Partner In Crime

“We had a disagreement,” Joa

“What was it about?” Je

“The disagreement?”

Je

“About his trains,” Joa

“What about them?” Je

“He wants to build a permanent track for them in the family room and run it over the doors and window frames,” Joa

“If he’s still mad about it, then I guess you won,” Je

“It’s not a matter of wi

There was a long pause after that. Joa

“Did you and Dad have disagreements?” Je

This was tougher ground. With Andy dead, it might have been easier to pretend that everything between them had always been perfect, even if that wasn’t true.

“Yes,” Joa

“What about?”

Joa

“A lot of little things, I guess,” Joa

“I never heard you fight,” Je

“Good,” Joa

“It’s better to forget quarrels than it is to remember them,” Joa

Then, as they stepped off the rail and started toward the house, Butch drove into the yard. Again the dogs rode in the back with their heads thrust out the open windows.

As soon as Butch opened the door, the two dogs leaped out and gamboled over to Je

“I see you let them ride again,” Joa

He kissed her back and then frowned at the dogs. “I remembered what you said about spoiling them,” he said. “I tried to get them to run home, but Sadie wasn’t having any of it. She lay down in the middle of the road and wouldn’t budge. I had to go back and get her. Once she was in the car, Tigger wanted to ride, too.”

“It’s all right,” Joa

Butch glanced down at Joa

Joa

“Why so early?”

“I gave myself part of the afternoon off,” she said.

“How come?”

“Politics,” she said.

“I see,” Butch said. “Come tell me about it while I fix di

Inside the house, Je

Joa

“It sounds like Marliss is throwing her lot in with your opposition,” Butch said when she finished relating the part about the column. “Any idea who that’s going to be?”

“Not really,” Joa

Butch stopped with a half-peeled potato in one hand and the paring knife in the other. “Do you think Galloway might run against you?” he asked.

Joa

“That’s my guess, too,” Butch agreed.

The phone rang, and Joa

“It’s all right. What’s up?”

“I had an appointment to finish my interview with Dee Canfield today. Like I told you, I did a preliminary with her yesterday, but she was so anxious about getting ready for the show that she barely paid attention to my questions. Since she was so distracted, I made an appointment to see her this afternoon at the gallery.”

“And?”

“She wasn’t there. Her boyfriend wasn’t, either. The place is still closed up tight, just like it was last night. The sign’s still on the door. There were two notices – one from FedEx and one from UPS – saying they had attempted deliveries.”

Joa

“Did you go by her house?” Joa

“Sure did. She lives on Cochise Drive out in Huachuca Terraces. I stopped by twice,” Jaime said. “Nobody was home. The blinds are down and the curtains closed. Something’s not right here, Sheriff. I have a really bad feeling about it. If there’s still no sign of her or Warren Gibson by tomorrow morning, I should probably get search warrants and go through both the house and the gallery.”

“Maybe they decided to take a few days off,” Joa

“I doubt that,” Jaime said. “For one thing, I talked to Gina Dodd at Desert Stairs Catering. Dee hired Gina to supply the food for last night’s party. The first Gina knew about the cancellation was when she showed up with a vanful of food and found the sign on the gallery door. Gina says Dee never would have done that without calling. She says that’s not the way Dee Canfield does business. Gina’s convinced something is terribly wrong.”

“Do you think Gina Dodd’s word will be enough for you to get a search warrant? And will you be able to get one on Saturday morning?”

“By the time I talked to Phyllis Kelly, Judge Moore’s clerk, he was gone for the day,” Jaime replied. “He and his wife have a di

“Did you talk to Bobo Jenkins about any of this?” Joa