Devil’s Claw

“Why do you say that?” Joa

Fred gave her a lopsided grin. “It’s code, all right,” he said. “I don’t know where you guys got this, but if the Feds knew you had it, they’d probably shit a brick. Excuse me, Sister,” he said again, eyeing Sister Celeste. “I keep forgetting.”

“What is it?” Joa

“It’s military code,” he said. “It’s the kind of thing they use for command and control procedures. And even though it’s out of date, I’m sure it’s still classified. They don’t like to let any of this stuff out because inevitably, one set of encryption codes is built on top of another. If you have one of the base codes, you can usually extrapolate from there and figure out what’s going on.”

“So,” Frank asked. “Can you tell us anything about this?”

Fred Woodworth smirked and shrugged. “Some. Compared to where we are now, this is pretty primitive stuff. I’d say these files date all the way back to the late eighties or early nineties. I can’t say which branch of the service the files are from, but since Fort Huachuca is right next door here, my first guess would be army. If you want to know anything more about this, I’d suggest you call them.”

Across the table from Fred Woodworth, Sister Celeste let out a long, audible sigh. “It’s true, then,” she murmured.

“What’s true?” Joa

“What Lucy Ridder told me.”

Joa

Now it was Fred Woodworth’s turn to sigh. Closing the lid on the laptop, he ran one finger regretfully and lovingly across it. “It was a pleasure,” he said. “I’ll be glad to help out anytime. Just give me a call.”

He and Rich Davis stood up. Frank Montoya escorted the two men as far as the conference-room door. As soon as they stepped over the threshold and out into the reception room, Frank closed the door behind them and turned expectantly back to Joa

“What did Lucy tell you?” Joa

“That her mother was a spy.”

“A spy?”

“She said her father told her that Sandra Ridder was providing top-secret information to our enemies. I’d guess that would have been the Iraqis during the Gulf War.”

For a second or two, both Joa

“Where is she?” Joa

“At Holy Trinity Monastery over in Saint David,” Sister Celeste said. “The prior, Father Mulligan, is a good friend of mine, and I understand he’s a friend of yours as well. He promised me he’d take care of Lucy and keep her safe and out of sight. Lucy Ridder is convinced that the man who murdered her mother came out to Cochise Stronghold that night looking for the computer disk. She’s afraid that eventually he’ll figure out who must have it. Once he does, he’ll come looking for her as well.”

“Wait a minute. Are you saying Lucy knew someone killed her mother?” Joa

“It’s perfectly simple,” Sister Celeste answered calmly. “Lucinda Ridder saw him do it.”

CHAPTER 22

With Frank holding the door for her, Sister Celeste brushed past him and out of the office. For a time, Joa

Joa

“Wait a minute,” Frank cautioned. “If this really does turn out to be a legitimate spy case, won’t we be stepping on jurisdictional toes?”

“Look at how old this case is, Frank,” Joa

“You’re saying there may have been a cover-up?”

Joa

“Sister Celeste could have it all wrong,” Frank suggested quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“Just because Sister Celeste thinks Lucy Ridder didn’t kill Sandra Ridder, that doesn’t necessarily make it true. Lucy may have lied to Sister Celeste, and she may lie to you as well, to say nothing of being potentially dangerous. Everybody seems to keep forgetting the kid has a gun.”

“If Lucy Ridder killed her mother, who killed Melanie Goodson?” Joa

“I don’t know,” Frank said. “I suppose it’s possible.”

“But not very likely,” Joa

“Mounting a round-the-clock guard is going to cost money,” Frank said. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Thanks for your budgetary concern, Frank. But if it’s a choice between spending money or possibly saving a life, I’m in favor of the latter.”

“All right,” Frank agreed after a moment’s hesitation. “I’ll go round up Ernie, and we’ll get started. But what about the disk?” He held it out to her. “It’s evidence, isn’t it?”

Joa

“Unlike Tucson PD and a certain missing bullet,” Frank said.

“Right,” Joa

“I’ll ride with you if you don’t mind,” Sister Celeste returned. “We need to talk. On the way, I’ll tell you what I know.”

Joa