“What does he want?” Joanna demanded. “I thought I told you we weren’t to be interrupted.”
“I’m sorry,” Kristin apologized. “Mr. Kimball insisted that it was vitally important that he speak to you. I offered to put him through to Chief Deputy Montoya, but he said you were the only one who would do.”
“All right then,” Joanna sighed. Shaking her head in frustration, she stomped into her office and unearthed her telephone from the mounds of papers that covered her desk. Then she sat down and took several deep breaths to compose herself. Finally she picked up the receiver and punched the “hold” button.
“Good morning, Burton,” she said as cordially as she could manage. “What can I do for you?”
“Well, sir,” Burton said in his mannerly drawl. “I’m sitting here in my office with my newest client, a lady by the name of Sally Matthews. I handled her parents’ estate, so she came to see me. Ms. Matthews is interested in turning herself in, Sheriff Brady. The City of Bisbee has passed this case along to the Multi-Jurisdiction Force, so in actual fact, she’ll be turning herself in to them. But, given what all has happened, she wants to talk to you first. Before Sally turns herself in to them, she wants to hear the straight scoop about what happened to Dora and what’s being done to find whoever’s responsible. That seems to me like a reasonable enough request.”
“She knows her daughter is dead?” Joanna asked.
“Yes, she does,” Burton replied. “She came back to town and heard it from an acquaintance—someone she ran into when she stopped to get gas. She took it hard, Sheriff Brady, real hard, but she’s had a chance to pull herself together now. If it wouldn’t he too inconvenient, I’d like to bring her out to see you as soon as possible. What do you think?”
There wasn’t much Joanna could say. “Sure,” she agreed. “Bring her right down.”
“I’m concerned that there might be reporters out front at your office due to that murder out in Apache Pass,” Burton Kimball continued. “Considering Dora’s previously publicized connection to that case, I’m afraid Sally’s appearance will cause quite a stir. Is there possibly a more discreet way of bringing her down to your place rather than just driving up to the front door and marching in through the main lobby?”
Joanna sighed. “Sure,” she said. “Come around to the back. There’s a door close to the west end of the building. That opens directly into my office. Knock on that, and I’ll let you in.”
“Thank you so much, Sheriff Brady,” Burton said. “You’re most kind. We’ll be there in a matter of minutes.”
As soon as Burton Kimball hung up, Joanna dialed Frank Montoya’s office. “What’s up?” her chief deputy asked. “Is the interview over already?”
“It’s about to be,” she said. “Burton Kimball just called. He has Sally Matthews in his office. She’s ready to turn herself in, and he’s bringing her here.”
“Why here?” Frank asked. “That meth lab was inside the city limits. It should be the City of Bisbee’s problem, not ours.”
“The city has passed the case off to MJF,” Joanna told him. “She’ll turn herself in to them, but Burton Kimball is bringing Sally Matthews here first so we can brief her about what happened to Dora. I’m calling to let you know that Sally Matthews now knows about her daughter’s death. That being the case, you can go ahead and officially release Dora’s name to the press. We shouldn’t put it off any longer.”
“Will do,” Frank said.
Before returning to the conference room, Joanna stopped long enough to call Butch at home. “Scroll through the caller ID screen,” she asked him. “I need the number of the guy named Richard Bernard who called on Saturday morning. I think we may have found the father of Dora Matthews’s baby.”
“The name is listed here as Richard Bernard, MD,” Butch said, once he’d read Joanna the number. “What is this, a doctor who’s some kind of pervert child molester?”
“I doubt it,” Joanna told him. “According to Jenny, Chris was the name of Dora’s boyfriend. They’re kids, so naturally there was no last name. I’m guessing Chris Bernard is a teenaged son or maybe even a grandson. Jenny also said that Dora talked to Chris a couple of times while she was staying out there at the house with The Gs. That means Ernie or Jaime will need to interview him in case she told Chris anything on the phone that could shed light on what happened later.”
“I wonder if Chris knew he was going to be a father,” Butch said.
“Maybe,” Joanna said. “On Sunday Dora bought one of those home pregnancy test kits. I’m guessing that once she knew the results, she probably told him as well. I need to have Frank check their phone records as well.”
“Whose?” Butch asked.
“The Bernards’,” she said. “Never mind. I’m just thinking aloud.”
“So Jenny’s interview is over then?” Butch asked, switching gears. “Do you want me to come pick her up?”
“It’s not over, although they’re probably close to finishing up. I got called out of the conference room to take the phone call from Burton Kimball about Sally Matthews turning herself in. They’re on their way here from Bisbee right now.”
“In that case, I’ll definitely come pick up Jenny,” Butch declared. “That’ll be one less thing for you to worry about.”
“Thanks,” Joanna said. “Once they’re done, I’m sure Jenny will be more than ready to go.”
“It was pretty tough then?”
“Yes, it was,” she replied. “For both of us.”
“Sorry about that, Joey. I’ll he there in a few minutes.”
“If you come too soon, Jenny might not be ready.”
“That’s all right. I’ll wait.”
Without touching any of the papers waiting on her desk, Joanna headed back to the conference room. She met Jenny and Ernie Carpenter in the lobby.
“Finished?” Joanna asked.
Ernie nodded. “For the time being.”
Joanna handed him the piece of paper on which she’d jotted down Dr. Richard Bernard’s name and number. “Good enough,” Ernie said. “I guess Jaime and I had better head up to Tucson. We’ll deliver the clothing to the crime lab so they can get started processing it. After that, we’ll track down Chris and talk to him.”
“Before you go, you need to know that Sally Matthews is about to turn herself in to MJF. Burton Kimball is bringing her in. They’ll be here in a few minutes. I told them to use the back door. She wants to know what’s going on with Dora’s case, and I’m going to tell her.”
“So she knows?”
Joanna nodded. “How much she knows remains to be seen.”
Ernie Carpenter left to find his partner. With a subdued Jenny following behind, Joanna returned to her office and made a futile attempt to straighten the mess on her desk. Meanwhile, Jenny slouched in one of the captain’s chairs. For several minutes, neither mother nor daughter said a word.
Joanna finally broke the lingering silence. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Are you mad at me?” Jenny returned.
“Why would I be mad at you?”
Jenny bit her lip. She had chewed on it so much during the course of the interview that morning that it looked chapped and swollen. “For not telling Grandma and Grandpa about Dora talking to Chris on the phone. I didn’t think she was serious about running away. I thought she was just talking big again, you know, like bragging. But maybe, if I had told ...”
Joanna went over to Jenny’s chair and knelt in front of her. “Jenny, honey, you’re going to have to decide that what happened wasn’t your fault. And now that we know a little more about what went on, it probably isn’t Grandma Lathrop’s fault, either. From what you said, it’s clear Dora Matthews was determined to run away. She would have done it anyway, whether she was at our house or at her own home up in Bisbee or in foster care.”