Dead to Rights

“You shot him yourself?”

Joa

Morgan’s eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute; a little while ago you said you believed me.”

“I do,” Joa

Hal Morgan reached out and retrieved Joa

Morgan was still looking at the card when he spoke again.

“I’m sorry about your husband,” he said. “I didn’t know.”

‘‘Thank you,” she returned.

“Is that why you’re helping me?” Hal Morgan asked.

Joa

“Won’t it cause trouble for you?” he asked. “With your people, I mean?”

She smiled. “It could. On the face of it, there’s certainly potential for a conflict of interest. That’s why I’m not pulling the deputy, even though I personally don’t believe you need an armed guard.”

“It’s okay,” Morgan said. “I understand.” Then, after moment, he added, “Your homicide dick isn’t going to like it when he finds out you’ve referred me to a local defense attorney.”

“Who’s going to tell him?”

For the first time there was the slightest hint of a smile lurking under Hal Morgan’s gray-flecked moustache. “Not me,” he said, holding out his hand. “Thanks for everything.”

Joa

“You’re welcome,” she told him. “And good luck wit Burton. He’s a good man.”

NINE

Once back in the Blazer, Joa

“You went to see Morgan?”

“That’s right,” Joa

“Not yet,” the chief deputy returned. “I was was waiting for marching orders from you. Now that I know you’re not pulling the guard, I’ll definitely have someone there by three.”

“Still no overtime, though, Dick,” Joa

“Right,” Voland agreed. “No overtime.” He paused. “I’m really glad you’ve come around to my way of thinking on this one, Joa

Dick Voland’s voice on the radio was surprisingly cordial.

No doubt that had something to do with his mistaken belief that Joa

“Where’s Ernie?” Joa

“He and Jaime Carbajal are still up at Sunizona. Things are hopping up there. Doc Winfield called a few minutes ago wanting to talk to him as well, but Ernie’s come up with some kind of hot lead in the Carruthers case. I just sent Dave Hollicker hightailing it up to Sunizona with a search warrant. It sounds like Ernie’s convinced that the daughter, Ha

Since Ernie already had the Carruthers autopsy results in hand before he left town, Joa

“Doctor Winfield is done with the Buckwalter autopsy then?” Joa

“Sounds like. It’s not typed up or anything. That won’t happen until tomorrow, but Winfield was willing to brief Ernie on the results in the meantime.”

“What time will Ernie be getting back to town?” Joa

“No idea whatsoever,” Voland answered. “But most likely it’ll be late. You know what Ernie’s like once he gets his nose to the ground. I told the Doc that he probably won’t turn up any before tomorrow morning.”

That news disappointed Joa

Joa

“Tell you what,” she said. “I’m almost at the traffic circle, Instead of coming straight back to the department, I’ll stop by Doc Winfield’s office and see what he has to say. In the meantime, when you start passing out today’s assignments I want you to send at least one deputy over to Saginaw to talk to Bucky Buckwalter’s neighbors. I want to knov whether or not anyone saw a strange vehicle parked near the house or clinic around noon yesterday.”

There was a moment of dead air over the radio. When Dick Voland spoke again, all trace of cordiality was gone from his voice.

“Why on earth would we want to do that?” he demanded.

“Because we need to,” Joa

“Wait a minute,” he said. “Don’t tell me. I’ll bet Hal Morgan passed along his ‘second man’ pile of crap. He led me that same line of bull. Don’t fall for it, Joa

We’re off track, all right, Joa

“Whether or not I fell for something is immaterial, Dick,” she said. “I want Hal Morgan’s story checked out.”

“But I thought…” Voland sputtered. “… with your leaving him under guard…”

“We’re keeping a guard on the suspect because you seem to feel it’s necessary,” Joa

“But, Patrol is already spread so thin-”

Joa

The Cochise County Coroner’s office was in Old Bisbee, halfway up Tombstone Canyon, beyond the courthouse in what had once been a grocery store. During the mid-eighties and long out of the milk-and-bread business, the derelict but still serviceable old building briefly had been brought back to life to house what was purported to be a low-cost, prepaid Funeral service-Dearest Departures.