Dead Wrong

“I doubt it,” Tazewell answered. “And for the record, I wouldn’t believe anything Rory Markham has to say.”

Not an indifferent father at all, Joa

“Look,” Tazewell said. “I’m sure you and I need to discuss all of this, but I can’t do it right now. What about tomorrow?”

“Where would you like to meet?” Joa

“I’m in Tucson at a meeting, but I have my own plane. Why don’t I just fly into Bisbee sometime in the morning. We can talk there.”

“In the municipal airport?”

“Sure,” Tazewell said. “When I was a superior court judge in Bisbee and living out on the ranch, I used to do it all the time. Saved myself all kinds of commuting time and wear and tear on my car. I’ll show up, we can have our little chat, and I’ll fly right back out again. What time would you like me there, and can someone meet me?”

“Nine will be fine,” Joa

“Good,” Tazewell said. “See you then.”

Joa

“So he’s coming here?” Butch asked.

Joa

“Well,” Butch said, “that’s better than your having to go there.”

They went to bed relatively early. As usual, Joa

The fact that Tazewell had offered to come to Bisbee for the interview should have made her less nervous, but it didn’t. Joa

She was still nervous about the upcoming interview at nine the next morning as she watched a blue-and-white Cessna 180 circle for a landing on the single runway of Bisbee’s municipal airport. She felt inexplicably better, however, when the door opened and a man wearing jeans, alligator-skin cowboy boots, and an enormous Stetson stepped off the plane. She might be worried about talking to a state supreme court justice, but a supreme court justice who also happened to be a cowboy might be somewhat easier to handle.

Emerging from her Crown Victoria, Joa

“Justice Tazewell?” Joa

“And you’re also very pregnant,” Tazewell observed.

Accustomed to people’s veiled glances and behind-the-back comments, Joa

“Yes,” she agreed with a laugh, “I am.”

“When are you due?” he asked.

“Sometime this week,” Joa

Tazewell nodded. “I know a little about babies,” he observed as he followed Joa

“My stepdaughter had her little girl just a week ago today,” he continued as he shifted in search of a more comfortable position. “Seven pounds six ounces, born screeching her lungs out at ten o’clock last Thursday morning. Suza

By then they had settled into the vehicle, and Joa

“Where’s he stationed?” Tazewell returned.

“No,” Joa

“Denver,” Tazewell answered. “Ron is from there. His parents own a bunch of apartment buildings, and they’re letting Suza

As Tazewell spoke, Joa

“Did you fly your own plane up there?” she asked.

“Of course,” he said. “Commercial flying is such a pain these days that I avoid it whenever possible. We left right after I got off work on Wednesday and were there in time for di

As they came up over the hill south of the ballpark, Tazewell looked around and sighed. “Looks like nothing’s changed,” he said. “When I first got elected to the superior court, I thought Aileen and I would move over here. I’d even made an offer on a nice place over on the Vista, but she refused to leave her folks’ ranch. Her mother was starting to have some health issues about then. And she stayed on even after both her parents passed away. As far as I know, she’s still there. I’m the one who moved on.”

There was a clear hint of regret in his voice. “You don’t sound particularly happy about it,” Joa

“Being here brings it all back, I guess,” he said. “My colossal failure in life. The fu

“I take it you don’t approve of your son-in-law?” Joa

“Look,” Lawrence Tazewell said. “Aileen wrote me out of my daughter’s life a long time ago. I’ve had no contact with Leslie at all since she was little, but I still care, and I try to keep track of what’s going on with her. When I found out she had married Rory Markham, I assumed it was Rory’s son. I knew he had at least one. I didn’t find out until much later that wasn’t the case. When I learned she had married the father instead, the Rory I knew, I couldn’t believe it. Why would someone like Leslie, a girl in her twenties, want to hook up with an old goat almost as old as her father?”

Joa

“I knew him slightly but Rory and my ex have been pals forever,” Tazewell answered finally. “Maybe even more than pals on occasion. I suspect Aileen is the one who engineered the whole thing.”

Joa

“Encouraged probably more than allowed,” Tazewell replied. “In fact, she probably manipulated the whole transaction and poor Leslie probably still hasn’t figured it out. Aileen’s like that, you see-someone who always gets her way. That’s one of the reasons I divorced her.”