“You think she can pass?”
“Absolutely. And not just barely, either. She’ll ace the damned thing.”
“When are you planning on going in for treatment?” Joanna asked.
“As soon as they can get me scheduled, probably sometime late next week.”
“And you’re thinking we should bring Debbie in on a provisional basis to help out with what we have going right now?”
Ernie nodded.
“Anyone else you think we should look at?” Joanna asked.
“My next choice would have been Dave Hollicker, but you already tapped him for crime scene investigation, so he’s on the team anyway. Beyond Debbie, though, with so many of the experienced deputies off in the reserves, pickings around the department are a little thin.”
Joanna and Frank Montoya had arrived at much the same conclusion-that pickings were slim. And she had discounted approaching Debbie Howell about the possibility of becoming a detective for exactly the reason Ernie had mentioned-the fact that she was a single mother. Joanna hoped Ernie was too involved in his own difficulties to notice the flush of embarrassment that flooded her face.
“I’ll take it under advisement,” Joanna said. “But don’t say anything to Debbie about it until after Frank and I have a chance to discuss it.”
“Right,” Ernie said. “I won’t breathe a word.”
He stood up. “I’d better be going,” he said. “It’s getting late. I’ve taken up enough of your time.”
At the door, Joanna reached up and gave Ernie a hug. With the baby in the middle, it was an awkward, lumpy gesture, but Ernie seemed to appreciate it.
“Good luck,” she whispered.
There was another meaty paw swipe to the eyes. “Thanks, boss,” he murmured. “Appreciate it.”
After he left, Joanna dimmed the lights and returned to the couch. She sat there for a long time with one hand resting on her extended belly. It was night and almost bedtime, so naturally the little person in her womb was wide awake and raising hell. With Ernie gone, Lady once again emerged from the bedroom and cuddled up into a gray-and-white ball on the couch beside her.
“Did you know you’re unsanitary?” Joanna asked, absently stroking the Australian shepherd’s long soft coat. In answer Lady rolled her blue eyes in Joanna’s direction, thumped her cropped tail, and sighed contentedly.
Half an hour or so later, Joanna got up and waddled off to bed. She was sound asleep when Lucky and Tigger began barking furiously. Getting up, Joanna staggered out of bed in time to see Butch’s Subaru drive into the yard and come to a stop next to his parents’ RV Joanna hurried to the door to meet him as he came into the house.
“Congratulations, you big nut,” she said, kissing him hello. “Welcome home, but I thought I told you to stay where you were. What time is it?”
“Three,” he said. “Three forty-five, to be exact.”
“What time did you leave El Paso?” she asked.
“Better you should never know,” he said. “I’m taking the Fifth. Suffice it to say, though, there wasn’t very much traffic and zero enforcement. I left the banquet as soon as I could. I wasn’t about to leave you alone and in my mother’s clutches any longer than necessary. How are things?”
“Fine,” she said. “Come on. Let’s go to bed. You must be beat.”
“I am,” he agreed. “And I’m very glad to be home.”
Once in bed, Joanna curled up next to Butch. Comforted by her husband’s radiating warmth, she was soon sound asleep and slept better than she had in months.
On Sunday, Margaret and Don declined to go to church. After fixing them breakfast, Joanna, Jenny, and Butch were more than happy to leave their guests on their own for a couple of hours. That morning, Butch had put out one of their homegrown, freezer-wrapped beef roasts to thaw. After church they stopped by Safeway to pick up fresh vegetables and salad makings. Then they called George and Eleanor Winfield along with Jim Bob and Eva Lou Brady and arranged for an impromptu late-afternoon dinner party. Joanna hadn’t intended to be doing nonstop entertaining the last weekend before the baby’s official due date, but there didn’t seem to be any choice. Besides, there was always the dim hope that adding more people to the mix might help dilute Margaret’s ever-toxic presence.
Butch was putting the finishing touches on a roast beef dinner when Frank Montoya called. Briefly Joanna brought him up-to-date on Ernie’s revelations. “You want me to talk to Debbie about the prospect of her becoming a detective?” Frank asked.
“No,” Joanna said. “Ask her to see us when she comes on shift tomorrow. We can talk to her together. Anything else going on?”
“Not much,” Frank told her. “I had three deputies patrolling that northeast sector last night. Nothing at all turned up in San Simon. As far as anyone could tell, there was no unusual traffic coming and going from Roostercomb Ranch. The whole area was dead as can be. With that in mind, I’m thinking we should probably drop the increased surveillance. After all, Patrol is stretched so thin…”
“No,” Joanna said. “Leave it as is again tonight. Maybe Sunday is when the O’Dwyers do their thing.”
“Maybe,” Frank agreed grudgingly. “But I doubt it. I can’t help wondering if Jeannine has her facts straight.”
“Let’s give it another day,” Joanna said. “And pray the rest of the county doesn’t go haywire in the meantime. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”
“We’ll see,” Frank said ominously. “We’ll know more about that come tomorrow, when the reports are in and it’s time for the morning briefing.”
Chapter 6
On her way out the door on Monday morning, Joanna was surprised to find a stack of boxes sitting against the wall of her garage. The stack created a barrier that made it impossible for Jenny to climb into the passenger’s seat of the Crown Victoria without having to go all the way around the back of the vehicle.
“What’s all this?” Joanna asked Butch, who had just come in from feeding the animals.
“I have no idea,” he replied. “George dropped them off yesterday afternoon when he and your mother came to dinner. According to him, they’re getting ready for a big churchwide garage sale. Eleanor sent over some boxes of things she thought you should have.”
“Great,” Joanna muttered. “How like her. That way she doesn’t have to get rid of it and we do.”
“Want me to attempt a first sort?” Butch asked. “Good morning,” Margaret Dixon called.
The rammed-earth house Butch had designed and helped build consisted of two wings, each with its own separate garage. Margaret, who had entered through Butch’s garage, had wandered through the whole house before finding them.
“Anybody home?” she asked. “I sure hope there’s coffee. I could have made it out in the RV but I decided to come inside instead. Have you already eaten?”
Joanna nodded. “Jenny and I have,” she said. “I’m on my way to work. I promised to drop her off at school on the way.”
Grumbling under his breath, Butch walked Joanna to her car. “I wish I was going to work,” he said.
Joanna smiled sympathetically. “Don’t bother doing any sorting,” she said, giving Butch a good-bye peck on the cheek. “I think you’re going to have your hands full as it is.”
“So do I,” he agreed.
“Some people are a real pain,” Jenny said, settling into the corner of the Crown Victoria.
“Margaret Dixon isn’t a very happy person,” Joanna said.
“But why does she think we should have put Lucky to sleep?”
Joanna sighed. “I have no idea,” she said.
“How long are they gonna stay?”
“Probably until the baby is born,” Joanna said.
“Well, could you please hurry up and have it then?” Jenny demanded. “I want them to take their RV and go home.”
“Believe me,” Joanna assured her. “I’ll do my best.”