Devil’s Claw

Joa

“It’s the only tie-in Ernie and I can think of.”

“Me, too, Jaime,” Joa

“Whoever she was trying to put the squeeze on might prefer some other medium of exchange-say a hot bullet in place of cold cash.”

“Exactly,” Joa

“I don’t know about you,” Jaime Carbajal said, “but I’m on my way home. Whatever we’re going to do next will have to wait until tomorrow. If I don’t get home in time to see at least the last couple i

“Your wife isn’t going to kill you over missing a Little League game,” Joa

“Thanks, boss,” Jaime Carbajal said. “You’re all heart.”

CHAPTER 19

Over di

Joa

“She did too,” Je

“And now that I’ve heard about that,” Butch said, “there’s something worrying me as well. When I came home, there was a car pulling out of the drive onto High Lonesome Road, but Je

“What kind of car?” Joa

“I couldn’t tell,” Butch replied. “All I saw were headlights. Still, if someone came to the ranch without coming up to the house and talking to you…”

“It was probably somebody using the facilities,” Joa

“Mom!” Je

“It may be gross, but it happens,” Joa

Butch shook his head. “In other words, I’m not supposed to worry about whether or not a crazed Reba Singleton was parked down by the mailbox because you think it was probably just some weak-bladdered guy who couldn’t make it all the way from Bisbee to Douglas.”

“Right,” Joa

The poor print quality on the faxed material made it difficult to read. There was no way for Joa

Joa

Turning to a sheaf of copied newspaper clippings, Joa

That kind of surface-only reporting was typical of newspaper accounts that are written immediately after fatality incidents and before officials have an opportunity to notify next of kin. The second article was a more in-depth piece in which the reporter revealed the full names of both victim and alleged assailant.

The article recounted that at the time of Sandra Christina Ridder’s surrender and subsequent arrest, she had made a complete confession to investigators, saying that she had shot her husband in an effort to ward off another violent attack. Afterward, she had picked up her young daughter from a ballet class downtown and then had driven around for hours trying to come to terms with what she had done and also trying to decide what to do next. After disposing of the murder weapon at an undisclosed location, Sandra Ridder had finally contacted a friend, an attorney, who convinced her she should turn herself in to the authorities.

Toward the end of the article was a paragraph that answered one of the questions Joa

Thomas Dawson Ridder, a self-employed landscape gardener, had recently been dismissed from the army, where he had served as Staff Sergeant with STRATCom at Fort Huachuca. He was brought up on charges for assaulting an u

Joa

If Sandra Ridder drove all the way to Cochise Stronghold the night of the murder, Joa