Outlaw Mountain

Frank Montoya stuck his head in the door. “Is it safe?” he asked. “Word is out that Her Majesty-meaning you-is lopping off heads right and left.”

“Dick Voland quit; I didn’t fire him,” Joa

“Won’t it be boring having our morning briefing without Voland here sniping at us?” Frank asked. “A little like coffee with no cream?”

Joa

“Very.”

“I’ve been on the phone to Fran Daly this morning. She’s tracking the insulin vial that was found on Alice Rogers’ corpse. That trail may lead us straight back to Clete Rogers. Do you happen to know whether or not he’s diabetic?”

Frank shook his head. “Nobody’s ever talked about specifics, but I do know he’s had some long-term health difficulties. I remember Nancy, the hostess at the Grubsteak, making some allusion to it. It probably wouldn’t be all that hard to find out. If nothing else, I can ask her.”

“Do it,” Joa

“I doubt it. As far as I know, he’s never been involved it anything that requires prints. He runs a restaurant, Joa

“Would it be possible for you to get his prints?” Joa

“That shouldn’t be too hard,” Frank said. “How soon do you want it?”

“ASAP.”

“It figures. I’ll handle it.” Frank paused. “What about Karen Brainard? I understand she resigned from the board of supervisors as of yesterday morning. What, if anything, are we doing about her?”

“I’ve assigned Ernie Carpenter to the Mark Childers/Lewis Flores cases,” Joa

Frank raised a questioning eyebrow. “Ernie Carpenter investigating white-collar crime? That’s a long way from his usual area of expertise, isn’t it?”

“Not that far,” Joa

“Fair enough,” Frank agreed. “Now, tell me. With Dick gone, have you given any thought as to who should be your next Chief Deputy for Operations?”

“As a matter of fact I have,” Joa

“Really?” Frank Montoya beamed. “Thanks, but who’s going to be in charge of Administration, then?”

“You again,” Joa

“Not right off the bat,” Frank said. “I’ll have to think about it. I’m sure I’ll conic up with someone. Anything else?”

“Yes. I want you to get on the phone with authorities in western South Dakota. Check out all the jurisdictions within spitting distance of Mount Rushmore to see if they have a reported missing person whose first name is Junior.”

Montoya beamed again. “So my suggestion did work then. I haven’t had a chance to see the article yet, but if you’ve already got results this fast, Marliss must have written a dandy.”

“Marliss Shackleford had absolutely nothing to do with it,” Joa

“Daisy, over at the cafe?” Frank marveled. “I had no idea she was a writer.”

“She isn’t,” Joa

“The call came from a pay phone located in North Las Vegas. That’s all I’ve been able to come up with so far.”

“And what about the rogue cops, the ones who went to prison?” Joa

“Not so far, but I’ll check it out. Anything else?”

“Yes. What about yesterday’s incident reports? Do you have them?”

“No. I didn’t know I was supposed to have them. No one gave them to me.”

“That figures. I want you to make an official a

Frank had been making notes all along. Now he stopped. “What’s the real story behind Dick’s leaving?” he asked. “One minute the man is his usual charming self, throwing his weight around and giving people all kinds of grief. The next minute his office is empty and he’s out of here. What’s going on?”

Joa

“You’re kidding! As in romantic ideas?”

“That’s right.”

“What made him think that?” Frank asked. “He’s got to be a good fifteen years older than you are. In fact, I’m a lot closer to your age than he is.”

“Don’t you go getting any weird ideas.” Joa

Frank Montoya jumped out of his chair. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, gri

“Get out of here then,” Joa

Seconds after Frank returned to the lobby, Kristin entered Joa

Joa

Without looking her boss in the eye, Kristin shrugged. “I guess,” she said.

“Does that mean you’ve decided you want to keep working here-that you want to continue being my secretary?”

“Yes.”

“Good, then,” Joa