Desert Heat

“What’s really going on?” she asked.

“Suppose we cut directly to the chase, Joa

She answered without hesitation. “Payson. Outside of Payson, actually, visiting with a friend. Floyd Demaris is his name, but everyone calls him Pookie. He and Andy graduated from the police academy in Phoenix together, but Pookie got shot while he was still a rookie. He’s in a wheelchair and back living with his folks. He always loved the outdoors. Once each September, before it got too cold, he an Andy would go camping.”

“And, as far as you know, that’s what they did?” Detective Carpenter asked.

“As far as I know?” Joa

Sitting with a Cross ever-sharp pencil poised above a blank page in a meticulously kept notebook, Ernie Carpenter abruptly changed the subject. “How many guns did Andy own?”

“Two,” Joa

“So you’re aware he had two separate weapons?”

“Of course, I’m aware of that,” Joa

“So you would have expected him to take the Chief with him for the weekend rather than the.357?”

“That’s right.”

“Didn’t you find it odd that he always left one or the other of those two weapons in locker down at the department?”

“What’s odd about it?” Joa

Carpenter looked her right in the eye. “I take mine home,” he said.

“Do you have any little children at home?” she returned.

“Not anymore.”

“We do. The day Je

Both officers nodded. “She died, didn’t?” Detective Carpenter asked.

“That’s right, she did. And it made quite an impression on Andy and me. He always said keeping track of one handgun was trouble enough. He didn’t want to risk having two in the house at the same time. None of this was exactly a state secret, so why all the questions about Andy’s guns? What do they have to do with the price of peanuts?”

Carpenter dropped his gaze as he made a quick notation in his notebook. “I’m sure you’ve heard by now about Lefty O’Toole’s death, haven’t you?”

“Yes, but…”

“We have the ballistics tests back,” Carpenter continued. “We’ve confirmed that Lefty shot with bullets fired from Andy’s.357. We’re estimating time of death as some time the weekend before last. That’s only a best-guess estimate, nothing definitive.”

“That’s when Andy was in Payson,” Joa

Ernie Carpenter raised his eyes and met Joa

“But…” Joa

Detective Carpenter silenced her with a dismissive wave of his hand. “When he left here on Friday afternoon, did Andy say anything to you to the effect that he had changed his mind and was going somewhere else?”

“No.”

“And he stayed away the whole weekend just as he would have if he really had mad the trip to Payson?”

Joa

“How much do you know about your husband’s business dealings?” Carpenter went on. His questions were professional and gratingly dispassionate.

“I know everything,” Joa

“Do you own any property other than your place here, something Andy might have liquidated without your knowledge?”

“No. None at all.”

“Did a relative of his die recently?”

“No. Why?”

“Mrs. Brady,” Ernie Carpenter said slowly, “Andy was a colleague of mine. I’d like to find some legitimate source for the nine-thousand five-hundred-dollar cash deposit he made into your joint checking account on Monday of this week. Do you have any idea where that money might have come from?”

Joa

“Nine-thousand-five-hundred even,” Carpenter repeated. “Sandy, down at the bank, said he brought it all into the branch in a stack of cash on Monday afternoon. He showed up it just before closing time.”

Shaken, Joa

“Could he have borrowed it from his parents?”

“No. The Bradys don’t have it, and he wouldn’t have borrowed it from them even they did.”

“So you have no idea where this money came from?”

“None at all.”

“Have there been other occasions when unexplained money has turned up in your account?

“No. Absolutely not.” Joa

“How can you sit here and let him ask questions like this?” she stormed. “You worked with Andy, Dick. He wasn’t like this, and you know it. He never did anything crooked in his life.”

Voland shook his head but without offering any consolation. “Let him go on, Joa

“Did Andy ever mention Lefty O’Toole’s name to you?” Ernie asked. “Were you aware of any ongoing relationship?”

“No!” Joa

“Had you two suffered any financial reverses lately?” he continued. “Were you behind in your mortgage payments?”

“No, not at all. We were doing fine.”

“How did he act the past few weeks? Was he depressed for instance, anxious or upset?”

“No. Exactly the opposite. If anything, he was excited. He enjoyed campaigning, and that surprised him. It surprised us both. He wasn’t depressed at all.”

“Did he leave anything here that might have explained what happened? Any kind of note, a message?”

“There was a note with the flowers and ring, but that wasn’t a suicide note if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Could I see it?”

For the first time, Joa

“It’s in the bedroom,” she said. “I’ll go get it.”

Joa

“We couldn’t afford a ring when we got married,” she answered.

“You didn’t mind him spending three thousand bucks on one now?”

For the first time that morning, Joa

Carpenter nodded. “All right. According to Hiram Young, Andy paid for it on Tuesday afternoon with a personal check written on your joint account.”

“Doesn’t that tell you something?” Joa