“You don’t have to do that, Joanna,” Frank said. “After all, this is your day off. I think we have things pretty well under control.”
At the time of her election to the office of sheriff, Joanna Brady had lacked any kind of previous law-enforcement experience. After the election there had been some scuttlebutt that she had won solely on the basis of a sympathy vote, that her elective office had been a kind of county-wide consolation prize for having lost her husband in a line-of-duty shooting.
In order to quiet the talk and counter those assumptions—in order to put to rest all speculation that in her tenure as sheriff Joanna Brady would be little more than an administrative figurehead—she had been determined to turn herself into a hands-on police officer. Although not required to do so, she had taken and passed the same police-academy training that was required of her deputies. She had also made it a point to be involved as an active participant in every homicide investigation that occurred on her watch.
Joanna turned back to the corral just as Jenny finished cinching up the saddle. Then, with the help of Butch’s cupped hands, she vaulted onto Kiddo’s back and settled her feet into the stirrups. Nudging the horse’s ribs with the heel of her boot, she wheeled him away from the corral and took off down the road at a swift canter. There was nothing Joanna liked better than sitting on the porch swing and watching her blond-haired daughter and the equally blond-maned horse tear off across the desert. This evening, though, there would be none of that. Just like Jaime Carbajal and his son’s T-ball game, Joanna was about to lose her evening at home with her family.
“I’ll leave here as soon as I go inside and put on my vest,” Joanna told Frank. “It won’t take much longer than half an hour for me to get there.”
Butch walked up just as Joanna clicked off the phone. “That sounds bad,” he said.
Joanna nodded. “I’m going to have to go. We’ve had a homicide out by Cochise Stronghold. No telling how long it’s going to take. I’ll call Jim Bob and Eva Lou and see if Jenny can spend the night there.”
Jim Bob and Eva Lou Brady, Jenny’s paternal grandparents, maintained a bedroom in their cozy duplex that was always at Jenny’s disposal. On nights when it looked as though Joanna would be out beyond Jenny’s bedtime, she often left her daughter with them.
“Don’t bother,” Butch said. “I can stay here until you get back. That way so can she.”
“You don’t mind? You took care of her last night, too.”
Butch nodded. “And there’ll probably be a whole lot more nights just like that in our future. But no, I don’t mind. The only thing I have waiting for me at home is to clean my own house, and I didn’t much want to tackle that anyway. Besides, this way Jenny can ride Kiddo as long as she likes. When she finishes up, I’ll have her help me feed the animals.”
“Well, then,” Joanna said. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.” He leaned over and kissed her. “Now get going,” he added, giving her an encouraging pat on the butt. “The sooner you leave, the sooner you’ll be able to finish up and come back home.”
Feeling guilty and relieved both, Joanna hurried into the house. In the bedroom she whipped off her shirt and donned her Kevlar vest. After retrieving her two Glocks from the locked rolltop desk, she put on both her holsters as well as her shirt and then headed for the door. On her way past the phone table, she paused long enough to check her caller ID. The blinking red light announced there were calls, but when she checked the LCD readout and saw there were ten new calls in all, she didn’t even bother to scroll through them. Whatever messages there were would have to wait until Joanna was back home and could deal with them in an orderly, systematic fashion.
Grabbing her purse, the keys to the Blazer, and her recharged cell phone, Joanna hurried outside. Jenny was back. Just beyond the gate to the yard, she sat astride a winded and snorting Kiddo while Butch stood close to the horse’s head, rubbing the long, arched neck.
“I have to go,” Joanna said to her daughter.
Jenny nodded. “I know,” she said dolefully “Butch told me. He says he’s going to stay here to watch me.”
“I didn’t say watch,” Butch corrected. “I said keep you company.”
“It means the same thing.”
Joanna shook her head. The last thing she needed right then was to become entangled in yet another debate about whether or not Jenny was being baby-sat. “You be good,” she said. “And help Butch with the animals.”
“All right,” Jenny grumped. “I will.”
And don’t be such a sourpuss about it, Joanna wanted to add, but she didn’t. There wasn’t much point.
In the Blazer, she started the engine. Before she could back out of her parking space, Butch came over and knocked on the driver’s window. Joanna rolled it down.
“Just because the women in my life are feuding doesn’t mean I don’t deserve a good-bye kiss, does it?”
“No,” she returned, smiling and giving him a peck on the cheek.