by Ruth Wind
No blinking neon sign came on in her imagination. No dancing choir came kicking through the room with placards around their necks. Outside, it was quickly getting dark, and the snow would begin to pile up, and her sister was going to jail for a crime she didn't commit.
Juliet hoped she hadn't committed, anyway. She was 99.9% sure, but her study of the law had shown her people did some pretty crazy things sometimes. Even people devoted to healing. Scorned lovers, in particular.
Her stomach plummeted. If she, Desi's sister, could think such things about a woman she'd known and loved all of her life, what would a jury think?
The phone in her hand rang suddenly and Juliet answered it breathlessly. "Hello?"
"Looks like your sister is finally going to get what she deserved," said a woman's voice.
For a moment, Juliet was stunned into silence. The line held a faint buzz, eerie and somehow menacing. "Who is this?"
But of course the threatening party didn't answer. Just hung up. Juliet pressed *69 to see if she could get a number, but the robotic voice simply said, "That number is unavailable."
Outside, the gloaming edged the peaks and the tops of the trees with an opal stain. Juliet wished she could enjoy it, but she walked over to a lamp and turned it on, her throat getting tighter and tighter. The idea of driving into town, without any clue of who she would seek out or what she'd do when she got there, seemed intimidating. Even worse was the idea of driving back here after she'd done whatever she'd done in town. Driving through the snow. On dark mountain roads in a little rental car not particularly designed for the task? No, thanks.
But even worse than that was the idea of staying here in the cabin alone. The uncurtained windows showing the whole world she was here by herself. The distance to town if anyone or anything—
What? She said to herself. Attacked? This wasn't a horror movie, with a deranged serial killer lurching through the high mountain forests of the San Juan range, or a rabid bear so hungry for blood he'd smash through windows and back doors.
And even in the event of murderers or wild animals, there were three dogs, wolf mixes that were enormously loyal to protect her. Three big dogs.
Still, she stood with the phone in her hand, her throat so tight she could barely breath, her heart pounding wildly. Tears stung the backs of her eyes and furiously, she blinked against them.
She was so tired of being afraid! Tired of being frozen. Tired of giving her whole life up to the possibility that something bad would happen again. Inside her head was a voice screaming: just do something!
And yet her body could not break free of its prison.
* * *
As Josh drove back to town from a call to a domestic dispute in the wilds beyond Mariposa Falls, he listened to Bonnie Raitt. He loved her better than any singer alive, loved her smoky voice and the richness of her sorrow. In her expressions of lusty love, lost and found, he connected with the sense of the mystical, as deep as any worship service. It was a passion he'd shared with Claude, actually. They'd spent many an enjoyable hour drinking ginger ale and listening to Bonnie. It was hard not to like Claude when he'd turned on the charm, and Josh, though he held himself aloof, had wanted to like the man.
What an absolute waste of a human being, he thought now. Claude had been born with talent, intelligence, charm and a very pretty face. He could have done anything, gone anywhere, and he'd actually started out on that path—earning a scholarship to college, working his way through, going into the Peace Corps after graduation. All the right things.
And yet, somewhere, he'd let himself get twisted into a parody, a Coyote thinking he knew more than he did.
Now he was dead.
Josh had taken himself off the case. He was too close to Desi, and the signs were pointing too hard toward her. He'd never be able to be objective about the evidence if it ended up pointing to her. Worse, he was afraid he'd ignore things he ought to notice.
Sometimes it wasn't possible to be both a good cop and a good friend. Josh had chosen friendship.
As the truck descended through an aspen grove in full blaze, the phone on his hip suddenly trilled with the message signal. A phone call had come in while he'd been out of range.
He punched the button to reach voice mail and held the phone to his ear. There were six new messages. Six? Good God.
The first two were from his mother, who told him that Glory had chipped a front tooth and had a dentist appointment on Monday morning—did he want Helene to take her? The second one was that Glory had asked permission to spend the night with one of her nursery school playmates and Helene was pretty sure Josh wouldn't want her to, but she'd promised Glory she would ask.
The third was a hang-up. The fourth was his boss with a very gruff order to call him immediately. There had been some news on the Tsosie case. The fifth was his boss again, repeating the message.
The sixth was Juliet, her voice wobbly as she reported the news that Desi had been arrested. He swore and pulled over to make phone calls properly.
Damn! He'd only been in the mountains for an hour and a half. How could so much have happened in such a short time? This morning, the skier Claude had been involved with had come in to make a report, and Josh had been concerned about her swollen eyes and shaky hands. She was pretty young, and it had to be traumatic to have a boyfriend murdered. Her alibi was airtight—she'd been drinking at The Black Crown with a group of Germans who were hiking the Mariposa trail. By the number of witnesses that had come forward, half the town must have been in the pub that night.
First, despite the urgency of everything else, he called his mother. "Is Glory all right? How did she chip her tooth?"
"She went down the slide face-first before anyone could stop her." There was a mix of exasperation and pride and weariness in Helene's voice. "She has a mind of her own, that girl. It's not bad," she added, "and it's a tooth that'll come out in a year or two."
"Okay." Josh took a breath. "Mom, they arrested Desi a little while ago."
"Oh, no!"
"I'm going to the jail and see what I can find out, then go up and see her sister, and I'll be back after that."
"Why don't you just let Glory sleep here again? You go and get some real sleep. You sound beat."
He nodded. "All right. I'll let you know if I hear anything more."
"If you talk to Desi, give her my love."
"Will do."
When he hung up, he called Desi's home phone, and Juliet answered wearily. "I just got your message," he said. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm worried about Desi, though. When will they have her arraignment? When can we get her out of there?"
"I'm going to town right now to see what I can find out." Snowflakes were floating out of the sky, sticking to his windshield and he frowned. "I want you to look around the cabin to make sure you have everything you'll need for three or four days, too. It could snow a lot with an Albuquerque low like this."
"You mean I could be stuck for three days up here by myself?"
"Easy." He turned the heater knob to defrost to melt the snow collected in little tufts over the windshield. "Look around and see what you might be missing. Water, food, firewood. We'll make sure you're prepared."
"You mean Desi might not get out of jail for days?"
He hesitated. The truth was, he doubted she'd be able to make bail at all if this shook out the way he thought it was going to. "Maybe, maybe not. Don't get all worked up about it just yet, though. Let me do some talking and see what I can find out."
He heard her take a breath and consciously release it. "Okay. Thanks."
"I'll be there in a little while."
He put the phone away and drove into town, worried on some low level at the way Juliet sounded. Not exactly frightened. Not panicky, which he could actually understand, given that she was a city girl and the mountains could be intimidating.
Something else. Hushed. As if a hand were pressing down on her. With a scowl, he resolved to get this taken care o
f as fast as possible, and then get up there and check on her.
And, he thought, maybe he should gently try to discover her story, whatever had traumatized her. It was obviously not resolved.
* * *
Juliet tried to pretend it was a normal night. She put some music on her MP3 player and stuck an earphone in her ear, determinedly singing along with the Black Eyed Peas and Dido as she creamed sugar and butter for the cookies Desi had started before she was arrested. The supplies were fine—she could survive for weeks on the food in the cupboards.
Outside, snow started to fall in a sturdy, determined way that seemed very different from the dinner-plate-sized flakes that had fallen her first night here. Once she'd read that the aboriginal peoples of Alaska had many names for snow, and this seemed a place where you'd want different names for it, too: Plate snow. Flurries. Blizzard snow. She stirred chocolate chips into the mix and stared out the window. This would be rain snow. Small flakes that were heavy enough to make a little bit of noise when they were falling steadily, as they were now. It was collecting more slowly than the other snow had, but with greater determination.
What if she was stuck here for three days, all alone?
Don't think about it.
Dropping spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheet, she tried to remember what it had been like to be brave, long ago. What had made her brave? She'd gone to college far away from her family, lived alone in an apartment in Berkley when she'd gone to law school, found her condo in Hollywood and lived there alone, in a neighborhood that was both good and bad, for several years. She'd traveled all over the U.S. by herself, stayed in hotels, navigated strange cities without much distress.
How had she done it?
The sound of a truck engine came to her as she took the last batch of cookies out of the oven. Juliet saw Josh, snow catching in his long glossy hair, headed across the yard.
He looked grim. Furious.
Beautiful.
His beauty struck her across the solar plexus, blazed into her throat. Against the snowy forest, with the very last of the daylight hanging in the clouds, he looked like an enchanted and ancient being emerging from the trees to visit the mortal realm for a moment. She wanted to put her hands in his hair, touch his cheekbones, kiss his throat, breathe in the enchantment.
She pressed her hand to the hollow of her throat, tried to brush the startling recognition off her face with her palm, and opened the door. "Did you see my sister?"
He shook his head, his mouth tight. "They wouldn't let me."
Gesturing him inside, she asked, "What did you find out? When will they set bail?"
"Very earliest is Wednesday. The judge is out of town until then."
Juliet narrowed her eyes. "Was that deliberate? The deputy who arrested her seemed to want it to be a very humiliating experience."
"Probably." He met her eyes. "It's a closed community in some ways. Desi has been accepted more than some because she is a great vet, but Claude made some enemies." He sounded calm, but his anger made his back too straight, his face stiff.
She offered a plate of cookies and Josh helped himself to a handful. "Wednesday! I hate thinking of her in there for so long."
"Me, too." He took a bite, then said, "I don't think you should stay here. It's pretty isolated and you're not used to it."
Relief moved through her like a wave of wind, cooling her fear. "I don't want to. But where will I go? I have to take care of the dogs, of the property, of—"
"You can come to my house. I have a big couch."
A ripple moved on her skin. She thought of kissing him earlier, thought of the flare that had burst over her nerves at the taste of his lips, the thrust of his tongue. To her embarrassment, her nipples pearled and she crossed her arms, hoping he hadn't noticed. She hesitated, picking up a cookie, then putting it down.
"I'm not expecting you to sleep with me," he said. "It's not like that."
Juliet blushed. "I didn't think you were."
"I just don't think you need to be up here by yourself."
"What about the dogs?"
"We'll bring them with us. Alex, the kid Desi loves so much, will take care of the wolf sanctuary. He's very capable."
Juliet really didn't have to weigh it out. Stay up here, terrified, or go to town with Josh? "I'll be right back," she said, going to pack a bag.
* * *
Chapter 11
« ^ »
Snow was really beginning to fall by the time they got to town. Juliet stood outside in it for a moment, the dogs leaping and dancing all around her as they heard Josh's dog, Jack, howling inside. In spite of everything, Juliet could not resist the delight of turning in a circle, looking around and up at the sky. It was enchantingly beautiful. "Snow is so magical," she said.
He chuckled. "See if you feel the same way in April."
There it was again, the assumption that she'd be hanging around. "I'm sure it loses some of its appeal."
"Let's get inside. I'll make us some supper. Unless you already ate?"
"I'm pretty sure fourteen chocolate chip cookies don't count for dinner."
The dogs tore inside and greeted Jack, and then Josh put them out in the backyard, which was fenced, to let them burn off some energy. "We'll have to take them out for a walk in the morning. Walk over and pick up Glory from my mom's house."
"Walk?"
He grinned, shrugged a little as he pushed his sleeves up on dark, smooth forearms. "Snowshoe, maybe. Have you ever tried it?"
"Nope."
"I need to give my mom a quick call," he said. "Go on into the kitchen if you want."
She followed him into the kitchen, a small room dominated by glass-fronted cabinets and a butcher block island in the center. Stools sat on one side, and the stove was in the middle of the island. The colors, peach and magenta and white, were a little weird, but in general, she liked it. In the hallway, Josh talked to his mother, explaining what had happened to Desi. He asked if Glory was still awake.
Then, "What?" he said. "I can't believe you let her go, Mom. That wasn't your decision to make."
Silence, the faint sound of a voice on the other end. "All right. I guess you're right." He paused. "Thanks, Ma. I don't know what I'd do without you."
Juliet pulled the sleeves of her sweater down over her hands, an old habit from childhood, and wondered with a pang what it would be like to have the kind of relationship with her mother that Josh obviously had with his. Her mouth curled at the corners in a bitter smile. Carol, the brilliant physicist with her tweeds, and blue blood, and trim waist, had better things to do than roll around in the emotional quagmire of children's needs.
Josh came into the kitchen. Juliet turned. "Everything okay?"
"I was hoping to go get Glory and bring her home before the snow, but my mom let her spend the night with a friend on the rez."
"And that's a problem?"
He lifted one shoulder, quickly, as if he knew his feelings were unreasonable. "I don't like her to be with anyone else but me or my mom. I only started letting Desi keep her a little while ago."
"Because of everything that happened with her mom?"
A terse nod. "It's all right. My mom has a point, too, that Glory needs to get to normal life. Part of that is spending the night with friends. My mom knows the family and trusts them." He blew out a breath. "It's hard for me to trust anybody these days."
"Yeah." Juliet found her mouth twisting again. "Yeah. I know what you mean."
"I noticed that." He reached for a pan on the stove. "Can you talk about it?"
"Not right this minute, if you don't mind." Like a curious dog, she rounded the perimeter of the kitchen, worrying her sleeves. "Is the color scheme your doing?"
"Hardly." He snorted. "Real estate is stupidly expensive around here, but there are some rentals set aside for the workforce. Most of them are down the valley quite a ways, but this whole section of blocks is rentals owned by the town. We have a place on the rez, of course, but it's a
long way out, pretty isolated, and I need to be in town for Glory's sake." He pointed with a knife he'd taken out of the drawer. "My mom lives a couple of blocks over. She's the librarian."
"That's very convenient."
"No kidding. We worked at it." He sliced ham from a butt he'd taken out of the fridge, and dropped chunks of butter into a heavy cast-iron skillet. When the butter started to foam, he dropped the ham into it and sprinkled it lightly with brown sugar.
"That looks great," Juliet commented. "Can I do anything?"
"There's some canned pineapple in that cupboard to the left of the sink, if you want to get it out and open it. Can opener in the drawer below it. No, one more over."
He turned the heat down and let the butter and sugar caramelize with the ham. When Juliet opened the pineapple, he forked rings out and laid them on top of the ham slices, sprinkled them with a little more brown sugar and dots of butter, then turned the heat very low. "I'll let it just get good and hot. Do you like corn? Carrots?"
"Both." She leaned on her elbow. "I have to admit I was expecting something like a sandwich or something, not this actual supper."
He grinned. "Once upon a time, that's what it would have been. I had to learn to cook easy, healthy things so I could feed Glory."
"Lucky for me." She watched as he took frozen corn from the freezer and poured some into a bowl he put in the microwave, then filled a plump white teakettle with water and set it on another burner.
"Tea or milk or hot chocolate to drink?" he asked, and opened a cupboard to reveal neat colorful boxes of tea in stacks.
"Oh, tea, definitely," she said, and chose a spice blend.
When they were settled over the very satisfying meal, Juliet said, "So, what will we do about Desi? Who else could have killed Claude?"
"Let's start with the people we know didn't do it," he said, buttering a chunk of hearty dark bread. "It wasn't Christie Lundgren, the girlfriend. She's got a rock-solid alibi. It wasn't you. It wasn't me."
Juliet raised her eyebrows. "That leaves a few possibilities."
"Right. I've done some poking around, and the trouble is—" He paused.