J. Jance - Desert Heat

“There were so many,” Eleanor responded dubiously.

Joanna shook her head. “No, you mentioned one in particular, one who came through the waiting room and told you everything was fine just minutes before the alarms went off.”

“Oh, him,” Eleanor breathed.

“Yes, him. What did he look like?”

“Margaret and I were watching television. I’m not sure I remember.”

“Try,” Joanna urged. “Did he introduce himself? Was he wearing a name tag?”

“How do you expect me to come up with those kinds of details? After all, I only saw him for a minute or so.”

“It’s very important,” Joanna said with dogged patience. “Can you tell me anything at all about him-what he looked like, what he was wearing? How did you know he was a doctor? ”

Eleanor closed her eyes as if trying to picture the man. “He had on one of those long white coats, the kind all those doctors wear.”

“And a stethoscope? Did he have one of those?”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Eleanor shrugged. “I don’t remember.”

“What did he look like?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Joanna! I already told you. I only saw the man for a minute. What does it matter? ”

“It matters a great deal, Mother,” Joanna insisted firmly. “Try to tell me what he looked like. I’ve got to know.”

“All right. He wasn’t very tall, and a little on the heavyset side. He looked like a Mexican to me. Dark hair, wavy dark hair.”

“Glasses?”

“No, but brown eyes. Definitely brown eyes.”

“Anything else?”

“Lots of gold in his teeth. You know, gold crowns. You don’t often see that kind of dental work in a man that young.”

“How young?”

“Forty, maybe even forty-five. It’s hard to judge men’s ages. I don’t understand what’s going on. Why are you asking me all these questions?”

“Mother,” Joanna said, “there’s a good chance that man wasn’t a doctor at all, that he was just pretending to be one to gain access to Andy’s room. He may have gone in there and given Andy something.”

Eleanor’s eyes widened. “Like poison or something? You’re not saying that he killed Andy, are you? You mean I was actually carrying on a conversation with a murderer?”

“All I’m saying is if someone from the Tucson Police Department calls and asks you about this, tell them exactly what you told me.”

“Oh, I will. I certainly will.” Suddenly Eleanor stood up and started toward the door, moving with a whole new vigor and sense of purpose.

“And, Mother,” Joanna added, before Eleanor made it all the way out of the room. “It might be better if you didn’t talk to anyone eIse about this, unless it’s someone in an official capacity.”

“Of course not,” Eleanor agreed emphatically. “I wouldn’t think of it.”

Joanna shook her head as she watched her other walk away. Cautioning Eleanor Lathrop not to gossip was almost as good as tell-g her not to breathe.

With her mother gone, Joanna quickly finished clearing off the top surface of her desk, then she stood up and went to Milo ’s door. Apparently lost in thought, he sat with his back to his desk, staring out the window. At sixty-three, Milo Davis was completely bald. Only the very top of his perpetually sun-burned head was visible over the top of his executive chair.

Joanna announced herself by tapping lightly on the door frame, then she stepped over the threshold into his office, pulling the door shut behind her. When he swiveled around to face her, Milo Davis’s usually engaging grin was missing.

“Hello, Joanna,” he said somberly. “Sit down.”

She eased herself into one of the two client chairs in front of his desk. “Please don’t say you didn’t expect to see me today,” Joanna began. “Three people have already given me that same line. I just stopped by long enough to complete those three underwriting memos.”

Milo nodded. “Thanks for taking care of them. You’re absolutely right. They shouldn’t have been left hanging for a whole week. Chances are I wouldn’t have remembered them, either. I’m so used to you taking care of those kinds of details that I just don’t think about them anymore.”

For a moment he examined her face. “How are you doing, really?” he asked.

“Really?” Joanna shrugged uncomfortably and bit her lower lip. “Okay, I guess. It’s all so sudden.”

Milo nodded. “It’s going to be hard as hell, Joanna,” he said kindly. “And it’s going to take time. This is a terrible tragedy, not just for you and Jenny, but for the whole town. Feelings are running high. Don’t be surprised if folks choose up sides and throw stones.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s times like this when you find out who your friends really are, Joanna, and I want you to know you can count on me. Is there anything I personally can do?”

She looked him squarely in the eye. “There Is, Milo. Tell me what’s going on. I was here when Adam York came out of your office. What was he doing here? What did he want? Was he asking you about Andy’s and my insurance?”

Milo Davis frowned. “Not really, although I guess that was part of it. I didn’t tell him much, but I’ll have to eventually. He threatened to come back with a court order to examine my records, and my guess is he’ll make good on it.”

“What kind of records?”

“Payroll. Sales records. He wanted me to tell him exactly how much you make, to the penny. He asked about both of you, but it seemed to me he was actually more interested in you than he was in Andy.”

“Why me? Did he say?”

“I tried to press him on that, but he got real cagey about then.” Milo ’s face was shadowed with concern. “My guess is that he’s looking for extra cash, unexplained expenditures that are over and above what you and Andy could afford on what you both make. My guess is that he thinks you’re involved in some kind of drug dealing.”

“That’s preposterous!” Joanna exclaimed.

“That’s exactly what I told him.”

Joanna took a deep breath. “I caught up with him in the parking lot, and he gave me some kind of song and dance about insurance fraud. But the DEA’s conducting a war on drugs not insurance fraud.”

“Damn!” Milo thundered. He slammed one meaty fist down on his desk top so hard that his crystal paperweight-a prize from the home office for some long-forgotten sales campaign-skittered dangerously close to the edge. Joanna caught it and returned it to its rightful place.

For almost a minute the room was silent. “He’s a formidable adversary, Joanna,” Milo said at last. “Formidable and smooth. He’s one of those operators who, once he decides to send someone up the river, probably has enough horses behind him to pull it off. I’d be very careful around him if I were you.”

“I’ll be careful, but I’m going to stop him.”

“How?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know yet. First I have to find out why he’s after me. He must have something that makes him believe I’m involved. I just can’t for the life of me think of what it might be.”

“He did ask me about that ring of yours,” Milo said thoughtfully. “The one Andy gave you for your anniversary.”

“You knew about that?” Joanna asked in surprise.

“You’re the only one in the office who didn’t. Andy brought it by to show to me as soon as he picked it up from Hiram. He wanted us to put a jewelry rider on your homeowner’s policy. He asked me to handle it personally so you wouldn’t find out about it.

“I told York flat out that I thought he was harking up the wrong tree concentrating on that ring. If Andy’d had anything to hide, he would have been a hell of a lot more secretive about it than he was. As far as I can tell, he told everybody in town but you, and that’s as it should be.”