“She’s not in,” Joanna was told when she announced her name.
“Not in,” Joanna echoed. “I called this morning. I made an appointment.”
“Ms. Hogan went home sick at lunchtime. She said she may not be back before Monday,” the receptionist added. “I probably should have tried to call, but I didn’t know where to reach you.”
“You might have tried the sheriff’s department,” Joanna said icily. “I did give my name as Sheriff Joanna Brady. That’s usually where sheriffs hang out.”
Steamed, Joanna made her way out of Dena Hogan’s office. Standing in the cold but sunny November afternoon, she decided to disregard Ernie’s advice and go see Karen Brainard after all. If nothing else, the drive from Sierra Vista to Huachuca City would give Joanna a chance to cool off.
It turned out that Karen Brainard didn’t live in Huachuca City proper. The Brainard place was on Sands Ranch Road in the foothills of the Whetstones. Her house was a sprawling adobe affair-new construction with carefully contrived landscaping that made it look far older and more well-established than it was. A FOR SALE sign sat next to the mailbox.
The silver-haired woman who answered the door resembled Karen Brainard. “I’m Sheriff Brady,” Joanna said. “I’m looking for Karen.”
“She isn’t here right now,” the woman said uneasily. “I don’t know when she’ll be back.”
The wary way the woman responded put Joanna on guard. “And you are?” she asked.
“I’m Maureen,” the woman said. “Maureen Edgeworth. Karen’s mother.” She opened the door wider. “Won’t you come in?”
Stepping inside, Joanna was surprised to see that the house was almost entirely devoid of furniture. All that was left in the living room was a single end table with a lamp. “There are chairs in the kitchen,” Maureen explained. “If you don’t mind sitting there.”
Following Maureen Edgeworth through the house, Joanna could see shadows on the walls where paintings had once hung. It looked as though someone was in the process of moving out. The kitchen, too, was missing artwork, although a table and chairs remained. Maureen Edgeworth motioned Joanna into one of those.
“You say you don’t know when your daughter will return? You are aware that with the ongoing investigations into Lewis Flores’ and Mark Childers’ deaths, your daughter was told not to leave town.”
“But she had to,” Maureen Edgeworth replied. “She didn’t have a choice.”
“Where is she?”
Maureen Edgeworth bit her lip. “I don’t want to tell you,” she said. “She hasn’t gone far, and she will be back eventually. I promise. Her father and I are taking care of Derek and the house in the meantime.”
“Who’s Derek?” Joanna asked.
“Karen’s son. Our grandson,” Maureen said. “He’s only sixteen, you see. This has all been awful for him. It was all I could do to get him to go to school today. He didn’t want to, and I don’t blame him. He’s embarrassed. I feel the same way when I have to go to the grocery store. I don’t know what I’ll do when Sunday comes around and I have to go to church. That’s the most difficult thing-seeing people you know and knowing they know. It’s so hard-so very, very hard.”
“Where is your daughter?” Joanna persisted.
“In Tucson.”
“Where in Tucson?”
“Ed drove her there. Ed’s my husband-Karen’s father. He’s checking her into a treatment center-a drug treatment center. We knew some of this when Paul left. Paul’s our son-in-law, you see. When he moved out, he tried to tell us what was going on-that Karen was mixed up in some pretty wild stuff. But Ed and I didn’t want to believe it. Not Karen. Not our own daughter.
“But when she called last night and told us what had happened and that she’d had to resign from the board of supervisors, there wasn’t any choice. We had to believe her then. And Ed did the only thing that made sense. He made arrangements to check her into the center first thing this morning. She’ll be there for six weeks. We’ve talked to Paul-we’re on very good terms with him, you see-but he’s doing a consulting job and is out of the country for the next three weeks at least. Ed and I assured Paul that we’ll look after Derek at least until he gets back.”
Maureen Edgeworth stopped speaking and seemed to become aware that her hospitality was somehow lacking. “Can I get you a cup of coffee?”
“No, thank you,” Joanna told her. “I just had lunch.”
“If you don’t mind, I’ll fix some for myself.”
As Maureen moved around the kitchen, Joanna wrestled with her conscience. The poor woman was clearly devastated by what was going on with her daughter. She needed someone to talk to right then, and Sheriff Joanna Brady was the only person who happened to be there.
“Karen’s fortunate to have you and your husband for parents,” Joanna said tentatively. “Not everyone would be willing to step in and handle things in a situation like this.”
Maureen shrugged. “What choice do we have?” she asked. “What choice do parents ever have? Karen was always a handful-she and those wild pals of hers, Dena and Monica. They were all smart and they all got good grades, but they were always getting into mischief together, always walking the fine edge.”
“Dena Hogan and Monica Foster Childers?” Joanna supplied.
“Dena James then,” Maureen said. “And yes, Monica Foster. I thought it was just because they were teenagers. I told myself that it was just a phase they were going through and that they’d grow out of it eventually. And I guess Monica did, but Karen and Dena are both in their mid-forties now. That’s a little late for them to keep falling back on that old ‘just-a-phase’ excuse.”
“Did Karen say anything to you about her dealings with Mark Childers?”
“More than we wanted to know,” Maureen Edgeworth said sadly. “She had more than ‘dealings’ with the man. And to think he was her best friend’s husband!”
Maureen shuddered, and her voice rose with indignation. “You have to understand, Sheriff Brady. I tried to raise my daughter to have good morals and high standards. I tried to teach her about right and wrong. I thought wife- swapping went out with the AIDS virus, but I guess not. These days all the kids learn about safe sex in junior high. Somebody needs to teach the parents. They’re the ones who need to grow up. I don’t blame Paul for leaving, not at all.”
“From the sound of it, I’d say your daughter was involved with a whole group of people,” Joanna said gently. “Did she give you any names?”
“Other than Dena? Not really. I’m sure you can ask her yourself if you need to, but I don’t know how soon that’ll be. According to Ed, the first thing that happens at the center is the addicts go into detox for a while-for several days at least. They can’t have any visitors at all until they complete that portion of the treatment. Do you need the address?”
Joanna nodded. “And a phone number,” she added. “Both would be helpful.”
“Just a minute. I wrote them down, but I put the piece of paper in my purse.”
While Maureen went to get the information, Joanna sat considering her next move. Dena Hogan was handling Monica Foster’s divorce from Mark Childers, but she was also palling around with someone who was Mark Childers’ drug-using mistress. This sounded very much like a conflict of interest. Dena Hogan may have left work sick that day, but it seemed to Joanna that it was time someone paid the woman a visit at home.
“Do you happen to know where Dena lives?” Joanna asked when Maureen returned to the kitchen.
“Kino Road,” Maureen replied. “Just south of Ramsey. You’re not going to go see her, are you?”
“I may,” Joanna hedged.
“If you do, please don’t tell her I said anything. I don’t want to cause any more trouble than I already have.”
A car-an old T-Bird-pulled into the yard and stopped. “That’ll be Derek,” Maureen said. “He drives himself to and from school. Please go now, Sheriff Brady. I hope you won’t mind if I don’t introduce you. I’m sure you understand. I just can’t upset him any more right now.”
“Of course,” Joanna agreed, standing up to leave. “I understand completely.”
In the end, there was no problem with introductions, because once Derek Brainard came into the house, he slammed the front door and disappeared into the depths of the house without ever showing his face in the kitchen. Joanna let herself out, climbed into the Blazer, and headed back for Sierra Vista. She used her cell phone to get Dena and Rex Hogan’s exact address on Kino Road. Half an hour later, Joanna approached the Hogan address just
