Dead to Rights

“Why an autopsy?” she asked.

Reaching across Terry, Joa

“Who ordered it?” Terry asked again. “Don’t I have any say lit that?”

“No, you don’t,” Joa

“Homicide. You’re saying Bucky was murdered?”

Joa

Joa

“It was him, then, wasn’t it,” she said softly. “It has to be him.”

“Hal Morgan?” Joa

Terry nodded.

“It could be,” Joa

Without a word, Terry Buckwalter reached into the pocket of her leather bomber jacket and pulled out a scrap of paper, which she handed out the open door to Joa

“What’s this?” Joa

“Read it,” Terry answered. “Hal Morgan said he would kill Bucky, and now he has.”

“Hal Morgan threatened Bucky? Where? When? Nobody told me that this morning.”

“It wasn’t today,” Terry said. “It was last year. In Phoenix. At the courthouse. I saw him once in the hallway outside the courtroom.”

“Wait did he say?”

“He didn’t say anything,” Terry answered. “He gave me that note. Read it.”

Carefully Joa

The message itself, written in tiny script and in fading lead pencil, contained what amounted to two words. “Exodus 21:12.”

Joa

Terry nodded. “Yes.”

“What does it say? Offhand, I don’t remember which verse this one is.”

“I didn’t know it either,” Terry said. “Not at first. I looked it up that night in the Gideon Bible in my hotel room.” Closing her eyes, she recited the words from memory. “He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.”

“And you kept it?” Joa

“Yes,” Terry said. “I put it in my makeup case and then I forgot about it. Until this morning. When I was putting on my makeup, I saw it again and I remembered. With Hal Morgan stationed right outside the clinic gates and carrying his ‘wicket sign, I could hardly forget.”

“Why did you put it in your pocket today?” Joa

“What?” Terry asked. She seemed to have traveled far away.

“You said you’ve had the note in your makeup kit for months, but today you’re carrying it around in your pocket,” Joa

Terry shrugged. “I meant to talk to Bucky about it.”

“You meant to, but you didn’t?”

Terry shook her head. “I never had a chance. By the time I came over to the clinic from the house, Bucky was already out in the parking lot raising hell. You were there, so you know what that was like. And when we went inside, we got so busy that I never had another opportunity.”

“I’ll need to keep this,” Joa

“I understand,” Terry said. “It’s all right.”

Carefully refolding the scrap of paper, Joa

“Are you all right, Terry?” Joa

Stony-eyed, Terry shook her head and climbed out of the car, shutting the door firmly behind her. “No,” she said. “I don’t need anyone right now. In fact, I should go in and check on the animals, especially on the post-ops. And Tigger, too,” she added. “If Bucky didn’t get around to pulling out those quills, I’ll have to call Dr. Wade down in Douglas and see if he can come help out.”

With that, Terry Buckwalter hurried into the parking lot. A thunderstruck Joa

Just then Ernie Carpenter, once again wearing his natty suit, emerged from the rest room, lugging his suitcase. “What’s going on?” he asked, examining Joa

Joa

“Oh,” Ernie said. “If she’s here, maybe I can talk to her for a few minutes right now. It’ll save me having to make another trip later.”

“Do you mind if I tag along?” Joa

Carpenter’s steel-gray beetle brows knitted themselves into a frown. “Look, Sheriff Brady, I gave you my word. When I interview Mrs. Buckwalter, if it doesn’t look like it’s necessary, I won’t say a word about the condoms. You don’t need to come along and check up on me.”

“It’s not that,” Joa

Still looking at the clinic door through which Terry Buck-waiter had disappeared, Joa

Unfolding the note, Ernie Carpenter held it at arm’s length. “What’s it say? I confess I’m not up on my Bible verses this afternoon.”

“The gist of it is pretty much an eye for an eye and all that jazz.”

“I see.” Ernie dropped the note into his pocket. “I believe you said two things.”

“Forget what I said about not telling Terry Buckwalter about the condoms,” Joa

“What makes you say that?”

“Women’s intuition,” Joa

“In a homicide investigation, women’s intuition doesn’t count for much,” Carpenter observed. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

“When I told her, she didn’t cry,” Joa

“Didn’t cry?” Carpenter asked.

Joa

A look of intense interest washed across Detective Carpenter’s face. “Did she say anything?” he asked.

“No,” Joa

Ernie considered Joa

“Maybe so,” Joa