that, nothing.”
“We’ll need records of all phone calls made from their hotel room,” Johnny Cruikshank said. “I’m assuming they both have cell phones?”
Diego nodded.
“We’ll need those records, too,” the detective added.
Diego Ortega nodded. “Of course,” he replied. “Ms. Leigh may not have all the information you need at her fingertips, but she’ll be able to find someone who will.” When he gave Johnny Cruikshank a list of Candace Leigh’s telephone numbers, Joanna jotted them down as well.
“What kind of stories did they work on?”
“Pam and Carmen more or less specialized in children’s sexual-abuse cases-that and child pornography. It was something they both had in common.”
“Child pornography?” Randy Trgtter asked.
“No, no. Sexual abuse. Carmen was victimized by a parish priest when she was a little girl, although we didn’t find out about it until much later. And Pamela was abused, too, by an older relative, I think. An uncle, maybe, or perhaps a cousin. I don’t know the details. But that’s why, when they were assigned to work the pedophile priest story, they really clicked together. On any number of levels.”
2IO
U
212
Randy Trotter looked at Joanna. “Do you have any information that Carol Mossman was involved in that kind of thing?”
“Not really,” Joanna replied. “I know she had a troubled family life and that, as an adult, she had a hard time keeping it together. Periodically her grandmother would have to pitch in and help out. At the time Carol Mossman was murdered, she was living rent-free in her grandmother’s mobile home.”
“Hey,” Detective Cruikshank objected, “I live rent-free in a place my grandmother owns. What’s wrong with that?”
The last thing Joanna wanted to do was offend the detective. “Nothing,” Joanna said quickly. “Nothing at all.”
She was saved by the ringing of a telephone. Randy Trotter reached over to answer it. “Sure enough, Bobby,” he said. “We’ll finish up here and be at the morgue in ten minutes or so. Thanks for coming all the way into town for this. It’s a big help.”
It was only a matter of blocks from Randy Trotter’s office to the morgue. After a short discussion, they decided to walk. A hot, dusty wind blew in their faces, but off to the south Joanna spotted a bank of clouds building on the horizon. The summer rains had missed Bisbee’s Fourth of July fireworks display, and so had Joanna Brady; but it looked as though the monsoons might come-sooner rather than later.
The Hidalgo County Morgue consisted of two rooms carved out of a basement corner of the Lordsburg Funeral Home. “Hello, Bobby,” Sheriff Trotter said to the middle-aged man waiting just inside the front door. “This is Mr. Diego Ortega. We believe he knows both victims. One of them is believed to be Mr. Ortega’s sister.”
Bobby Lopez nodded gravely. “Are you ready?” he asked.
211
J. A. Jance
“Yes,” Diego said softly, squaring his shoulders. “Let’s get this over with.”
Bobby Lopez opened a door to usher them into an interior room. Joanna hung back.
“Are you coming?” Randy asked.
Joanna shook her head. “Identifying victims isn’t a spectator sport,” she said. “And Mr. Ortega doesn’t need an audience. If you don’t mind, I’ll wait right here.”
“Good thinking,” Randy said. “I believe I’ll join you.”
Detective Cruikshank and Diego Ortega, looking decidedly pale, were back in the lobby in less than a minute. “It’s them,” Diego said shakily. “It’s Carmen and Pam. Now, if you’ll excuse me for a moment,” he added, taking a cell phone from his pocket, “I need to call my mother. From the descriptions, we were pretty sure, but she’s back home in Garden Grove hoping against hope that we were wrong.”
He turned back to Bobby Lopez. ‘Any idea when the bodies will be released so my mother can start planning a funeral?”
The ME’s assistant shook his head. “Dr. Lawrence will perform the autopsies on Monday.
It’ll be several days after that.”
“I understand,” Diego said. Holding the phone to his ear, he stepped outside. Joanna and the others stayed where they were.
“We’ll need the other victim’s next of kin as well, Sheriff Trotter,” Bobby Lopez said.
“Right,” Randy said. “We’ll try to get it for you.”
Diego remained outside for several long minutes. Joanna was more than happy to be out of earshot. It was bad enough to have seen the despair on Diego’s face as he emerged from the morgue’s back room. She didn’t want to bear witness to the phone call that would finally shatter all of a grieving mother’s hopes and dreams for her daughter.
213
