Devil’s Claw

CHAPTER 17

By seven-thirty the next morning, Joa

“Did you like them?”

“Who?”

“Did you like Butch’s parents?” Je

After years of telling her daughter that honesty was the best policy, Joa

“Me, either,” Je

“I agree. They were both pretty a

“They’re not our relatives,” Je

“They will be,” Joa

“Okay,” Je

For the next few minutes, mother and daughter rode in silence. Finally, Joa

Je

“Good girl,” Joa

Only after Je

Clearly, though, what had happened the day before was anything but discreet. Joa

At the Cochise County Justice Complex, Joa

Shaking her head, Joa

“You’d better come on in,” Joa

Kristin entered Joa

“Well,” Joa

“I will,” Terry said.

“No, let me,” Kristin interrupted. “It was my fault. I’m the one who took off from work without really being sick. And I’m the one who told Terry that I had to see him no matter what-that we had to talk.”

“Don’t listen to her, Sheriff Brady,” Terry said. “It isn’t either her fault. I’m a big boy. I knew better than to turn off my pager, but I did it because I didn’t want to be interrupted even though I had a feeling Spike and I might be needed again yesterday. If anyone deserves to be in trouble over this, I’m the one.”

At the sound of his name, Spike raised his head, looked up, and thumped his bushy tail on the floor. When no orders were forthcoming, however, he sighed, put his head back down on his front paws, and closed his eyes once more.

Joa

“I was late,” Kristin said in a small voice.

The way she said it, Joa

Joa

Kristin nodded again as two fat tears spilled out of her eyes and ran down her cheeks. “We were,” she replied. “Condoms. But something must have happened to one of them. I couldn’t talk to my mother-she’d have a fit-so I was pla

Joa

And the knot had worked. Theirs hadn’t been a trouble-free marriage, but it had been a good one. They had been in love and they had stayed that way. Together they had been happy. The only person who had seemed seriously offended by Je

With a jolt, Joa