Page 92 of The Girl from Devil's Lake
“Okay,” Joanna told her. “I’ll be there.”
Chapter 52
Bisbee, Arizona
Monday, December 11, 2023
Had Sheriff Joanna Brady been watching the newsthat week rather than making it, she might have been aware that another winter storm was moving in off the Pacific. Her father, D.H. Lathrop, would have said,It’s raining cats and dogs. On Monday morning, not only was it pouring rain, it was cold as hell, and the wind was blowing a gale. Joanna supposed that all the out-of-state visitors—and there were many—were ready to punch the noses of every single person—including their travel agents, who had told them how lucky they were to be going to “sunny Arizona” in the winter.
The traffic in Bisbee that day was horrendous. Everyone in town was headed for the same destination—up Tombstone Canyon to the Cochise County Courthouse on Quality Hill. When Bisbee was founded, the main drag was created in the most convenient way possible, by following the natural streambed that wound its way through a narrow canyon creating a roadway barely two lanes wide. When both Sheriff Joanna Brady and County Attorney Craig Witherspoon found themselves stalled in an impossible traffic jam minutes before they were due in Judge Cameron Moore’s courtroom, Joanna took the lead. Positioning her Interceptor in front of Craig’s Lexus, she carved out a third lane where there were only two.
When they reached the Iron Man statue and turned left, they discovered Chief of Police Bernard had deployed traffic cops. With their help, they threaded their way up the hill and into the two parking places that had been reserved for them.Rank hath its privileges, Joanna thought once again.
They had to push through an angry mob of people jammed into the square outside the courthouse. All of them, cameramen included, had just learned the courtroom was full and they wouldn’t be allowed inside. As soon as Joanna saw the packed room, she resigned herself to having to stand. But then, once Craig took his place at the prosecutor’s table, he turned to the man seated directly behind him and nodded, first at him and then at Joanna.
A uniformed bailiff stood up and motioned Joanna into his vacated seat. Once there, she noticed that Arturo Peña and Elena Delgado were next to her, probably also in bailiff-reserved seats. Some official arrangement must have been made to allow Xavier’s mother to publicly cross the border.
What followed took only a matter of minutes. The roomful of people was asked to stand while Judge Moore entered the room and called things to order by announcing, “The first matter before this court today is the arraignment of Mr. Stephen Roper. Is he in attendance?”
Roper stood up. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit, jail-quality flip-flops, and manacles on both his wrists and legs.
Judge Moore seemed surprised. “I don’t see your attorney in attendance, Mr. Roper,” the judge said. “Is he on his way?”
“I fired his ass,” Stephen said.
“Mr. Roper, this is a court of law. Please refrain from using that kind of language. If you do so again, I’ll hold you in contempt.”
Roper actually laughed. “What are you gonna do, put me in jail? Guess what? I’m already there.”
Judge Moore took a steadying breath. “You are here on two separate but very serious charges. Are you intending to represent yourself?”
Roper nodded. “I am,” he replied.
“Then I urge you to reconsider,” Judge Moore said.
“Come on, Judge,” Stephen Roper said. “Just ask me the question.”
Judge Moore frowned. “What question?”
“How do I plead, guilty or innocent?”
Judge Moore looked down at the paperwork in front of him, then he cleared his throat. “You are charged with murder in the second degree in the death of Xavier Francisco Delgado. How do you plead?”
“Guilty,” Roper said.
“In the death of Marliss Glenda Shackleford, you are also charged with murder in the second degree. How do you plead?”
That was the first time Joanna had ever heard Marliss’s full name, and a layer of goose bumps covered her body. That’s when she understood that Marliss’s father must have filled in her birth certificate. Dianne never would have stood for her daughter being named after a much-despised sister-in-law. Joanna was so caught up in that realization that she almost missed Roper’s response.
“Guilty.”
To Joanna’s surprise, there were no outbursts. The only sound in the room was that of Elena Delgado sobbing quietly into Arturo’s shoulder.
“Then,” Judge Moore continued, “you are remanded without bond to the Cochise County Jail to be held there until such time as you can be sentenced.”
“Good,” Roper said. “Then get me the hell out of here. I’m a cancer patient with an impaired immune system. Being with all these people is going to kill me.”
Good riddance, Joanna thought.That can’t happen soon enough.
