she demanded. “Another one of these glorified dogcatchers?”
“Hey, lady,” the cab driver called. “How long do you think you’ll be? My dispatcher wants to know when I’ll be back in Sierra Vista.”
Now the woman turned her considerable ire on him. “You just hold your horses, young man,” she snapped. “Can’t you see I’m busy? It’s going to take however long it takes.
I already told you I’ll pay for you to hold the cab, so hold it!” She turned back to Joanna. “Now who did you say you are again?”
“I didn’t have a chance to say,” Joanna said, removing her ID wallet from her hip pocket. “I’m Sheriff Joanna Brady. These are my two Animal Control officers, Jeannine Phillips and Manuel Ruiz.”
The woman glanced briefly at Joanna’s ID and then handed it back. “Since when is the sheriff in charge of the dog pound?” she demanded. “I should think, as sheriff, you’d have far more important things to do. And since when does it take this many people to pick up a few dogs? But as long as you’re here, maybe you can help me get them to let Carol’s dogs loose. As I tried to explain to this officer here, I’ve come with my checkbook. However much the fine is, I’m willing to pay it.”
“And your name is?” Joanna asked.
34
“Mossman. Edith Mossman.”
“That’s my car right over there,” Joanna suggested, pointing toward the parked Blazer.
“Maybe we should go sit in it for a few minutes.”
“Sit in it?” Edith demanded. “What do you mean, sit in it? Are you placing me under arrest, is that it? Is it illegal for me to try to get my granddaughter’s property back? Or are you implying that I hurt that officer in any way? I never touched you, now did I? In fact, I never laid a glove on you.”
Manny Ruiz nodded warily but maintained a discreet distance.
“I’m not placing you under arrest,” Joanna continued quickly. “Not at all. I just thought you might be more comfortable sitting down while we talked.”
“I’m perfectly comfortable standing right here,” Edith Mossman insisted. “And I’ll be even more comfortable once Mr. Dogcatcher here lets those poor dogs out of his truck. It’s inhumane to have them locked up like that on such a miserably hot day.
I can’t see that there’s anything else to discuss.”
“Mrs. Mossman,” Joanna said gently. “I’m sorry to have to say this, but there’s something I must tell you. We’re here this afternoon because this is a homicide scene.”
Edith Mossman frowned as though she hadn’t quite understood the word. “Homicide?”
she repeated. “You mean someone’s dead?”
“Yes,” Joanna said quietly. “Inside the mobile home.”
“In Carol’s mobile home?”
Joanna nodded. Edith Mossman pointed her thumb in Manny’s direction. “What’s he doing here, then?”
“He came to pick up the dogs,” Joanna said with a sigh.
35
“They’re dead, too, Mrs. Mossman. Except for one, they were all locked inside the trailer with no air- conditioning and no water …”
“Are you telling me Carol’s dead? My sweet little Carol?”
“I’m so sorry,” Joanna said, “but, yes. We’re quite certain she’s the one who’s dead.
Officer Ruiz here had encountered your granddaughter before and knew her on sight.”
All the spunk and fight drained out of Edith Mossman. Her grip on the handlebars of her walker went flaccid while her eyes rolled up into the back of her head. Seeing her knees crumple, Manny Ruiz leaped forward. He caught the unconscious woman before she could fall to the ground. He lifted her waist-high as easily as he had carried the dead dogs.
“Where to, Sheriff Brady?” he asked.
“To the Blazer,” Joanna said. “Put her in the backseat. Jeannine, quick. Bring some water.”
Edith was out cold for only a matter of seconds, but the momentary fainting spell seemed to last forever—long enough for Joanna to wonder if the woman had suffered a heart attack or stroke. But by the time Manny Ruiz deposited Edith in the Blazer the stricken woman had regained consciousness and was struggling to sit up. Impatiently she pushed aside Jeannine’s proffered bottle of water.
“I have to see her,” Edith sputtered, struggling to clamber back out of the vehicle.
“I have to see Carol. Take me to her.”
“That’s not possible at this time,” Joanna said. “It’s a crime scene, Mrs. Mossman.
Other than the investigators, no one’s allowed inside until they and Dr. Winfield finish their onsite work.”
“You mean there’s a doctor in there with her?” Edith 36
demanded. “Maybe he can help her. Maybe she’ll be all right then.”
Joanna shook her head. “He’s not that kind of doctor, Mrs. Mossman. Doc Winfield is the Cochise County
