Skeleton Canyon

Hoping to do better than that, Joa

Je

Once again, je

In her heart of hearts, she knew this separation of mother and daughter was a necessary step for both of them. It offered them an opportunity to move beyond the tragedy of Andy’s death and to find new ways of functioning in the world. That was something Eleanor Lathrop had resisted doing after the death of her husband, Joa

“I won’t be all alone,” Joa

“You know what I mean,” Je

“Yes,” Joa

“You’ll write to me?”

“Every day.”

By then they had threaded their way up the narrow road In the parking lot at Camp Whispering Pines. They stopped next to the sign that said NO MOTOR VEHICLES ALLOWED BEYOND THIS POINT. Off to the left ahead of them, nestled at the end of a small clearing and backed by a grove of towering pines, sat a low-slung dining hall. Tucked here and there among the trees were large wood-floored canvas tents, each of them large enough to hold eight cots. The place was at once familiar and foreign. Joa

Joa

“How did you know?” Je

Lisa laughed. “For one thing, you’re the only camper we were missing. For another, ten minutes ago we had a telephone call from someone looking for Sheriff Brady.”

Joa

“There’s a phone in the camp director’s office,” Lisa offered helpfully. “You’re more than welcome to use that. In the meantime, I’ll help Je

Struck suddenly both subdued and shy, Je

Lisa, clearly an old hand at bridging troublesome parental farewells, forged ahead. “You’ll be in Badger,” she continued. “‘That’s just two cabins up the hill from the dining hall. There are some really great girls in there. If you can carry the bedroll, I’ll take the bag. That way, I can help you find your bunk and he there to introduce you when the other girls come back from lunch. Is that all right?”

For a moment, Je

“I’ve changed my mind,” she said tearfully. “I don’t want to stay. I’d rather go back home with you.”

Had the decision been left to Joa

To Joa

“You go ahead and make your phone call, Sheriff Brady,” she said to Joa

“When I finish, I can come up… “ Joa

Lisa shook her head. “No,” she said. “It’s probably better if you just go after that. Je

Sure I will, Joa

It was almost noon before Hector finally showed up at the station. He was sober by then, but he looked like hell.

“Where’ve you been?” Nacio demanded. “Uncle Frank just called looking for you. I was supposed to leave hours ago.”

“I got held up,” Hector said.

“Right,” Nacio growled back at him. “You’re just lucky Uncle Frank keeps you on. If it was up to me, you’d be out of here. Now, get to work. Mrs. Howard is due back in half an hour. Her Buick needs an oil change, and I haven’t had a chance to get near it.”

“What’s the matter with you this morning, Pepito?” Hector asked with that slow, lazy smile of his. “Did that little blond bruja of yours cut you off?”

Nacio looked at him. He couldn’t afford to make any denials. Half sick, he realized that if Hector knew about Bree, most likely so did Uncle Frank and Aunt Yoli.

“Shut up and get to work,” he said. “We’re too far behind this morning to stand around arguing.”

Without another word, Hector headed for the Buick in the far bay and disappeared under the opened hood. An hour later, with things pretty much back under control, Nacio went in search of Ron Torres.

“Hector’s here now. Uncle Frank should be in later on. Will you be all right until then?”

Ron gri

“Good, then,” Nacio said. “because I’m going.”