As Cochise County Medical Examiner, George dealt with many of the same cases Joanna did and more besides, doing doctor-and relative-requested autopsies for deaths where the victims had not died as a result of foul play. But when George Winfield wasn’t actively at work, he lavished his wife—Joanna’s mother, the demanding Eleanor-with devoted attention. He did his work at work and he left it there. Just because he had to deal with dead bodies during the day didn’t mean he couldn’t go to a classical music concert in Tucson that evening. Not only go-but go and enjoy as well.
For years Joanna hadn’t left her office without a briefcase full of homework, but soon after their wedding Butch had raised an objection.
“Look,” he had said, “you work long hours, and I don’t mind that. And I don’t mind that you get called out evenings and on weekends. But when you’re home, you should be home. When it comes to getting your attention, Jenny and I shouldn’t always have to be last in line.”
And then George Winfield himself had pushed her over the edge. He and Joanna had been doing dishes after Easter Sunday dinner when he brought it up.
“You work too hard,” he said.
Joanna had paused, dish towel and glass in hand. “Who put you up to saying that?”
she asked. “Butch or Eleanor?”
“Neither,” he had said. “I came up with the idea on my own.”
“How come?” she asked.
“When I was a young doctor in private practice, I was ambitious as hell and wanted to be the very best there was. I wanted to make plenty of money so I could support Annie and Abigail in style. But then, once I lost them both, I found out the money didn’t mean a thing, Joanna. Not a damn thing! Life doesn’t 100
always give people second chances, but it seems to me you have one. And now you have to make some decisions. You can spend all your time at work, but who’s going to benefit from that? Once you’ve missed out on time spent with your family, you don’t get it back—not ever. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. I’m glad to have my work right now. It’s rewarding and I’m good at it. But I’m also glad to have your mother. I have no intention of neglecting Ellie the way I did Annie when I was so busy chasing after the almighty dollar.”
Joanna had thought about George’s comments all Easter Sunday night. What he had said wasn’t exactly what a visiting out-of-town detective, J. P. Beaumont, had told her during their brief encounter last fall, when he had advised her to pay attention to what was important, but the advice was close enough. And close enough to hit home, as well.
Joanna had already lost Andy. Nothing could mend the quarrels they’d had when she and Andy had fought over things too unimportant to remember. Nothing could bring back the years when they had both been working so hard at their two separate jobs that, other than sleeping together in the same bed, their paths had barely crossed on a daily basis. Joanna could see now that too much of her precious time with Andy had been frittered away on things that meant nothing. Now, like George with her mother, she had a second chance-with Butch and Jenny. And soon there would be another little someone to take into consideration.
So Joanna had been working on it. Daily she made a conscious effort to leave her work at work—to put it behind her when she drove out of the Justice Center parking lot. Of course, with the campaign heating up, that wasn’t always possible, but when she did come home from her latest rubber-chicken
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banquet, she didn’t duck into her home office and open a brimming briefcase. And she didn’t turn on her home computer, either.
Now the five-mile drive from work to home served as a very real decompression chamber.
Once again it worked its magic as she let go of her worries about the prisoners eating their picnic dinner in the rec yard and concerns about solving this latest homicide.
As she turned up the newly bladed drive and saw their rammed-earth house nestled in among the brilliant greens of Clayton Rhodes’s towering cottonwood trees, Joanna felt truly at home.
Tigger came dashing down the road to greet her. Lucky trailed fifty feet behind Tigger, running as fast as his short legs would travel. Seeing the other dogs outside the car, the new dog went nuts. She jumped excitedly between the front and back seats.
The sharp yipping sounds she made were loud enough to make Joanna’s ears hurt.
She stopped the Civvie outside the garage door and removed Blue Eyes’s leash. “Okay, girl,” she said. “Let’s see how you do with your new pals. If they’re loose, you should be, too. That way everybody will have a fighting chance.”
She got out and opened the rear door. The Australian shepherd piled out. After a few stiff-legged, growl- punctuated
moments of sniffing, the two big dogs raced off in a huge circle, with the puppy once again eagerly chugging along behind.
“I see you’ve already made the necessary introductions,” Butch observed, coming out through the garage door. “Obviously she likes Tigger a whole lot more than she does me.”
“She’ll learn,” Joanna said with a laugh. “After all, you talked your way around me, didn’t you? What’s for dinner?”
“Steak,” Butch said. “Baked potatoes, homemade bread straight out of the bread machine, salad, and homemade ice
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cream for dessert. Considering the news we’re about to drop, I figured it was time to kill the fatted calf. No doubt your mother’s going to be fit to be tied, but don’t feel like the Lone Ranger, Joey. My mother most likely will react the same way.”
“Where’s Jenny?” Joanna asked.
