Skeleton Canyon

She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, shutting out the tumult outside her window and deliberately turning off the turmoil within. Reinforcements were headed for Willcox, which meant there was no need for her to go traipsing up there. Besides, by staying behind, she would be on hand when Detective Carbajal brought Nettleton in for questioning.

Opening her eyes again, she glanced at her watch. Five of four. In a while she’d call Doc Winfield and ask him about the medical missionaries. Jaime wouldn’t arrive with his prisoner for the better part of an hour. Before then, maybe Joa

Resolutely reaching for the stack, she forced herself to handle the first thing she touched-the board of supervisors letter. Next came a governmental treatise-a thick, bound notebook of bureaucratic doublespeak containing the latest federal man-dates and guidelines concerning the care and feeding of prisoners.

With the very best of intentions, Joa

Getting off the phone at noon, Angie Kellogg had turned to find her customers hanging on her every word. All afternoon she faced a barrage of good-natured teasing about her car’s going for a ride without her. The jokes were made easier to endure, however, by the fact that Angie’s loyal customers were also determined to do something about it. She was surprised and touched to see that while her back had been turned, someone had placed an empty gallon jar on the end of the bar with a label affixed to it reading “Let’s fix Angie’s Omega.” By two that afternoon the jar already contained several crumpled hills and a collection of loose change.

The Blue Moon’s easy camaraderie made those unsolicited donations possible. It also gave rise to teasing of a more personal nature. All afternoon, Archie McBride and Willy Haskins kept up a ru

“Are you go

Angie, wavering between hoping De

“He seemed like one of those real gentlemen. Was he nice to you?”

Angie considered for a moment before she answered. Yes, De

“He didn’t try to take advantage of you, now, did he?” Archie pressed solicitously. “ ‘Cause if’n he did, me an’ of Willy here’ll take care of him the next time he walks through the door. Right, Willy?”

“What?” Willy asked.

“Never mind,” Angie said with a laugh. “You’ll do no such thing.”

Feeling better, Angie went back down the bar to serve an-other customer. It was nice to have champions even if they were nothing more than a pair of broken-down, toothless old miners.

About three o’clock the Blue Moon’s swinging door banged open and in walked the last person Angie Kellogg ever expected to see there-the Reverend Maria

“I brought you something.” Maria

“What are those?”

“The keys to the truck,” Maria

For Angie, this latest kindness was almost overwhelming. “But what about-”

“No buts,” Maria

“Thank you,” Angie said. That was all she could manage.

From then on, the rest of the afternoon seemed to crawl by. Customers came and went. By four o’clock, Angie was sneaking periodic checks at the clock behind the bar. Would De

“Hi, Angie,” he said. “I’m back.”

Angie had been waiting eagerly for the call. Now that he was on the line, she found herself drowning in confusion with no clue as to what to say. “How was the meeting?” she stammered.

“Fine,” De

Angie glanced down the bar to where Archie and Willy were listening to her every word. “I guess that’ll he fine,” she said.

“Great,” Hacker responded cheerfully. “I came back to the house to wash up. Unfortunately, it’s been raining like crazy out here, which means the washes are probably up again. The Hummer will make it through just fine, but it may take a little longer-”

He stopped in mid-sentence. The phone seemed to clatter onto some hard surface. When De

“Who are you talking to?” another voice, a male one, returned just as angrily. “Get your hands up in the air. I heard you talking. Who else is in here with you? Where are they?”

“There’s nobody here. I’m alone,” De

In the background Angie could hear some shuffling and banging as though someone were searching the trailer.

“De

“Oh, it’s the phone,” the unidentified voice said. “Hang it up.”

She heard a noisy crash. “De

In answer, there was nothing but silence.

Joa

Like working mothers everywhere, Joa

Not many people had that private number-notably Je

“Joa

At the sound of her mother’s voice, Joa

“Hello, Mother,” Joa

Going on the offensive was one of Eleanor’s typical ploys. Why should I do the calling? Joa