Page 42 of Counter Attack

He did too. And soon. He checked his watch as he held the door for her and frowned. They were going to be in the middle of the five-o’clock rush hour. “Stairs or elevator?”

“I’m beat. How about the elevator?” she said.

“Sounds good.” They walked to the end of the hall, and he punched the down button.

She hesitated as the elevator doors silently opened. He was relieved to see it was empty, and they stepped inside.

Alexis punched the first-floor button then seemed to hold her breath as they plummeted six floors—at least that’s what it felt like to him. “Breathe,” he said, doing the same.

“I hate these things,” she muttered.

“Me too, especially fast ones like this one.” He was glad tosee the doors open. “The phone call to Marge. Anything new happen?”

“She’s been getting calls from media outlets all over the country, so she’s setting up a press conference for tomorrow afternoon. Can you be there?”

He held the outside door open. “Not my favorite thing, but I won’t let you face it alone.”

“Good. I hope you’ll give me a few pointers on the drive home.”

“Your first?”

She nodded. “That always fell to someone else.”

Nathan grinned. “Welcome to the real world,” he said as they approached his truck. He opened the passenger door and then jogged around to his side and climbed in. “How did the media learn about the murder?”

“Social media—TikTok in particular.”

“Mary Beth.” Nathan pulled out of the parking lot and retraced their earlier drive from Pearl Springs. Traffic was as bad as he’d feared, and neither of them spoke until he was out of Chattanooga.

Alexis was the first to break the silence. “I need a favor.”

That was a new wrinkle. Alexis never needed anything. “Your wish is my command.”

“You better wait until you hear what I want.”

“Can’t be that bad.”

“We’ll see. I need to understand that chess move. Do you have time to tutor me tonight? And by the way, Gram texted that I can bribe you with supper—country-fried steak, creamed potatoes, and English peas. And homemade biscuits and apple pie.”

His stomach growled, and Nathan realized he hadn’t eaten since breakfast and bet Alexis hadn’t either. “There’s no way I would turn that down.”

“Good, because we need to work out our strategy for this case, and I’m hoping Gramps will have some suggestions. Do you think that would be too much for him?”

He barely heard anything past “we need to work.” She wanted the two of them to work together? Miracles still happened. His good mood continued as they neared Pearl Springs. He handed her his phone. “We need an update before we discuss strategy. Would you call Jared and see if he’s learned anything? And put it on speaker,” he said. “That way we both can hear.”

“I will and then we’ll do the same thing with Harvey and Mark.”

What new information Nathan’s sergeant and the two Russell County deputies discovered would fill a small paragraph in a report. The only prints they found in the house belonged to Gina Norman and Tom Weaver.

The three had canvassed the neighborhood, but none of the neighbors had seen anything unusual. Most had no idea that someone had rented the house. Any activity the neighbors saw had been attributed to the teens who normally hung out there. By the time Alexis disconnected from Mark, they’d arrived at her grandparents’ house, and he parked behind the sheriff’s SUV.

Nathan unfastened his seat belt. “Guess you know this is going to be a hard case to crack.”

“Yeah.” A strand of her dark red hair had dropped across her face, and she blew it away. “The killer is smart, and so far he hasn’t made any mistakes.”

“Maybe brainstorming with your grandfather will help.”

“So you don’t think it will be too much for him?”

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