Sonoran Sun

by Sharon Canipe

  “This reminds me of how wet I got when I was helping at that archeological site on the coast in North Carolina. When I fell in the sound. I remember taking off my clothes in the laundry room and I think you’d best get out of your wet suit right here and dry off before you track up the whole place. Your towel is dripping on the floor as we speak.” This was said with a very suggestive leer as he reached for the straps of her suit and began to peel it from her body. He followed by rubbing her dry with the bath sheet he’d brought. When he was finished, he gathered her in his arms and kissed her eagerly.

  “I know you and I have already done the “kiss and make up” thing but, honesty Lin, you look so sexy standing here with your hair all wet and your skin pink…”

  “Pink and cold,” Lin grinned pointing to the air vent that was blasting down on her naked body. I’m heading for a hot shower first…” she started toward the bedroom.

  Neal grabbed her arm. “No shower, not right now, not in this storm, but I have a lot of ideas as to how to warm you up. Let’s try those first, then later we’ll get that shower before dinner.” He gave her a gentle push toward their bedroom, following right behind.

  Chapter 12

  Sunday morning dawned bright and early. These late summer days the sun still rose before six. That was an advantage, or disadvantage, of Arizona not observing Daylight Savings Time, depending on your point of view. If you had to work outdoors it meant you could start your workday earlier and avoid some of the hot afternoon hours by finishing early. If you liked to sleep in, the sunlight streaming into the windows was an early alarm clock, unless you had room- darkening shades. Lin rolled over and tried to go back to sleep but wasn’t very successful. She noticed that Neal was stirring also.

  The previous evening they’d enjoyed a nice dinner with Chris and Marla at Beyond Bread, a local bakery and sandwich place that also served large, delicious salads. Then they’d spent a couple of hours sitting on the patio enjoying some nice wine and talking. The temperatures had been quite pleasant after the heavy shower of the afternoon. This morning however, Lin observed that the sky was clear and that meant the sun would soon be turning the desert into an oven. Marla was planning to drive back to Flagstaff and had planned to leave early Lin knew. She and Neal were going to join Chris for a late breakfast. After that the guys were going to finish writing their final report; they’d be working at Chris’s place, having already completed the cataloging at the museum. Now Neal was getting out of bed, ready to discuss plans for the day ahead.

  “I feel good about our work, especially given the difficult circumstances we encountered,” Neal said. “Thanks to Pete Tedder’s help and the use of the museum lab, we’ve managed to complete everything we needed to do. With any luck, we’ll have the report ready to turn in tomorrow—a day early really. Chris will follow Marla on Tuesday and we fly out on Wednesday.” He sat up and put his arm around her. “I can’t wait to get back and get ready for our wedding.”

  “Me too,” Lin smiled, “but right now I could use some coffee, while it’s still early enough to enjoy a hot beverage. I’ll put some on then maybe we can sit on the patio—maybe have a snack since we won’t be having breakfast for a few hours yet.” She headed toward the kitchen where she set the coffee to brewing and searched the cabinets for something to have with it. The only thing available was a package of English muffins that were beginning to feel a bit dry. She popped a couple in the toaster hoping that would freshen them up a bit and fished around for some butter and jelly to go with them.

  “You know,” Neal said when they’d settled themselves on the patio. “We still haven’t talked about our honeymoon. I do want to surprise you, but maybe I should sort of share some information and see if you approve. I must admit, I have made some plans already, but I just have a hold on our reservations, so if I need to change anything…”

  Lin stopped him in mid-sentence. “Neal, I do want to share decisions with you and I want to know what’s going on that affects us both, but I do appreciate surprises and, in this case, I think it’s nice that you feel old-fashioned about planning this for us both. That said, tell me everything you can, I’m excited you know.” Neal laughed at her response.

  “Well, I can tell you that we’ll be away for at least three weeks, maybe a month—I’ve left some flexibility in the travel schedule. We’re leaving the country so you’ll need your passport. We’ll be flying overnight and landing somewhere in Europe but that’s as specific as I’m willing to be about the place. You’ll need comfortable casual clothes. The weather should be mild and pleasing that time of year and don’t forget your swim suit.”

  Lin started to pepper him with questions, but he refused to say anything more—except that they weren’t flying out until the day after their wedding. He did admit that he’d shared his plans with Lin’s adult children—Lucy and Ben—and they’d approved of his plans saying that she’d love it. He was so pleased about planning this that Lin felt touched. This was important to him and she didn’t want to spoil his fun by being too inquisitive. It was hard to control her curiosity, but she determined that she would try. “You’ll have to help me pack so I take everything I need,” she insisted, “when are you going to reveal the final destination?”

  “I promise I’ll tell you on our wedding day but not until after we’re married. When I know we are finally man and wife I’ll tell you everything! He grinned with pleasure at his surprise.

  ***

  By late morning, Lin had decided that she couldn’t wait until tomorrow to follow through on all of her questions related to the case. The tribal offices wouldn’t be open until then, but someone should be on duty at the police station. She might not be able to connect with Sgt. Montoya, but she might be able to make an appointment for later. Then there was Susan Davison, hopefully she could reach her by phone. She wanted to let her know how little evidence had originally been collected that implicated her husband in the crimes; however, she knew that Susan needed to push to learn any other information Ben Ramirez might’ve gotten before he actually arrested Doug. That should be added to the investigation into Doug’s supposed suicide. Lin was convinced that he hadn’t killed himself but, even if he had, Susan needed to know why. What information might’ve led to that type of action on his part?

  Neal had departed for Chris’s place after the three of them had enjoyed breakfast. Marla was well on her way home, so Lin was on her own for the rest of the day. She grabbed her phone and settled herself in the living room.

  She was lucky; Susan was at home and answered her call immediately. She seemed less nervous than she had been earlier. Deciding on a course of action regarding Doug’s death had given her new confidence. She told Lin that she had an appointment with Rich Lafferty on Monday and she planned to insist he press for a full investigation into Doug’s death. “He told me that, given the questions raised in the medical report, he felt comfortable that could happen.” Lin encouraged Susan to follow through and not let anyone talk her out of pressing for more information and a full investigation. She then offered to help her in any way that she could and asked her to stay in touch. They agreed to talk after Susan had spoken with Rich.

  Next Lin telephoned the tribal police headquarters in Sells. As she suspected, Sgt. Montoya was off duty; however, the receptionist made a note that Lin would be coming in to speak with him on Monday morning. There really was nothing more she could think of to do at that point so she decided to take a nap. She drifted off to sleep thinking about the possibilities for the honeymoon plans Neal had made.

  ***

  Lin hadn’t been asleep long when the cell phone rang startling her awake. It was Neal calling.

  “Hi there,” she answered in a sleepy voice, “How’s your work going?”

  “The work is going very well, but Chris just got a rather strange call from Deputy Ramirez. He’s coming by here to talk to us—mostly to Chris—again. He didn’t sound threatening or anything but Chris is a bit nervous. He tried to call Rich L
afferty but couldn’t reach him, not surprising on a Sunday afternoon but…”

  “I’ll be right down,” Lin responded. “This does seem a bit strange, especially at this time, but we can support Chris. He really doesn’t have to talk to him without an attorney present. He could’ve refused.”

  “He knows, but he was afraid he might appear to be trying to hide something so he didn’t want to say no. I’ve told him to be very careful about what he does say, however.” Neal sounded just a bit worried.

  “I’m on my way, just give me a moment to freshen up, I was taking a nap,” Lin admitted. She hastily combed her hair and splashed some water on her face. Then she slipped into a pair of sandals and headed for Chris’s casita.

  Deputy Ramirez arrived within minutes. Lin suggested he might want some iced tea but he politely declined. “This will only take a few minutes. I just needed to review Dr. Dawkins statement one more time, make sure he has nothing to add before I close that part of this case.” He observed Chris’s nervousness and sought to reassure him, “Please Dr. Dawkins, you have nothing to worry about. We are going to be closing this case right away. All the evidence we have now points to Doug Davison as the killer of both Mark Garcia and Dave Jennings. With Mr. Davison’s er…death, we simply have to fill in some gaps in our accounts of the events surrounding these crimes. Then the cases will be closed.”

  Chris appeared to relax as Deputy Ramirez handed him a printed copy of his own statements to review. He read everything carefully then returned the document to the deputy. “This seems to me to be complete. I don’t recollect any other information concerning my contacts with either Mark Garcia or Dave Jennings. I would say this information is complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge.”

  “Thank you Dr. Dawkins, may I ask what contacts, if any, you had with Doug Davison? We didn’t discuss this when you were…er, interviewed earlier,” Ramirez didn’t refer to the fact that Chris had been detained overnight in jail.

  “Other than being aware of his activity with the demonstrations against building the shopping center, I really had no contacts with him at all. I only spoke with him briefly on those occasions.” Chris said.

  “How would you judge his stability on those occasions?” Ramirez asked, “Did he seemed disturbed, unbalanced in any way?”

  Chris smartly replied, “My contacts with him were indeed very brief and I certainly wouldn’t feel competent to form any opinions about his personal behavior or state of mind.”

  Ramirez seemed as if he were preparing to leave so Lin decided she might as well jump in and see if she could learn anything from him. “Deputy Ramirez, might I ask whether or not you’ve gathered any more information about Mr. Davison’s possible involvement in these crimes, from other sources. I wondered if you’d learned anything more about that blue pick up truck reported at the scene by the workers. The one we spoke about earlier. It seems to be connected to the scene in some way.”

  Ben Ramirez seemed a bit annoyed at the question, but he answered politely,” As I mentioned at the time, Ms. Hanna. Trucks like that are quite commonplace in this area. We’ve had no further information about that truck or any other particular vehicle. I doubt it bears any relationship to the actual killings. Certainly, no such vehicle was reported at the time of Mr. Garcia’s death and, like I said earlier, it seems irrelevant to the death of Mr. Jennings.”

  Lin decided against revealing that Doug Davison had purchased a truck that met the description of the one seen by the worker from Mark Garcia’s widow shortly before Dave Jennings was killed. Nor did she tell him that Doug Davison apparently drove that truck to Tucson the day of Jennings murder. She realized that Ben Ramirez would probably just use such information to further bolster his claims that Davison committed at least one of these crimes, if not both. She couldn’t bring herself to help his case—besides; if Davison’s death were to be fully investigated that information would surely come out. If Ramirez had really been looking deeply into these murders, he should already know about that truck—perhaps even have a positive identification. She cast a sideways glance at Neal who looked at her knowingly but didn’t say anything.

  Lin continued, “I understand that Doug Davison had some raw wounds on his wrists when his body was examined that were most likely caused by handcuffs. How did those injuries occur?”

  Ramirez seemed surprised at this question, “How did you learn…? Where did you get such information?” Surprise seemed to turn to irritation; Ramirez seemed to be quite annoyed by Lin’s boldly bringing up this subject.

  “I’m afraid, Mr. Davison was responsible for those injuries, as well as his own death,” Ramirez recovered his composure. “Unfortunately, he created quite a stir when he was brought to the jail. He struggled with the arresting officers and had to be cuffed again for a time when he was put in his cell. He tried to fight my men each time they tried to calm him. The cuffs were finally removed in the evening after he’d settled down. I guess he must’ve injured himself during that struggle. Now, if you have no more questions, I really need to get back to the department and finish my report. Thank you again, Dr. Dawkins for your help.” On that note, Ramirez departed without acknowledging Lin or Neal at all.

  “I think you got him going there,” Neal said. “He didn’t seem happy with your questions. I’m sure he wondered where you got that information.”

  “He’ll know soon enough when he hears from Rich Lafferty that Susan Davison is calling for a full investigation of her husband’s death,” Lin replied. “He needs to think about all the holes in his evidence. We learned more about that blue truck than he knows in only a couple of hours spent on the reservation. That’s part of the problem. Even though the crimes occurred here, some of the principals lived there. It doesn’t make sense that no one has talked to the tribal police, nor sought their help in learning more. That’s one reason why I simply cannot accept the conclusion that Davison is the guilty party, not without more evidence to support such a charge.” Lin stopped at that point. She didn’t want to get on a soapbox. Neal and Chris were both well aware of her misgivings and shared them.

  Chris was obviously relieved to have Ramirez gone but he also seemed tired and distracted. Neal decided it was time for a change of scenery. “Let’s get out of here for a bit,” he suggested. “We really only have to review this report once more and that won’t take long. It’s a really nice day, especially for August. The temperature isn’t supposed to get out of the low nineties for a change and that’s not too bad. I’d really like to get some pictures before we leave. Why don’t we ride out Gates Pass Road and take in the scenery. We could stop by the Desert Museum and check out the exhibits. It’s warm, but if we take hats and use sunscreen we should be OK. We can always duck into the inside exhibits when we want to cool off a bit. He glanced at his watch. Maybe we can grab an early supper while we’re out.

  ***

  Within the hour they were driving across the Tucson Mountains to the west of the city. The curving road across Gates Pass wound through huge stands of tall saguaros, prickly chollas, and a variety of other desert plans. On the west side of the pass they stopped to take some photographs of the expansive desert below. They decided to drive past the entrance to the Desert Museum and pay a brief visit to the western unit of Saguaro National Park. The visitor center offered a cool break along with a variety of interesting exhibits and an informative film. After viewing the film, Lin found herself awed by the dramatic scene revealed when the curtains were drawn away from the glass wall that afforded a view of the actual desert setting. Having enjoyed volunteering in other park locations, Lin felt a bit sad that they’d only had such a short time to be here. She would’ve loved to explore the possibility of volunteer opportunities at this park. Maybe someday, she thought as they left the visitor center and headed back toward the museum.

  The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum was considered one of the top outdoor museums in the nation. The natural habitat exhibits featured the plants and animals native t
o the Sonoran Desert. This desert spanned parts of two states—Arizona in the US and Sonora in Mexico. It was a hot desert afternoon but there was a breeze and, with hats to shade their faces, they found it quite tolerable. They walked for awhile viewing the various animal exhibits and managed to see quite a few of the inhabitants, although a good many were resting in the afternoon heat and some were actually hidden away out of site. Finally, they decided it was time for a break so they stopped at the small snack bar for some refreshing lemonade and found a shady spot to sit and enjoy it.

  “This is so-ooo refreshing,” Lin said as she took a long quaff of the tart lemony drink. “I must admit, I was getting a bit hot and tired.”

  “True enough,” Chris agreed.

  “Yes, we’ve probably had enough of this heat—even though it’s still only in the nineties. I wish we had more time here. We could come out for one of the Saturday evenings the park is open in the summer. It’s cooler after the sun goes down, of course,” Neal lamented.

  “Or, we can come back sometime in the winter,” Lin suggested. “You know you’re going to miss Arizona and want to visit sometime. In fact, you may find you’re more than ready for some dry desert after you’ve experienced the wet, rainy winters in piedmont North Carolina—just wait until your first ice storm,” she teased.

  “I’ve experienced plenty of cold winter weather in Flagstaff, don’t forget about that. Although, I must admit, we rarely had ice there. Mostly our snows were dry and powdery. That said, I would love to visit southern Arizona some winter. The weather here is wonderful then. We’ll have to make some plans.”

  They took another half hour after their break to visit some of the native garden exhibits then decided it was time to head out. Lin was getting hungry. Breakfast, although later than usual, seemed a long time ago. “Where’s dinner going to be?” she asked. “It’s a bit early, but I think I could be ready anytime.”