Rattlesnake Crossing

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Afterward, Joa

She stood in the shower until she ran out of hot water, but no amount of showering could wash away the horror of what Fran Daly had shown her when she met up with the medical examiner in the hot little room behind the garage on Alton Hosfield's Triple C. Monty Brainard's assessment had been right on the money.

The frost-covered freezer compartment of Ryan Merritt's refrigerator was his trophy room. There, wrapped in separate plastic sandwich bags, Fran Daly had discovered the frozen, bloodied remains of four newly harvested human scalps. A few feet away, in the bottom dresser drawer, she had found one more, much older than the others.

"What do you think?" Fran Daly had asked, opening the drawer and shining a flashlight so Joa

Joa

After the shower, Joa

Butch called the next morning as Joa

"I can't," she told him. "I have to be in the office in ten minutes."

"Are you okay?"

Joa

"No," she said. "It turns out I'm not all right. But I have to go in all the same. We've got a whole lot of cleaning up to do around the department this weekend. It'll probably take most of the day."

"Di

"I think so," she said, "but call me later, just to be sure."

During the morning briefing, Joa

"You mean you hadn't?" Joa

Voland looked at her sheepishly and shook his head. "I told him I put on too much Vitalis and it must have slipped my mind."

In spite of herself, Joa

"Not much." Joa

Ernie nodded. "As a matter of fact, we have," he said. "The evidence techs were going over Frankie Ramos' VW bus here in the impound lot when they found an unfinished letter addressed to his folks. Here's a Xerox copy."

Dear Mom and Dad,

I'm sory for all the trubble I caused. Clyde was nice to me but he was getting sicker and sicker. I tried to take him to the doctor but he wuldn't go. Ryan said we should take the stuff from the shop and cell it. He said he had frends from Florens who wuld buy guns and stuff, but Clyde hurd and was mad as hell. Ryan hit him and put him to bed I thought he was dead but he wasn't. When Ryan saw he was still breathing he wanted me to hit him to, but I culdn't. I put a bag over his head. Mom, pleese ask God to forgiv me.

I'm scarred of Ryan. He sez he's comming tonite to giv me the mony. But I don't want it. What shud I do? I can't tell what

The letter ended in mid-sentence. "That's all there is?" Joa

Ernie nodded. "That's it."

"Has Ruben Ramos seen this yet?" she asked.

"No," Ernie answered. "Not yet."

"You'll take it to him?"

"Right away. As soon as wt. finish up here."

"And stay with Ruben after he finishes reading it," Joa

Later, when the briefing had finished with the one set of cases and moved on to more routine matters, Frank Montoya brought up the issue of Eddy Sandoval's dismissal. Firing a deputy put a real crimp in Dick Voland's Patrol Division. It also meant that Frank's carefully contrived work roster for the following month would have to be redone. Neither of the two chief deputies was happy about that, but neither of them faulted Joa

Hours afterward, Joa

"Joa

"What?"

"We're here in Seattle getting ready to catch our plane back to Phoenix when there you are!"

"Mother," Joa

"Not in person, silly," Eleanor said. "Your picture. It's right here on the front page of the Seattle Times, along with a big article that was continued two pages later. What in the world have you been up to while we've been gone? I've read the article and so has George. We can hardly believe it. And the article calls you a hero. Whatever happened to the word 'heroine'? I think it's ever so much nicer. 'Hero' makes you sound so… well… masculine. In my day, a woman who wrote books called herself an authoress, not an author. That sounded much more ladylike, too, if you ask me."

Joa

"Someone from the Bisbee Bee," Eleanor answered. "The article and picture both must have been picked up by the wire services."

"Marliss Shackleford didn't write it, I hope."

"Heavens, no. She's nothing but a columnist. No, I think it was probably Kevin Dawson, the son of the publisher. Anyway, I have to go now. They're calling our plane. We won't be in until late tonight. Will I see you tomorrow?"

"I doubt it, Mother," Joa

"Funeral!" Eleanor exclaimed. "What funeral?"

"Esther's," Joa

"Esther? You mean Jeff and Maria

"Yes. She died yesterday afternoon at University Medical Center in Tucson. She had surgery and then she caught pneumonia."

Eleanor was outraged. "Joa

"It turns out I was a little busy." And then Joa

"Oh," Eleanor Lathrop Winfield said. "I guess that's right."

An hour later, Joa

He came on the line and greeted her. "Does this mean you've surfaced?"

"For the moment. Do you have any plans for the evening?" "Hopes, yes," Butch said. "Plans, no."

"How'd you like to come on out to the house? We'll cook di

"Wait a minute, does that mean di