As he left her, walking around to the rear to get his patrol car, he thought that while it had been far more grueling to be a cop on the mean streets of Houston, being here was disturbing in its own way. A different way. In Houston, it had been easier to recognize the bad guys; here, he was afraid, he was looking for someone who might well be a friend.
Driving out of town, he could see the Silverfest celebrations taking place in the cordoned-off section of Main Street.
People were in high spirits. Most were convinced that a tourist killed in the desert had nothing to do with them.
And most of them were right.
In a few minutes he was back at his place, where Johnny Bearclaw had the horses saddled. Sloan mounted Roo, while Johnny took Kanga.
“We’ll probably run into the trail group,” Johnny told him.
“Yeah, I know. We’ll wait until the group that’s out now has moved on to the Apache village. It won’t look strange that we’re out there,” Sloan said. “There was a murder.”
“I’m ready for anything.” Johnny patted his holster.
Sloan carried a .357 eight-shot Magnum. He saw that Johnny had prepared with his weapon of choice, the 629 six-shot .44 Magnum. He’d had that weapon as long as Sloan could remember, but he didn’t carry it often.
Leaving the property and entering the trail, they caught up with Heidi and her tour group about halfway through. He noted that Heidi wasn’t alone; her older brother, Lars, just out of the military, was riding second with her. Sam, another of the tour guides, was carrying, too.
When Heidi saw him, she went ashen, so he urged Roo through the riders, saying a friendly hello to the mounted tourists as he did.
“There’s nothing wrong, Heidi. I’m just keeping an active presence all over town today,” he assured her quickly.
She let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Sheriff. Even though I brought my own ‘hired gun,’” she said with a rueful smile.
“I see that.”
Sloan waved to Lars, who waved back. Heidi was in good hands; Lars was a serious kid who had done two tours of duty in the Middle East.
“Hey, I’d rather not find any more dead men,” Heidi said. “I mean,” she added in a hushed voice, “I only found the old dead guy, but...that was creepy enough for me.”
“You should be fine today.”
“Thanks, Sloan. Hi, Johnny!” Heidi said.
Johnny waved, and Sloan urged Roo back to Johnny’s position beside the group. He smiled as they passed them.
“Give it five minutes?” Johnny asked.
“Yep. We’ll give it five.”
The tour group moved on.
They left Kanga and Roo rooting around for scrub grass and walked to the entrance. With Johnny’s help, it was easy to move the loose boulder. Sloan crawled through and Johnny followed. There was nothing in the first opening; they climbed over rock to reach the second chasm and then the third.
Sloan directed his flashlight all around.
At first, he saw nothing.
And then he saw the dark pile with the tarp over it on the earth-and-rock flooring. He walked over to it and tore away the tarp.
“Son of a bitch!” he exploded.
8
Being Sage McCormick was fun.
Jane had never thought of herself as an extrovert, but she did enjoy being in this costume, and she enjoyed seeing the children so excited. Thanks to the cast of the dinner theater, she was quickly at ease answering all manner of questions, telling kids and adults alike the history of the theater and how she had disappeared one night. “I was suspected of all kinds of terrible things,” she told them, emoting more than she’d realized she could, “but now people know—I was murdered right in the theater and buried under the floorboards!”
Posing for pictures and playing the part of Sage was good; it distracted her from worrying about Sloan.
It was a foolish thing to do, she reminded herself. He’d signed on the line that he was willing to give his life for his work; she had done the same.
She loved her job. She had to go where her work took her and her real home was Arlington, Virginia, where the Krewe units had their offices and where she’d found the town house she loved. Okay, so she could leave a home. But she was an important part of her Krewe, and they solved cases when others couldn’t.
Not that Sloan had asked her to do anything, or vice versa; they’d slept together once. She didn’t regret it.
No, she really wanted to do it again....
But whatever their involvement, it didn’t matter; she’d be worried about anyone investigating a murder. Law enforcement officers everywhere signed up for this, and it didn’t stop those who cared about them from worrying about it.
“Hey, time for the old shoot-out,” Cy said, nudging Brian.
“The shoot-out.” Brian grinned at Jane. “I love this part of the show!”
“Well, of course he loves it—he gets to be fastest on the draw,” Valerie said.