by J. A. Jance
In the course of all their many midnight calls, that had never happened before. Usually Jenny was asleep long before Beth and Ron got on the phone. Thank God Jenny hadn’t come barging in. Beth had been standing up at the time. The phone had fallen all the way to the floor. It was a miracle it hadn’t broken. She’d turned on the shower and wet her hair, hoping the noise from that would be enough to keep Jenny from hearing her tell Ron about what had happened and saying good-bye.
Jenny had made it clear that she’d been pissed when Beth came out of the bathroom. And things this morning hadn’t been any better between them. Beth had worried about it all day long and wondered how she could go about making things right. Thankfully, bringing home pizza had done the trick.
Beth and Jenny were good again, and Beth was relieved beyond words. She wanted to have Ron in her life, but she needed Jenny, too. The last thing she wanted was for Jenny to rescind the invitation for Beth to come to Bisbee over Christmas vacation.
She sure as hell didn’t want to go to SaddleBrooke! And by eleven thirty that night, Beth was camped out in the bathroom awaiting Ron’s call.
Chapter 12
With Butch at home, Joanna slept better than she had for days. When she woke up on Saturday morning to the aroma of baking waffles, her life was complete. Waffles were Denny’s personal favorite—and Joanna’s, too, for that matter. Traditionally that’s what they had for breakfast the morning after Butch came home from a book tour.
When she walked into the kitchen in her robe to collect her coffee, Denny was downing his second waffle while Sage, in her high chair, worked her way through a serving of bite-size waffle pieces with Lucky waiting nearby in hopes of capturing anything that missed her mouth and landed on the floor.
“Thanks for letting me sleep in,” she said.
“After the week you’ve had, you deserve it,” Butch said with a grin. “Your waffle is coming right up.”
Joanna took her coffee and took her customary place in the breakfast nook.
“You’re off today, aren’t you?”
Joanna nodded. “Today and tomorrow both,” she replied.
Settled into her third term in office, Joanna was attempting to do a better job of splitting her time between home and work. She and Tom Hadlock now routinely spelled each other on weekends. They were both on call, of course, especially if something serious went down, but every other weekend they took turns being first up, and this was Joanna’s scheduled weekend off.
“So here’s an idea,” Butch said, handing her a plate loaded with a steaming waffle. “As I understand it, today Denny has an overnight playdate at Jeff and Marianne’s, with us due to pick him up after church tomorrow, right?”
Joanna nodded.
“How about this?” Butch continued. “The book signing at Sun City Oro Valley starts at one p.m. Why don’t you and Sage come along? After the signing we can do some Christmas shopping. If Sage happens to see what we’re buying, I’m pretty sure she won’t tell. And when we’re done shopping, we can stop off for a nice dinner on the way home. Come to think of it, if you want to, we could maybe even swing by the hospital to check on Deputy Ruiz while we’re at it.”
Joanna reached for the butter. “Sounds like you had this all plotted out well before I ever set foot in the kitchen.”
“You know me,” he returned with a grin. “When it comes to writing books or living life, I’m all about outlining.”
“And I’m all about spur-of-the-moment,” Joanna countered. “But what if Sage raises a fuss during your talk?”
“So what?” Butch returned. “Loyal fans will love it. After all, how many times does an author’s baby show up at a signing? As for the people who still can’t wrap their heads around the idea that Gayle Dixon is actually a guy? Having Sage there will make them that much more confused.”
“I’m not sure,” Joanna said, feigning a frown.
“How come?”
“The three of us going on a family outing on a weekend? Doesn’t it sound a little too normal?”
“We feel pretty normal to me,” he said.
“All right, then,” she said. “Count me in.”
After breakfast, while Joanna was in the bedroom getting dressed, she took her phone off the charger and called Ernie. “You asked if there was something you could do to help out,” she said when he answered, “and there is.”
“What?”
“I need you to track down the robe that Madison Hogan was wearing in that Huachuca City squad car. It’s possible it went to the hospital with her, the EMTs might still have it, or it might have gone back to the woman who lent it to her originally—Alice Kidder, one of Leon Hogan’s neighbors over in Whetstone.”
“If I happen to find this robe,” Ernie asked, “what do you want me to do with it?”
“If somebody’s already run it through the laundry, you don’t need to do anything. If they haven’t, take it into evidence and bring it back to Casey. Tell her I want her to look for cast-off GSR on the insides of both sleeves.”
“Will do,” Ernie replied. “And I’ll let you know how it’s going.”
“Good,” Joanna said. When she emerged from the bedroom, she didn’t exactly mention her conversation with Ernie to Butch. Maybe Butch was right and Joanna was jumping to conclusions, but that didn’t mean she was ready to call it quits. It also didn’t mean she was prepared to discuss it.
As Joanna loaded up a pair of traveling thermal coffee cups, Butch loaded the kids and their gear into the car. With him going on tour, they had transferred Sage’s car seat from his Subaru to Joanna’s more spacious Enclave, and that’s what they drove that day. They left the house at ten, dropped Denny off at Jeff and Marianne’s, and were having lunch at a Burger King in Tucson on the far north end of Oracle Road by a quarter to twelve.
At the signing Sage behaved perfectly. She snoozed through her father’s literary presentation without making so much as a peep. When Butch introduced his wife and daughter to the audience, the crowd responded with enthusiastic applause. Later, during the signing itself, Joanna discovered that Butch had been on the money about the way his many retiree fans would feel about Sage’s presence—they absolutely loved it! When it came time for selfies, there were lots of people who wanted Sage and Butch in the photo with them, but there were more than a few who had zero interest in having Butch’s face included. Their selfies featured Sage as the star attraction. Fortunately, she responded way better to the attention from all those cell-phone-wielding, silver-haired grandma types than she had to being photographed with Santa a few weeks earlier.
Their next stop was at the hospital. They had already discussed that Butch and Sage would hang out in the lobby while Joanna went up to Armando’s room. What they didn’t expect was to run into the two DPS detectives who were on their way out the front entrance as they were entering.
“What are you doing here?” Newton asked, while looking disapprovingly at each of them in turn.
“I’m here to visit my deputy,” Joanna replied. “This is my husband, Butch Dixon, and my daughter, Sage. Butch, these are Detectives Dave Newton and Liam Jackson of the Department of Public Safety.”
Butch obligingly offered his hand. While both detectives accepted the greeting, Newton’s gaze returned almost immediately to Sage.
“I would have thought your baby would be much older by now,” he said with a frown.
“The baby you’re thinking of is older,” Joanna replied. “His name is Dennis, and he’s seven. Sage is baby number two.”
Detective Newton appeared to be nonplussed at that, as though he couldn’t quite deal with the idea that Sheriff Joanna Brady had not one but two young children. Overcoming his momentary confusion, the DPS officer quickly reverted to form.
“Well,” he growled, “what I said yesterday still goes. We’ve interviewed Deputy Ruiz, but if you speak to him today, you are to make no references to the shooting investigation. Is that clear, Sheriff Brady?”
“Oh, it�
��s clear all right, Detective Newton,” she told him. “I wouldn’t think of it.”
“Soccer Ball Guy must not have kids of his own,” Butch muttered once the others were out of earshot. “He doesn’t seem to be up to speed when it comes to child development.”
“You’re probably right about that,” Joanna said. “And any kids he didn’t have should count themselves lucky.”
At the desk in the lobby, Butch and Joanna learned that Armando had been moved from the ICU to a regular room. While Butch and Sage hung out in the hospital lobby, Joanna went upstairs to a room that was awash in flowers and overflowing with people. Amy and her three boys were front and center, as were her parents, Glenn and Suzanne Harper, while a soft-spoken Hispanic woman hovered in the background. When it was time for introductions, the latter turned out to be Consuelo Ruiz, Armando’s mother, who seemed beyond pleased to learn that the sheriff herself had come to visit.
It was easy to see that the crush of visitors was more than Armando could handle. As the Harpers gathered up the three boys to head back to Sierra Vista, Joanna turned to Amy. Her coloring was bad. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she looked as though she was weary beyond bearing.
“How are you doing?” Joanna asked kindly.
“All right, I guess,” Amy answered faintly, although she sounded anything but all right.
“How’s he doing?” Joanna asked.
“Better,” Amy said, “and far better than his doctors expected. There’s no sign of an infection, but he’s tired right now, especially after those other investigators were here. Talking to them really wore him out.”
“Yes,” Joanna said. “I ran into the DPS guys on my way in.”
Amy frowned. “The older one isn’t very nice, is he?”
“Not very,” Joanna agreed, “but he has a job to do.”
“He acted as though he thinks Armando somehow provoked Leon Hogan into shooting at him—as though all of this is Armando’s fault.”
“Don’t worry, Amy,” Joanna said reassuringly. “From what I’ve been told, the physical evidence isn’t going to support that kind of assumption. Armando might have shot Leon Hogan, but he didn’t do anything wrong. It was clearly in self-defense. That makes it justifiable homicide.”
“You’re sure?” Amy asked nervously. Clearly Dave Newton’s presence and attitude had troubled her.
“I’m sure,” Joanna replied.
Just then a nurse came in to check Armando’s vitals.
“It’s very kind of you to come all this way to visit,” Amy said. “You and Chief Deputy Hadlock, too.”
“Armando is my deputy,” Joanna said simply, as if that were explanation enough. “When we leave here, we’ll be squeezing in some shopping. It turns out Christmas is coming at warp speed.”
“I know,” Amy said faintly. “I’m not ready for that either, and I don’t think I’m going to be.”
Once the nurse left, Joanna spent a few minutes visiting with Armando. She could see he was done, so she didn’t stay long. Out in the hallway, however, she paused long enough to send Tom Hadlock a text:
At the hospital. Armando seems to be doing better. Amy? Not so much. She’s in way over her head. The department has to make sure Christmas comes to their house. If we don’t do something, Santa’s going to miss them this year. Talk to me about this on Monday.
Down in the lobby, she found Butch seated on a sofa with his face in his phone while Sage lay sacked out on a blanket next to him.
“That was quick,” he said, looking up at her.
Joanna nodded. “It was a full house up there. The last thing they needed was another visitor.”
“How’s he doing?”
“Better than expected,” Joanna replied, “but Amy’s running on empty. She’s worried sick about Armando, of course, but she’s also got three little kids and has no clue about how she’ll manage to make Christmas happen for them. I just sent Tom a text. Armando is one of ours. We have to make sure we handle his family’s Christmas.”
“Sounds doable,” Butch said. “As of now, I’m apparently unemployed for the time being. No wait, maybe not. My agent says I have another book to write, but I already told her I’m not starting on it until after Christmas.”
They gathered Sage, carried her back to the car, and loaded her inside without waking her.
“Why can’t grown-ups sleep like that?” Joanna wondered as she fastened her own seat belt.
“Grown-ups know too much,” Butch told her. “Babies don’t. So where are we going to shop?”
They hit Tucson Mall, Costco, Target, and the Apple Store in short order. Butch needed a new computer in the worst way. Even though it wouldn’t be wrapped up and under a tree, it was exactly what he wanted. They worked their way through the list—Lego sets for Denny, Jeffy, and Ruth, an Amazon gift card for Jeff and Marianne, an immense teddy bear for Sage, a new purse for Carol, and clothes for her boys (Carol had provided the required sizes!). Jenny had put in a request for a particular pair of Tony Lama boots.
“What do we do about Beth Rankin?” Butch asked as they walked past shelves stocked with purses in Dillard’s.
“No idea,” Joanna said. “Once we meet her, maybe we’ll be able to figure that out.”
Three hours later Butch was loading the last of their many purchases into the Enclave’s cargo area. “It was a close fit,” he said, climbing into the driver’s seat once he finished. “If we’d bought anything else, you’d have to hold it on your lap.” He fastened his seat belt, started the engine, and put the car in gear. “By the way, you may have noticed you weren’t on the list,” he added with a sly glance in Joanna’s direction.
“As a matter of fact, I did notice that,” she admitted. “It made me feel a little left out.”
“Don’t worry. It turns out your shopping is already done,” Butch told her. “Signed, sealed, delivered, and wrapped, even.”
“Care to give me a hint?” she asked.
“No way,” he said. “Not gonna happen. Now, guess where we’re going for dinner?”
“I have no idea.”
Butch glanced at his watch. “We’ve got a dinner reservation at Rob Roy,” he said. “It’s a little out of our way, but Myron’s holding a table for us. He says he’s got my name on his best rib eye.”
“When did you talk to Myron?” Joanna asked.
“While you were upstairs at the hospital. By the way, he and I are double-teaming you. We’ll have a great dinner, yes, but you’ll also be able to get a head start on organizing the menu for Ernie’s party.”
Joanna nodded. “That’s probably a good idea,” she said. “If it was left up to me, I probably wouldn’t get around to party planning until the last minute.”
“No,” Butch told her, “you wouldn’t get around to it until after the last minute.”
Joanna said nothing more. She knew he was right, and there was no point in belaboring the issue.
During most of the drive from Tucson to Palominas, Sage was wide awake and raising hell in her car seat. It was nerve-racking, but by the time they got to the restaurant, she had worn herself out enough that she fell asleep again and stayed that way. Butch and Joanna ate their dinner in peace. Afterward Myron stopped by their table and laid out the menu options for Ernie’s party. It wouldn’t be a sit-down kind of affair. They would be serving what Myron referred to as “heavy hors d’oeuvres—less expensive than a full deal meal,” he said, “but I promise, no one will go away hungry.”
After dinner they drove back home, unloaded the car, put Sage to bed, and then went to bed themselves. Joanna drifted off with the idea in her head that she would sleep late in the morning and spend the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing. That all changed the next morning when she set foot in the living room and found it full of assorted boxes. A prelit but as-yet-undecorated Christmas tree had been moved into its traditional place of honor in front of the living-room window. Butch was on his knees, busily installing the tree skirt.
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“It’s about time you dragged yourself out of bed,” he said over his shoulder. “You’re late for the party.”
“It doesn’t look like a party to me,” Joanna grumbled. “This looks like work.”
“But not work work,” Butch corrected. “I’m willing to leave the cookie baking and candy making until after the girls get here, but I want the house dressed for Christmas sooner than that, and today’s the day.”
“Aye-aye, sir,” Joanna said wearily. “What do you want me to do?”
“Tree to start with,” he said. “Ribbons first and then balls.”
“And what are we going to do with Sage?”
“Don’t worry about her. Carol said if she had to choose between taking care of Sage or decorating a tree, she’d rather take Sage—and she did. That gave me a chance to start bringing in boxes.”
“Why didn’t I get to choose?” Joanna asked.
“Because you got drafted,” he told her. “Now, get to work.”
And she did. Other than going to church and bringing Denny home, they worked on decorating all day long. Late in the afternoon, a text came in from Ernie Carpenter:
Finally caught up with Alice Kidder. Casey’s not in today, but the robe is secured in an evidence locker in the lab. Going to dinner with Jaime and Delcia. I’ll tell them tonight.
Joanna read the text with some satisfaction, but it was satisfaction tinged with sadness. She had succeeded in getting Ernie off the dime in terms of letting people know he was leaving the department. Unfortunately for Joanna, that made his imminent departure all the more real, and she for one knew she was going to miss him terribly.
Chapter 13
Beth had thought Saturday was bad, but as she awakened late on Sunday morning, things were infinitely worse. Yes, the Thursday-night/Friday-morning phone call with Ron had ended badly when Jenny so rudely interrupted things. Beth had worried about that all day long, but it was worry mixed with anticipation. It had been her hope and expectation that no real damage had been done and that the next night she and Ron would be able to pick up where they’d left off. She hoped that now that Ron had had a chance to see her . . . well, video tour . . . maybe he would return the favor by showing her his.