by Lakota Grace
Shepherd didn’t like to be second-guessed by anybody, least of all a junior partner. I was still finding my way on the uncertain ground of our working relationship.
We stopped by the gatehouse and I surrendered the bullets, warm from their stay in my pocket. Then we jounced along the dirt road, back to I-17 to resume our regular patrol.
Shepherd was quiet for a while and I asked his thoughts.
“Considering Serena Battle.”
“Feisty lady,” I commented.
“She's had to be, ever since her Pa died. She's sole guardian for her brother.”
“Guardian?”
“Accident.” He touched his head. “No motorcycle helmet.”
In four words my partner summarized a life gone terribly wrong. I hoped it never happened to me that sudden. But being a cop, it could. Part of the risk that we took every day.
“What's with this water feud of theirs, anyway?”
“Serena might actually have a case,” he said.
Shepherd let a sedan come up behind us and then slowed the patrol car to three miles under the speed limit. Sometimes he played games like this. Cars would follow behind the squad car like obedient ducklings, not risking a pass. Kept them honest, Shepherd said.
He shifted his attention back to the subject of our conversation. “In Arizona, water rights transfer with the property. And that land has been in Serena’s family for generations. Since they used the water first, she'd have senior rights to the Spine Ranch, even though it flowed through there first.”
“You warned her about trespassing. Think she'll stay away?” I asked.
“She better. Gil's a charmer, but that ranch is his life. He’d not hesitate to take drastic measures.”
“He good at what he does?”
“The best. A wizard at handling horses. Heard they started a dressage program for their Friesian stock. You see the stallion?”
“That black in the stable?”
He nodded. “Nothing prettier on a misty morning than to watch that big stud running across the meadow, mane and tail a-flying.”
A late-model red Porsche Carrera passed us going about ninety.
Shepherd flipped the light bar and sirens and we rammed to speed. The driver spurted ahead for a moment and I thought we'd have a chase. Then he turned on his blinker, edged to the side of the road and stopped.
“Cover me,” Shepherd said, getting out of the squad car, “and call in the plate.”
I did. The plate was clear, but the guy was giving Shepherd lip about something. Shepherd took the license and registration and walked back for me to check those, too.
“Trouble?” I asked.
“Nothing I can't handle.”
But after he returned the documents to the car, Shepherd had the guy get out and do some sobriety tests. The man walked the line nice and straight, hit his nose with his finger, eyes closed.
Would my partner pull him in anyway? Always a judgment call. After more discussion, he wrote out the ticket, tore it off the pad, and gave it to the driver. Then Shepherd walked back to the squad car.
“Made our quota for the day on that one,” he said. “Guy was high on something or just bullheaded. Maybe the size of that fine will quiet him down some. Hope so.”
Shepherd was breathing hard from the adrenaline rush. I understood. Sometimes a routine traffic stop turned into more. This time it didn't.
The red sports car signaled properly and merged into the traffic lane, keeping to the speed limit as we passed him.
“Can't place that guy,” Shepherd said. “But I've seen him before, someplace.”
Often a life-defining event isn't clear until you look back on it later.
We’d just had two.
Continue reading Fire in Broken Water here!
OTHER PEGASUS QUINCY
MYSTERIES
If you liked Blood in Tavasci Marsh, you might enjoy Book 1 in the series, Death in Copper Town, about Pegasus Quincy's first introduction to policework in the small town of Mingus, Arizona.
Pegasus Quincy, brand-new police academy graduate, is the sole law enforcement officer in Mingus when a dead body appears in an old mining pit. Peg’s boss rules the death an accidental fall.
But the investigation takes an ominous turn when the sheriff’s office is ransacked and a computer stolen. Then it becomes personal when a brick crashes through Peg’s window with a note warning her to “back off.”
Will she catch the murderer before he strikes again?
NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON!
********
In Book 3 of the Pegasus Quincy Mysteries, Fire in Broken Water, Peg Quincy takes the call to resolve violence on a Friesian horse ranch in Arizona.
Intent on his own personal vendetta, her partner Shepherd Malone refuses to declare a murder in a fatal fire at the ranch. Peg unwisely circumvents the law to investigate anyway.
Two families feuding over water rights, a Gypsy clan suspected of drug dealing, and a blackmailer on the loose, all lead Pegasus astray on her quest to find the killer in a desert mountain town beset by flash floods and arsenic-laced creeks.
When Peg refuses to stand down, the Water Wars turn deadly, and she becomes the ultimate target. Can she stop the killer before more lives are lost—including her own?
CLICK HERE TO ORDER!
********
In Book 4 of the Pegasus Quincy Mystery Series, Peril in Silver Nightshade, Peg takes on a part-time job as a security officer at Red Rock State Park. She expects a quiet time of directing lost tourists. That is, until the dead body shows up!
Pegasus may have met her match when she encounters con artist Silver Delaney. Silver moves in and appropriates both Peg's couch and her boyfriend. Even Reckless is enthralled with the new visitor. But that is before the lady is charged with one murder--or possibly two.
Peg must unravel the mystery, vanquish the con artist, and reclaim her dog. Is she up to the challenge?
NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON!
* * * * * * * * *
In Book 5 of the Pegasus Quincy mystery series, Silence in West Fork, murder comes too close as Peg encounters the body of murdered executive Jill Rustaine when she is hiking in West Fork. Worse, Peg's former partner's daughter is caught with the murder weapon in her hand!
How far will these two law officers go to protect a loved one? Find out in this most exciting Verde Valley mystery yet!
NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON
Author Note to Readers
I hope that you have had as much enjoyment reading this novel as I have had sharing it with you. Although I’ve set this story in the fictitious town of Mingus, the mining region of central Arizona is still alive and thriving, and the historical setting that I’ve provided is accurate. The Tuzigoot Indian ruins do still stand guard over Tavasci Marsh.
I have a special favor to ask you. Would you be willing to write a comment on Amazon? Even a few sentences would help. The Amazon location to do this is here. Thanks!
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About the Author
Lakota Grace has called the American Southwest home for most of her life. She has a doctorate in counseling psychology and has written stories since age five.
Lakota has an abiding love for the high desert plateau and the abundance of life it supports. Quail and red-tail hawks visit her feeders; bobcats and coyotes wander by. She maintains a cautious co-existence with the scorpions and javelinas who visit her backyard.
Most of all, she enjoys getting up before dawn, watching the sun hit the red rocks, and sharpening her pencil for yet another writing session.
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