J. Jance - Trial By Fire

“Yes,” the woman said, “but she’s currently unavailable. If you’ll take a seat…”

Ali did so. A few moments later the teenager rose to his feet, yawned, and stretched his lanky frame. “Is that lady in room eight fourteen a friend of yours?” he asked.

The kid was lean and tough and looked to be seventeen or eighteen years old. If Ali had met him on a dark street, she might have been worried, but since he had clearly spent the whole night in the waiting room, she couldn’t help being impressed by his apparent loyalty to his injured friend.

“Sort of,” Ali replied. “I know her.”

“Her son got here a little while ago,” the young man volunteered. “He drove over from California last night, and her daughter is here now, too. They just went downstairs to get some breakfast.”

Ali appreciated knowing that tidbit. “Thanks for the info,” she said. “What about her husband?”

The young man nodded. “He’s still in the room, along with that nun. He’s been in there off and on most of the night. The doctors came through on rounds a little while ago. Nobody else has been allowed inside.”

The nurse had said Sister Anselm wasn’t taking calls, but maybe texting was all right. Ali opened her phone and sent a message.

I’m back. Outside. In the w8ing rm.

Ali’s phone rang before there was any chance of a text response. “Are you still down in Phoenix?” Edie Larson wanted to know.

“Yes, I am.”

“I have some good news,” Edie announced. Ali glanced at her watch. This was the time of day when her mother often made phone calls, after the Sugarloaf’s baking was done and before the breakfast crowd descended.

Chris and Athena must have called her after all, Ali thought.

“I wanted to tell you about this yesterday,” Edie continued, “but I didn’t have a chance. You’ll never guess who came in for lunch yesterday.”

“You’re right, Mom,” Ali agreed. “I have no idea.”

“Bryan Forester and those two adorable little girls of his,” Edie replied. “And you won’t believe who was with him.”

Ali hadn’t known Bryan ’s twin daughters, Lindsey and Lacy, until after their mother’s brutal murder. Both of them were smart, blond, and cute, but in terms of personality, they were very different.

Lindsey was vivacious and talkative; her sister was quiet and withdrawn. Ali suspected that Lacy suffered from Asperger’s syndrome. The child was shy to the point of being spookily quiet and was content to let her sister do most of the communicating. Lindsey was easygoing and impetuous, while Lacy was silently observant. No odd details escaped her attention. At the time of their mother’s murder, Lacy had been the one who had noticed an out-of-place vehicle and remembered the license plate number. That had been the telling clue that had helped clear her father’s name. Edie Larson had long since adjusted to the idea that if the twins came to the Sugarloaf, Lacy would need a separate plate for each kind of food, lest her hash browns, toast, bacon, and eggs somehow come in contact with one another.

Edie continued, “Mindy Farber, that’s who. The four of them were all having a great time. In fact, I actually heard Lacy laugh out loud for the first time ever. I didn’t know she could.”

Mindy Farber had been one of Athena’s roommates prior to the wedding. She had also been Lindsey and Lacy’s second-grade teacher. At the time of their mother’s murder, Mindy had come to the girls’ rescue when their father was led off in the back of a patrol car.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Ali said. “Glad to know they’re having fun.”

Ali knew that out of concern for his children, Bryan Forester had stayed in a loveless marriage for years before his wife’s murder. Ali liked to think that in Mindy he might have found someone who was capable of loving him back.

“Mark my words,” Edie said. “From the way they were all carrying on, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mindy turns up sporting an engagement ring one of these days.”

“I hope so,” Ali said. “They’re both nice people.”

That was one of the things Ali loved about being back in her hometown after years of exile-everybody knew everybody else. Most of the time that was comforting, but there were times when having everyone know everyone else’s business drove her nuts. She knew that her off-again, on-again romance with Dave Holman had sparked plenty of gossip. And if she started going out with B. Simpson? Ali didn’t even want to go there. People around town would have them engaged after one or two dates, which, now that she thought about it, might well be what was happening with Bryan Forester and Mindy Farber.

“So?” Edie asked impatiently, “what do you think?”

Ali’s mind had been wandering. Since she hadn’t been listening, her mother’s question caught her off guard.

“Sorry, Mom,” she said. “Something was going on at this end. I wasn’t listening.”

“For Father’s Day,” Edie said. “Do you think your dad would like one of those big gas barbecues, like the one Chris and Athena have?”

When Edie had hinted about this before, Ali had avoided taking a stand. Getting a barbecue outfit for a guy who cooked eight hours a day, seven days a week was a lot like getting a yard guy a new lawn mower.

Since Edie had asked directly, however, Ali felt obliged to answer. “I think he’d rather have a big-screen TV. Have you talked to him about it?”

“Of course not!” Edie returned indignantly. “It’s supposed to be a surprise. If I have to ask him what he wants, it won’t be.”

Better to ask and get him the right thing than surprise him with something he doesn’t want.

“Suit yourself, Mom,” Ali said. “You know him better than anyone.”

Except for the years Bob Larson had been in the service, Ali’s parents had worked together behind the counter of the Sugarloaf Café for their entire adult lives. Part of that time, they had been in partnership with Edie’s twin sister, Evelyn. With Aunt Evie gone now, it was just the two of them and a couple of long-term waitresses. During their many daily hours in and around the café’s small but immaculate kitchen, they argued with each other often, but mostly without rancor. They also tended to finish each other’s sentences. They knew each other about as well as two people could.

Ali’s phone buzzed. A glance at the readout told her Dave was calling. “Mom,” she said, “I have to go. I’ve got another call.”

She switched over to the other line. “Hey, Dave.” She had yet to open her briefcase, so she picked it up and carried it down the hallway so they could speak in relative privacy.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“Back at the hospital. I got here just a few minutes ago.”

“How’s it going?”

“Quiet so far,” Ali said. “Sister Anselm’s still in Mimi’s room. So is Hal Cooper.”

“What about Mimi’s kids?” Dave asked. “Have either of them showed up?”

“Reportedly yes,” Ali replied. “Both of them. I haven’t seen them or spoken to them. I was told they’re down at breakfast. What’s going on with you?”

“I’m still here in Phoenix,” he said. “I stayed at a Best Western, but I’m an employee rather than a consultant.”

Ali ignored the dig. “How did the interview go?”

“With Hal? All right. When he started talking about Maggie, I thought at first she might be a girlfriend. Turns out she’s a cockapoo. He had left her with a neighbor, but when I took him by the crime scene so he could pick up some clothes, he picked the dog up, as well. They’re at the Ritz, too, since that’s the hotel nearest the hospital.”

“What did you think about him?” Ali asked.