Dead Wrong

With that, she turned away from the Yukon and slammed the door shut behind her. Frank Montoya caught up with her as she walked away. “With DPS due here any minute,” he cautioned, “you might want to downplay those kinds of inflammatory comments.”

“What?” Joa

“No. Saying you wish you’d killed him. Zavala’s already screaming police brutality and asking for a lawyer. Claims you shot him with no warning.”

Joa

“Still…” Frank began.

Just then Debbie Howell arrived with the children’s tearful mother in tow. After gathering Ha

“Are you the one who rescued them?” she asked.

Joa

Chantal put down the children. She enveloped first Deputy Thomas and then Joa

“You already did,” Joa

The next several hours flew past in a blur of activity. By the time the ambulance arrived to transport Antonio Zavala, it had to make its way through a throng of media cams which had appeared out of nowhere and now lined both sides of Mescal Road. Joa

While Frank handled multiplying media concerns, Debbie Howell and Jaime Carbajal took statements from both Chantal Little and her children. Eventually the two detectives left-Jaime to return to the crime scene at Roostercomb Ranch and Debbie to go to Tucson to make a next-of-kin notification to Lupe Melendez’s family.

Through all this two DPS investigators were also on the scene. Detectives Dave Newton and Roger Unger needed to take their own statements from Chantal and the children. They also took possession of the semiautomatic rifle Joa

By then it was mid-afternoon and quickly turning chilly. “The kids are tired and hungry,” Chantal complained to Joa

Joa

Chantal nodded. “My dad’s scheduled for triple bypass surgery on Monday.”

“Let me see what I can do,” Joa

She went looking for the two DPS investigators and found them off to the side of the road, comparing notes. Newton, the older and clearly senior of the two, seemed a

“Look, Sheriff Brady, these things can’t be rushed. We’re working as fast as we can.”

“But does it all have to be done here?” Joa

“I suppose we could finish up at the office in Tucson,” Newton replied grudgingly. “But we’ll need to tow both these vehicles.”

“Why?” Joa

“For evidence.”

“What evidence? The Dodge? Yes, that makes sense. That’s the vehicle Zavala drove, but he was never anywhere near my deputy’s Yukon. There’s no need to impound that.”

“Sheriff Brady…” Newton began.

“Here’s the deal,” Joa

Joa

Frowning, he capitulated. “I suppose that could work,” he said reluctantly.

By the time Chantal Little and the children were belted into the Yukon, a DPS-dispatched tow truck had come to collect the minivan. As the Yukon drove away, picking its way between media vans and emergency vehicles, Frank came back to Joa

“Care for a ride?” he asked.

“Thanks,” Joa

Once back on the highway and with a reliable cell-phone signal, Joa

Her feeble attempt at minimizing was immediately blown out of the water.

“You mean the big shoot-out west of Benson?” Butch asked. “The one with the carjacker who kidnapped those two kids? I already heard about it. It’s been on the news all afternoon. Don’t tell me you were involved.”

“Actually I was,” Joa

“But are you all right?” he asked when she finished.

“Yes.”

“And the kids are all right, too?”

“Yes.”

“Good work, then. When will you be home?”

“After the use-of-deadly-force interviews with DPS in Tucson. Frank’s driving me there. He’ll bring me home when we’re finished.”

“Something’s terribly wrong with this picture,” Butch objected. “You save two kids and wing a triple murderer, but you’re the one who’s being investigated? It makes no sense.”

“Thank you,” Joa

“For what?”

“For understanding.”

“You’re welcome. See you when you get here. I’m not holding di

By then Frank was turning off the freeway at an exit on the far outskirts of Tucson. At the Triple T Truck Stop, Joa

“This is a very bad scene, Joa

“How bad?”

“You were right. The dogs that were chained in the yard were so vicious even I couldn’t get near them,” Millicent said. “I had to tranquilize them first and put them down.”

“How many?”

“Ten.”

Joa

“What about the puppies?”

“They’re in bad shape, too,” Millicent said. “So are the bitches. They’re sick, filthy, covered with fleas and ticks, and practically starving. But the worst thing about it is, they’re really a pack of wild animals. They’ve had absolutely no socialization.”

“Does that mean you’re going to have to put them down, too?” Joa