“So,” Frank asked. “Can you tell us anything about this?”
Fred Woodworth smirked and shrugged. “Some. Compared to where we are now, this is pretty primitive stuff. I’d say these files date all the way back to the late eighties or early nineties. I can’t say which branch of the service the files are from, but since Fort Huachuca is right next door here, my first guess would be army. If you want to know anything more about this, I’d suggest you call them.”
Across the table from Fred Woodworth, Sister Celeste let out a long, audible sigh. “It’s true, then,” she murmured.
“What’s true?” Joanna asked.
“What Lucy Ridder told me.”
Joanna held up her hand. “Wait,” she cautioned. “Don’t say anything more right now. Mr. Woodworth? Mr. Davis? Thank you so much for all your help, but I believe that’s all we need for right now. If there’s anything more, we’ll let you know.”
Now it was Fred Woodworth’s turn to sigh. Closing the lid on the laptop, he ran one finger regretfully and lovingly across it. “It was a pleasure,” he said. “I’ll be glad to help out anytime. Just give me a call.”
He and Rich Davis stood up. Frank Montoya escorted the two men as far as the conference-room door. As soon as they stepped over the threshold and out into the reception room, Frank closed the door behind them and turned expectantly back to Joanna and Sister Celeste.
“What did Lucy tell you?” Joanna was asking.
“That her mother was a spy.”
“A spy?”
“She said her father told her that Sandra Ridder was providing top-secret information to our enemies. I’d guess that would have been the Iraqis during the Gulf War.”
For a second or two, both Joanna Brady and Frank Montoya were struck speechless. Before either one of them could comment, Sister Celeste stood up. “I’m sure you’ve heard enough,” she said. “Now, if you’ll be so good as to come with me, I’ll take you to Lucy right away.”
“Where is she?” Joanna choked, finding her voice at last.
“At Holy Trinity Monastery over in Saint David,” Sister Celeste said. “The prior, Father Mulligan, is a good friend of mine, and I understand he’s a friend of yours as well. He promised me he’d take care of Lucy and keep her safe and out of sight. Lucy Ridder is convinced that the man who murdered her mother came out to Cochise Stronghold that night looking for the computer disk. She’s afraid that eventually he’ll figure out who must have it. Once he does, he’ll come looking for her as well.”
“Wait a minute. Are you saying Lucy knew someone killed her mother?” Joanna asked. “How could she?”
“It’s perfectly simple,” Sister Celeste answered calmly. “Lucinda Ridder saw him do it.”
CHAPTER 22
With Frank holding the door for her, Sister Celeste brushed past him and out of the office. For a time, Joanna made no move to follow. When she didn’t, Frank pulled the door shut once more. “Do you want me to come along?” he asked. “To Saint David, I mean?”
Joanna shook her head. “I don’t think so. I want you to get Detective Carpenter to tackle the Fort Huachuca situation ASAP. Tell him I want to know everything possible about Sandra Ridder’s position when she used to work on post—who she worked for, what she did, how much money she earned, everything.”
“Wait a minute,” Frank cautioned. “If this really does turn out to be a legitimate spy case, won’t we be stepping on jurisdictional toes?”
“Look at how old this case is, Frank,” Joanna said. “It’s been around at least as long as Sandra Ridder was in prison and probably a whole lot longer than that. What makes you think we’re the first ones to discover it?”
“You’re saying there may have been a cover-up?”
Joanna shrugged. “It could be. Look at what happened at Los Alamos. Let’s solve Sandra Ridder’s homicide before we send out for reinforcements and before we go jumping through any unnecessary bureaucratic hoops. If, in the process of doing that, we come across real evidence of espionage, then we’ll pass it along to the Feds so they can follow it up. In the meantime, we’re operating on hearsay eight-year-old evidence from a fifteen-year-old runaway and on the shaky technical assumptions of a convicted computer hacker. Talk about leaning on a pair of bent reeds. If we tried to call in the FBI based on what we have up to this point, they’d laugh themselves silly.”
“Sister Celeste could have it all wrong,” Frank suggested quietly.
“What do you mean?”
“Just because Sister Celeste thinks Lucy Ridder didn’t kill Sandra Ridder, that doesn’t necessarily make it true. Lucy may have lied to Sister Celeste, and she may lie to you as well, to say nothing of being potentially dangerous. Everybody seems to keep forgetting the kid has a gun.”
“If Lucy Ridder killed her mother, who killed Melanie Goodson?” Joanna asked. “Are you suggesting that Lucy is responsible for that murder as well?”