“Thanks.”
“You’re always welcome.”
I chuckled and found the strength I needed. I stepped away and his arms dropped. “Let’s go get this loser.”
“Take it easy, slugger. Senora Mari asked me if I’d seen you. By the time I got to your aunt and uncle, they both met me on the way.”
This didn’t make sense to me. Had I really been gone that long?
“Did you see Lenny?”
He held his flashlight up to make it easier to study my face. “No. Is he missing for the same reason you were hiding under this van?”
“Frank has him. Threatened to kill him if I didn’t keep my mouth shut.”
Lightfoot flashed the surrounding scrub and a distant mesquite tree. Only yuccas, cacti, and sand sage made an appearance. “Why would he do that?”
“Because he killed Lucky Straw and he wants to shut me up.” My brain was foggy.
He frowned. “What do you know?”
I tried to open the back of the van, but it was locked. “In here are explosives.”
“Okay.”
My brain sputtered. “You know . . . explosives and fireworks and extension cords.”
Slowly he shook his head as if acknowledging that I’d finally lost my ever-loving mind.
I hurried to the broken window. “Here’s where he locked me up and I broke out.” I reached inside and found the stun guns on the front seat. “And these.” I shook one at him.
“A stun gun?”
“You betcha, and he’s got three or four of them.”
“And?”
I wanted to scream, but a guy like Lightfoot gets riled up when you lose control. “And, don’t you see? He jolted Lucky with a stun gun. And he programmed the interruption in his pacemaker so the shock would scare him stone-cold dead.”
In the near dark, I could still read Lightfoot’s disbelieving frown by the light of his torch. He cocked his head to one side. His ebony eyes locked on mine. “Maybe.” He gave a slow nod.
“Frank kidnapped Lenny and threatened to kill him.” I wanted to shake the skeptical look from Lightfoot’s face. “Would a sane, law-abiding citizen steal my dog?”
The fireworks ended. The crowd cheered. A coyote howled in the distance.
“Come on.” Lightfoot turned away, heading toward the parking area.
“Where are you going?” I refused to budge. “He’s got to be here.”
“Trust me.” He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me along. “I have a feeling.”
We hurried through the crowd as folks gathered their belongings. Some greeted us. Lightfoot nodded once and ignored the rest. Both of us jogged through the crowd, eyes peeled for any sign of Fillmore and a feisty long-haired Chihuahua in the crowd. Finally I spied Mr. and Mrs. Cogburn up ahead.
“Mr. Mayor thought tonight’s show was fabulous. Isn’t that right?” Mrs. Cogburn asked.
The mayor raised his brows. “Yes, yes. Superb. Never doubted you for a minute, sugarplum.”
She smiled and pinched his arm. “You did too, you big fibber.”
“Ow. Stop that.” He rubbed his arm enthusiastically. “Never. Except for the waiting around, it was perfect.”
She pinched him again for good measure. “That built up the excitement. Didn’t it, Josie?”
“Sure,” I said distractedly. “Have you seen Frank Fillmore? Did he come round to get his check?”
“The man demanded cash.” Mayor Cogburn looked disapprovingly over his glasses. “What does he think I am? An ATM?” He cracked his knuckles.
“When was that?” Lightfoot asked.
“Exactly five minutes ago.” Mayor Cogburn turned to his wife. “Wouldn’t you agree, darling?”
“Why, yes, honeybun. You are so right. It was exactly five minutes. You hit it right on the button.”
“You’re positive?” Lightfoot fired his question into their Chip and Dale routine.
Shocked at his tone, they glanced at each other. “Yes.”
“Lenny, you haven’t seen him?” I asked.
The mayor harrumphed. “Why you’d bring him into the desert beats me.”
Two dogs raced by, a schnauzer chasing a poodle, barking without a care in the world. Two older women meandered after them, both in coveralls, and one wearing a John Deere cap.
“They went thataway,” Mrs. Cogburn called out gaily.
“Excuse us.” Lightfoot tipped his hat and we were gone.
“Where did he go?” I asked Lightfoot’s back as we hurried to his cruiser.
“I think he’s hit the road.”
“But the fireworks just ended. Wouldn’t he have to stay behind to make sure the fireworks went off without a hitch if he wanted his pay?”
“Where’s your Prius?” The parking lot was already in an uproar, cars nearly backing into other cars and truck horns honking.
“Crud. My keys are in my bag!” I’d left it next to my folding chair earlier, when I’d gone to check on the fireworks.
“Where’d you park it?”
“Um, over to the far left.”
“Show me.”
I led him past coolers on wheels and kids in pajamas. Country music blared from nearby trucks. Tejano music floated into the air as well from a nearby Expedition as two adults loaded sleepy children into the back.
My mouth was suddenly dry as dirt. “It was here.”
“You’re sure?”
“Let me see that.” I grabbed his flashlight and searched the empty space where I’d parked, or so I thought. The marks in the gravel and weeds could have belonged to my car. Around us, vehicles crowded the road back to town and others lined up waiting to enter the flow.
As I turned to give Lightfoot his flashlight, I caught a glimpse of something familiar at the edge of the grass. Lenny’s leash. I held it up for Lightfoot to see. “Look. I was right.” I wanted to find Frank Fillmore and throttle him until he confessed. I knew why he’d done it, but I needed the how. But first I needed my best friend, safe and sound.
“Come on.” Lightfoot took off across the parking lot. We found his cruiser boxed in by the line of cars and trucks waiting to turn onto the road back to the highway.
I slid into the passenger seat and clipped on my seat belt. “Will I get in trouble for sitting up here with you?”
“You will be fine.”
He snapped on his lights and hit the whoop on the siren. Behind us cars tried to move out of his way,
