Devil’s Claw

Joa

“What are you going to do now? Who are you going to get to help out?”

Joa

Daisy looked at Butch and gri

That leisurely breakfast at Daisy’s was the begi

Je

“What?” Joa

“Where are you?” Butch asked. “We’ve driven sixty miles and you haven’t said a single word.”

“I was thinking,” Joa

“About what?”

“Cleaning house.”

“Are you kidding?”

“No. Your mother’s coming to town day after tomorrow and my cabinets haven’t been properly cleaned and neither have my closets.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Butch offered consolingly. “My mother’s a terrible housekeeper.”

“No, she’s not. You’re lying.”

“If my mother didn’t have a cleaning lady-her name’s Irma, by the way, and she’s cleaned Mom and Dad’s house for years. If not for Irma, my folks would have been buried under clutter years ago. Believe me, you don’t have to clean house on account of my mother.”

“Yes, I do,” Joa

“So you’re saying tomorrow’s out as far as fun is concerned?”

“Cleaning can be fun,” Joa

Butch shook his head. “I’m serious, Joa

Sighing, Joa

“In other words, you don’t believe me,” Butch said at last, reaching out and taking Joa

“You’re right,” Joa

“No,” Butch returned with a wry grin. “It’s because I don’t like cleaning ovens.”

It was almost four in the afternoon as they turned off High Lonesome Road onto the rutted track that led to Joa

“What the hell!” Butch muttered, stopping just short of the wash.

Joa

The woman stopped pacing long enough to reply. “We’re stuck, that’s what the problem is. Seems to me that even an idiot could see that much. Who the hell are you?”

The woman’s slender figure was clad in a black wool two-piece suit that screamed of haute couture. The thin-ski

“My name’s Joa

The woman’s face hardened into a demeaning sneer. “So this is the incomparable Joa

“Killed your father?” Joa

“Oh, yes, by all means. Let’s play i

Behind Joa

“Mom,” Je

“It’s all right, Je

Joa

Joa

“You can tell me the status of the investigation.”

“Ms. Singleton, please understand, your father’s body was found late last night. I’ve been unavailable since early this morning, when the medical examiner was scheduled to do the autopsy-”

“I’ve already checked with Dr. Winfield,” Reba Singleton interrupted. “He seems to be of the convenient opinion that my father died of natural causes.”

“If that’s the case,” Joa

“Let me get this straight,” Reba said. “On the say-so of Dr. Winfield who, I’m told, also happens to be your stepfather, you’re declaring that there will be no further investigation into the circumstances surrounding my father’s death?”

Joa

Reba Singleton raised one pencil-thin eyebrow. “Really,” she said. “And you can rely on my smelling a conflict of interest when somebody sticks one under my nose.” With that, she swung away from Joa

Slowly the limo driver got to his feet and dusted the sand from his pants and sleeves. “Yes, ma’am,” he said.

“You do have a cell phone, don’t you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And do you have a signal?”

“I don’t know,” he said, reaching for his pocket. “I can check.”

“Why don’t you do that,” Reba told him. “And then, call Triple A and have someone come pull us out of this godforsaken place.”

Joa