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Andy reached into his pocket, pulled out his billfold, extracted some money, and handed it over to Je
Once again, Je
The Bradys-Andy, Joa
Joa
Concerned, she looked across the seat. Je
“Daddy, Daddy,” she screamed. “Come back. Don’t go. Please don’t leave us.”
But Andy was already gone. He had disappeared into thin air. When their car hit the bottom of the arc, Joa
“Stop this thing,” Joa
The attendant pointed to his ears, shook his head, suggesting that he couldn’t hear, and then touched the control panel. Instead of stopping, the wheel sped up to twice its previous speed, racing up and then plummeting down into the void, with Joa
They stayed there for the longest time, with Joa
Surprisingly, she wasn’t the least bit embarrassed. Instead of shrinking away and trying to cover herself, Joa
She heard a bell then. Andy had always liked the sledge hammer concessions. In those games, a strong enough blow from a hammer would ring the bell at the top of a metal post. The resulting prize was usually nothing more exotic than a shoddily made teddy bear or an awful cigar. Still, Andy loved to try his hand at it. Joa
As she raised herself on one elbow to grope for the receiver, she glanced at the glowing green numbers on the clock radio. Twelve forty-seven. Who the hell was calling her in the middle of the night?
“Sheriff Brady,” she answered, her voice still thick with sleep.
“Sorry to wake you,” said Larry Kendrick from Dispatch. “We’ve got a problem here. The jail commander asked me to call you.”
Sitting up, Joa
“We just found Ha
“Dead!” Joa
“She hung herself from her bunk,” Larry said. “Or, more accurately, strangled herself. With her bra.”
“Has somebody called Dick Voland and Ernie Carpenter?”
“Dick’s already here. Ernie’s next on the list.”
“I’ll be right there, too,” Joa
What about Je
Je
Sinking back down on the bed, Joa
And that’s when she realized that there was one friend who would still be awake. One A.M. would be closing time at the Blue Moon Saloon and Lounge up in Brewery Gulch. Angie Kellogg would just be getting off work. In Angie’s previous life, and in this one as well, she lived what was essentially a night shift existence. Other people might think it was the middle of the night. For Angie, it was late afternoon.
Seconds later, worrying that she might already he too Tale, Joa
“‘Thank God you’re still there. It’s Joa
“Of course I’m still here,” Angie replied. “It’s not quite one yet. I’m just washing up the last of those god-awful trays. What’s the matter?”
“I’ve got to go into work, and I don’t know what to do about Je
“Now?” Angie asked.
“There’s been a problem over at the jail. Once I go in, no telling how long I’ll be there. I don’t want to wake Je
Angie Kellogg still couldn’t quite fathom how she had become friends first with Joa
“Do you want me to come there, or would you like to bring her to my place?” Angie asked.
“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I’d appreciate your coming here,” Joa
“Sure,” Angie answered. “No problem. I’ll be there jus as soon as I can. I’ll lock up right now, but I’ll leave Bobo note so he’ll know why I didn’t finish cleaning up.”
“You’re sure he won’t mind?”
“No. Not at till, but it’ll still tike the better part of twenty minutes for me to get there.”
Joa