“It’s all right, Deputy Gregovich,” Joanna assured him. “I’m sure you did everything possible. It sounds as though you and Spike were outgunned and outmanned at every turn, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Considering what was going on, we’re lucky no one was hurt-you and Spike included.”
“What about the dirty dozen who were arrested?” Frank asked.
“They’re being arraigned right now, but I’m betting they’ll all be bailed out this morning and back on the streets by early afternoon.”
“Just in time for round three,” Joanna said, shaking her head. “Who are they? Anybody we recognize?”
“Not really,” Voland said. “From the booking sheets, it looks like they’re mostly from Tucson. Professional demonstrator types. At least several of them have been arrested for this kind of thing before.”
“If they’re paid professionals,” Joanna said, “who’s writing the checks?”
“Good question,” Dick said. “That’s what we’re trying to find out now. I’ve got three deputies working on it. If we can find out who’s really behind the demonstrations, maybe we can talk them into calling them off.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Joanna asked.
“Spike and I are heading right back out there, ma’am,” Deputy Gregovich said.
Voland nodded. “They’ll be on-site this morning. By noon-about the time the last of our jailbirds gets bailed out-I expect to have several deputies patrolling on and around Oak Vista Estates.”
“Are you worried about being sent there by yourself this morning, Deputy Gregovich?” Joanna asked.
Terry Gregovich was an awkward-looking young man with a shy, self-effacing way about him. He was immensely likable. The fact that Spike obviously adored him didn’t hurt, either.
“Not at all, ma’am. Spike and me’ll do just fine.”
Joanna smiled. “I’m sure you will, but remember: If it turns out you need to call for reinforcements, I’d rather you did it sooner than later. Understand?”
“Will do, Sheriff Brady. Is that all?”
Joanna nodded.
“Come, Spike,” Terry ordered.
Obediently, the dog rolled to his feet, and the two of them marched out the door. “All right now,” Joanna announced to those remaining. “On to Alice Rogers.”
Ernie Carpenter took the first turn in the barrel, reporting that Clete Rogers and Susan Jenkins had shown up at the Pima County morgue late the previous evening and had, together, positively identified their mother’s body. The two of them were also due at their mother’s house later that morning. There they would meet with Detective Carbajal and try to determine what items had been removed from Alice Rogers’ home. Joanna couldn’t help smiling at that bit of news. It pleased her to know that Susan had taken that much of Joanna’s advice to heart.
“Do we know when Doc Daly has scheduled the autopsy?” Joanna asked.
“First thing this morning,” Ernie replied. “What she told us at the scene was that she didn’t think the body had beer moved. If Alice died where we found her, that means the case belongs to Pima County, and we’re out of it. Which is why Detective Lazier as good as told me that I’d be persona nor grata at the autopsy.”
“Went all territorial on you, did he?” Joanna observed.
Ernie nodded. “You could say that. Lazier is focused or getting the case pulled together enough to extradite those other three kids from Old Mexico but that’s not going to be easy since so far the Mexican authorities aren’t very keen on cooperating. They haven’t even ID’d the suspects they have it custody.”
Joanna nodded. “It’s tough to extradite someone when you don’t have a name to go by. Do the Pima County detective: know anything about Alice Rogers’ house in Tombstone being ransacked?”
Carpenter shook his head. “Not that I know of. They didn’t ask and I didn’t tell. Actually, at the time I left to come home, I didn’t know about it, either.”
“Let’s think about this for a minute,” Joanna suggested. “Did Dr. Daly say anything about when Alice died?”
“Not exactly. Her preliminary estimate is sometime Saturday night or Sunday morning.”
“All right, so the kids took the car-with keys?”
This time Frank was the one who answered. “Without. It was hot-wired.”
“But they had Alice’s identification along with her address. They could have gone to her place and taken it apart. Was there any sign of stolen goods in the car, anything that might be traceable back to Alice’s house in Tombstone?”
“Not that I know of,” Frank said.
“Here’s my position then,” Joanna said. “The murder may not have taken place in Cochise County, but it’s possible that a burglary did. And until we see how all these dots are connected-Alice’s death, the ransacking of her house, and the sudden disappearance of her boyfriend, our department is involved. Is that clear?”
There were nods all around the room. “I’ll be in touch with Fran Daly’s office and let her know that we’re still in the game and need to be apprised of the postmortem results.” She turned to Jaime Carbajal. “What’s happening with the crime scene crews?”
“As I told you last night, there were fingerprints all over the place at Alice’s house. We’ve collected a ton of them. It’s going to take time to process them and feed them into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System. What’s interesting, though, is the fact that while Alice’s house is full of prints, we’ve hardly found any in the mobile home at Outlaw Mountain. We’ve dusted the whole place and haven’t come up with more than one or two partials. There aren’t any on the light switches or doorknobs or on the cans of soda in the refrigerator. How does that strike you?”
“Odd,” Joanna said.
Jaime nodded. “It’s odd, all right. Ernie suggested that I have them check the wall above the toilet in case the guy leans there when he’s taking a leak.”
“Right,” Joanna said, hoping to forestall a blush. “Good thinking.”
“We’ll make sure that gets done today,” Jaime continued. “The dresser drawers and closets are all empty. That means Farley Adams packed his bags and left, but before he took off, he must have raced through his house wiping every possible surface clean of fingerprints.”
“Sounds like somebody with something to hide,” Joanna suggested.
“That’s what we thought,” Jaime agreed. “So Ernie and I will be taking the crew back out there again this morning. Maybe in the clear light of day, we’ll find something we missed last night.”
“What about papers?” Joanna asked. “Did you happen to stumble across anything that looked like a marriage license?”
“A marriage license?” Jaime asked.
Joanna nodded. “Susan Jenkins thinks Farley Adams was about to marry her mother in a phony ruse to lay hands on Alice’s money.”
“So there is money then?” Ernie asked.
“Some, but I don’t know how much. I have Alice Rogers’ attorney’s name out in Sierra Vista. Hogan, Dena Hogan. My thinking is if Farley figured he already had the money bagged, there must have been a reason. Either he and Alice had already tied the knot, or else she had rewritten her will in his favor.”
Ernie frowned, once again beetling his thick eyebrows together until they formed a single rope-wide track across his forehead. “It sounds like you’re saying Farley may be responsible for her murder instead of those kids in the lockup down in Nogales.”
“What I’m saying is that there’s more going on here than meets the eye. I’m not prepared to accept Pima County’s slam-dunk clear until some of the strange stuff in our jurisdiction gets straightened out. That includes checking with Alice Rogers’ attorney. You or Ernie can go talk to her. Or, if you guys are too busy with the crime scene investigators, I can handle Ms. Hogan myself.”
“As far as I’m concerned, have a ball,” Ernie said. “Jaime and I already have more than enough to do.”
Avoiding looking at the burgeoning stack of mail Kristin had piled on her desk, Joanna added Dena Hogan’s name to her To-Do list.