Outlaw Mountain (5 page)

“I already thought of that,” Frank said. “I contacted Patrol and told them to have a deputy take a run out that way to see if he can find her. Just to be on the safe side, I also plan on filing a missing persons report. I don’t want to give His Honor the Mayor anything else to complain about.”

“Good thinking, Frank,” Joanna said. “And good job, too, although I’m not sure it’s going to help much. Clete Rogers is the kind of man who would complain if he was hanged with a new rope.”

“‘Thanks, Chief. Always glad to be of service.”

She put down the phone just as a pajama-clad Jenny emerged from the bathroom. “Was that Butch?” she asked.

“No. It was Frank Montoya calling about work. Did you want it to be Butch?”

For months now, Joanna Brady had watched from the sidelines, observing her daughter’s reaction to Butch Dixon’s increasing presence in their lives. It was a concern for Joanna, one she approached with more than a little misapprehension. She was glad Jenny seemed to like the man, but she was worried that if Butch walked away from a long-term relationship with Joanna, Jenny would end up suffering yet another devastating loss.

So far, though, things seemed to be all right. Butch Dixon was the kind of man who had been born to be a father. Since he had no children of his own, he had thrown himself into an affectionate, easy kind of relationship with Jenny. Seemingly effortlessly, he had assumed the role of a beloved uncle.

And why shouldn’t Jenny adore him?
Joanna wondered. Butch was fun. He took every opportunity to spoil the child. Still, Joanna niggled away at the idea that under the placid surface of their friendship something else was at work. Jenny’s adoration went only so far. Much as she seemed to like the man, she maintained a certain distance as well. Maybe Jenny, like her mother, couldn’t bear the risk of having her heart broken once again.

Jenny shrugged and studied her toes. “I guess I wanted it to be him,” she admitted.

“Well, Butch is on his way, but he probably won’t be here until after you go to bed.”

“Oh,” Jenny said.

Joanna waited to see if Jenny would say anything more.

When she didn’t, Joanna chose the easy way out. If Jenny wasn’t ready to talk about Butch Dixon, neither was Joanna.

“Your homework’s all done?” The motherly question was a cowardly attempt at sidestepping the issue.

Jenny sighed, flopped down on the couch beside Joanna, and snuggled in under her arm. “Of course,” she said. “You know I always do my weekend homework on Friday afternoon right after school.”

Joanna knew something was going on, even though she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. “Why are you worried about whether or not that was Butch?” she asked.

Jenny shrugged and said nothing.

“Come on,” Joanna urged. “Give.”

“I just need to talk to him, that’s all.”

“What about?”

“I can’t tell you,” Jenny replied. “It’s a secret. Girl Scout’s honor.”

The lack of an answer bothered Joanna, but she tried to let it go. “All right, then,” she said. “If it’s Scout’s honor, I won’t try to pry it out of you. But it’s getting late. You’d best scoot off to bed.”

Jenny stood up. “Okay,” she said. “But when Butch gets here, have him come talk to me.”

“Only if you’re still awake,” Joanna said. “If you’re already asleep, it’ll have to wait until morning.”

“Sadie, Tigger, come on,” Jenny ordered. “Let’s go to bed.”

Obediently, both dogs got up and padded after Jenny into her bedroom. Long after the bedroom door had closed, Joanna sat there thinking about what had been said.

What kind of secret?
she wondered. Everybody seemed to have secrets these days. The topper still had to be her mother, Eleanor Lathrop, hauling off and marrying Dr. George Winfield, Cochise County’s new medical examiner, without saying a word to her daughter in advance of the nuptials. Even though Joanna had come to see that Eleanor and George were blissfully happy, she still wasn’t over that initial sense of betrayal. Now she couldn’t help wondering what kind of conspiracy Jenny was cooking up with Butch Dixon and what emotional traps would be laid for Joanna in the process.

She had gone just that far in her thinking when Butch’s new Subaru Outback drove into the yard. Rather than risk having the dogs start barking in Jenny’s room, Joanna opened the bedroom door to let Tigger and Sadie out. A quick check of Jenny proved she was already sound asleep.

Pulling on her jacket against the November chill, Joanna hurried outside. With the dogs on her heels, she met Butch at the gate. Using one hand to fend off an ecstatic greeting from the two pooches, he drew Joanna into a quick embrace and gave her a glancing kiss on the cheek.

“Nothing like a couple of dogs and a good woman to make a guy feel at home.”

“Be quiet and come inside,” she said. “It’s too cold to stand around out here making jokes.”

Butch followed Joanna into the kitchen. With his shaved head and stocky build, Butch looked far older than his chronological age of thirty-six. “Where’s Jenny?” he asked.

“Asleep.”

That announcement caused Butch to gather Joanna in his arms once more for a far more serious kiss. By mutual agreement, when Jenny was around, both Butch and Joanna consciously limited displays of affection. And since that one weekend in August when Jenny had been off in Oklahoma with her grandparents, Butch had never again stayed overnight in Joanna’s house.

Dodging out of Butch’s arms, Joanna look leftover baked potato and meatloaf from the fridge and popped them into the microwave. Then she brought out the butter, sour cream, and chopped onions.

“Jenny wanted to talk to you,” Joanna said, as she stood watching the readout on the microwave count off the passing seconds. “I told her if you got here too late to see her tonight that the conversation would have to wait until morning.”

“Any idea what’s on her mind?” Butch asked.

Joanna shook her head. “I asked her, but she wouldn’t tell me. Said it’s a secret. Do you know what it is?”

Butch shrugged. “You’ve got me,” he said.

Joanna set a place for Butch in the breakfast nook. When she put the plate of steaming food in front of him, she slipped onto the bench beside him.

“How was it?” she asked.

“The auction?”

Joanna nodded.

“Okay. We made some money on the deal. Of course, if we’d had to pay wages for all the work we did, we wouldn’t have made a dime. The good thing is that several of the collector types got a chance to see the kind of work Jeff does. I think they were impressed. My guess is he’ll get some more business out of it. Advertising. The main thing we did, though, going and coming, was talk. Jeff’s really worried about Marianne.”

“That she’s going to quit the ministry?”

Butch turned to study Joanna. “She told you then?”

“This afternoon. She says her letter of resignation is written and ready to hand in at the next board meeting.”

“That’s what Jeff’s worried about. In their family, Marianne has always been the major breadwinner. Jeff has the garage, and he does excellent work, but Auto Rehab, Inc., is a long way from making a profit or from being able to support a family of three. Jeff doesn’t know what they’re going to do. Did you say anything to Marianne, try to talk her out of it?”

“1 tried to talk her into seeing a doctor,” Joanna said. “She’s depressed, and understandably so. I told her she needs to give herself a chance to feel better before she does anything rash.”

“Is she going to?” Butch asked. “See a doctor, I mean?”

“I don’t think so. I’ve known Marianne Maculyea since we were both in junior high. She’s always had a mind of her own.”

Just then, the phone rang. Joanna hurried across the room to answer it.

“Sheriff Brady?”

Joanna recognized the desk sergeant’s voice as soon as Lisa Howard spoke. “Yes, Lisa. It’s me. What’s happening?”

“You remember that missing person’s case Chief Deputy Montoya filed earlier this evening?”

“On Alice Rogers?”

“Yes,” Lisa answered.

“What about it? Have they found her?”

“They haven’t found her yet, but they did locate her car.”

“Where?”

“At the border crossing in Nogales. Four young Hispanic juveniles tried to drive it across the line. When Border Patrol ordered the vehicle to stop, they all bailed out and made a run for it. Three of them were picked up by Federales. They’re in jail in Nogales, Sonora. The fourth one wasn’t armed but he looked like he was. He was shot in the leg when officers opened fire. According to the Santa Cruz County dispatcher, he’s being airlifted to Tucson. University Medical Center or T.M.C., I’m not sure which. We’re hoping that he’ll be able to tell its where they left Alice Rogers.”

“How bad is the kid hurt?” Joanna asked.

“No way to tell at this point. I talked to one of the EMT’s who treated him at the scene. His best guess is that once they get him to Tucson he’ll go straight into surgery.”

Unaware that she had been holding her breath, Joanna let it out. The word “juvenile” could cover a lot of ground—from relatively harmless joyriders to cold-blooded gang-based killers. Depending on which variety Alice Rogers had encountered, she was either more or less likely to have been left alive. Unfortunately, the clock was ticking. With each passing hour the odds of her continued survival were vastly reduced.

“Has anyone let Frank Montoya know what’s going on?”

“I called Chief Deputy Montoya first thing,” Lisa Howard said. “Just before I called you. He said to tell you that he’s heading down to Nogales to see what detectives on the case have to say. After that, he’ll go to Tucson. He wants to be available when the suspect comes out of surgery and can speak with investigators.”

“Thanks for keeping me posted, Lisa,” Joanna said. “Tell Frank to let me know what develops.”

“Regardless of how late it is?”

“Regardless.”

Joanna hung up the phone and put it back down on the counter. Butch Dixon was studying her from across the room. “Bad news?” he asked.

She nodded. “A missing person,” she told him. Briefly Joanna filled Butch in on what had happened.

“Are you going to have to go in?” he asked.

“I don’t know yet, and I won’t for a while.”

Butch stood up and began to clear his place. “This wasn’t exactly how I hoped the evening would end,” he said quietly. “With Jenny already in bed and asleep, I had something more romantic in mind rather than a dinner followed by a missing person’s investigation.”

Joanna gave him a weak smile. “So did l,” she said quietly.

She watched him carry his plate to the sink. He rinsed it, then loaded the plate and his silverware into the dishwasher. She liked his purposeful, economical movements. Liked the way he made himself a contributing part of the household rather than a guest. He seemed to be quietly weaving his way into the fabric of her life, but without making unreasonable demands. Joanna found Butch easy to be with, even though he knew they would most likely spend whatever was left of the evening waiting for the telephone to ring.

“I don’t deserve you,” she said quietly.

He grinned. “Yes, you do.”

He came across the kitchen then and gathered her into a tight embrace. He held her for a long time, and she made no attempt to pull away. Finally, he was the one who broke it off.

“Come on,” he said. “Bring the phone and let’s go sit on the couch where it’s comfortable. And that’s where I’ll spend the night—on the couch. That way, if you do have to go in, someone will be here to look after Jenny when she wakes up.”

CHAPTER THREE

When Joanna awakened the next morning, that’s exactly where she found Butch—sound asleep on her living room couch. They had waited up for some time, expecting a phone call. When none came, they had finally ventured into the bedroom. Sometime after Joanna fell asleep, Butch must have crept out of bed. Joanna was grateful for his discretion when, moments after she reached the kitchen to make coffee, Jenny appeared at her side.

“What’s Butch doing on the couch?” she asked.

“Sleeping,” Joanna said.

“I know that. But why?”

“Because if I had been called into the office during the night, somebody would have been here to look after you.”

Pouring herself a bowl of cereal, Jenny scowled. “To baby-sit, you mean. I’m not a baby.”

“No, you’re not. But eleven is still too young to be left here alone at night.”

By the time Joanna finished showering and dressing and returned to the kitchen, Butch was seated in the breakfast nook drinking coffee and chatting amiably with Jenny, who was munching her way through a peanut-butter-slathered English muffin.

As soon as Joanna entered the kitchen, the conversation ground to a sudden, awkward halt. By the time she had poured her own cup of coffee, Jenny had taken her dishes to the counter and was busily stowing them in the dishwasher. Joanna took Jenny’s place in the breakfast nook. “I hope I’m not interrupting something,” she said.

“Oh, no,” Butch replied with a conspiratorial grin. “We’re all done, aren’t we, Jenny?”

From the kitchen doorway, Jenny looked back and nodded. “And you won’t tell? Promise?”

“Cross my heart.”

Satisfied by his words of reassurance, Jenny disappeared into the living room. Joanna turned an appraising eye on Butch. “Does that mean you really won’t tell me?” she asked.

“Yup,” he said. “That’s what it means.”

Joanna shook her head. She was grateful that Jenny and Butch clearly liked one another, but it bothered Joanna to discover their sharing secrets that didn’t include her. It felt as though they were ganging up on her, double-teaming. It made her feel out of the loop and more than slightly resentful. If there was something important going on in her daughter’s life—some important issue that required an adult consultation—Joanna felt she was the one Jenny should have turned to for guidance.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Butch said a minute or so later. “You’re not upset about this, are you?”

“Upset?” Joanna repeated. “Of course I’m not upset. Don’t be ridiculous.”

Her misgivings to the contrary, Joanna agreed to let Butch drive Jenny to school. Meanwhile, Joanna continued to mull over the secrecy issue as she drove herself from High Lonesome Ranch to the Cochise County Justice Complex three miles away. Those private concerns left her the moment she stepped inside her office. Within minutes she was pulled into an escalating whirl of activity that allowed little time for introspection.