Missing and Endangered (Joanna Brady #19)(31)
“Speaking of coming home,” Joanna added. “Dad was all hot to trot to get all the Christmas decorating and baking done before you arrive. I told him not to worry. That it would give you and Beth something to do to keep you off the streets.”
If I’m even speaking to her by then, Jenny thought.
She and her mother talked for a few minutes longer. An hour later, while Jenny was still poring over her psych-class notes, Beth Rankin showed up bearing gifts in the form of a pepperoni pizza and two iced-down sodas.
In terms of peace offerings, it couldn’t have been better. By the time the pizza box was empty, all was forgiven and Jenny and Beth Rankin were friends once more, and Jenny’s earlier qualms about taking Beth home were forgotten.
Chapter 10
A call from Joanna’s chief deputy late in the afternoon boosted her spirits.
“Armando’s awake and talking,” Tom Hadlock reported. “I let Dave Newton know so he could come interview him, but I didn’t call the DPS guys with that news until after I heard what Armando had to say to Amy and his mother.”
“Mr. DPS is not going to be happy about that.”
“Too bad,” Tom replied.
“What did Armando have to say?”
“He said that when he went to deliver the protection order, Leon appeared to be under the influence, but he was in his own home at the time. Since it’s not against the law to be drunk at home, Armando handed over the paperwork and left. He was on his way back to his vehicle when he heard a gunshot behind him. It sounded like it came from inside the house, so he turned around to look. The next thing he knew, a woman came streaking up to him, and I do mean streaking. She didn’t have a stitch of clothing on. At the time Armando had no idea who she was, but we now know that the woman in question was Leon’s wife, Madison Hogan. She was screaming something like, ‘He’s gonna kill me! He’s gonna kill me!’ She took cover behind Armando’s patrol vehicle, and so did he. That’s when Leon Hogan came charging out onto the porch, firing like crazy. Armando did the only thing he could do and returned fire. Getting hit was pure bad luck. But the whole thing sounds pretty cut-and-dried to me. It’s got suicide by cop written all over it.”
Joanna might have changed her mind on that score, but Tom was just ramping up, and she let him continue his rant without interruption.
“If Dave Newton doesn’t shape up and call it justifiable homicide,” Tom continued, “I’m half tempted to punch his lights out. What the hell was Armando supposed to do? Throw down his weapon and let the guy plug him? We’ve got a nearly dead deputy and a patrol car full of bullet holes. If Armando hadn’t returned fire, he wouldn’t be in a hospital right now. He’d be in the morgue.”
“Yes, he would,” Joanna agreed. “Give Armando my best, and let him know I’m thinking about him.”
“Will do,” Tom said.
Joanna spent the rest of the day redoing the duty roster, making up for Armando’s absence as best she could. If there were callouts when people were off duty, she’d be having to pay overtime, and the budget would take a definite hit. That complex work was interrupted by several calls from reporters. Tom Hadlock was her media-relations guy. With him out of the office, dealing with journalists fell to her. Fortunately for her, Marliss Shackleford wasn’t among the callers.
It was close to time for her to go home and time for the Rob Roy restaurant to open when she put in a call to Myron Thomas, reserving the club’s banquet room for the evening of December 26 as the site for Ernie’s retirement bash.
She was barely off the phone with that when Ernie presented himself in the doorway. “What are you doing here?” Joanna asked. “I distinctly remember your saying you’d be taking two days off.”
“I heard about Armando,” he said. “I know DPS is in charge of the investigation, but I wanted to come in to see if I could help out. Where is everybody? Both Jaime and Deb are nowhere to be found.”
“I believe Jaime is currently conducting a vehicular-homicide investigation between Elfrida and Willcox. As for Deb? I suspect she’s out in Sierra Vista following up on a couple of leads concerning the well-being of Leon and Madison Hogan’s two children.”
Over the next several minutes, Joanna laid out her concerns about Kendall and Peter Hogan.
“Anything I can do tonight to help?” Ernie asked when she finished. “I’m still a member of this team, you know, and if there’s work to be done, I’m here to do it.”
“Yes,” Joanna said, “but not right now. Tomorrow will be fine, but FYI, you should know that I just now reserved the Rob Roy banquet room for your retirement party. It’s scheduled for December twenty-sixth.”
“All right, then,” Ernie said with a somber nod. “I’ll start letting people know I’m leaving. Any idea who you might bring on board as your new detective?”
“Not yet,” Joanna answered.
“Well,” Ernie added, “if I were you, I’d take a close look at Garth Raymond. He’s young, but he’s got a lot on the ball.”
“Thanks,” Joanna said. “I’ll bear that in mind.”
Once Ernie left her office, Joanna did the same, heading home somewhat earlier than usual. She helped with dinner and got the kids down for the night. Then, after changing into her nightgown and robe, she went to work on the remaining Christmas cards, determined to finish those off before bedtime. She was making good progress when, right around ten, both dogs got up and headed for the back door. Assuming they were ready to go out one last time, Joanna followed. She opened the back door and security shutters just as a pair of arriving headlights swung into the yard.