“In other words, the lady who took after her husband’s windshield with a sledgehammer and deadly intent is the one who cooked breakfast in my jail this morning?”
“That’s right. When she went before Judge Moore, he set her bail at only five hundred dollars. I think everybody—including Burton Kimball, her lawyer—expected her to get bailed out, but she refused to go. She said if she left on bail that her husband would expect her to go to work and keep the restaurant open while he sits on his tail in his mother’s home over in Silver City. She said she’d rather stay in jail.
“So this morning, when I heard the cook had skipped, I drafted Ruby. Right out of the cell and into the kitchen. Seemed like the only sensible thing to do. Breakfast may have been a few hours late, but it drew rave reviews from the inmates. Great biscuits. After that, I asked Ruby if she’d consider cooking Thanksgiving dinner. She turned me down cold. Said she wouldn’t set foot in that filthy kitchen again until
“Believe me, Ruby Starr’s a hell of a tough taskmaster. She’s been working everybody’s butts off all morning long, mine included.”
“So you’ve got an almost clean kitchen and a cook,” Joanna said. “But you’re missing the fixings.”
“I told you, Joanna, everything is under control.”
“So what’s on the revised menu?”
“Turkey, dressing, and all the trimmings,” Frank answered, sounding enormously pleased with himself.
“Wait a minute,” Joanna objected. “Where are you going to find a dozen unsold, thawed turkeys in Bisbee the day before Thanksgiving, and how are you going to pay for them twice without cutting into next month’s food budget?”
“That’s the slick thing. Ruby’s lawyer is taking care of all that.”
“Burton Kimball?”
“That’s right. He and his wife donated the whole dinner,” Frank answered smugly. “All of it.”
“How come?”
“He says with all the defense work he does, most of the inmates in the jail are clients of his, one way or the other, anyway. He said it was about time he and Linda did something for the undeserving poor for a change. As soon as Burton heard Ruby was willing to cook, he sent Linda to the store to buy up replacement turkeys. They both seemed to be getting a real kick out of it.”
Good-hearted people like Linda and Burton Kimball were part of what made Bisbee a good place to live. Part of what made it home.
“That’s amazing,” Joanna said, “especially considering all they’ve been through in the past few weeks.”
Two weeks earlier, Burton Kimball’s adoptive father and sister had both been killed. He had also been divested of whatever positive memories he might have cherished concerning his own biological father. In the face of that kind of personal tragedy, Burton Kimball’s selfless generosity was all the more remarkable.
“All I can say is good work, Frank. That was an ingenious solution to a tough problem.”
Frank laughed. “That’s what you hired me for, isn’t it?”
“I guess it is.”
