got more vacation time built up than I do.”

That was an exaggeration but he was right. Other than the one-weekend-a-month visit with her sisters, she hadn’t taken any time off in years. And she wouldn’t have taken these two weeks she had planned if it wasn’t for the fact that she was just so damn tired.

But two months? An image of the Wilde mansion, empty and lonely, popped into her head. With two months to spare, no matter how much she dreaded the event, she had no excuses.

Her grandfather had passed away over two years ago. Other than the quick trip back to Midnight for his funeral, she hadn’t allowed herself to think about what needed to be done. And neither had her sisters. Without her grandfather’s larger-than-life presence, going back home had been too painful to face. As much as she hated the thought of returning to a place that held so many bad memories, it was going to have to be done at some point.

Her sisters wouldn’t be able to spare the time. Samantha was a homicide detective in Atlanta and Sabrina was a private investigator in Tallahassee. Their caseloads were too heavy to take that much time off. Would she ever have a better opportunity to pack up their belongings and put the house on the market?

“You’re not going to argue anymore?” Reid’s voice indicated he was a bit disappointed.

Laughing, she shook her head. “Nope. I think you’re right. I’ll head back to the office and brief everyone. Then I’m off …” She swallowed hard. “For two months.” A twinge of panic shot through her as she said those words. Work was her life, her panacea. Could she function that long without it?

Of course she could. She was going to be busy, just a different kind of busy.

Reid pulled his cellphone from his pocket, punched a key, and then held it to his ear. “I’ll make sure you’ve got security until you leave.”

Savannah nodded. Once she was out of town, they could all breathe a little easier. By the time she came back, Donny Lee would be in prison and any threats should be worthless. And she would be rested and relaxed. She would also have accomplished an important task that should have been handled two years ago.

Gathering her case file and notes, she shoved them into her briefcase. This definitely wasn’t her idea of a vacation. Not only would she be dealing with the volatile emotions of saying goodbye to her grandfather one last time, she would again become immersed in the memories of her parents’ deaths. Murder-suicide sounded so clinical and cold, but when it happened to the ones you loved most in the world, there was nothing clinical about it. Even eighteen years later, her stomach still twisted in grief as she remembered those dark days.

Her mind veered away from the other issue she had diligently forced herself not to think about since she had heard the news. Midnight had a new chief of police. No doubt she would be running into him. Seeing Zach Tanner after all these years wasn’t something she even wanted to contemplate. What do you say to your first love? The first and only man who’d ever broken your heart? The one man you’d given your total trust to only to have it thrown back in your face? And the only man who, at the mere thought of him, could still cause shivers of arousal to strum through your body?

The best thing she could do was stay out of his way. She and Zach had nothing to say to each other. That ship had sailed a long time ago. And all of the hurt and sorrow from that time was just another dark moment in her life that she had put behind her.

As she made her way slowly out of the courtroom, a painful and humiliating thought flitted through her mind. Just because she remembered everything, down to the smallest detail of their short romance, didn’t mean that Zach did. All the promises he’d made, including the last, most important one, had been lies. So what made her think he remembered her at all?

MIDNIGHT, ALABAMA

Police Chief Zach Tanner wasn’t having a good day. It’d started too damn early. Getting a call in the middle of the night that Mr. Dickens’s cattle were roaming free wasn’t exactly murder and mayhem, but it was something he’d had to handle. By the time they’d been rounded up and Mr. Dickens had once again promised to get his fence repaired, it was long past dawn. Going home and grabbing a couple of hours’ sleep hadn’t been feasible. Now, five cups of coffee later, he was looking at the graffitied wall of Henson’s Grocery, one of the oldest stores in Midnight. Other than the misspellings, Zach couldn’t help but think that it actually looked better this way. Old man Henson had put off painting for years, but thanks to some idiots with nothing better to do, it looked like the old store was finally going to get a face-lift.

“What’re you aiming to do about it, Chief?”

The sarcastic tone of his last word bounced off Zach with no impact. He and old man Henson had a past, and no matter how many years went by, neither of them would ever forget it. Which was just damn fine with Zach. Torturing the old bastard with his presence was, in its own way, a reward in itself.

Still, as chief of police, it was his duty to serve and protect even holier-than-thou useless pricks like Henson. Problem was, with only three deputies in a town of fourteen hundred people, Zach had learned early that certain issues couldn’t get as much attention as he would have liked. But this type of vandalism would continue until either the culprits were caught or they found something else to occupy their time.

“I’ll put one of my deputies on it, but be warned, there’s not a lot of evidence here. Might want to reconsider those security cameras we talked about.”

Brown tobacco juice splattered, landing barely three inches from Zach’s boot. Henson wiped his tobacco-filled mouth with his sleeve and snarled, “Chief Mosby would’ve made this his number one priority.”

That was because Mosby hadn’t been above taking a few under-the-table bribes to help him choose his priorities. Henson had made it more than clear that he expected to be able to continue that service. At first Zach had laughed in his face, amazed at the a*shole’s audacity. That’d pissed the old man off but good. Then, when Zach had turned him down with the not-so-subtle warning that bribing an officer of the law was illegal, the man had been furious. Since then, Henson’s hostility had become even more blatant.

Letting the man rile him wasn’t worth Zach’s time or energy. “I’ll have Deputy Odom come by in a few minutes.” With that, Zach turned away, ignoring Henson’s mutterings.

He and Henson had never been on good terms. He hadn’t known for a long time why that was and could have lived quite happily without ever knowing. Zach had just assumed that poor people pissed the man off. Of course, it hadn’t helped that a teenaged Zach had been caught twice stealing food. The fact that it’d been from the dumpster in the back of the grocery store hadn’t mattered to Henson. Until the trash collectors came by, that “gal-derned garbage in those dumpsters was rightfully his and nobody had a right to touch it.”

He slid into his police cruiser, cranked the engine, and headed back to his office. The pile of paperwork on his desk wasn’t something he was looking forward to, but it had to be done. When he’d agreed to become police chief, he’d made a commitment to do the best job he could.

Coming back to Midnight was only supposed to be a temporary thing for Zach. After two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, he’d left the army with no real clear idea of what he wanted other than peace and solitude. He’d taken the time to finish up his degree and then had returned home with one specific goal in mind: sell the old house for what he could get out of it and then leave all the memories behind.

His mother had signed the house over to him when she and Leonard moved from Midnight. With Josh gone from home, too, and no one looking out for the upkeep, he had figured it would be in bad shape and he had been right. But something remarkable happened. In the midst of scraping, painting, and refurbishing the small, ramshackle house where he’d grown up, Zach had somehow found what he was looking for—a home.

Staying in Midnight made absolutely no sense other than the feeling that this was where he belonged. He had been treated like garbage by many of the good citizens of Midnight, so maybe it was his own twisted sense of humor that made him stay. Or maybe it was self-punishment for the sins he had committed. Most likely it was to piss certain people off. Whatever the reason, Zach was here to stay.

Finding a job hadn’t been as big of a problem as he’d anticipated. Once his house was done to his satisfaction, he’d had a half dozen people approach him about doing work on their homes. Within a matter of months, he had a small business going with three employees and more job requests than he could accept. Though many folks still remembered the poor skinny kid that was always in trouble, Zach had no real problems until Henson’s grocery store had been broken into. And who had Chief Mosby come to question? None other than Zach Tanner, former juvenile delinquent and still number one on Henson’s shit list.

Zach had been torn between slamming his fist into Harlan Mosby’s face and busting out laughing. He’d done neither … just quietly cooperated. Two days later, the punks had been caught.

There’d been no apology from Mosby or Henson; Zach hadn’t expected one. However, Mosby’s attitude had made him wonder just how soon he’d be called in to answer questions on another crime. It’d taken exactly a week. When Mosby had no idea of a suspect, Zach became his go-to guy. Though he was usually slow to rile, a fed-up and pissed-off Zach wasn’t something most people wanted to tangle with. Ones who did lived to regret it. A very public confrontation had taken place in the middle of city hall. The results had been mixed. Many people had enjoyed watching a snarling Zach give Mosby his comeuppance. A few wanted to run Zach out of town. But Zach had gotten his desired result—the chief off his back.

Six months later, Mosby was calling it quits because of poor health and Midnight was in the market for a new police chief. The only person to step up for the job was Deputy Clark Dayton, a man who appeared poised to follow in Mosby’s crooked footsteps. Time hadn’t improved Dayton. He was still the same jerk he’d been in high school. At the urging of a few newfound friends, Zach had agreed to interview for the position. Much to everyone’s surprise, including his own, he’d gotten the job.

Odd how he felt so at home in a place that held so many bad memories.

As if it had a mind of its own, the patrol car turned onto Wildefire Lane—something it did at least twice a day. Early on, he had told himself it was because he was the police chief and therefore it was his duty to keep an eye on vacant properties that might invite vandalism and theft. Empty homes were prime targets for all sorts of crimes. But he had long stopped trying to convince himself of something he knew wasn’t true, especially since this had become a ritual long before he became police chief. No, he drove by the grand mansion for one reason only. Midnight held bad memories except for two magical months. And the woman who owned the house on Wildefire Lane had been the reason for that magic.

Ten years had passed since he’d seen her; held her in his arms, tasted her lips, heard her laughter, basked in her smile. She had gone on to fulfill her dreams. He had told her she would and he was glad to know that he’d been right. They’d been two kids who’d found what they needed at the time. Then life had interrupted in all its realistic and dirty glory.

As he came to the long drive leading to the mansion, Zach stopped the car. Even though it had stood empty since Daniel Wilde passed on, the residence was kept in perfect condition. Caretakers came weekly to mow the lawn, and a cleaning service dusted the furniture twice a week. He’d heard that fresh flowers were added to vases twice a week, too. With this place being the location of one of the most famous murder-suicides in Alabama in the twentieth century, gossip was rife about every aspect of the mansion. Some had even whispered that the ghost of Maggie Wilde still roamed the halls, calling out for her daughters. A few had claimed seeing a blond woman in white standing on the second-floor portico. Southerners did love a good ghost story.

The mansion was the traditional plantation-style home. Giant white columns, three on each side of the long, narrow porch, were so large and sturdy-looking, they appeared to be holding up the entire structure. White rocking chairs gave off the appearance of restful indolence, and blood-red roses creeping up the trellises splashed vivid color against the stark white background of the brick. Moss-draped giant elms and oaks hovered protectively over magnolia, mimosa, and weeping willow trees. In late spring and early summer, the scent of the flowering trees, along with the thick fragrance from the wild honeysuckle in the woods behind the mansion, was almost overwhelming in its sweetness.

A few people still came by on their way to Gulf Shores or Biloxi to take pictures and gawk at one of the most famous mansions in Mobile County. When Zach looked at the massive picturesque structure, he saw something else. In his mind’s eye, he envisioned wavy, honey-gold hair that covered slender, delicate shoulders, eyes the color of new spring grass, and a smile like the first hint of summer after a bitter cold winter. And beneath that beauty, a genuinely sweet and kind spirit. Falling for Savannah had been so damn easy. Even ten years later, not a day went by that he didn’t think about her. And not a day went by that he didn’t curse himself for what he’d done to her.

The radio sputtered and the dispatcher, Hazel Adkins, croaked in her smoker’s voice, “Chief, you coming back to the office anytime soon?”

Zach shook off his memories and grabbed the radio mic. “Headed that way right now. What’s up?”

“Got a call from Reid Garrison, district attorney up in Nashville, Tennessee. Said he needed to talk to you real soon. Sounded kind of urgent-like.”

Zach’s heart stuttered. Savannah worked in the DA’s office in Nashville. Did this have anything to do with her? He mentally shook his head. No. There was no reason the DA would even know about his past relationship with one of his prosecutors. This was probably about a case. Maybe some criminal was headed their way.

“Give me the number and I’ll call him back right now.”

While Hazel rattled off the number, in a small part of Zach’s mind, temptation warred with his good sense. Should he ask about Savannah? As he pounded the number into his cellphone, he knew temptation would win out. Besides, finding out how she was doing was normal. They’d grown up in the same town. In fact, it’d be damn strange if he didn’t mention her. Right?

Five minutes later, Zach ended the call and dropped the phone on the seat beside him. There’d been no need to ask about Savannah. The call had been all about her. Not only was she coming home, the DA wanted him to be aware of some threats that’d been made against her.

Zach checked the rearview mirror and then stepped on the gas pedal, his mind whirring with myriad thoughts. He’d known that by coming back here to live, he’d see her again. The mansion was prime real estate and even in this economy would bring a pretty penny. He’d figured that she and her sisters would return someday and put the place on the market. Now that the day had finally arrived, Zach zeroed in on two major thoughts: It had almost killed him to let her go the first time. How the hell was he going to watch her come back to Midnight for only a short time and not try to convince her to stay forever?

And just how much did she hate him for breaking her heart?