Rattlesnake Crossing

With that he turned on his dusty Tony Lama hoots and returned to his truck. Joa

It was so late in the afternoon when she reached Benson that she should have driven past the ongoing press conference at the Quarter Horse Cafe without a trace of guilt. She had already put in a very long day after several other very long days. But her father, D. H. Lathrop, had imbued his daughter with his own fierce work ethic. In addition, Joa

She was still battling her attack of guilt when she reached the Rita Road overpass on I-10. That was when inspiration struck. Belle Philips. As soon as the woman's name crossed her mind, Joa

Dispatcher Tica Romero took the call. "Where's Detective Carbajal?" Joa

"Still at the Triple C crime scene, as far as I know," Tica replied. "Do you want me to put you through to him?"

"No. Ask him to contact me by phone rather than radio. Cell phones may not be one hundred percent secure, but they're better than broadcasting everything we say over the airwaves."

"I'll have him get right back to you," Tica said. And she did. Joa

"What's up, Sheriff Brady?" he asked.

"Jaime, have you had a chance to interview Belle Philips yet?"

“Are you kidding? We've been so busy since the medics hauled her away in the ambulance that I've barely given the woman another thought. Why?"

"Where is she?"

"University Medical Center," he replied. "At least that's where I understood they were taking her."

"It happens that I'm on my way there myself," Joa

"It couldn't hurt," Jaime agreed.

Armed with both official and unofficial reasons for being in Tucson, Joa

Expecting to find one or the other of them inside, Joa

He had been working on a small laptop computer. As soon as he saw Joa

"What's going on? Are you on your way back to Peoria?"

"Not exactly," he replied. "When Kristin called and said you were coming here to visit Jeff and Maria

"No. Of course not." Joa

"That wasn't what I call having lunch," Butch objected. "You breezed in and sat down, but before we had a chance to exchange two words, that woman…"

"Marliss," Joa

"Whatever-her-name-is showed up and monopolized the conversation for as long as you were there."

"I'm sorry," Joa

"And you're skittish," Butch said.

She nodded. "Well, I suppose I am. I'm afraid people will talk, I guess. Afraid of what they'll think."

"What will they think?"

"That you and I are involved. Seriously involved."

"Are we?"

Butch was making it tough for her. Standing there with the little vase of daisies in her hand, while she fielded his questions like a complete ni

"I'm trying," he said. "So far, the signals are a little mixed. Look, Joa

Along with the hospital itself, the Arizona I

"No," Joa

"I'll figure it out, then." Butch stood up and headed for the door. "See you here at eight. No excuses."

Joa

"Jeff's in Esther's room for this hour's ten minutes' worth of visiting. He should be out any time. Maria

Butch turned and walked out, leaving Joa

Jeff Daniels burst into the waiting room. "Joa

"How's Esther?"

"All right so far," he replied. "They're keeping her pretty well sedated."

"And Maria

"She's hardly slept for days," Jeff said. "I finally convinced her to go back to the room to nap. I called and found out she'd left a wake-up call for five. I canceled it. I want her to sleep until she actually wakes up. She's been ru

"In other words, she's a wreck," Joa

Jeff managed a rueful grin. "We both are," he agreed.

Looking down, Joa

"Thanks." Jeff put the vase down in the middle of a small conference table that sat next to the vending machines. "We're not allowed to take flowers into the ICU itself," he explained. "But if we leave them here, everyone can enjoy them. Besides, for the next day or two, we'll probably be spending more time here than anywhere else."

Stuffing his hands in his pocket, Jeff sighed. "It was nice of Butch to stop by. He and I had a good visit. Just guy stuff-cars and baseball, mostly. But I was glad to have a chance to think and talk about something else. I can only deal with this for so long before I start to lose it." He broke off and shrugged. His eyes welled with tears. "Butch is a nice guy, Joa

"I know," she said. That was part of the problem. Butch Dixon was a very nice guy.

The door to the ICU waiting room swung open and several people came in at once. Joa