Devil’s Claw

“I want to try to talk her down,” Joa

“Talk!” Frank exploded. “She’s got your Colt, Joa

“First we’re going to get the lay of the land,” Joa

“Dick says back.”

“Okay, so I’ll go to the back of the house and try to talk to her from there. One of you can come with me to back me up. The others should stay up near the front.”

“Shouldn’t someone go around and try to come up behind her?” Frank asked.

“You mean, so if shooting breaks out, we can wing one of our own in the process?” Joa

“You’re right,” Frank agreed. “Not a good idea.” Then, after a pause, he said, “By the way, Dick said to tell you now she’s switched to that song from The Wizard of Oz-”Somewhere Over the Rainbow,“ Dick thinks it’s called.”

“Fortunately, neither one of you will ever end up on ”Name That Tune.“ ” Joa

“Don’t we all,” Ernie Carpenter breathed. The road was rising sharply, and the detective was having to huff and puff in order to keep up. “I still don’t think talking is going to do any good. I vote we lob a canister of tear gas under the tree and catch her when she gets off the swing.”

“And what happens if she falls out of the swing and breaks her neck in the process?” Joa

“Okay,” Frank Montoya said. “You’re the boss.”

By the time they reached the gate to the yard, they could hear the singing. Dick Voland came to the gate to meet them. “Climb over the fence,” he advised in a whisper. “I tried opening the gate. It squeaks like a son of a bitch.”

Joa

He shook his head.

“Armed?”

“Yes.”

“All right,” Joa

“You can’t-” Dick Voland began.

“I can and I will,” Joa

“Front porch,” Voland agreed glumly.

As Joa

“Reba?” Joa

The singing stopped. The swinging did not. There was a steady creak from a rope rubbing on a tree bough. That didn’t change.

“Who is it?”

“You know who it is,” Joa

“How do you like being left with nothing?” Reba demanded. “How does it feel?”

“I’m sorry about your husband,” Joa

“How do you know about that?” Reba asked sharply. “Who told you?”

“Dick Voland,” Joa

“Oh, that’s right,” she said. “I guess I did. And it did hurt. De

“Did your father know what was going on between you and your husband?”

“Are you kidding? We hadn’t spoken in years. But now that I’ve been here, I remember how much I hate it. Everything but this swing. When I was little, I used to pretend that whenever I was in this swing I could see over the mountains. The whole time I was swinging, I told myself that someday I’d get out of here. And you know what? I did. I got away whole, and I’ll be damned if I’ll come crawling back. You can have this awful, godforsaken house. I don’t want it.”

She paused. “I’m sorry about what I did to your house. It was like I was crazy. Maybe I am crazy. But I’ll get De

“Do you have an attorney?” Joa

“No. If you’re going to arrest me, I suppose I’ll need one.”

“I mean a divorce attorney,” Joa

The steady squeak of the rope began to slow. “I do have one of those,” Reba Singleton said thoughtfully. “Joyce Roberts is her name. I’ve used her several times through the years. She’s really quite good.”

“Have you been in touch with her about your current situation, about what’s going on with De

“No.”

“I have a cell phone here,” Joa

There was another long pause. “You’d let me do that?” Reba Singleton asked. “You’d let me use your telephone?”

“Sure. But first, let me ask you something. When you were in my house, did you take a gun?”

“Yes.”

“Where is it?”

No answer.

“Where?”

“It’s in my pocket.”

“Put it down, Reba,” Joa

“I’m not going to hurt anyone else with it. I was going to use it on myself.”

“You don’t want to do that,” Joa

There was another long, long silence after that, followed eventually by a soft thud in the grass. “There,” Reba said. “I dropped the gun. Now can I use the phone?”

CHAPTER 26

Walking back to the cars, Joa

“What do you mean, we’re not going to arrest her?” Frank Montoya demanded.

“Just what I said. We’re not. Her attorney is making arrangements for Reba to check into a hospital in Tucson for ten days of psychiatric evaluation. This way she pays for it. If we arrest her, we pay. Which of those two choices sounds like a better idea to you? Not only that, Reba says she’s willing to sign a statement acknowledging her culpability. She’s also going to have her attorney draw up a letter outlining her willingness to pay for all damages. If the letter isn’t forthcoming by the time she’s dismissed from the hospital, fine; we can arrest her then. But in my opinion, the Cochise County Jail can’t afford to house someone who’s used to flying in and out of town on board a private jet.”

Frank shook his head. “Think how it’s going to look. People will say you didn’t have her arrested because of what was going on between the two of you concerning her father’s will.”

“And people will say the same thing if I do have her arrested, only then we’ll have to deal with everything else,” Joa