Exit Wounds - J. A. Jance [66]
“How was it?” he asked, pouring the remaining half cup of cocoa for himself.
“Bad,” Joanna told him. “A speeding Suburban full of UDAs turned over at Silver Creek east of Douglas. The department of public safety investigator estimates the guy was doing at least eighty when he slammed through the Jersey barrier at a construction site. Six dead, including a two-year-old boy. Twenty-some injured, some of them critical.”
“Six dead and twenty-some injuries,” Butch repeated. “How many people were in the car?”
“Thirty.”
Easing himself onto a stool beside her, Butch whistled. “They must have been stacked inside like cordwood.”
Joanna nodded. “They were,” she said dully. “The driver was wearing a seat belt. Naturally the son of a bitch walked away unscathed.”
“How are you, Joey?” Butch asked after a pause.
He knew her well enough to ask. Joanna didn’t dodge the question. “Not so good,” she admitted, biting her lip. “I’m the one who found the baby.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “That had to be pretty rough.”
“It was. He couldn’t have been more than two, Butch. And he ended up dead in a clump of mesquite with the back of his head bashed in.”
Joanna’s voice quivered audibly as she spoke. Butch reached over, put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her over so she was leaning against his chest.
“That’s not all.”
“What else?”
“I’m a sworn police officer, but I deliberately disturbed evidence at a crime scene.”
Butch’s carefully placed his empty cup on the granite-tiled surface of the counter. “You did what?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
“The boy was dead when I found him, Butch,” Joanna confessed. “I know I should have left him where he was, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. Instead, I picked him up and carried him to his mother. She was in a helicopter on her way to the hospital in Bisbee, but I called it back. I gave her the boy’s body—so she could hold him one more time, so she could say good-bye. I know I shouldn’t have, Butch, but with all the other bodies lying everywhere, I didn’t think it would hurt…”
Joanna’s voice trailed off into a stifled sob. Butch pulled her close and let her weep into the shoulder of his terry-cloth robe.
“It’s okay, Joey,” he said soothingly. “It’s okay. It sounds like this was one of those times when you had two choices, both of them right and both of them wrong. You did what you had to do.”
Butch and Joanna sat that way for several minutes. Finally Butch pushed her away. “With all this going on,” he said, “I’m sure you’ll have to go into the office tomorrow, right?”
Sniffling, Joanna nodded. “Probably.”
“Well, then, come on. It’s late. We’d better go to bed and try to get some sleep.”
Taking Joanna by the hand, Butch led her into the bedroom. It wasn’t until she was lying in bed next to Butch that she finally thought to question him about the results of Jenny’s barrel-racing performance.
“She did all right,” Butch answered.
“All right?” Joanna asked.
“Jenny didn’t bring home a ribbon, if that’s what you mean,” Butch said. “But she was out there making the effort. She and Kiddo did a good job, but remember, it was also their first time out. Not only that, Jenny was by far the youngest competitor in the bunch. Don’t worry. She can hold her head up.”
“Was she upset that I wasn’t there?”
“I don’t think so,” Butch said. “Jenny knows you have a job to do, Joey. We both do.”
“I wanted to be there. I meant to be there.”
“I know you did, but allow me to let you in on a little secret. You can’t be in two places at once. Now hush up and go to sleep.”
Within seconds, Butch had turned over onto his side and was snoring softly. With the day’s events taken into consideration,