Devil’s Claw

“She was afraid to,” Jaime answered. “Sandra had sworn her to secrecy. She told her mother that the other people involved-the people she used to work with-would kill her in a minute if they knew she was spilling the beans. She said that’s what they did to Tom Ridder. He found one of the disks before she had a chance to deliver it. Ridder hid the diskette and threatened to blow the whistle on the entire Fort Huachuca operation. Whoever was ru

“And she believed them?” Joa

“Evidently. If I’d been in her shoes, I think I would have, too.”

“You’re saying Sandra Ridder spent all those years in prison in order to protect her daughter-to save Lucy’s life?”

“That’s what Catherine Yates told me.”

“Assuming she’s telling the truth now, that is,” Joa

“Possibly,” Ernie Carpenter replied. “It could be part of a witness-protection protocol. I’m not entirely sure how that stuff works.”

“Another question for our source at Justice whenever we manage to find one,” Joa

“Melanie Goodson has to have been involved from the get-go. When Lucy placed those three rest-area calls that night, she thought she was calling people who would help her. And two out of the three-Sister Celeste and Jay Quick-did try to help. I’m guessing Melanie Goodson traced the call-possibly through caller ID-and then sent somebody out to the rest area looking for Lucy.”

Jaws dropped all around the conference table. “Are you saying somebody came to Texas Canyon looking for Lucy?” Frank Montoya demanded.

“That’s exactly what I said. And you’ll never guess who it was, folks-the same guy who shot Sandra Ridder the night before. He came there and spent the afternoon hanging around the phone booth. And Sunday morning he came looking for her again. If it hadn’t been for Lucy’s pet hawk calling out a timely warning, we’d have another victim on our hands. I figure there’s only one way an eight-year-old computer disk can still be worth the price of four separate lives. Whatever was happening back then must still be going on.”

“Wait a minute,” Ernie said. “That would mean whoever pulled Sandra Ridder’s records might have had nothing at all to do with the Justice Department and everything to do with keeping suspicion from falling on him.”

“Exactly,” Joa

“What about Sheriff Forsythe?” Frank Montoya asked. “Has he heard any of this?”

“How could he when we’re all hearing it for the first time? We’ll take this morning to track down the leads we have now. Once we do that, interview Lucy Ridder, and have the composite drawing in hand, I’ll call Sheriff Forsythe personally. In the meantime, I don’t see any need to rush. After all, he wasn’t in any hurry to help us. Anything else?”

“Yes,” Ernie Carpenter said. “I want to know about your dogs. How are they?”

Joa

“That’s a relief,” Ernie said. “And how are you?”

Joa

The meeting broke up several minutes later. Back in her office, Joa

“Joa

“I’m fine, Mother,” Joa

“Busy,” Eleanor replied briskly. “Maggie Dixon, Eva Lou, Marcie, and I just came back from the house.” Marcie Brundage was Joa

“The men are busy as can be,” Eleanor rattled on. “They’ve brought in a Dumpster to clean the mess into. Milo has an insurance adjuster on the scene monitoring everything that’s broken and keeping track of whatever’s being hauled out. That way, in case Reba Singleton doesn’t pay up, you’ll at least be able to file an insurance claim.”

Milo Davis of the Davis Insurance Agency had once been Joa

“Watching all that stuff being thrown out was just too hard on Eva Lou,” Eleanor continued. “She couldn’t bear to watch, since so much of your furniture used to be hers. I’m sure Butch noticed how upset she was. I believe that’s why he suggested we girls run some errands for him. He gave us a list. We’re off to Tucson to see what we can do about it.”

The idea of Joa

“Never you mind,” Eleanor replied firmly. “But I do have one piece of wonderful news.”

“What’s that?”

“I talked to a girl from Nordstrom’s. I called their company headquarters up in Seattle, and guess what? Once I told them what had happened, they managed to locate another dress just like your wedding dress-same size, same color, everything. They found it in their store in San Francisco. They’re Fed-Exing it out today-this afternoon. It should arrive here in Bisbee tomorrow. Early afternoon, one-thirty at the latest. What do you think of that?”

The fact that her wedding dress no longer existed had been such a huge stumbling block in Joa

“I can barely believe it, Mom,” Joa

“Thank you, Joa

After Joa