“Working on a Saturday before the baby is born will be easier than working any day of the week afterward. Yes, I’m working tomorrow. What about you?”
Frank Montoya shook his head. “You’re hopeless,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Joanna asked.
“If you can’t figure out how to take even so much as a weekend off, I doubt you’re going to be any good at maternity leave.”
Joanna should have been able to object, but she couldn’t because it occurred to her as soon as Frank said it that he was probably right.
Chapter 15
By the time Joanna got back to High Lonesome Ranch, Butch and Jenny were watching a movie in the family room with all three dogs scattered around them. Lady came into the kitchen to keep Joanna company while she reheated her dinner in the microwave. She was finishing eating when the program ended and Butch joined her.
“That’s the great thing about green chili casserole,” he said. “The older it gets, the better it tastes.”
“You’re right,” Joanna agreed. “It was great.”
“So how’s it going?” he asked. “You look upset.”
“I am upset,” she said. “Sometimes being a cop sucks.” Sitting down at the table, Butch took her hand. “What’s wrong?”
Joanna shrugged. “In the process of investigating a homicide, I’m about to blow someone’s life wide open.”
“Presumably not the killer’s,” Butch said, “or you wouldn’t be concerned about it.”
It was gratifying that Butch knew her so well.
“That’s right,” she agreed. “Not the killer’s. We’re about to tell a totally innocent twenty-five-year-old real estate agent out in Sierra Vista that she isn’t who she thinks she is, that the people who claim to be her biological parents aren’t even related to her.”
“Lots of people don’t find out they’re adopted until they’re grown,” Butch suggested. “It’s not fatal.”
“In this case the biological mother evidently pulled a phony disappearing act. She handed her baby off to someone else to raise and then left the child’s father to go to prison for the alleged ‘murder’ of his wife and child. The biological father did his time and was finally released a couple of years ago. The trouble started when he accidentally ran into the daughter, who looks spookily like her mother. As soon as he tumbled to the fact that the baby probably didn’t die, he did. Someone murdered him. To make matters worse, the faux father, who may turn into a likely homicide suspect, happens to be a much respected member of the Arizona Supreme Court-Justice Lawrence Tazewell.”
“Not good,” Butch said. “What are you going to do about it?”
“I have no idea. In fact, that’s what I’m sitting here trying to noodle out. Someone needs to go up to Phoenix to interview him, but Ernie is off on medical leave, and Jaime and Debbie are busy tracking down the people who beat up Jeannine Phillips. With the department so shorthanded-”
“No,” Butch interrupted.
“What do you mean, no?” she asked.
“I mean the baby’s due within the week. I don’t want you traipsing all the way to Phoenix to talk to a homicide suspect. Get Frank to do it or one of the other deputies.”
“But the man is a state supreme court justice,” Joanna objected. “I can’t very well send one of my deputies to talk to him.”
“Yes, you can,” Butch declared. “You’re pregnant. Who would end up interviewing the guy if the baby were already here and you were off on maternity leave?”
“I don’t know,” Joanna said gloomily.
“Well,” Butch returned, “get used to it. You’re going to have to let go sometime.”
“That’s what Frank said.”
“That you’re going to have to let go?”
“That I’m going to flunk maternity leave.”
“He’s right,” Butch observed. “That’s a distinct possibility, but in the meantime, what are you going to do about this?”
“Keep on thinking, I guess,” Joanna said. “Maybe even sleep on it.”
Butch collected her plate and silverware and took it over to the sink. “That’s right,” he said. “I almost forgot. I have a message for you from Eva Lou and Jim Bob. They said to tell you that you’re not allowed to have the baby until after they get home tomorrow night.”
“Where did they go?” Joanna asked. “I didn’t know they were planning a trip.”
“Neither did they,” Butch said. “They took Monty to Albuquerque.”
“Monty?” Joanna asked. “Who’s Monty?”
Butch shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Monty the python. That’s what Jim Bob says you called him, Monty Python.”
“The snake!” Joanna exclaimed. “I’ve been so busy I’d forgotten all about him. What happened?”
“It turns out there’s a python rescue guy over in Albuquerque who’s willing to take on the one from here, and Manny Ruiz was very eager to unload the snake and get him out of the kennel. He said the python was driving the other animals nuts and the receptionist as well.” Butch paused and then added, “Speaking of Animal Control, what do you hear about Jeannine Phillips?”
“Not much,” Joanna said. “As far as I know, she’s still in the ICU. Jaime Carbajal and Debbie Howell are working full-time to track down whoever did it. So far they don’t seem to be making a lot of progress.”
“What you need more than anything,” Butch said, “is a decent night’s sleep.”
“You might tell that to that son of yours,” Joanna replied. “He seems to spend half of every night kicking the daylights out of me.”
“Speaking of baby Dennis,” Butch said with a grin, “before they left, I told Jim Bob and Eva Lou that we now know we’re having a boy. And I told your mother and George as well. I knew there’d be hell to pay if one set of grandparents found out far in advance of any other set of grandparents. Did your mother call you?”
“Not yet,” Joanna said. “That means she’s probably pissed because she didn’t hear the news directly from me. No matter what we do, there’s no way to win with that woman.”
“You shouldn’t be so hard on her,” Butch said.
He had finished loading the last of the dishes into the dishwasher when Jenny came into the kitchen carrying the phone with her hand held firmly over the mouthpiece. “It’s your office,” she said with a frown. “Cassie and I were right in the middle of a conversation. Could you please hurry?”
Cassie Parks was Jenny’s best friend. Joanna had noticed that the older the two girls grew, the harder it was to pry the telephone receiver out of Jenny’s hand.
“I’ve got Justice Tazewell’s unlisted number,” Frank Montoya announced as soon as Joanna answered. “Do you want to call him or should I?”
“I will,” Joanna said. “Give it to me.”
Minutes later she was dialing Lawrence Tazewell’s number in Paradise Valley. The woman who answered the phone sounded Hispanic. “Justice Tazewell isn’t here,” she told Joanna.
“Could I speak to Mrs. Tazewell then,” Joanna asked. “This is Sheriff Joanna Brady from Cochise County.”
“Mrs. Tazewell isn’t here, either. Would you like to leave a message?”
Joanna was reluctant to leave a message, but there didn’t seem to be any other option. “Yes,” she said finally. “Please ask him to call me. It’s not an emergency, but it is about his daughter.”
After relaying her numbers, Joanna returned the phone to her daughter. Five minutes later, a frowning Jenny was back in the kitchen, once again handing her mother the phone.
“Sheriff Brady?” a man’s voice asked. “This is Justice Lawrence Tazewell. You called? What’s this about my daughter? Is she all right?”
Joanna had expected Tazewell to be a distant and indifferent father, but there was nothing indifferent in his tone of voice.
“Your daughter’s fine,” Joanna said.
“Oh,” Tazewell uttered with obvious relief. “Thank God for that. What’s this all about then?”