Outlaw Mountain

“Same deal.”

“And Monica Foster?”

“Apparently she’s not in on it. Dena referred to Monica as Miss Goody Two-shoes. Monica doesn’t do drugs. Paul Brainard and Rex Hogan don’t either. What I can’t figure out is how come straight-shooters end up getting stuck with people who aren’t? What is it, wishful thinking?”

“That, or out-and-out stupidity.”

Je

“I have to go, Ernie,” she told him. “You go on home. I’ll come by in a little while and handle the Dena Hogan paperwork. You don’t need to worry about it. And tomorrow-”

“Tomorrow Jaime and I will both go straight to Tombstone,” Ernie told her. “In the morning we’ll finish interviewing Clete Rogers’ neighbors. Since Dena Hogan denies any involvement in that case, we need to find something that will link Ross Jenkins to Clete’s death. Then, in the afternoon, we’ll attend Alice’s funeral. That’ll take place at the Episcopal church in Tombstone at two tomorrow afternoon. Visitation is tonight at Garrity’s, down in Douglas. One of us had pla

“Mom!” Je

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Ernie. I’ve got to go.” Joa

“Yes. I have to.”

“Well, can I stay here then? I know the Gs will let me,”

“I suppose,” Joa

“Well,” Eleanor sniffed as Joa

Joa

“Mom has to go back to work,” Je

“It’s fine with us,” Eva Lou said.

“Thanks,” Joa

“Sure,” Butch said. “Finish your pie and we’ll go right away. Maybe Junior can stay here until I get back.” “That’ll be fine, too,” Eva Lou said.

Butch and Joa

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “I’m sure I look awful, but really, I’m fine.”

“You were amazingly quiet during di

“I am upset,” she admitted. “I’ve spent a week dealing with people who are liars and cheats at best; druggies and murderers at worst. George gave me a little buck-up talk in the car, but it didn’t help very much. I still feel like the world is full of dirtbags, and they’re wi

“We already live in that kind of world,” Butch said. “And the only thing you can do to change it is to keep on doing what you’re doing.”

“Even if it keeps me out late at night? Even if it makes me feel betrayed?”

“Even if it means you have to keep on taking chances. I don’t want to lose you, Joa

“Down to Douglas to make arrangements to check a prisoner into the mental ward at County Hospital. She’s coming off drugs of some kind, and I don’t want her detoxing in one of my jail cells.”

“Can’t somebody else handle that?” Butch asked. “What about Frank Montoya or Dick Voland? Isn’t that what they get paid to do?”

“Frank has gone home, and Dick Voland doesn’t work for me anymore,” Joa

“He doesn’t? Since when?”

“Yesterday.”

“What do you mean? How did that happen?”

“He was waiting for me out at the ranch when I got home after Kiwanis,” Joa

“Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?” Butch asked.

“I didn’t have a chance.” Joa

“You fired him?”

“He gave me his resignation, and I accepted it.”

“At the ranch,” Butch said. “While you were there alone.” “I handled it,” Joa

“What if he comes back tonight? What if he’s there now, waiting for you?”

Joa

“You know what I mean, Joa

“Butch, please-”

“No. You shouldn’t be out at the ranch by yourself. You should come stay at my house, or else Junior and I can come there.”

“That isn’t going to work.”

“At least let me ride down to Douglas with you. Or let me follow you down and back. That way I can be sure you’re all right.”

“Wait a minute, here,” Joa

“Armed and bull-headed is more like it,” Butch said.

A stiff silence fell over the car. Thinking back, Joa

“I’ll call you as soon as I get home,” she said.

“Sure,” he muttered.

‘‘And I’ll be all right, Butch. Honest. Don’t worry.”

“Right.”

Once Joa

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

In the office, it took only a few minutes to formalize the paperwork to have Dena Hogan admitted to Southeastern Arizona Medical Center. Once Joa

S.A.M.C., was still called County Hospital by locals, situated just outside the town of Douglas. As Joa

Her investigation had determined that Adams wasn’t his real name. That meant that he, like some of the other people Joa