Rattlesnake Crossing : A Joanna Brady Mystery (9780061766183)

by Jance, Judith A.

  Joanna didn’t shirk from most law enforcement duties. One of the precepts of leading by example was that she didn’t ask her officers to do things she herself wasn’t prepared to do. The lone exception to that was standing by during autopsies. That was one official task she was more than happy to delegate to her detectives.

  Joanna leaned back in her chair. “All right, then,” she said. “Let’s get started. We’re having a tough time around here at the moment. Do we have any deputies we can spare from Patrol to augment Search and Rescue?”

  Voland glowered at Frank Montoya. The Chief Deputy for Administration was charged with overseeing the budget. In that role, he had been conducting an unrelenting campaign to keep Dick Voland’s Patrol Division pared to an absolute minimum.

  “You’re trying to get blood out of a turnip,” Voland said. “Frank here has us running so close to the bone that I don’t have anybody I can spare. And if I bring in off-duty officers, we’ll be dealing with overtime all over again.”

  In these kinds of internal turf wars, Joanna often found herself agreeing with Frank and his budget considerations. This time, however, she had to come down in favor of Dick Voland’s need for additional manpower.

  “You’re going to have to cut us a little slack here, Frank,” she said. “Dick’s going to have officers running two homicide investigations and conducting a search-and-rescue operation in addition to working our normal caseload. He has to have extra help. If that means overtime, that means overtime.”

  Frank nodded. “You’re the boss,” he said. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Speaking of normal caseload,” Joanna added, “what else went on overnight?”

  “Not too much,” Voland answered. “We had somebody—teenagers, most likely—shooting up road signs out on Moson Road.”

  “Road signs but no livestock and no people, right?” Joanna asked.

  “Right,” Voland replied. “Two speeders, a couple of DWIs, a reported runaway from out east of Huachuca City, and that’s about it. Nothing serious.”

  “No illegals?”

  “Hard as it is to believe, nobody picked up a single one last night.”

  “Good,” Joanna said. “What else? Any leads on that truck hijacking over by Bowie? Has anybody been in touch with Sheriff Trotter’s office over in New Mexico?”

  “I have,” Frank volunteered. “No leads so far. The driver isn’t exactly eager to talk about it. He’s evidently married and doesn’t want his wife to know that he stops along the road to pick up naked hitchhikers.”

  “That’s hardly surprising,” Joanna returned. “If I were in the wife’s shoes, I wouldn’t be any too thrilled, either.” She addressed her next question to Frank. “How did the grievance hearings go?”

  “Pretty well,” he said. “At least they’re put to rest for the time being. Some of the old-time jail guards still haven’t figured out that women are in the workforce to stay. There were three different complaints, all of ’em about Tommy Fender. He’s forever telling off-color jokes and making snide comments. The women finally had enough. After I heard what they had to say, I hauled Tommy into my office and gave him a second warning. I told him to cool it. I let him know if he wants to stay around the department long enough to see his retirement, he’d damned well better shape up.”

  “Do you think he will?” Joanna asked. “Shape up, I mean.”

  Frank shrugged. “Who knows? I wouldn’t hold my breath. I tried to put the fear of God in him, but if he doesn’t fly right and we have to fire him, we’ll be stuck between a rock and a hard place. We are anyway. If we ignore what he’s doing, the women take us to court for sexual harassment. And if we end up firing him over it, chances are he’ll take us to court for wrongful dismissal. Either way, it’s going to be a mess. And as for those two provisioners—”

  “I don’t have time to talk about the provisioners, Frank,” Joanna interrupted. “And I don’t want to talk to them, either. Since you and the cook are the ones most closely involved, it makes a lot more sense for the two of you to meet with them and make a decision. I have total faith in your ability to decide who we should go with and where we’ll get the best deal.”

  “You’re right about that,” Dick Voland grumbled. “Montoya’s such a cheapskate, you’d think every dime he spends comes out of his own personal pocket instead of the county’s.”

  “And you should be properly grateful,” Joanna told Dick, biting back the urge to smile. “After all, if you’d been in charge of the budget last year instead of Frank, there would have been approximately two weeks at the end of the fiscal year that we all would have been without paychecks, which wouldn’t have been any too cool. Now, if that’s all, you two clear out and let me get started on my paper.”

  Squabbling as usual, the two men left the office. For more than an hour Joanna whaled away at paperwork—proofing and signing off on typed reports, scanning through the agenda for the next board of supervisors meeting, reviewing two requests for family leave. Good as his word, Frank Montoya had delivered the September rotation-and-vacation schedules. Those had to be gone over in some detail and signed off on as well. It was boring, time-consuming, but necessary work. The better part of two hours had passed and Kristin had just come into Joanna’s private office with that morning’s collection from the post office when the phone rang. Without Kristin at her desk to intercept the call, Joanna answered it herself.

  “Sheriff Brady,” Ernie Carpenter said, “I’ve got news.”

  Joanna glanced at her watch. “Don’t tell me Doc Daly’s already finished up the autopsy.”

  “Hardly,” Ernie replied. “But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t made progress. We’ve got a positive ID on the girl from the ledge. Her name’s Ashley Brittany. She’s a twenty-two-year-old oleander activist from Van Nuys, California.”

  “An oleander activist?” Joanna said. “What’s that? And how did Fran Daly pull this one out of her hat? Considering the condition of the corpse, I figured this was one ID that would take months or even years.”

  “First things first. The Pima County ME is a big supporter of the FBI’s National Crime Information Computer. They’re on this program to make sure all their missing persons’ dental records get registered. In fact, I think some professor at the University of Arizona finagled a federal grant to help them do it.”

  “I remember reading something about that.”

  “So in Pima County, it’s automatic now. Once people go on the missing-person’s roster, their dental charts go into the computer. This Ashley Brittany was reported missing a month ago, although she may have been gone longer than that.”

  “May have?”

  “That’s where the oleander comes in. She was part of a federal grant, which they call a federal study, sponsored by the USDA.”

  “The feds are looking for oleander? What’s the matter?” Joanna asked. “Have people stopped smoking grass and started smoking oleander?”

  “It’s poison.”

  “Of course it’s poison. But then, according to what my mother always told me, so are poinsettias. Maybe oleander’s getting the same bum rap.”

  “I wouldn’t know about that,” Ernie replied. “But somebody back in D.C. came up with the bright idea that oleander is killing wildlife out in the wilds of California, Arizona, and New Mexico. They commissioned a study, and that’s what Ashley was doing. She was working on a summer internship sponsored jointly by Northern Arizona University and the USDA. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department found her camper and her pickup truck parked in Redington Pass three weeks ago, but they never found her.”

  “Because she wasn’t anywhere near Redington Pass,” Joanna said.

  She was thinking about the sign posted outside the Triple C. About no trespassing for employees of the federal government or for people giving information to the federal government. And about the conflicting layers of regulation that, according to his wife, threatened to strangle Alton Hosfield’s efforts to keep the Triple C alive
and running.

  “Who owns those ledges along the river?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Ernie answered. “I’m not sure where the boundary lines are. That land looks as though it might belong to the Triple C, but that may not be true. Once I finish up with Doc Daly, I could check with the county recorder’s office and see who the legal owner is.”

  “Don’t bother,” Joanna told him. “You stick with the autopsies. I can check with the county recorder’s office. Give me a call, here or on my cell phone, when you finish up with Dr. Daly.”

  “Okay,” Ernie said. “Will do.”

  “Speaking of autopsies, what’s happening on that score?”

  “Because of the dental chart deal, Dr. Daly decided to do the girl first. That one’s done. She’s taking a break and then she’ll do Philips.”

  “She told you she thinks he’s a suicide?”

  “She said something to that effect, but we’ll see.”

  “Good,” Joanna said. “Keep me posted.”

  She put down the phone and sat staring out her office window at the lush forest of green grass and fully leafed ocotillo covering the steep, limestone-crowned hillsides behind the justice center. She had seen Alton Hosfield’s No Trespassing sign, but was it possible he had made good on the implied threat by killing some poor girl out earning a college degree through doing an oleander survey? That seemed so silly as to be almost laughable. Still, Joanna knew enough about the supposed Freeman Movement to be worried. She had heard a few of them interviewed on television. A lot of what they had to say made sense—up to a point—but it was what went beyond good sense that worried her. Maybe Ashley Brittany’s oleander study had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Maybe her very existence had pushed Alton Hosfield over the edge.

  Joanna picked up the phone and dialed the county recorder’s office. She was glad when she heard Donna Littleton’s cheery “May I help you?”

  Donna, verging on retirement, had worked in the recorder’s office from the time she graduated from Bisbee High School. She knew more about county property parcels than anyone, and it was only a matter of minutes before Joanna had her answer. The property just across Pomerene Road from the turnoff to Rattlesnake Crossing definitely belonged to Alton Hosfield—and the Triple C.

  “Thanks, Donna,” Joanna said when she had the requested information. In truth she didn’t feel especially grateful. The answer she had was one she hadn’t necessarily wanted.

  There were two phones on Joanna Brady’s desk. She had just finished talking to Donna when the other one rang. This was the private line that came directly to Joanna’s desk. Expecting this to be a call from Marianne, she snatched the handset up before the first ring ended.

  “How about lunch?” Butch Dixon asked. “You name the place and I’ll be there with bells on.”

  “Oh, Butch,” Joanna said. “It’s you.”

  “Yes, it’s me,” he said. “Don’t sound so disappointed. Now that I get thinking about it, I could even use an apology. The dogs and I had a nice evening watching the stars and the moon, but it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

  “I’m sorry,” Joanna said. “I got tied up with…” The beginning apology sounded lame, even to her, and Butch didn’t give her a chance to finish.

  “I know,” he said. “I picked up a copy of the Bisbee Bee this morning and read all about it. I could see from the headlines that you had your hands full yesterday. No hard feelings.”

  The fact that Butch was so damned understanding about it made things that much worse. Joanna didn’t remember ever being understanding about Andy standing her up. Eleanor hadn’t been understanding, either—not as far as D. H. Lathrop was concerned. Could that be a trait that was hidden away somewhere in maternal DNA?

  “Where do you want to have lunch?” she asked. “And when?”

  “Seeing as how I missed breakfast, any time at all would be soon enough,” Butch told her.

  Now that he mentioned it, Joanna realized she hadn’t eaten any breakfast that morning, either. “What about where?”

  There was the smallest hesitation in his voice before he answered. “Daisy’s.”

  “All right. See you there. In what, about twenty minutes?”

  “That’ll be fine.”

  She put down the phone, finished racing through the few holdover items on her desk, and put that day’s crop of correspondence to one side. Then she picked up the phone. “Kristin,” she said, “I’m going to lunch. After that, I’ll be going up to check on things in Pomerene. When I’m done there, I may end up going on to Tucson as well, so don’t expect me back in the office today.”

  Picking up her private phone once again, she punched in the code that would forward all the calls on that line directly to her cell phone. If Marianne and Jeff called her from the hospital, she didn’t want to risk missing them.

  Joanna’s corner office had a private entrance that opened directly onto her reserved spot in the parking lot. She had picked up her purse and was on her way to the door when the regular switchboard line rang once more. She hurried back to her desk and snatched the receiver up to her ear.

  “What is it, Kristin?” she asked impatiently. “I was just on my way out the door.”

  “I know, Sheriff Brady,” Kristin Marsten said. “But I thought you’d want to take this call. It’s from Detective Carbajal.”

  “Right. Put him through.”

  “I think we found her,” Jamie said as soon as he came on the line.

  “Found who, Katrina Berridge?”

  “That’s right,” he said, but there was nothing in his tone that sounded like the usual elation and pride of accomplishment that follow a successful search-and-rescue operation. Joanna heard none of the triumph searchers exhibit when they’ve gone into the wilderness and returned with a living, breathing, formerly missing person.

  She felt a sudden clutch of dread in her gut, a knowledge that the other shoe was about to drop. “She’s dead, then?”

  Jamie sighed. “Yes, she is.”

  “How did it happen? Where did you find her?”

  “The body is only half a mile south of where we were last night. If we hadn’t been delayed by finding the first one yesterday, we might have found this one then as well. The victim was shot to shit with something big.”

  “How big?” Joanna asked. “A fifty-caliber, maybe?”

  “Possibly.”

  But there was something more in young Jaime Carbajal’s voice—a pained reticence—that Joanna almost missed at first. “What else?” she demanded.

  “This one’s the same as the other one,” he said.

  “What other one?”

  “The victim we found last night. Like I said, she was shot. That’s probably what killed her, but afterward…”

  There was a part of Sheriff Joanna Brady that didn’t want him to go on, didn’t want to hear what he had to say. But there was another part that already knew what was coming.

  “Afterward, what?” Joanna demanded. “Was she scalped?”

  “You got it,” Detective Carbajal replied bleakly. “From the middle of her forehead to the back of her neck, there’s nothing left but bare bone. Nothing at all.”

  Stunned, half sick, Joanna allowed her body to sink back into her chair. For the space of a few seconds she said nothing, letting the awful realization penetrate her being. Joanna’s department had started out to investigate reports of someone shooting up local livestock. Instead, her investigators had stumbled into the deranged leavings of someone who was obviously a serial killer.

  “Have you called Ernie?” she asked finally.

  “Not yet, but I will.”

  “Do it right away. I talked to him just a little while ago from the Pima County Medical Examiner’s office. If we’re lucky, you may be able to catch him and Dr. Daly before she starts on the second autopsy. Where are you now?”

  “Still at the scene. The S and R guys are roping it off. Evidence techs are up working on the le
dge. There’s no sense in bringing them here until after the ME does what she needs to do.”

  “All right,” Joanna said. “Finish up as soon as you can, then meet me at Pomerene Road and Rattlesnake Crossing. I want to be with you when you go to notify Katrina Berridge’s husband and sister-in-law. In the meantime, get on the horn to the FBI and see whether or not this is an MO they’ve seen before.”

  “Will do,” Jamie replied. “How soon do you expect to be here, Sheriff Brady?”

  “Soon,” Joanna answered. “I’m on my way.”

  ELEVEN

  AS SOON as she turned the key in the ignition, Joanna remembered Butch. She also realized that if she went straight to Rattlesnake Crossing without either breakfast or lunch, her body would run out of fuel long before she finished what she’d have to do that day. Not only that, she didn’t know when there’d be another chance to eat. Pulling her cell phone out of her purse, she punched in the number of Daisy’s Cafe. Not surprisingly, Daisy herself answered the phone.

  “Sheriff Brady,” she said, “your gentleman friend is already here. I’ve got him stowed in a booth and drinking coffee.”

  “Good,” Joanna said. “And that’s why I’m calling. Something’s come up. I’m going to have to go on a call, but I thought I’d try to eat and run. Put in my order for chorizo and scrambled eggs and then go ahead and pour my coffee. I’ll be there in three minutes or less.”

  “What about O.J.?” Daisy asked.

  “I’ll have some of that, too.”

  “Good enough,” Daisy said. “It’ll be on the table by the time you get here.”

  When Joanna pulled into the parking lot, the first vehicle she saw was Butch’s Goldwing. That struck her as odd, because she clearly remembered him saying that he wouldn’t be Goldwing-ing it when he came to take her to dinner. Oh well, she thought, he must have changed his mind.