In Plain Sight

“Think about what you just said. You’re starting to weigh my job and my duty against who we may offend. If that’s a problem, Marybeth, maybe we’ve overstayed our welcome here.”

Her eyes got wide, then she set her face. She put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. Joe rocked back and thought, Uh-oh.

“Listen to me, Joe Pickett,” she said. “Don’t you ever, for one second, think I would want you to compromise your principles or your oath in order for us to get along better here. I have never done that to you. If that was in my mind, I would have insisted on it years ago, before you and your stupid job put us in harm’s way again and again and AGAIN.”

Marybeth took a step forward and Joe took one back. She was now jabbing him in the chest. He wished she hadn’t said “stupid job.” But he didn’t point that out.

“Don’t you dare blame this on me,” she said. “I think your problem is your problem. You’re working for a man and an agency you don’t believe in anymore. You’re frustrated. You’re finding out that everything you based your career and your validation on might be built on a foundation of sand. It kills you that you’re thinking you’re just another government employee working for a government agency. And instead of admitting it or dealing with it, you’re lashing out. Am I right?”

Joe glared at her.

“Am I right?”

“Maybe,” he conceded. “Just a little.”

“Okay, then.”

“It kind of pisses me off that you’re so smart,” he said, chancing a smile. “I must drive you crazy sometimes.”

She punched him playfully in the chest. “It is a burden,” she said.

AS THEY WALKED back toward the parking lot and the people, Joe said, “I’m still mad, though.”

“You don’t get mad very often, so I suppose you’re allowed to every once in a while.”

“There’s a lot going on here,” he said, gesturing toward the museum and the Scarlett Wing, but meaning the county in general. “We can’t see it happening because we’re too close. I think it’s right there in front of us, but we’re not seeing it because we’re looking for something else.”

Marybeth stopped and searched his face. “What are you talking about, Joe?”

“Where does Bill Monroe fit into all of this?” Joe said. “I can’t figure out his role in it. He’s Hank’s thug, but he seems to be working with Arlen too. How do you square that deal?”

“I don’t know.”

“Something struck me during those speeches,” Joe said. “I was wondering if you picked up on it.”

“What?”

“Think back. What was the biggest difference between how Arlen spoke and Hank spoke?”

“Arlen was articulate and Hank was not?” Marybeth said.

“Hank spoke of his mother in the present tense,” Joe said. “He said, ‘When Mother asks you to say something you say “okay.”’ Remember that?”

“Yes.” The realization of what Joe was getting at washed across her face.

“But Arlen spoke of his mother in the past tense: ‘Opal Scarlett was more than a mother, more than the matriarch of the Thunderhead Ranch. . . .’”

“So what does it mean?”

Joe shrugged. “I’m not sure. But clearly, when Hank thinks of his mother she’s still around. That’s not the case with Arlen. As far as he’s concerned, she’s gone.”

JOE GLANCED UP and saw Arlen making his way through the crowd straight for them.

“Here he comes now,” Joe said, trying to get a read on what the purpose of Arlen’s visit might be.

Arlen ignored Joe and greeted Marybeth. “It’s so good you could come,” he said. He threw an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze, then stepped back. “Thanks to your wife,” he said to Joe, “we are now within sight of making the ranch rightfully ours. She cracked the code in regard to Mother’s accounting system on the ranch.” Arlen gestured with his fingers to indicate quote marks around “cracked the code.”

“I heard,” Joe said.

“She’s quite a woman,” Arlen said.

“I agree.”

“You should be proud of her.”

“I am.”

Arlen stepped away from Marybeth, who had been grinning icily the entire time he was next to her. Arlen’s face was suddenly somber, the look he showed just before he commenced with a speech.

“I heard what happened at your home,” Arlen said. “I heard about those town elk. It’s a damned shame.”

Joe nodded, eyeing him carefully. “I decided this morning to involve myself in the investigation of your mother.”

“Oh?”

“Yup,” Joe said. “My boss said stay away from it, but I’m going to anyway. I have this idea that maybe things aren’t what they seem, Arlen. While I’ve been sitting on the sidelines, no progress I’m aware of has been made on the case. And at the same time, somebody has targeted my family. I think everything that’s happened is connected to Opal’s disappearance.”

Arlen had listened with hooded eyes and a blank expression, offering no encouragement. “Really,” he said. Arlen looked at Marybeth to gauge her opinion, and she stared back impassively. Joe noted the exchange.

“Really,” Joe said.

“Are you telling me this in the hope that I won’t inform Director Pope?”

“I don’t care what you do,” Joe said. “Pope knows about everything I do. The sheriff makes sure of that. Maybe someone else does too.”