I sat back from the table and put my hands in my lap. “You’re right. I’m not a lawyer. But I’d really hate for the two of you to be looking so hard at Miguel that you miss the real killer. How embarrassing would that be, especially since the race will be broadcast nationwide.”

I could see that made them think a bit. They excused themselves and went to talk in the corner by the drink machine. Delia, who’d stood behind me like a bodyguard, squeezed my shoulder and smiled down at me.

After a few minutes of discussion, interspersed with pointing, grunting, and arms flailing in the air, the two detectives from Charlotte came back to the table.

“Okay. We’re going to look for Tina Gerard to corroborate what you’ve told us, Zoe. We’re going to release Miguel, for now. If you’d like to wait up front again, he’ll join you there.”

I thanked them, feeling stupidly satisfied. We hadn’t really won the war, just a small battle.

Delia and I walked out of the room and back down the hallway.

“They didn’t have jack on him or they wouldn’t have let him go so easy,” she said.

“I think you’re right. At least we can get him out of here and go to Birmingham.”

“Yeah. We have to think of something to blow those Our Daily Bread people out of the race. We’re never gonna win following behind them all the time.”

I agreed with her. “We’ll have to work on it. We still have Birmingham.”

“Maybe I should go shopping again. Maybe my clothes aren’t right.”

I didn’t think it was her clothes, but I didn’t say so. It was wonderful how engaged she was in helping out. I had the best team in the world.

Miguel finally walked through the door from the long hall. Delia and I jumped up and hugged him. He looked tired. His black shirt and jeans were rumpled. I hadn’t noticed that morning that he had dark stubble on his face. And his hair was almost as messy as mine.

I liked the look.

“I was wondering what happened,” he said. “They could’ve kept me a lot longer.”

“Not with us coming to the rescue,” I added with a smile.

“Let’s get out of here.” Delia’s eyes narrowed as she looked at two uniformed officers near the front door. “We don’t want them to change their minds.”

“I agree.” Miguel put an arm around each of us. “Let’s get out of here while we still can.”

TWENTY-ONE

On the drive to Birmingham, I filled Miguel in on what Tina had told me.

“It sounds like she’s had a rough time,” he said.

She’s had a rough time? “All she had to do was wait and come with me to get you out,” I reminded him. “That doesn’t seem like such a big deal.”

“I was surprised that they hadn’t talked to her yet about hiring me to kill Alex.” Miguel looked out the side window as we drove through rain-soaked Georgia toward Alabama.

He’d wanted me to drive, and I didn’t pass up the chance. It was good to be behind the wheel of something besides the Biscuit Bowl for a change.

“She said they talked to her about killing Alex. Maybe hiring you was part of that.” I passed a slower-moving truck that had been in front of us on the highway. Whee! This baby could fly.

“I don’t know. Detectives Helms and Marsh were sloppy interrogators. I don’t think they really have a clue what’s going on. They knew about Tina calling me the night before we left Mobile. They knew about the money. Other than that, there wasn’t anything substantial. I had an alibi for Reggie’s death, the detective’s hit-and-run in Charlotte, and Alex’s murder. They were spinning their wheels, hoping I’d contribute something to help them.”

“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Delia said from the backseat, “but I think Tina is setting you up, Miguel. You’re too nice to see it.”

I agreed with her. Even though Tina seemed sincere about Miguel’s predicament, actions always speak louder than words. “If she really wanted to help, she would’ve waited a few minutes. The police wanted to hear from her, not me. She knew that.”

He smiled. “Okay. I get it. You two don’t have any hard feelings about Tina, do you?”

“I’d like to drag her around by the hair until she tells the truth.” Delia wasn’t shy about her feelings.

“I don’t have anything against her. I’d like her to tell the truth. Now we have to hope the police can find her.”

“It shouldn’t be too hard. She’s going to get her daughter,” he said. “If they really want her, all they have to do is look.”

The talk turned from Tina to the outcome of the Atlanta challenge. Miguel wanted all the details on what had happened. Delia gave him her declaration of war on Our Daily Bread. She had all kinds of sneaky ideas on things we could do to slow them down.

By the time we stopped for lunch at a small café off the interstate, we were all in much better moods. Delia and I headed for the ladies’ room before we went to a table. My cell phone rang and I motioned for her to go on as I took the call.

It was Detective Helms. “Zoe, we’ve just received official confirmation from the Charlotte medical examiner’s office. They’re ruling Reggie Johnson’s death a homicide.”

“I thought they already knew that.” I leaned on the large windowsill. “What does that mean to your case?”

“I don’t know yet. Something’s fishy. If McSwain was killed because he asked the wrong questions about what you heard, we’re missing some information.”

“You should try asking Tina Gerard, like I said. She may be your missing link.”

“We’re going to, when we can find her. I think we’re all wrong about Miguel, but I can’t prove anything. Not yet. Stay sharp. Who knows what else is coming your way.”

“I will.”

Helms sighed. “This will all make sense once we have the right pieces. But who knows where we’ll find them.”

– – – – – – –

I went to the ladies’ room and freshened up after talking to Detective Helms. I was glad I wasn’t responsible for figuring out what had happened to Reggie, Alex, and Detective McSwain. Making food was much better.

Because Miguel’s reputation, and maybe more, was also on the line, I tried to imagine what had happened. How did all the deaths, Dante’s hijacking, and the cut power cords fit together?

Maybe Reggie was killed to try and stop the race. Alex had been working with someone who wanted to shut down the race. McSwain got in the way of the plan. Alex was killed because he hadn’t been able to stop the race.

I couldn’t imagine Alex killing anyone, though. He hadn’t seemed the type to me. And what would that have to do with Tina?

Maybe the race wasn’t even part of it. Everything else that had happened was just to make it appear like it had something to do with the race.

I definitely didn’t want to be a cop!

My brain was starting to hurt, and I was hungry. I left the ladies’ room after a cursory glance at myself in the mirror. There wasn’t much I could do to repair the damage until we got to the hotel in Birmingham. I had to hope that Miguel was tired and distracted enough not to notice what a mess I was. We were nowhere near the part of our relationship that I could think it didn’t matter.

I noticed, as I found the circular booth that Miguel had chosen, that he’d placed himself in the middle so that Delia would be on one side and I would be on the other. The two of them already had coffee and sweet iced tea. I ordered the sweet tea from the waitress who went by as I sat down.

“I got a call from Detective Helms,” I told them. I explained, as best I could, about Reggie. “She asked me again about the conversation I’d overheard in Charlotte between Alex and whoever he was talking to.”