Page 37 of Colton First Responder (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

“Not at all.” But after taking a glazed doughnut from the bag, along with a napkin, Savannah said, “So what brought you here today? What questions do you have?”

“Well, out of curiosity, how did you happen to hire Ian Wright as your lawyer? Did you already have a professional relationship with him?”

“No. I...well, I did have a local lawyer, John Morton, representing me in my divorce. When I recognized that I needed a criminal attorney when...when it appeared that Zane had been killed, I asked him for a referral. He suggested a couple but said that Ian, whose office was also in his building, had experience in different legal areas but had recently successfully defended a client in a murder case in a nearby town. I looked that up on the internet, thought he sounded good, so I called him and he came to see me at my home before the cops came for me, and I hired him.”

“Got it,” Grayson said.

“Why did you ask that?” Savannah felt a bit puzzled.

“Well, I spent some time on the computer yesterday checking into Mr. Wright’s background, as well as Schuyler Wells’s. And funny thing.”

Both curiosity and anticipated dismay rocketed through Savannah. “What?”

“It turned out that your supposed buddy, Schuyler the real estate mogul, had a lawsuit filed against his company a few years ago. Nothing criminal, but a civil suit. And guess who his attorney was?”

“Ian.” Savannah knew better than to turn that into a question—not with the way Grayson was staring at her with both inquisitiveness and compassion. “But...but Ian never mentioned that, despite all the lies about my supposedly having an affair with Sc

huyler leading me to murder Zane.”

“My initial reaction is to assume they were in collusion over this,” Grayson said. He reached across the table and grasped Savannah’s hand with empathy. “Maybe with Zane, too, if he really is alive, though I didn’t find anything specific to make that more than a possibility.”

“So Ian had a reason to not represent me fairly? He was somehow in cahoots at least with Schuyler, and possibly Zane, too? But why? Though that would explain why he wasn’t able to get me out on bail...”

Savannah felt like putting her head down on the table and crying. What was she going to do now? How could she ever prove her attorney was a phony? Especially when she didn’t dare contact the authorities for any reason, at least not at the moment.

“I... I don’t know what to do about that,” she finally said to Grayson.

“I have some thoughts,” he said. “No one is aware that I know where you are, but since I found the van you were in I can certainly express professional curiosity as a first responder. In fact, I have an idea how to introduce myself to your lawyer to see his reaction. I can lie a little and tell Mr. Wright I’ve been hired by local authorities to try to help find you since I did discover the van you were in, plus, thanks to my background, I know the area pretty well. We’ll see what his reaction is to that. But I won’t do it without your okay.”

“You’ve certainly got my okay,” Savannah said, feeling shocked by this new twist on her situation. “I’ll be eager to hear his reaction.”

“I’ll let you know how it goes as soon as I can,” Grayson said.

“I... Things keep getting crazier and crazier.” Savannah shook her head, partly to keep the tears welling in her eyes from falling. “I just don’t know how I’m going to get out of this.”

“We’ll figure it out.” Grayson captured her gaze with his own.

“I wish I could be there when you question my wonderful lawyer. Maybe he really is as good as he tells me, and the fact he once knew Schuyler is irrelevant.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what he says when I can.”

“Right,” Savannah said. “And ask him who he thinks the most likely suspects are in Zane’s murder, excluding me, of course.” Savannah had already expressed some of her ideas to Ian, including members of Zane’s bank staff, since she’d gotten the sense from some things her ex had said, that he might have played games with the company’s income and blamed it on them, or maybe some of the women he’d had affairs with, but she had nothing that even barely resembled evidence.

And even if she got all the things she was going to request Grayson to get for her, it wouldn’t make sense for her, whoever she became, to accompany him.

But she would broach the subject of his obtaining a good disguise for her before he left.

* * *

That greeting. Grayson had been only partially kidding when he’d told Savannah that from now on he’d say he wasn’t coming, then show up. Both times he’d visited her now, they’d wound up kissing.

He took a long swig of coffee as he remained at the table with her, half wishing it was alcohol, even at this hour of the morning.

He wanted to hang out here a lot longer, but he needed to leave now to get started on his upgraded research for Savannah. Also, he had to spend a few hours in his office getting in touch with some of his police and fire contacts to make sure they were happy with First Hand’s response after the quake, and to seek more assignments.

Besides, he wanted to make some suggestions regarding official preparations for any future quakes. After all, he wanted, needed, to keep a good relationship with all of them.

So, as much as he regretted leaving Savannah, he said, “I’d better get on my way now. I can see you’re doing okay, and I’m glad you consented to my talking to your lawyer the way we discussed—although he’s likely to claim attorney-client privilege and all that if I ask him some of the pertinent questions I have in mind.”

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