Lou tapped on the window and motioned for Jenny to get out of the car.
“It’s for you,” Grandma Brady said. “Your mother wants to speak to you.”
Reluctantly, Jenny scrambled out of the car and took the phone, but she walked around to the far side of the motor home before she answered it. There were flashlights flickering in the other tents. Jenny knew that in the stillness, all the other girls in the troop were watching the excitement and straining to hear every word.
“Hello, Mom,” Jenny said.
“Are you all right?” Joanna demanded.
Hot tears stung Jenny’s eyes. “I guess so,” she muttered.
If Joanna had been ready to light into Jenny about her misbehavior, the faltering, uncertain sound of her daughter’s subdued voice was enough to change her mind and melt her heart. “What happened?” she asked.
Jenny’s tears boiled over. “I got into trouble, Mom,” she sobbed. “I didn’t mean to do it . . . trying the cigarette, I mean. It was like an accident, or something. Dora asked me and I said yes, even though I knew I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry, Mom. Really I am.”
“Of course you’re sorry, Jenny,” Joanna said. “Grandma and Grandpa are there now to take you home, right?”
“Yes,” Jenny murmured uncertainly with a stifled sob, her tears still very close to the surface.
“We’ll talk about this tomorrow,” Joanna said. “But in the meantime, I want you to know I love you.”
“‘Thank you.”
“Grandma told me that you reported finding the body even though you knew you’d probably get in trouble. That was brave of you, Jenny. Brave and responsible. I’m really proud of you for doing that.
“Thanks,” Jenny managed.
“You go with the Gs now. I’ll see you tomorrow when I get home. Okay?”
“‘kay, Morn.”
“Bye-bye.”
“Bye.”
“I love you.”
Jenny switched off the phone and then blundered back toward Grandma and Grandpa’s Honda. At the far end of the state, Sheriff Joanna Brady turned to her new husband.
“How’d I do?” she asked.
“Cool,” he said. “Understated elegance. Now come back to bed and let’s try to get some sleep. I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”
CHAPTER FOUR
It was only a little past seven when Joanna and Butch, packed and breakfasted, left the Marriott in Page for the five hour drive to Phoenix. After the flurry of late-night phone calls, Joanna had had difficulty in falling asleep. She had lain awake for a long time, wondering if the dead woman in Apache Pass might be connected to the epidemic of carjackings that had invaded Cochise County. True, the previous crimes hadn’t been that vicious. None of the other victims had been badly hurt, but that didn’t mean whoever was doing it hadn’t decided to do the crime of carjacking one better.
Leaving Page, Joanna was still thinking about the dead woman and whether or not finding the body would leave any lingering emotional scars on either Jenny or Dora. Lost in her deliberations Joanna hardly noticed the miles that passed in total silence.
Butch was the one who spoke first. “No matter how long I live in Arizona,” he said, “I’ll never get over how beautiful the desert is.”
For the first time, Joanna allowed herself to notice the scenery. On either side of the endless ribbon of two-lane blacktop, the surrounding desert seemed empty of human
