J. Jance - Partner In Crime

“Who’s the suspect?” Connors demanded impatiently.

I glanced around the lobby to see if anyone was listening. No one seemed to be. Still, talking on a house phone in a hotel lobby, I didn’t want to say too much. “Boyfriend,” I said. “Could be a lovers’ spat of some kind.”

Ross Connors breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s hope,” he said.

His heartfelt reaction jangled a nerve that had been niggling at me ever since Harry I. Ball sent me off on this wild-goose chase.

“Would Latisha Wall’s presence really have made that big a difference?” I asked. “In the upcoming trial, I mean. Surely you have depositions and so forth from her that can be placed in evidence even if she’s not there to testify in person.”

“Believe me,” Ross said. “It makes a huge difference.”

In other words, I’d have to take his word for it.

“Listen,” he went on, “if the boyfriend angle pans out – and I’m sure you’ll know that within a day or two – then you can put yourself on a plane and come on home.”

“ If it pans out,” I returned. “There’s no guarantee that it will. In the meantime, though, while we’re still looking at all the other angles, I have a question for you.”

“What?”

“Who knew about the arrangements?”

“What arrangements?”

What the hell did he think I meant – arrangements for his next day’s tee time ? “For Latisha Wall,” I said. “I know enough about witness protection programs to realize they cost money, lots of it. I also know you don’t jar that kind of money loose from the Washington State budget without having to jump through a bunch of hoops.”

“Dale Ahearn,” Ross answered. “And O.H. Todd. O.H. is the actual case manager. He was in charge of making all financial and living arrangements. He’s also the one who put together her supporting documents.”

“His telephone number is the one that’s listed for Lawrence Baxter, the guy who’s named as next of kin in Rochelle Baxter’s DMV file.”

“Right,” Ross agreed.

“What about Dale Ahearn? Who’s he, and what does he do?”

“He’s my chief of staff. Like I said, O.H. made the arrangements, but Dale signed off on them and passed them along to me for final approval.”

I didn’t know O.H. Todd and Dale Ahearn from holes in the ground, but Ross Connors did. “You think these two guys are trustworthy?” I asked.

“I certainly thought so,” Connors replied. “And that’s why this thing has me so spooked. I’ve worked with O.H. and Dale for years. Until all this came up, I would have trusted either one of them with my life. Now I’m not so sure. That’s why it’s so important for me to know exactly what happened. It’s also why I’m counting on your discretion.”

So that’s what this is all about , I told myself. I’m not down here on the state’s nickel to fend off UPPI’s upcoming breach-of-contract dispute with the state of Washington. I’m here because Ross Connors is having a crisis of confidence with some of his minions .

My enthusiasm for having signed up with Ross Connors and his outfit took a sudden nosedive. I had thought the purpose of the Special Homicide Investigation Team was to investigate murders. Now it sounded as though someone in the attorney general’s office might actually be causing homicides here and there rather than simply solving them. That being the case, could a cover-up be far behind?

“I’ve just come from another crime scene,” I said into the phone. “I’m pretty sure it’s another homicide. There’s a possibility that it could be related to what happened to Latisha Wall.”

“Could be?” Ross repeated. “You mean you don’t know for sure? That’s why I have you on the scene, Beaumont. It’s also why we paid to fly you down there. We need to know for sure what’s going on.”

As Attorney General Ross slipped into the old blame-game routine, I bristled. “I’m not exactly working under optimal conditions,” I growled.

“Why not?”

“Because Sheriff Brady ordered me to leave the scene the minute I showed up.”

“Why would she do that?” Connors asked. “What is she, some kind of prima donna?”

You’re the problem , I wanted to say. And I did, in so many words. “Sheriff Brady is ripped because it took so long for us to get her any information.”

“I was trying to get a handle on the situation,” he said.

Handle, my ass ! I thought. What you really mean is spin .

That was about the time Marliss Shackleford waltzed into the lobby. “Sorry to have cut you off,” I told the attorney general. “Someone’s here to see me. I’ve gotta go.”

“HOW MANY TIMES DO I have to tell you boys to stay away from those houses?” an outraged Velma Verdugo railed. “ ‘The places are falling down,’ I say. ‘They’re dangerous. The ceilings could cave in on you. A floor could collapse. You never know what you’ll find. You’re bound to end up getting in trouble.’ That’s what I tell them, but do they listen? Not on your life!”

Unfortunately, Joanna knew exactly how this exasperated mother felt. It hadn’t been that many months ago when Jenny, while breaking a similar prohibition and doing something she shouldn’t have, had stumbled on the body of a murder victim. This time the boys in question – two brothers ages eight and nine – had found the body of a woman Joanna presumed to be the missing Deidre Canfield.

As their mother shrieked at them and shook her finger in their faces, the two boys shrank away from her. Cowering just out of reach, they looked so thoroughly humiliated that Joanna felt sorry for them, just as she did for Velma. Joanna suspected that the woman’s shrill tirade had far more to do with her being frightened for her sons – over what might have happened to them – than it did with genuine anger.

“If you’d allow us to speak to them for a few minutes, Mrs. Verdugo,” Joanna said soothingly. “It shouldn’t take long.”

“It better not,” Velma returned. “Their daddy will be off work soon. Believe me, when Gabe gets here, he’ll do more than talk.”

Faced with the old wait-till-your-father-gets-home threat, the boys exchanged wary glances but they didn’t speak. The look that passed between them wasn’t lost on Joanna.

“I hope he won’t be too severe,” Joanna said. “It’s really fortunate for my investigators that Marcus and Eddie found the body when they did.”

Chief Deputy Montoya ambled over to where Joanna stood talking to the Verdugos. Taking in the situation, he winked at the boys and then began speaking to their mother in Spanish. Joanna had taken years of both high school and college Spanish, but the classes had left her something less than fluent. Nevertheless she was able to follow enough of what Frank was saying to realize he was simply expanding on much of what Joanna had said moments earlier and praising the two boys for reporting their find rather than concealing it.

Frank’s words seemed to have a calming effect on the agitated woman. Velma listened in silence. When he stopped speaking, she turned back to her sons. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut and with tears streaming down her face, she pounced on the two boys and then hugged them to her in a desperate embrace.

Jaime Carbajal appeared just then with his crime scene camera still in his hand. “Sorry for the interruption, Sheriff Brady. Could you please come with me?”

Excusing herself, Joanna followed Detective Carbajal. She had visited this deserted, crumbling cavalry post with her father years earlier. D.H. Lathrop, an amateur historian, had explained to her how Pancho Villa had attacked Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916. Camp Harry J. Jones in Naco, Arizona, named after a murdered Army guard, had been part of a network of military posts maintaining border security during the Mexican Revolution. With her father, Joanna had explored the adobe-walled stables and the fallen-down barracks. Now Jaime Carbajal led her toward what had once been the officers’ quarters. The house – a small, graffiti-marred wreck – was missing all its windows and doors.