Devil’s Claw

CHAPTER 13

It was shortly after noon when Joa

“Lucky,” Joa

“Not that kind of lucky,” he replied wryly. “I got to the Board of Supervisors meeting and found out it was canceled. They had their a

“What was it?” Joa

“I guess. That’s what it sounds like. So since I happen to have all this unscheduled free time on my hands this afternoon, I was wondering if there was anything in particular you needed me to do.”

“As a matter of fact, there is,” Joa

“Who’s this?” he asked.

“It’s a telephone number Lucy Ridder called Saturday morning at three a.m. The man’s name is Jay Quick. Years ago, Mr. Quick’s mother, Evelyn, was Lucy Ridder’s ballet teacher at the Lohse Family YMCA in Tucson. Not knowing that Evelyn Quick died some time back, Lucy called the son’s house trying to reach her.”

“That’s a relief then,” Frank breathed. “We may not know where Lucy Ridder is, but at least she’s still alive.”

“She was early Saturday morning,” Joa

“Want me to find out where the call came from?” Frank asked.

Joa

“Was that a compliment or not?” he demanded.

“That’s how it was intended.”

“All right, then. Let me off the phone so I can see if I can live up to it.”

Once Frank hung up, Joa

“Where are you?” she asked, when the detective’s voice came over the speaker.

“Between Elfrida and Douglas. We’re on our way to a place east of Douglas, where a border-patrol officer reported spotting an abandoned white Lexus parked along the border fence.”

“Melanie Goodson’s missing Lexus?”

“According to license information, it’s the very one. The officer saw what he believes to be bloodstains in the backseat. I’ve called up and canceled my appointment with Melanie Goodson. Ernie and I talked it over and decided that right this minute it’s more important for us to check out the vehicle than it is to go ru

“That’s probably a good call,” Joa

“No. Tomorrow should be plenty of time. Once we finish with the Lexus, Ernie and I will have to hotfoot it back to Bisbee. Doc Winfield is chomping at the bit to tackle the Sandra Ridder autopsy, and one or both of us should be on hand when he does it.”

By that point in the conversation Joa

“I’m on my way to Tucson right now,” she said. “At three o’clock on Saturday morning, Lucy Ridder attempted to place a phone call to her old ballet instructor up in Tucson.”

“She called somebody?” Jaime demanded. “Where is she, then? Is she all right?”

“I don’t know the answers to any of those questions at the moment,” Joa

“With this kind of a new lead, do you want either Ernie or me to skip the Lexus and follow up on the Tucson deal instead?” Jaime asked.

“No, that’s all right. I’m fine this way. Now tell me, did you and Ernie learn anything useful out in Elfrida today?”

“Not a whole lot other than the fact that Lucy Ridder wasn’t the most popular girl in town,” Jaime said. “I’d say she’s probably right at the bottom of the heap in Elfrida High School’s social pecking order. We didn’t find a single person who would admit to being her friend.”

“Sounds to me like we’re dealing with the classic teenaged loner,” Joa

“And we’re not the only ones worried about it, either,” Jaime added. “We went out to the ranch and talked to Catherine Yates before we went to the school. She told us that, as far as she knew, Lucy’s only friend was the damned hawk. Then, while we were at the school, the principal’s secretary brought us a message that we should talk with a guy named Wayne Hooper.”

“Who’s he?”

“His wife, Agnes, drives Lucy’s school bus. We spent quite a while with him. Somehow or other he found out we were in town and insisted on talking to us. He doesn’t know Lucy Ridder personally, but claims his wife does. He says Lucy Ridder sounds like a weird kid. He’s afraid she’s going to show up at school with a gun and mow down everybody in sight. After we talked to Wayne, we tracked his wife down at the school district bus garage. Her take on the situation is a little different from her husband’s. She says Lucy’s never been any problem-that Wayne is pushing panic buttons for no reason. Agnes did say, though, that on Friday afternoon on the bus, Lucy Ridder looked unhappier than usual. Like she was upset. Like she didn’t want to get off the bus to go home.”

Joa

“I’m pretty sure Catherine Yates told us that she had just heard on Friday afternoon that her daughter was being released from Perryville. But if Lucy was more upset than usual on Friday afternoon and if what was upsetting her was the unwelcome prospect of her mother’s homecoming, then how did she know about it before she got off the school bus?”

“Good question,” Jaime Carbajal said. “Maybe Catherine Yates called the school and told her so.”

“That’s one possibility,” Joa

“You’re saying maybe Lucy knew about her mother’s upcoming release before Catherine Yates did?”

“Maybe,” Joa

“Some, but not very much. According to Catherine, compared to her mother, Lucy’s a peach. She said Sandy was a headstrong handful from the day she was born. By the time she hit junior high, she was in so much trouble that she spent several months in juvie. We don’t know why she was sent up because the record was expunged once she turned eighteen.

“Then, in high school, Sandra more or less got her head screwed on straight. She started staying out of trouble and hitting the books. Since her father was an Anglo, she’s not a full-blooded Apache, but she had enough Native American blood to win a BIA scholarship to the University of Arizona, where she majored in Business and Native American studies. She didn’t graduate, though. Her senior year she got hooked up with a radical group called NAT-C.”