Rattlesnake Crossing

Joanna nodded. 'Mine are in there, too,' she said.

Jaime busied himself taking notes. 'Where is she now?'

'On her way to Tucson – University Medical Center.'

'And the body?'

'As far as I know, nobody's touched it. Clyde is still down in the crawl space,' Joanna said.

'From what Dispatch said, you and the ex-wife were the ones who found him?'

Joanna nodded again.

'What exactly were you doing here, Sheriff Brady?' Detective Carbajal asked. 'Somebody call you, or did you just happen to be in the neighborhood?'

'No,' Joanna said. 'I came here on purpose to talk to Clyde Philips. There's a shop out back where he ran a gun dealership. I was hoping to find out whether he could put me in touch with some of his sniper-rifle customers.'

'Because of the Triple C case?'

'That's right. I stopped by earlier, between two and three. His truck was here, just like it is now. When he didn't answer the door, I checked with his former wife to see if she could help me locate him. Belle and I came here together. She was sure he was sound asleep and just didn't hear my knock. Instead, it turned out he was already dead.'

'And the bed?'

Joanna shrugged. 'When she realized he was dead, she went haywire-hysterical. She piled onto the bed with him, and it broke.'

'You said Philips was a gun dealer?'

'That's right. Registered and everything.'

'Any chance of a robbery motive?'

'I already thought of that,' she said. 'Dick Voland's picking up a search warrant before he comes.'

'Good.' Jaime stuffed his notebook back in his pocket and prepared to enter the bedroom. First he donned both face mask and gloves. Then he removed a camera from his pocket, taking the first crime-scene shot from the doorway of the bedroom. Knowing how vital those photographs would be, Joanna stepped aside.

'I'll wait outside,' she told him. 'But remember, termites have turned most this floor into so much sawdust, so be careful.'

With apparent unconcern, the young detective lined up his camera and took another shot. 'Any idea when the victim was last seen alive?'

'None,' Joanna replied. 'His next-door neighbor-I don't know her name-is the one who told me he might be al his ex-wife's-at her cafe. That's why I went there looking for him. But once we found the body, I never had a chance to ask her when the last time was that she saw him.'

'And the ex-wife didn't give you any kind of alibi?'

'No,' Joanna said.

Making a deliberate circle around the perimeter of the room, Jaime clicked the camera again. 'Don't worry,' he said. 'Either Ernie'll check her out or I will.'

'Sheriff Brady?'

She turned to find. Deputy Eduardo Sandoval standing behind her. Of all Joanna's deputies, Eddy Sandoval-a beefy man in his mid-to-late forties-was the one with whom she had the least personal contact. Because he both lived and worked in the far northwestern sector of the county, he was the most physically removed from her office. And when he came to Bisbee to drop off a prisoner or make a court appearance, Sandoval wasn't one to hang around the Cochise County Justice Complex shooting the breeze.

'Hi, there, Eddy,' Joanna said. 'How long ago did you get here?'

'Just now,' he said. 'Sorry it took me so long. I was up at Cascabel taking a missing-person report when this call came in. I got here as fast as I could.'

'Missing person?' Joanna asked. 'What missing person?'

'About this time yesterday afternoon, a lady wandered off from that oddball dude ranch just up the road from the Triple C,' Eddy answered. 'You know the place I mean-the ranch they've started calling Rattlesnake Crossing.'

Joanna frowned. 'Isn't that the dude ranch where all the guests dress up like Indians and camp outside?'

Sandoval nodded. 'Right,' he said. 'That's the one.'

'So who's missing?' Joanna asked. ''One of the campers? The List thing we need about now is to have some tenderfoot who Thinks she's a born-again Apache go wandering off in the desert. It's the middle of August, for God's sake. Depending on where she's from, she'll die of heatstroke before we can call in Search and Rescue.'

'Her name's Katrina Berridge,' Sandoval replied. 'And she's not one of the guests. She's more of an employee, I guess. Employee or partner, I'm not sure which. She's the owner's sister. As I understand it, the missing woman and her husband work there at the ranch. Katrina handles paperwork-reservations, finances, payroll, that kind of thing. Her husband's the handyman-does a little of everything. According to him, his wife went out for a walk yesterday afternoon and never came back.'

'Any trouble on the home front?' Joanna asked.

Sandoval shook his head. 'Not that I could tell. At least, none that the husband happened to mention.'

'If she wasn't driving a vehicle when she left, does anyone have an idea of where she might have gone?'

'Nobody knows for sure,' Sandoval replied. 'According to the husband, each afternoon Rattlesnake Crossing has sort of a free period. All the people pretty much go their separate ways for a time-a few hours. I guess they're all supposed to use that time to get back in touch with nature. Anyway, when dinnertime came around and Katrina didn't show up, people weren't too worried, because I guess she's done that before-gone out for a walk and stayed out later than the others, watching a sunset or a moonrise or something. When she still wasn't home this morning, though, her husband-his name's…' Sandoval paused long enough to consult his notes. 'Dan… no, Daniel Berridge- he said he went looking for her. He claims she has some favorite hangouts up in the cliffs alongside the river. Mr. Berridge said he looked up there for her this morning, but he couldn't find any trace of her.'

'Wait a minute,' Joanna said. 'Aren't those cliffs just on the west side of the river?'

'Yes,' Sandoval nodded. 'They are.'

'And isn't Rattlesnake Crossing Ranch on the other side?'

Sandoval nodded. 'That's right, too.'

'The river's been running like crazy ever since that storm the day before yesterday. If Katrina Berridge was going over to play on the cliffs, how did she manage to cross the river?'

Eddy Sandoval shrugged. 'That's what I asked her husband. He said maybe she swam.'

'Or maybe she never crossed it at all,' Joanna said. 'Maybe, for some reason or another, he's interested in having us look in one place and not in another.'

Eddy Sandoval frowned. 'You're thinking maybe the husband had something to do with whatever happened to her?'

The irony wasn't lost on Joanna. She had been disturbed by the fact that everyone seemed fully prepared to jump to the conclusion that Belle Philips had murdered Clyde. Now here she was, jumping to the same kinds of conclusions about Daniel Berridge.

'I'm not saying that, one way or the other,' Joanna re-plied. 'But if we're bringing in Search and Rescue…' She paused. 'We have called them in, haven't we?'

He nodded. 'That's right. They should be on their way.'

'Good,' she said. 'When Search and Rescue gets here, or when Dick Voland does, tell whoever's in charge of the search that I want them to look on both sides of the San Pedro. You got that?'

'Got it.'

'Where are you meeting them?'

'I told Dispatch I was coming here and that Search and Rescue should catch up with me here. In the meantime, is there anything else you need me to do, Sheriff Brady? I'll be glad to help out.'

'As a matter of fact, there is,' Joanna told him. 'You stand right here in this doorway and watch Detective Carbajal Iike a hawk. That floor he's walking on is made of so much Swiss cheese. If it caves in under him, I want to know about it right away. Now, I'm going to go outside and start talking to the neighbors. We need to find out where and when's the last time someone saw Clyde Philips alive.'