by J. A. Jance
“I did indeed,” Joanna replied.
Kristin hurried around the desk to give Garth a congratulatory hug. “And that’s why you had me pick up pizzas?”
“It is. Where are they, by the way?”
“In the conference room.”
“Good,” Joanna said. “Detective Raymond and I are going into the bullpen for a private introduction to the rest of the team, and then you can let everybody know that at one p.m. it’ll be pizza time in the conference room. I’ll make the official promotion announcement there.”
In the bullpen Jaime, Ernie, and Deb welcomed Garth to the team. Later, during the conference-room party, Joanna made two announcements as opposed to one—Garth’s promotion, of course, and also Sunny Sloan’s recent decision about becoming a deputy.
By two o’clock everyone at the Justice Center—including the jail guards and the guys out in the motor pool—had tucked in on their share of pizza. Knowing that Carol would be making Jenny’s favorite homecoming meal—green chili casserole—for dinner Joanna limited herself to a single slice of pepperoni pizza.
Chapter 40
It was another forever day for Kendall and Peter. Mommy was sleeping late again, only this time she really was in her bedroom. Kendall had checked to be sure, and Mommy was snoring. She hadn’t gone out the night before, and much to Kendall’s relief, Randy hadn’t come over. That meant Mommy had been home alone and drinking far too much. Kendall knew that, too, because she’d counted all the empty bottles in the recycling.
They had been outside playing and were about to go back inside for lunch when Mrs. Walkup’s son pulled in to her driveway with a Christmas tree tied on the top of his car. Kendall and Peter watched while he cut the tree down and carried it inside.
“Are we going to have a Christmas tree, too?” Peter asked.
Daddy was the one who had always decorated the tree and helped them hang their stockings.
“I don’t know,” Kendall said with a shrug. “Ask Mommy.”
It was after lunch and halfway through Frozen again when Mommy finally got up. Even though she was supposedly drinking coffee, she still smelled of beer, and her coffee didn’t smell like plain coffee either.
“When are we going to put up our Christmas tree?” Peter asked.
“What Christmas tree?” Mommy snapped at him. “Who says we’re going to have a friggin’ Christmas tree?” Except she didn’t say “friggin’.” She said something else—a very bad word—and Peter fled the kitchen in tears while Kendall remained where she was, too shocked to say anything at all.
“Well?” Mommy snarled at her. “What are you hanging around for? I suppose you want a Christmas tree, too. Well, wanting one and having one are two different things.”
Without another word Kendall followed Peter into the bedroom. She found him lying on his bunk sobbing. Eventually he cried himself to sleep. From out front Kendall heard the chatter and laughter of kids on the street as they made their way home from school. She couldn’t help but wonder what they would be doing this afternoon. Maybe some of them would be at home putting up their own Christmas trees.
They probably wouldn’t be hiding out in their bedrooms hoping their mommies would drink enough beer to fall back asleep.
Chapter 41
By 3:00 p.m. Joanna had almost finished wading through her daily mishmash of paperwork. Leon Hogan’s funeral was scheduled for early afternoon the next day, and she planned on being there, but tomorrow morning she’d need to attend the board of supervisors meeting in order to discuss and defend her requested budget increases. That meant she needed to go home tonight with a clean desk and a clean slate. Otherwise, come Monday morning, she’d be buried.
“Hey, boss,” Deb Howell said, popping her head inside Joanna’s office. “Garth and I are on our way out to Sierra Vista to bring Madison Hogan in for questioning.”
“I thought today was his day off,” Joanna countered.
“It was,” Deb replied, “but he wants to get his feet wet, and there’s no time like the present. The more he can see or do before Ernie leaves, the better.”
“Fair enough,” Joanna said.
She put down the report she was reading and glanced out the window. Bright morning sun had given way to overcast skies. Without having caught a moment of TV news and weather, she was startled to see occasional wind-driven snowflakes whipping past her window.
It was winter, after all, and Bisbee was known to be a mile-high city. That meant snow wasn’t completely out of the ordinary. Still, it surprised Joanna to see it. And suddenly, more than anything else, she wanted to be away from her desk and out of her office.
“Mind if I tag along?” she asked.
Deb frowned. “With Garth riding shotgun, someone will end up having to sit in back with Madison.”
“Not to worry,” Joanna said. “I’ll drive myself. I never laid eyes on Madison at the crime scene. I’ll be interested to see what she’s like.”
“Okay,” Deb said. “See you there.”
Butch called as Joanna emerged from the tunnel at the top of the Divide. “Hey,” he said. “I just woke up from a long winter’s nap. How’s it going?”
“I’m on my way to Sierra Vista, following Detectives Raymond and Howell, who are about to bring Madison Hogan in for questioning.”
“Did I hear you say Detective Raymond?”
“Yup, you certainly did. I gave him the news this morning and made it official at an impromptu pizza party at lunchtime. And that’s not all. Sunny Sloan told me this morning that she wants to become a deputy. I was able to find her a training slot at the Arizona Police Academy starting right after the first of the year.”
“Sounds like things are popping.”
“They are. How are things with you?”
“I’ve been sleeping most of the way, and so has Beth,” Butch told her.
“How is she?”
“Hard to tell. She hasn’t said much. She’s been through an emotional wringer and is pretty much worn out.”
“How’s the weather where you are?” Joanna asked. “We seem to be having a few snow flurries down here.”
“Yeah,” Butch said. “It’s weird. The weather in Flagstaff was perfect—cold but clear. It started to sprinkle as we drove through Anthem, and it’s a lot darker to the south.”
“At least you have all-wheel drive,” Joanna said. “Tell Jenny to be careful.”
Butch laughed at that. “Not gonna bother,” he said. “She goes to school in Flagstaff, remember? That means our daughter has way more experience driving on snow than you do.”
Joanna could hear Jenny talking in the background.
“What did she say?” Joanna asked.
“Jen wants to know what’s for dinner.”
“Green chili casserole, of course,” Joanna replied. “It’s her down-home favorite. What did she think we’d be having?”
Chapter 42
When the doorbell rang a while later, Peter didn’t stir, but Kendall did. She went as far as the bedroom door and peeked out through the crack in time to see Mommy, still in her pajamas and with a beer bottle in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other, stagger from the kitchen to the front entry. A ringing doorbell meant that the new arrival wasn’t Randy, and Kendall hoped beyond hope that the person waiting outside on the porch would be Grandma Puckett.
Several verbal exchanges followed, with words that Kendall couldn’t quite make out, but she heard Mommy’s voice rising in anger. “What do you mean you want to take me in for questioning? What’s to ask? The DPS said that cop did it. I don’t see why you wanna talk to me.”
Kendall slipped out of the bedroom and crept silently toward the front door until she was close enough to see that there were three people standing outside—two women and a man. One woman was wearing a blue pantsuit and the other a brown police uniform. The man was dressed in a plaid work shirt, jeans, and boots. The woman in the pantsuit, the one doing most of the talking, was tall and blond, while the sho
rter one in the uniform hovered in the background.
“Well, you can’t take me in for questioning,” Mommy said. “I’ve got two little kids. I can’t leave them here by themselves.”
That surprised Kendall. As if Mommy didn’t leave them there by themselves lots of the time! She was standing just behind Mommy and out of her line of vision, so when Kendall spoke, Mommy jumped like she’d been shot.
“You could always call Grandma Puckett,” Kendall suggested quietly. “I’m sure she’d come stay with us.”
“What the hell?” Mommy yelled. “What are you doing here? Get back in your room. Now!”
But to her mother’s astonishment and to Kendall’s own surprise, she didn’t budge. She fully expected Mommy to slap her, but she didn’t. She just took another angry draw on her cigarette.
“Your mother is in the area?” the woman on the porch was asking. “Perhaps you’d be kind enough to give her a call.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” Mommy shot back.
“Then we may need to take your children into custody as well,” the other woman said. “Once we get to the Justice Center, we can have someone from CPS come pick them up.”
“Crap!” Mommy said. “Put them in foster care? Let me call and see what my mother says.”
Kendall held her breath. First Mommy ground her cigarette stub out on the front porch, and then she fished her phone out of her pocket and struggled to make it work.
“Hey, Mom,” Mommy said at last. “It’s me. I need to go talk to some cops for a while. Can you come look after the kids?” There was a pause. “Okay, good. Where are you, and how long will it take for you to get here? . . . Half an hour . . . that long? . . . Okay, I’ll tell them.
“You heard, I guess,” Mommy mumbled. “It’ll take half an hour for her to get here.”
That’s when the woman in the background, the one wearing a uniform, spoke for the first time. “I’m Sheriff Brady,” she said. “I’ll be happy to stay here with the kids until your mother arrives.”
“You sure?” Mommy asked.
“Positive,” Sheriff Brady said. “It’s no trouble at all.”
“All right, then,” Mommy said grudgingly, “I guess we can go.”
“There’s one other problem, Ms. Hogan,” the first woman said. “You’ll need to leave that beer bottle here. You can’t take it with you—open containers and all.”
“No problem,” Mommy said, slamming the bottle down on a nearby table.
When she went to straighten back up, she tripped and almost fell, knocking over the bottle in the process. At last Mommy righted herself and stumbled out the door, while the man on the porch reached out and took one arm to steady her. Kendall was embarrassed that Mommy was still wearing her pajamas as he helped her into the car, but since no one else said anything about it, neither did Kendall.
She was about to turn and run to the kitchen to get something to clean up the spilled beer, but then she realized it must have been empty. The mess consisted of nothing more than a few drops. That was good news. Even better news? Grandma Puckett was coming to take care of them.
As the car with Mommy and the other two visitors disappeared from sight, the woman in the uniform stepped across the threshold. She had short red hair and bright green eyes. There was a gold star pinned to her brown shirt. As she came inside, she held out her hand.
“My name is Sheriff Joanna Brady,” she said. “What’s yours?”
“Kendall,” the little girl replied gravely, returning the handshake.
“And your brother?”
“His name is Peter.”
“Where’s he?”
“In our bedroom. He fell asleep a little while ago. I can wake him up if you want me to.”
“That’s not necessary,” Sheriff Brady said. “If it’s all right with you, we can just sit and talk until your grandmother gets here.”
Sheriff Brady had a nice voice—a lot like Mrs. Baird’s. Kendall Hogan liked her already.
Chapter 43
During her years in law enforcement, there were several moments that remained seared into Joanna’s memory. One of them was the gunfight off I-10 north of Benson, during which she’d taken cover and fired her weapon beneath the undercarriage of her minivan in order to rescue a little girl being held hostage by a fleeing gunman. Another was the middle-of-the-night journey she’d made, accompanied by Father Rowan, to inform a pregnant Sunny Sloan that her deputy husband was dead. But neither of those was as heartbreaking as walking into Madison Hogan’s filthy house and meeting Kendall for the first time.
Joanna had remained in the background on a porch surrounded by a weed-choked front yard while Deb Howell and Garth Raymond had handled Madison Hogan—an argumentative train wreck of a woman. Only after the three of them left had she followed the little girl into the home.
“You can sit in here if you want,” Kendall said shyly, ushering Joanna into the junk-strewn living room and sweeping a collection of toys and debris off a threadbare couch in order to clear a space for Joanna to sit.
“How old are you?” she asked.
“I’m seven.”
As the child spoke, Joanna looked into her deep blue eyes. They were eyes that were older than her age—eyes that had seen too much and known too much.
“I have a son who’s seven,” Joanna said. “His name is Denny, and he’s lost a bunch of teeth. How many teeth have you lost so far?”
Kendall held up three fingers. A little boy appeared in the doorway across the room. “Who’s that?” he asked, rubbing his eyes and pointing at Joanna.
“Her name’s Sheriff Brady,” Kendall answered. “Mommy had to go someplace. Sheriff Brady’s going to watch us until Grandma Puckett gets here.”
The little boy’s face brightened. “Grandma’s coming?” he said. “Is she going to take us to dinner?”
“I don’t know,” Kendall told the boy. Then, turning to Joanna, she added, “This is my little brother, Peter. He’s five.”
The kids didn’t appear to be undernourished, but Joanna remembered that Kendall’s teacher had told Detective Howell that the little girl had been spotted scavenging food from cafeteria trash cans.
“Do you like your Grandma Puckett?” Joanna asked.
Both children nodded enthusiastically. “She bought me chocolate-chip pancakes,” Peter said.
“And a new dress for me,” Kendall added. “She’s nice.”
“Where does she live?” Joanna asked. “Somewhere nearby?”
Kendall shook her head. “Somewhere far away,” she answered, “in a place where only old people live. That’s why we can’t go stay with her. They don’t let children live there.”
“But you’d like to stay with her?”
Kendall dropped her eyes and said nothing. Finally she nodded reluctantly, but her apparent reticence didn’t keep Peter from piping up on his own.
“Now that Daddy’s gone, Mommy forgets to feed us sometimes.”
Out of the mouths of babes! For a moment Joanna was too affected to say anything more.
“I’m sorry your daddy’s gone,” she said at last. “That’s why my detectives and I came here today. We need to ask your mom about what happened.”
Kendall’s head came up. “They had a fight,” she said at once.
“Who had a fight?”
“Mommy and Daddy,” Kendall said, “that morning. I heard them, but when I tried to go see what was happening, the bedroom door was locked. I couldn’t get out.”
The hair on the back of Joanna’s neck stood on end. “Where were you?” she asked.
“At Daddy’s place.”
“And when was that?” Joanna asked. “When did the fight happen?”
“That morning, just after the doorbell rang. I heard talking and then someone left. After the door closed Mommy started yelling at Daddy. Then there was a gunshot, and Mommy started screaming. There were a whole bunch more gunshots after that. When I climbed up on the dresser and looked out the window,
I saw Daddy lying on the porch by the front door. I could tell he was dead.”
Joanna was thunderstruck. Obviously Kendall could recall every chilling detail of what had happened that awful morning and do so in chronological order. That made this seven-year-old child the closest thing to an eyewitness there was to what had happened out in Whetstone. Now Joanna found herself wondering if Dave Newton had bothered to ask Kendall a single question. Had he even spoken to her? When Joanna glanced in Peter’s direction, however, she found him gaping at his sister in openmouthed amazement.
“You saw Daddy dead?” he demanded.
Kendall nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re just a little kid,” Kendall said fiercely. “That’s why.”
And that was the moment that broke Sheriff Joanna Brady’s heart.
Chapter 44
It wasn’t exactly the kind of celebratory homecoming Joanna had hoped to have as the beginning of Christmas break. For one thing, everyone—Joanna included—was tired beyond bearing. Beth Rankin was a stranger to all of them. She was shy and withdrawn, and Denny’s laserlike questioning didn’t help matters. Who was she? Where did she live? Was she Jenny’s best friend? What did she like to eat? How old was she? Did she have her own car? Did she know how to ride a horse?
It was a relief to all concerned when Butch banished Denny from the table to go take his bath. Minutes later Jenny grabbed Sage out of her high chair. “You guys visit, why don’t you,” she said. “I’ll put Sage down, too.”
“I’m really sorry to barge in on all of you like this,” Beth said at last, speaking as if hoping to find a way to fill the conversational void.
“We’re glad to have you,” Joanna said. “They might have caught the shooter, but with that other guy still on the loose, there’s no place I’d rather you and Jen to be than right here, locked inside our rolling shutters.”