Joanna had just stepped out of the shower a little past seven the next morning when Butch tapped on the bathroom door, reached in, and handed her the telephone.

“It’s Jeannine Phillips,” Tica Romero said when Joanna answered.

“What about her?”

“Her damaged truck was found abandoned in the westbound rest area at Texas Canyon,” Tica said.

There was a terrible sinking feeling in the pit of Joanna’s stomach. Texas Canyon was only a matter of miles away from San Simon and from Billy and Clarence O’Dwyer’s Rooster-comb Ranch.

“What do you mean, damaged?” Joanna demanded. “Is it wrecked?”

“Somebody put a rock through the passenger window. Officer Phillips is nowhere to be found.”

“When’s the last time someone heard from her?”

“She radioed in to Dispatch at midnight to say that everything was fine and she was going off shift.”

“Did she give her location at that time?”

“No.”

“Has someone secured the vehicle?” Joanna asked.

“Yes. Deputy Raymond is on the scene.”

“Tell him to hold the fort. Then call everyone else-Dave Hollicker, Casey Ledford, and Chief Montoya. Tell them to meet me at the scene.”

“What about Homicide?” Tica asked tentatively. “Should I call them?”

Tica’s question confirmed Joanna’s own worst fears-that Jeannine Phillips wasn’t just missing; that she could already be dead. “Yes, them, too,” she said at last. “The Double Cs along with Debbie Howell.”

Butch came into the bedroom while Joanna was getting dressed. “What’s going on?” he asked. “It sounded serious.”

“It is,” Joanna said. “I’m on my way to Texas Canyon.” When she finished explaining the situation, Butch headed for the kitchen. “You can’t afford to go through a day like this on an empty stomach,” he said. “I’ll fix you a traveler.”

Don and Margaret Dixon were at the table eating bacon and eggs when Joanna stepped into the kitchen, briefcase in one hand and car keys in the other.

“Aren’t you going to have some breakfast?” Margaret asked Joanna on her way past. “After Butch went to all this trouble…”

“She is having breakfast, Mom,” Butch corrected. “I made her order to go.”

He followed Joanna out to the garage. Once she was settled into the Crown Victoria with her seat belt buckled, Butch reached in through the open car door. He handed her an open Zip-loc container with two peanut-buttered English muffins inside it and an insulated thermos cup filled with freshly brewed tea.

“Be careful,” he said, kissing her good-bye. “Be really, really careful.”

“I will,” she said.

She downed the muffins before she even reached Highway 80. Once there, she turned on her lights and siren and drove like hell, fuming as she went. After all, Joanna had called off the dogfight-ring surveillance, and she had ordered-ordered!-Jeannine Phillips to stay away from San Simon and the O’Dwyers. Now Joanna’s department, shorthanded and strained to the breaking point, would have to turn away from an ongoing murder investigation and from the Border Patrol’s request for additional assistance to deal with Billy and Clarence O’Dwyer.

The first order of business, though, was to find Jeannine Phillips. Joanna reached for her radio and was patched through to Frank Montoya.

“Where are you?” she asked.

“On the far side of the Divide.” Frank’s home in Old Bisbee put him a good seven or eight miles ahead of her.

“Have you put out an APB on Jeannine?” she asked.

“Tica is handling that,” he said. “I’m sure it’s been issued by now, but I doubt it’ll do much good. We have no idea what kind of vehicle she might be traveling in or even if she’s in a vehicle.

And if she was dumped out in the desert somewhere, it could be months before we find the body.“

“Or years,” Joanna added.

“Do you think she was still working the O’Dwyer angle?” Frank asked.

“Probably,” Joanna said. “I told her to drop it, but it’s pretty clear she didn’t.”

Joanna’s cell phone chirped the distinctive cockadoodle rooster crow that amounted to a ring. “Gotta go,” Joanna told him.

“Sheriff Brady?” someone said.

“Yes.”

“It’s Millicent Ross. I hope you don’t mind my calling you on your cell phone. I had the number in my files.”

“No,” Joanna said. “I don’t mind. What’s up?”

“Well…” Dr. Ross hesitated before saying in a rush, “Jean-nine didn’t come home last night.”

Joanna heard the words and grappled with what they might mean. Were Jeannine and the vet living together? Why hadn’t Joanna known that?

“I’m up so early every day that when she comes in off night shift, I don’t even hear her,” Millicent continued. “But when she wasn’t home this morning when I woke up, I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t know if I should call in and report her missing or what. And then I decided I’d call you and ask your advice. I mean, if anyone would know what to do, it would be the sheriff, right?”

“You and Jeannine are roommates?” Joanna asked.

Millicent Ross hesitated. “We’re actually a little more than roommates,” she admitted. “In fact, we’re a lot more than roommates, but we haven’t exactly advertised it. Bisbee’s such a small place and all. Once gossip gets going, it can be vicious.”

Joanna took a deep breath. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Millicent. Jeannine is missing.”

“Missing,” Millicent Ross echoed. “What do you mean, missing?”

“I mean her truck was found over in Texas Canyon, but she’s not in it. The last time anyone heard from her was when she radioed in to the department at the end of her shift. Did you hear from her last night?”

But Millicent didn’t seem capable of hearing or acknowledging the question. “How can she be missing?” she demanded. “Where would she go?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Joanna said patiently. “Did she say anything to you about where she was going or what she might be doing?”

“She was still upset about the dogfights,” Millicent answered after a pause. “She traded shifts with Manny so she could go up to San Simon and keep an eye on the O’Dwyers. That’s what she said to me-that she was going to keep an eye on them.”

She must have done more than that, Joanna thought.

“Do you really think they’d hurt her?” Millicent asked.

Joanna heard the growing concern in the woman’s voice.

“We don’t know,” Joanna answered. “All we know for certain is that she’s missing.”

“Do you think she’s dead?”

Probably, Joanna thought.

“She may be,” Joanna said. “It’s possible.”

There was a long pause after that. Joanna heard Millicent draw a long breath. “I don’t suppose there’s any point in my coming there,” she said finally. “I’d probably just be in the way.”

“You’re right,” Joanna said. “There’ll be a whole crew of people on the scene, and you would be in the way. But I’ll call you the moment we learn anything.”

“All right then,” Millicent agreed. “I have animals that need to be attended to and appointments that are due in. But please call me. Please.”

“I will,” Joanna promised, ending the call.

When she came through the tunnel at the top of the Divide, she saw the great expanse of bright blue sky spread out in front of her. That spot on Highway 80 was a particular favorite of hers. It was a place where the slightly upward elevation of the road, combined with the abrupt drop of the Mule Mountains, gave Joanna the sensation of being able to fly off the edge of the earth. Today, though, with Jeannine’s possible fate weighing heavily on her heart, Joanna felt instead as though she were falling into an abyss.

A few miles later, she had another thought. Once again she radioed in and asked to be put through to Animal Control. Manny Ruiz took the call.

“You’ve heard?” she asked.

“Tica called me,” he said. “Any news?”

“Not yet.”

“What are we going to do about the workload?” Manny asked. “With Jeannine and me splitting the burden, it’s still not easy. Our part-time clerk is fine, but she can’t run the office and look after the animals, too. And if I’m taking care of the animals, who’s going to be out in the field? I can’t handle this place all by myself.”