Chapter 28
Thursday evening,
Savannah’s home
After she pulled into her carport, Savannah sat in the car for a few minutes taking deep breaths and trying to calm herself. She didn’t want to worry Edward with her act of bad judgment, but she had chosen to ignore his advice and the attack had happened. He deserved to know about it.
“Where did you get those cuts?” Edward asked her as soon as she walked into the living room. “What happened?”
Savannah lifted a hand to feel her cheek, and her hand came away spotted with blood. “It must have been the gravel.”
“What gravel? Tell me how, luv.” Edward motioned for her to follow him down the hallway to the single bathroom. He opened the mirrored medicine cabinet and took out the small first aid kit. “I thought you were only going to talk to some of the local business owners.”
“That’s exactly right. But just as I was leaving, it occurred to me to see if Samuel was hiding out in his rented room. His situation sounds a little Dickensian to me.”
“Good plan, then what?” He pulled out a small tube of cream and a packet of cotton balls and put them on the counter. He grabbed a clean washcloth, wet it in the sink, and lathered up with antibacterial soap.
“Ugh! You know I hate that stuff.”
“You might, but I’m going to clean up this little mess. When was your last tetanus shot?”
“Sometime last year after one of my more serious glassblowing burns.”
“Okay, that’s recent enough.” He gently washed her cheek and used her hairdryer to blow her face dry. “Go on. Tell me the rest of the story.” He opened the tube of antiseptic cream.
“Ouch!” Savannah yelped. “That stings!”
“Oh, don’t be a baby. You’re tougher than this. Get on with it.”
“I crossed the sidewalk into the adjacent alley and our famous white car came barreling down the street and turned into the little alleyway. The only way to save myself was to scramble onto the hood of the Mini Cooper. That’s where I got the peppering of gravel. I scrambled up on the roof as quick as I could.”
“As soon as I finish here, you have to call Officer Williams and report this as a threat on your life.”
“But . . .”
“No buts. She needs to know what happened. It’s not right to keep information from her that could help the investigation.”
“I know, I know!” Savannah could hear herself yelling. She swallowed and dropped her head. “I’m sorry. I’m just embarrassed. After all that blustering that I can manage a simple interview, I blew it big-time.”
Edward kissed the top of her head. “It’s a wise investigator who learns from her mistakes.”
“If I hadn’t been keeping up with my tai chi classes, I don’t think I would have made the leap so quickly. Those classes saved me.”
Even though it was late, and she wanted nothing more than Edward’s best comforting embrace, Savannah called in the incident to Officer Williams.