are on their way back from working that natural-causes stiff up in Sunizona,” Voland answered. “According to Dispatch, they should be here within a matter of minutes. The last I heard, they were still fifteen miles out.”
At the far end of the parking lot, Bebe Noonan continued to work at calming the panicky horse. The two of them, woman and horse, were just beyond Bucky’s Ford Econoline van.
Joanna started across the parking lot, heading for Bebe. “Come get me as soon as Lowrey clears it for us to go inside.”
“Us?” Voland asked after her.
“Us,” Joanna repeated wearily.
She knew full well the need of keeping the number of crime-scene visitors to a minimum. Unfortunately, she also understood the need for people in her department and in the community at large to see her as a “real” police officer-as an active player and investigator rather than as a mere figurehead.
“If you say so,” Voland replied. Joanna could tell by the change in the tenor of his voice that he didn’t approve, but he accepted her decision without argument. “Where are you going to be?” he asked.
“Right now I’m going to go talk to Bebe,” Joanna said.
Leaving Voland alone, Joanna picked her way across the parking lot. The high heels she had worn for the board of supervisors meeting proved hazardous in the loose gravel and ankle-twisting potholes. By the time she reached the chain-link fence, Bebe had finally succeeded in calming the skittish horse. He was standing still while Bebe rested her head against his chestnut-colored neck.
Bianca Noonan was a slight, painfully thin young woman in her early twenties. Mousy hair, a slight overbite, and close-set eyes all combined to make her less than beautiful. She was crying. Her narrow, tear-stained face was smudged by smoke, with rivulets of tears cutting through the grime.
“Belie?” Joanna said tentatively.
The young woman straightened up and shot Joanna a despairing look. “Dr. Buckwalter’s in there dead, isn’t he,” she said.
“Someone’s dead,” Joanna replied carefully. “We still don’t know for sure who it is.”
“But it has to be him,” Bebe insisted. “I mean, who else could it be? Dr. Buckwalter’s van is here and he’s not. I a-ready looked through the whole clinic. He’s not in there. Not anywhere.”
“We won’t be able to find out for sure until the fire chief lets us go inside the building to check. Until we make a positive identification of the victim, it’s best not to speculate. Meanwhile, we’re going to need your help.”
Bebe nodded mutely.
“Chief Deputy Voland said you were the one who discovered the fire. Is that true?”
Bianca Noonan nodded again. “I also found the other man. When I went into the barn to get Kiddo, I stumbled over him. There was so much smoke that I couldn’t see. I fell right on top of him. At first I was afraid he was dead. The only thing I could do was grab him by one arm and drag him outside. Then I went back in for Kiddo. I saw the ambulance leave. Is the man all right?”
Joanna shook her head. “We don’t know that, either,” she said. “As soon as we hear something, I’ll let you know.”
For several seconds, Joanna and Bianca stood there in silence. “What about the clinic?” Joanna asked finally. “When you went in there, was there anything amiss-anything out of place, or else anything in there that didn’t belong?”
Bebe shook her head. “Nothing,” she answered. “As far as I could tell, everything seemed fine.”
The young woman shuddered and took a ragged breath. “I guess you could go inside and look for yourself, Sheriff Brady,” she offered. “I have the keys right here.”
“No, that’s not necessary,” Joanna said hurriedly. “We shouldn’t do that. We might inadvertently disturb some important piece of evidence. Detective Carpenter will be here in a few minutes. He’ll need to go through it, of course. Until then, however, the fewer people inside, the better. The detective will probably want to talk to you as well.”
The horse stirred restlessly. “It’s okay, Kiddo,” Bebe said, stroking the horse’s long, smooth neck. That action seemed to have as much of a soothing effect on the tearful young woman as it did on the horse.
“But I already told Deputy Voland everything I know,” Bebe objected.
“What about Mrs. Buckwalter?” Joanna asked. “Her car isn’t here in the lot. Where’s she?”
Bebe sniffed and brushed away tears. “Like I told Mr. Voland, it’s Tuesday,” she said. “Terry’s pro’ly off playing golf. That’s what she does most afternoons.”
“Where?”
“At that new place out by Palominas-the Rob Roy. She plays there three or four times a week-for sure on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.”
Several years earlier, a wealthy and decidedly gay couple-motorcycle-riding California transplants with more money than good sense-had shown up in Cochise County prepared to buy a golf course. When their initial plan to buy one course was derailed at the last minute, they bought them-selves a chunk of cow pasture along the San Pedro River where they built a brand-new state-of-the-art course, starting from the ground up.
Locals who had grumbled and gritched and said it would never work had long since been proved wrong. Rob Roy Links-named after a gloomy biker-frequented bed-and-breakfast in Folkstone, England -had become a rousing success. Peter Wilkes, the younger of the two, served as the resident golf pro, while his partner of twenty years’ standing, Myron Thomas, along with Esther Thomas, Myron’s seventy-something mother, ran the food concessions.
The course was so well-maintained and the food so out-standing that the Rob Roy had become the county’s destination golf course and a popular watering hole/dining establishment as well. Not only had it attracted a loyal local following, it was also frequented by golf-crazy touring gays who sometimes stayed for weeks at a time in one of the Rob Roy’s five stand-alone
Over time even the most recalcitrant local golfers had been won over. Members of the two vastly divergent clienteles-locals and visiting gays-mingled together in tee-time forged foursomes under the same rule that applied to the armed forces: “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” As Peter Wilkes liked to point out on occasion-the rule might be new to the army, but it was one of golf’s enduring traditions of etiquette.
“Do you want me to call out there and talk to Terry?” Bebe Noonan offered. “I could pro’ly get Mr. Thomas to go get her off the course to tell her what’s happened.”
Joanna shook her head. “Not right now,” she said. “It’s too soon. We should have some kind of positive ID before we do that. Even if the dead man does turn out to be Dr. Buckwalter, we try not to deliver that kind of news over the telephone. It’s better if someone talks to her in person.”
Bebe nodded dully while a new cloudburst of tears streamed down her cheeks. “I understand,” she said.
“Sheriff Brady,” a man called from behind them.
Joanna turned in time to see Detective Ernie Carpenter come trudging across the graveled parking lot. Dressed in his characteristic suit and tie, he carried a small battered suitcase.
“Detective Carpenter,” Joanna said. “This is Bebe Noonan, Dr. Buckwalter’s assistant.”
“The one who discovered the fire?” Carpenter asked, giving Bebe a quick appraising once-over.
When Bebe didn’t reply, Joanna answered for her. “She’s the one.”
Briskly businesslike, Carpenter looked around. “Is there a place where I could change clothes?” he asked.
This time the young woman nodded. “There’s a bathroom right inside the door at this end of the building.”
“Is it locked?”
“Most likely. I can let you in, though. I have a key.”
Leaving the tethered Kiddo on his own, Bebe led Ernie around the side of the building. Moments later she returned alone. “I still can’t believe any of this,” she said. “I’m from out in the valley,” she added. “Things like this just don’t happen out there.”
Joanna felt like telling her that in this day and age no one was immune to crime. The Noonans lived in Double Adobe, just a few miles away from the spot along High Lonesome Road where Andy Brady had been gunned down a few months earlier.
“Is Detective Carpenter the one you were telling me about?” Bebe continued. “The one who’ll be asking questions?”
Joanna nodded. “Right,” she said. “He’ll be in charge of the investigation.”
“But why do I have to answer more questions?” Bebe wailed as more tears spilled down her forlorn cheeks.
