Missing and Endangered (Joanna Brady #19)(97)
“What should we do now?”
“For the time being, let’s lock him in one of the exam rooms in the infirmary. There’s an emergency button he can press if he needs to use the john. Meanwhile I’ll get on the phone to the U.S. attorney up in Tucson and see what he has to say.”
Tom glanced at his watch. “Are you kidding?” he asked. “At four o’clock on a Friday afternoon?”
Joanna nodded.
“Good luck with that,” he said.
And good luck was exactly what was needed. Joanna’s initial attempt came to nothing. U.S. Attorney Matthew Mitchell was gone for the day, she was told. Would Sheriff Brady care to leave a message? She would not, but fortunately for Joanna she had a work-around. As of today, with the Gerard Paine takedown, FBI Special Agent Robin Watkins just happened to have a whole lot going for her as far as her agent in charge was concerned. Consequently, Joanna Brady had some points of her own with the man. She called Robin and gave her as much of an overview of the situation as she was able to provide and asked Robin to call her boss. Twelve minutes later a call on Joanna’s direct line came in from a blocked number. Obviously the Tucson FBI agent in charge had access to Matthew Mitchell’s cell-phone number.
“You wanted to speak to me, Sheriff Brady?” the U.S. attorney asked after introducing himself.
“I did.”
“What about?”
Even though Joanna was reasonably sure Mitchell already knew what was going on, she told the story anyway, from beginning to end. Her recitation was followed by a long, thoughtful silence.
“And your informant, this Mr. Barco, said specifically that this concerns a U.S. citizen running a drug operation from Agua Prieta?” Mitchell asked finally.
“He did.”
“And you have him sequestered in a safe place inside your jail at the moment?”
“We do. He’s locked up in one of the exam rooms in our infirmary.”
“Fair enough,” Mitchell said. “I’ll be dispatching a team of U.S. Marshals to pick him up later tonight. They’ll be coming from Tucson, so I don’t have a definite ETA. Thank you so much, Sheriff Brady. Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated, but we’ll take it from here.”
“What about those two homicides in Sierra Vista?” Joanna asked. “They’re still under investigation.”
“Frank Montoya’s the police chief there, right?”
“Correct.”
“Not to worry, then, Sheriff Brady. We’ll coordinate with Chief Montoya from here on out.”
It was a curt dismissal, but Joanna didn’t even care. She was done. She arrived home after eight, having left the house shortly after 6:00 A.M. and after putting in another twelve-hour day. She had stayed around the office long enough to turn a very relieved Floyd Barco over to the U.S. Marshals Service and send him on his way.
As Joanna drove back to the ranch, she should have been elated. After all, she and her people had helped break two major cases that day, but right at that moment they felt like a pair of hollow victories. For now the resolution of both cases was out of her hands. Gerard Paine was under arrest in Tucson, but whatever happened to him was up to the FBI and the department of justice. And the thug who might have played a pivotal role in the death of Leon Hogan was currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals. Joanna had a sinking feeling that as far as Leon’s death was concerned, true justice would never be served.
By the time she got home, heated up a bowl of leftover green chili casserole, and made it into the family room, Denny and Sage were both in bed and asleep, while everyone else—Beth, Jenny, Butch, and both dogs—were watching a screening of It’s a Wonderful Life. They put the movie on pause long enough to hear what she had to say. She focused mostly on what had happened to Gerard Paine. What little she knew was way more than they’d seen on TV or in the media. Joanna was grateful to learn that at this point Jenny’s name had not yet been mentioned as the intended victim in the Coconino County shooting. That would come soon enough, and when it did, all hell would break loose.
But for now Joanna was home. A two-homicide day that had started with a fried-egg sandwich eaten in a moving SUV ended with her snuggled on the couch next to Butch and nibbling on a freshly baked sugar cookie, one that had been colorfully if inexpertly decorated by Denny.
All in all, it qualified as a pretty good day.
Chapter 50
It was Joanna’s weekend to be on call, and nothing whatsoever happened, at least not on the crime front. Maybe all the crooks in Cochise County were too busy getting ready for Christmas to go looking for trouble. There were a couple of DUIs from overserved guests at holiday parties but little else, and nothing serious enough to require Joanna’s presence out on the road. At home? That was another story.
The ten-o’clock newscasts on Friday night suddenly all got around to naming Sheriff Joanna Brady’s daughter, Jennifer, as the target of Wednesday’s attempted homicide south of Flagstaff. When Joanna opened the rolling shutters to let the dogs out early on Saturday morning, Marliss Shackleford’s RAV4 was parked just beyond the fence. She exited the vehicle and started up the walkway.
“No comment,” Joanna said before Marliss could open her mouth.
“My sources tell me that a Tucson resident named Gerard Paine is being investigated for multiple instances of identity theft and for being a major purveyor of pornography, and that he has an alleged history of sextortion, in which he has victimized any number of female victims. Was Jenny one of those?”