Rattlesnake Crossing

actually qualified on the kinds of weapons we're talking about, Otherwise.,.'

Like hell you will! 'Thanks, but no, thanks,' Joanna said curtly. 'I don't believe I'm interested.' She ended the call then, hanging up on Mr. Overbearing Agent-in-Charge Breen before he could say anything more.

Joanna was still steamed about both Agent Forrest Breen and Deputy Eddy Sandoval when she drove through Benson some twenty minutes later. There, next to the curb outside the Benson Dairy Queen, she caught sight of Eddy's parked cruiser. Speak of the devil! Joanna thought.

Executing a U-turn, she drove back and pulled up beside his vehicle. 'Meet me at the Quarter Horse,' she told him. 'I need to talk to you.'

'Sure thing,' he said.

Ten minutes later, Joanna had ordered a sandwich and was drinking a cup of coffee when Sandoval came sauntering into the restaurant. At the Triple C crime scene two days earlier, the man hadn't seemed nearly as large as he did now, walking across the tiled restaurant floor to her booth, pushing his paunch ahead of him. 'What's up, Sheriff?' he asked, slipping into the bench opposite her.

Joanna had used the intervening minutes to plan her approach. She had decided not to soft-pedal any of it. 'You've been with the department for a long time,' she said for openers. 'I'm assuming you'd like to continue.'

A veil of wariness closed down over Deputy Sandoval's eyes. 'What's this all about?'

'Frankie Ramos.'

Joanna waited, giving the name a chance to settle between them. After it did, she waited some more, not offering any explanation, leaving the officer to wonder and squirm under her withering scrutiny.

'What about him?' Eddy asked finally.

'I understand you and Ruben are old buddies.'

Sandoval bristled then. 'I don't know what Ruben told you,' he began, rising off the bench, 'but I-'

'Sit, Eddy,' Joanna commanded. 'You and I both know what he told me. And you know what you did, so let's not play games.'

Reluctantly, he settled back down. 'Frankie's dead,' he said. 'So what do you want? My resignation, is that it?'

'I may want your resignation eventually. But right this minute, what I want is information.'

'What kind of information?'

'Did you ever break up any parties at Clyde Philips' house over in Pomerene?' she asked.

Eddy Sandoval's eyes flickered and then slid sideways toward one of the many horse pictures painted on the wall. 'A few, I guess,' he admitted.

'How many would you say? Two? Five?'

'I don't know. I don't remember exactly.'

'And how many of those show up in the official log?'

Sandoval dropped his eyes and stared down at the table-top. His finger traced a chip in the edge of the Formica. 'Probably none,' he said.

'Why not?'

'Who knows? Maybe I forgot. But I don't have to answer any of this,' he added sullenly. 'I've got a right to an attorney.'

'You do have to answer, Eddy,' Joanna said. 'You have to because lives are at stake. Now tell me, was there anyone else in Clyde Philips' car the night you failed to arrest Frankie Ramos for that MIP?'

Eddy hung his head. 'Yeah,' he said at last. 'There was one other guy there, a buddy of Frankie's, I guess. Last name of Merritt.'

'What about this Merritt kid?' Joanna asked. 'Was he of age, or was he o juvenile, too? And if so, did you write him up or not;'„

Eddy continued to stare at the table and said nothing. 'That's answer enough, I suppose,' Joanna said. 'When I looked the other way, Clyde was always good for it,' Eddy mumbled.

'Good for what?'

'I don't know, some ammo now and then. A gun, I suppose. Nothing big. Just little stuff.'

'And you somehow never wrote up any of those citations.'

'Yeah,' he said. 'I suppose that's it.'

'What about Ruben Ramos?' Joanna asked. 'Did you make him pay, too?'

Eddy straightened up. 'Ruben's a good friend of mine,' he said. 'We've been buddies a long time. I never charged him nothin'.'

'What about the other boy? What was his name again, Merritt?'

Eddy shrugged. 'He's over twenty-one, so all he was looking at was an open-container. I went out to see his folks but ended up talking to his stepmother. I could see right away that wasn't going anywhere, so I gave it up.'

'Who's his stepmother?'

'Sonja Hosfield,' Eddy Sandoval said. 'Out at the Triple C. As far as she's concerned, that boy could be drowning, and she wouldn't lift a finger to drag him out. I just let it go.'

'Merritt Hosfield?' Joanna was puzzled. 'I don't remember Sonja Hosfield mentioning a child by that name.'

'Ryan Merritt,' Eddy returned. 'Lindsey Hosfield was all screwed up when she left Alton. Took back her maiden name when she got a divorce and changed the kids' names, too. Changed them legally. That's the kind of thing women do sometimes when they're really mad.'

As the connections came together, Joanna's neck prickled with hair standing up under her collar. Ryan Merritt! She remembered meeting Alton Hosfield's son Ryan two days ago. He had given the impression of being a fine, upstanding, hardworking young man. She remembered the polite way he had doffed his hat upon being introduced to her.

But what if that politeness is all facade? she wondered. What if a cold- blooded killer lurks behind those clear blue eyes?

Joanna held out her hand. 'I want your badge, Mr. Sandoval,' she said. 'Your badge, your gun, and your ID. As of this moment, you're on administrative leave. Hand them over.'

Sandoval drew back in surprise. 'Wait a minute, Sheriff Brady. You can't do that.'

'Yes, I can. Watch me. I don't know about criminal charges. Right now you're out pending the formality of a dismissal hearing. You're to drive your county-owned vehicle back to your house and park it. I'll send someone out there later on this afternoon to pick it up.'

Eddy hesitated, then grabbed his badge and wrenched it off his uniform. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his ID holder and slammed both of them down with a blow that sent dishes skittering across the table. The gun he slapped into Joanna's outstretched hand.

'There! Are you satisfied now?' he demanded furiously. 'But you're not going to be able to nail me on any of this, Sheriff Brady. You never read me my rights. My attorney wasn't present during questioning. You won't be able to use a single word I said against me.'

The old Joanna might have been intimidated by Eddy's show of physical force. The new one held her ground.

'Maybe,' she replied, keeping her eyes focused on his florid face while she gathered up his credentials and weapon and shoved them into her purse. 'But I don't think I'll have to stoop to that. I'm betting there are plenty of other irregularities that'll turn up in this sector, and I can assure you, Mr. Sandoval, I'm not going to rest until I find them.'

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Back in the Blazer, Joanna gripped the steering wheel with both hands and wondered what to do next. She