Page 72 of The Girl from Devil's Lake
“Please don’t leave me,” Marliss added.
“Don’t worry,” Deb whispered. “I won’t.”
Chapter 43
Bisbee, Arizona
Friday, December 8, 2023
With her cell phone in one hand and a microphonein the other, Joanna Brady stood behind Tica Romero’s chair in Dispatch with absolutely no idea of what she should do. A little over a mile away, serial killer Stephen Roper had fallen into the trap she had devised and was now driving in mad circles around what appeared to be a mini-racetrack, with all entrances and exits blocked by fire trucks and police vehicles. After literally decades of his getting away with one murder after another, her department was about to take him into custody. That arrest should be the crowning glory of her career.
But some nine miles away, just outside Naco, Joanna’s archenemy, Marliss Shackleford, had been gravely injured by that same serial killer who had fled this latest crime scene in the victim’s own vehicle. According to Garth, Marliss was in desperate need of medical attention, but with fire department personnel, including EMS responders tied up in Joanna’s Traffic Circle blockade, there was no telling how long it would be before medical assistance could arrive. By rights, Joanna should be at that scene, too, but she couldn’t do both.
“Can you connect me to the ER at the Copper Queen Hospital?” Joanna asked Tica.
With a few clicks on her keyboard, the call was made. “Copper Queen Hospital ER. How can I help you?” a voice asked.
“This is Sheriff Joanna Brady. There’s been a serious incident down by Naco. I need to speak to the doctor in charge.”
“One moment.”
Seconds later someone else came on the phone. “Dr. Ybarra here,” he said. “What seems to be the problem?”
“This is Sheriff Brady. There’s been a serious incident at a home on Country Club Drive north of Naco where a woman was dropped headfirst into a crawl space. She’s on the floor. Two of my detectives are with her, but she has no feeling in her arms or legs. My people have called for an ambulance, but there’s a big tie-up at the Traffic Circle, so there’s no telling when EMS will be able to get there.”
“I’ve heard about the traffic problem,” Dr. Ybarra said, “but I could get around that by using School Terrace Road. What’s the address?”
Joanna gave it to him. Then, when the call ended and having done everything she could for Marliss Shackleford, Joanna buckled on her body armor, fired up her Interceptor, and headed for the Traffic Circle.
By the time Joanna arrived, Chief Deputy Hadlock had things pretty well in hand. He’d had some of the blockading fire trucks move aside enough for several police vehicles to squeeze through. They had created enough of a pinch point that Roper could no longer get past, forcing him to come to a stop at the eastbound Highway 80 exit where Joanna’s body-armor-clad arrest team was congregated.
“Hands on your head and step out of the vehicle,” someone shouted over a bullhorn as Joanna made her way toward the front of the crowd.
For a moment, nothing happened inside Marliss Shackleford’s battered RAV4, but then someone else called out the chilling warning, “Gun!”
Ducking for cover, Joanna could see the small handgun Stephen Roper was holding next to his ear. She was determined the confrontationwouldn’t end that way. The last thing she wanted was for Roper to get away with killing himself without ever being called to account for his unspeakable crimes. Spotting the guy with the bullhorn, Joanna made her way over to him and tapped him on the shoulder.
“May I?” she asked pointing at the bullhorn.
He handed it over without a word. “Mr. Roper,” Joanna shouted into it. “Sheriff Brady here. As you can see, you’re surrounded. There’s no getting away. My officers are here to take you into custody without you or anyone else being injured.”
“Screw you, Joanna Lathrop,” he shouted back. “You’re doing no such thing.”
After that he seemed to struggle with the weapon for a moment. Everyone at the scene, including Joanna, held their respective breaths, waiting for the report of a gunshot—one that never came. After a moment, Roper seemed to examine the gun before holding it up to his ear a second time. In that instant, people realized the gun wasn’t firing, and officers swarmed the car. Within seconds, Roper had been dragged out of the vehicle and placed facedown on the ground while handcuffs snapped shut around his wrists.
“What are you arresting me for, bitch?” he demanded of Joanna once he was back on his feet. “For the murder of that little kid?”
Joanna was well aware that all they had on the Xavier Delgado case so far was a search warrant, and the arrest warrant in the Amanda Hudson case had not yet materialized.
“No,” she said. “I’m arresting you on suspicion of the attempted murder of Marliss Shackleford.”
Roper hadn’t been expecting that, so for Joanna, the shocked expression on his smug face was worth the price of admission.
Once he was in the back of a squad car, Joanna broke away from the group and made her way around the circle, using the Interceptor’s lights and siren to clear snarled traffic out of her way. When she arrived at Stephen Roper’s residence on Country Club Drive, an ambulance from Sierra Vista was parked outside. They had beensummoned to serve as backup and had made it as far as Miracle Valley when the emergency EMS call came in.
Walking toward the house, Joanna spotted Garth and Deb sitting on a porch swing off to one side of the front door. Garth’s arm was around Deb’s shoulder in a comforting manner, and she was clearly crying.
Joanna walked up to them. “She didn’t make it then?”
