Cactus Heart by Jon Talton Page B

picture window, the ceiling-high bookshelves familiarly pleasing. I walked into the study and there was no Peralta. But the comforter was left folded on the chair with military precision and the newspaper was set precisely in the middle of the desk.
    May you live in interesting times.
    ***
    Over at the Starbucks at Seventh Street and McDowell, I stopped to buy my usual vente, non-fat, no-whip mocha. I sat outside at a round table surrounded by trim, young white professionals, all attractive, all well off, all unsure whether they really want to live in this wonderful little historic district of stucco homes surrounded by the inner city. They clutched their lattes and the alarm buttons to their Range Rovers and hurried in and out.
    And why not be afraid? Look at this morning’s
Republic
. In addition to another story about the discovery of the skeletons, it was chock-a-block full of post-modern mayhem right here in paradise. The centerpiece was about the pressure to catch the Harquahala Strangler. There was more in the B-section: some teenagers in Gilbert thought they were vampires and murdered a twelve-year-old girl to prove it; a visiting nurse was raped and killed in Mesa; some gangbangers tried to ambush two Phoenix cops out in Maryvale. And a string of shootings on the west side had been tied together and now police were seeking one suspect. He now had a name, too: the Grand Avenue Sniper. Otherwise, the Cardinals were losing, the big Indian casino south of town was booming, everything with a “dot-com” attached to the name was making millions and the desert was disappearing into the city at the rate of an acre an hour.
    I finished the sports section when the cellular phone rang. I hoped it would be Lindsey. It was Peralta.
    â€œProgress,” he demanded.
    â€œWhat? It’s not even nine in the morning.” I was cranky. “I could have briefed you at the house last night. Or this morning, I mean, at two o’clock.”
    â€œYou’re a tragic fucking figure,” he said.
    â€œFuck you. I’m sure we’ve found Andrew and Woodrow Yarnell, but PPD is going by the book. DNA tests and all.”
    Peralta grunted through the cellular system.
    â€œThe case was initially investigated by Joe Fisher. He was a legendary detective on the Phoenix force. That’s cool.”
    â€œIf you say so, Mapstone.”
    â€œWhy do you care?” I asked.
    â€œBecause you’re my project.”
    Before I could respond, he said, “I see your old girlfriend had a big story about the Yarnell case. Funny how that happens.”
    â€œWell, Mike, we work for America’s Toughest Sheriff. Theater and all that.”
    â€œWhy do they keep using that bad photo of me?”
    â€œI want to go out to Arizona State Prison,” I said. “Can you grease the skids?”
    â€œWhat? You teaching history to the cons?”
    â€œI’ll laugh when I wake up. Frances Richie is still alive out there. She was the woman arrested with Jack Talbott in the Yarnell case.”
    â€œJesus. We have judges letting murderers out in seven years. What the hell is she still doing in prison?”
    â€œOne of many questions I want to ask.”
    â€œWhat questions?” I could see him sitting back at his big desk, shaking his head. “We know who did it. What else is there to know?”
    â€œHey, you want me to work the case. Let me work the case. I want to know how the bodies got into that old warehouse. I want to know where that pocket watch came from. I want to know why the chief deputy doesn’t seem to have enough to do so he has to micromanage me.”
    â€œAll right, let me call the warden,” he said. Then, “I put your Lindsey on the Harquahala case.”
    â€œSo I heard,” I said. “I don’t know if she’s ‘my’ Lindsey, though.”
    â€œReally?” His voice changed. “Why is that?”
    â€œBecause these are the