I do.” She let go of her roller board and in a split second, he picked her up and whirled around with her as if she were as light as a feather. Landing on both feet, they hugged. It seemed like the longest . . . and the shortest hug she’d ever had.
“Fincher, I don’t get it. Why are you here?”
“Same as you, Hailey. The Julie Love murder trial. The prosecutors told me yesterday they needed you on the stand. I’m here because I arrested the whiney little SOB. He was up in Atlanta with his new girlfriend . . .”
“He’s out of town with a girlfriend . . . that soon after his wife disappeared?”
“Yep. Adams was in Atlanta for one of those ‘weekend getaways’ they always advertise in USA Today. It’s something like a dinner and a weekend stay at one of the luxury hotels. So long story short, Adams had a coupon.”
“So he’s cheap?”
“Extremely, but he doesn’t let his lady friends find that out. He had a coupon for the hotel and a coupon for the swanky dinner he took the girlfriend to. I got him the next morning, getting his hair highlighted . . .”
“His hair highlighted?” She didn’t even try to hide the ridicule.
“I knew you’d love that part, Hailey . . . him getting his hair done while search crews are still out looking for his wife and baby. Anyway, so they find the body down off Tybee and send an APB out for Adams. Got a tip about the salon there in Buckhead, some fancy-schmancy place. I race over and make the collar.”
“How’d he take it, Fincher?”
“Take what?”
“The arrest. You know, him knowing that somebody, specifically the police, saw through his BS.”
“The arrest.” Fincher let out a laugh. “Cool as a cucumber, Hailey. Slick would be a better word to describe him . . . tall, good-looking . . . and slick. He’ll be a hard nut to crack.”
“A hard nut to crack? Fincher, he won’t crack.”
“Why do you say that, Hailey? I’ve watched you crack the best of them on the stand.”
“Number one, Todd Adams will never take the stand. He could never withstand cross-examination on all his lovers. Plus, his whereabouts the day Julie Love goes missing are just too sketchy. His story doesn’t make sense. Then, he places himself too close to where the body eventually washes up! Fishing!”
She thought for a moment before going on. “Second, his whole life is a lie. The whole scholarship story was a lie. He got kicked off the team after one semester. Couldn’t cut it. No discipline. All the lies he told his wife and her family, his family, his friends, and all the other women . . . they’ll all come crashing down on him like a house of cards. He can’t be a liar in front of his own family, his friends. Put money on it. He’ll stick to his story no matter what.”
“You think?”
“I don’t think it, I know it. He’s got to save face, so his family and friends can still have the option of believing he was framed . . . that he’s wrongly accused.”
“So when did you know he was guilty?”
“The first night I heard about the story.”
“The first night? How?”
“It was the dog part. You know . . . the dog getting loose in the park while Julie was walking it, but the dog leash was still hanging by the door. She’s nine months pregnant. No way would she take the dog to the park without a leash and risk it getting loose. Think of her in that condition, digging through bushes and brambles trying to coax back a dog.”
“Ah . . . the dog leash. I get it. So you do want a ride to the Hyatt?”
“How the hay did you know I’m staying there? You know I still have death threats hanging over my head down here left over from my old cases. The guys I put in for twenty to life are starting to get out on early release.”
“Hailey . . . I know you always travel under your mother’s maiden name. I know all your tricks . . . OK?”
“OK.” Hailey smiled.
“You brought your .38, right? I know how you hate to carry, but you made a lot of enemies in the courthouse . . . and the jail.”
Hailey winced visibly. Fincher realized he hit a sore spot and felt bad about it. “You hungry?” Switching subjects, Fincher hoisted up her bag over his shoulder with one smooth pull.
“Who’s paying?” Hailey flashed a smile.
“The county, baby girl! I got a per diem! Fifty bucks a day!”
“Fifty dollars? Let’s go crazy! Pizza or cafeteria?” On county salaries, those two had always been their favorites.
“Pizza. We can even splurge and get a salad.”
“Man, Fincher, you sure know how to live!”
The two headed out, side by side, through the automatic door at the front of the Savannah airport and toward the parking deck.
“You’re driving the county Crown Vic, I hope?”
“You know it. Nothing like a county-issue Crown Victoria.”
“Hey, they’re not much on style, but they’ve got good air conditioners. Don’t knock it.”
“I’d never knock the Crown Vic! We solved a lot of cases in that old brown Crown Victoria.”
“Tell it, Fincher. We sure did.”
“We sure did, Hailey.”
With their years together hanging between them in the air, they crossed the asphalt lanes in front of passenger pickup, across a concrete island loaded with flowers, and on toward the decks.
Fincher was carrying his police radio in one hand, and the low and monotonous staccato of numbers being called out by police dispatch was the only sound piercing the hot afternoon air. But the shadows were already lengthening; the Savannah sun was just now tipping down toward the horizon. It would be dark soon.
“Mom, I swear, I didn’t do it. I didn’t murder her. It wasn’t like that at all. I told you what . . .”
“Hush. Shhhhh.” She looked around her sharply. “I told you to never mention that . . . that incident again . . . never.”
Looking deep into her son’s eyes, she held his hand across the table. The trial was set to start tomorrow morning.
Normally, inmates were strictly disallowed to be alone with anyone other than their lawyers, but in this case, the rules had somehow been bent a little. Todd Adams was the most high-profile defendant ever housed at the old Chatham County Jail. So when Adams’s mother showed up along with his lawyer, who kept a deep tan year-round and had a penchant for wearing sunglasses indoors
