Medical Examiner. It might be best if you went home and waited for them to finish up inside. At that point, we will need a family member to make a positive identification, but there’s no sense in your waiting around here. It could take hours.”
“I don’t care how long it takes,” Edith announced. “I’ll wait. I can do the identification here, can’t I?”
“Yes, I suppose you can. But as I told you, there’s no telling how long this will take.”
“Can you have someone take me back to Sierra Vista afterward?”
Joanna nodded. “I suppose so, but …”
“Call that cab driver over here, then,” Edith said. “I’ll pay the man off and send him on his way. It’s already cost me a fortune.”
The cab driver was reluctant to leave his cab in answer to Edith Mossman’s summons.
His frame of mind wasn’t greatly improved by the size of the tip she placed in his hand as she dismissed him. “You said your dispatcher wanted you back, didn’t you?”
Edith inquired.
“Right.”
“So get going then,” Edith told him. Shaking his head, the cabbie stalked off.
“Do you need anything else at this time, Sheriff Brady?” Manny Ruiz asked. “It’s hot. We should take care of these animals as soon as possible.”
“Did Doc Winfield say he wanted to run any further tests on them?”
“No, ma’am. It had to be more than a hundred and twenty 37
degrees in there when I found them. He’s sure the heat is what killed them.”
“You and Jeannine go ahead then, Manny,” Joanna said. “Thanks for all your help.”
Nodding, Manny walked away. Meanwhile, Edith Mossman had listened to this entire exchange with avid interest. “Is that what killed Carol too, then?” she asked. “The heat?”
“No,” Joanna said. “The information I have says she was shot.”
Edith took this news in silence. Moments later, the two Animal Control trucks drove away, taking their tragic loads with them. About the same time Lucky stirred restlessly inside Joanna’s shirt.
“What’s that?” Edith asked, catching sight of the movement.
Guiltily, Joanna removed the squirming puppy and placed him on the ground. He waddled around sleepily for a little while before peeing. After that, he curled up again on a clump of grass and went right back to sleep.
“One of Carol’s?”
Joanna nodded. “He’s too young to go to the pound. I decided to take him home with me instead, but of course, if you’d like to have him …”
“Oh, no,” Edith said. “Not me. I’m far too old for a puppy. I’ve always been more of a cat person than a dog person, but it doesn’t matter either way. I can’t have pets at Ferndale anyway. They don’t allow pets of any kind.”
“Ferndale?” Joanna asked.
“Yes. It’s one of those assisted-living places. On Fry Boulevard. Used to be a motel back in the old days, but they changed it a couple of years ago. Remodeled it. Now it’s where I live. Number 261. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s plenty good enough for 38
me. The food’s nothing to write home about, but the price is right.”
Joanna removed a notebook from her pocket. “I’m sure my detectives will need to speak to you eventually, Mrs. Mossman. If you could give me the address and phone number-“
“Oh, for Pete’s sake. Call me Edith. I can’t stand all this Mrs. Mossman stuff. And whatever happened to the water that dogcatcher lady was trying to give me? I didn’t want it then, but I do now. I’m parched.”
Joanna retrieved the bottle of water from where Jeannine Phillips had left it on the front floorboard. She handed the bottle over to Edith Mossman, who took a long, grateful drink. When she had finished, she sighed and stared long and hard at the partially empty bottle as though hoping to find answers there.
“Tell me about your granddaughter,” Joanna said quietly.
“Carol?” Edith Mossman asked, taking another drink. “What do you want to know?”
“Was she ever married? Does she have children?”
“No children,” Edith said. “Only dogs.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Not that I know of. If she had one, she never mentioned him to me.”
“Did she work?”
“Oh, she worked all right. It took a while, but she finally got a job clerking at that new Shell station out on Highway 92. Didn’t make enough money to make ends meet.
Barely enough to pay for gas and dog food most of the time. If she’d had to pay rent on this place, I’m sure she would have starved to death and her dogs right along with her.”
“She evidently didn’t pay the electric bill,” Joanna observed. “That’s why the house was so hot. No electricity, so no cooler.”
