Santa Fe Dead

62

ED EAGLE HUNG up the phone just as Susannah entered the bedroom bearing a tray for him containing eggs Benedict. A moment later, she was back with her own tray and adjusting the rake of the electric bed. “Who was that, calling on a Sunday morning?”

“Don Wells,” Eagle said. “They’ve arrested him, and he’s looking for a lawyer again.”

“Not you, I hope.”

“That’s what I told him. I gave him a couple of names. With Cato’s testimony facing him he’s going to have to plead guilty to save his life.”

“Which is pretty much over.”

“Who knows, maybe they’ll let him do a prison film.”

They both dug into their eggs.

“It really is over, isn’t it? Confirm that for me just once more.”

“It really is over. Barbara’s in a Mexican jail, Don Wells will soon be in a New Mexican jail, and Jack Cato, the man who shot you already is.”

“Nobody’s ever going to shoot me again,” Susannah said.

“I sincerely hope not.”

The front doorbell rang the bedside phone intercom.

“Who the hell would be here on a Sunday morning?” Susannah asked.

Eagle pressed the speaker button on the phone. “Yes?”

“Flowers for Mr. Eagle and Ms. Wilde,” a woman’s voice said.

“Flowers?” Susannah asked. “Who would send us flowers?”

“Just leave them on the front doorstep,” Eagle said.

“I’m sorry, sir. I need a signature.”

“Who are they from?”

“I’m sorry; I’m not allowed to read the card.”

“Hang on a minute,” Eagle said. He switched off the speakerphone, set his tray aside and got out of bed, naked.

“Just tell her to go away,” Susannah said.

“This will just take a minute,” Eagle said, getting into a robe and slippers. He walked through the house to the front door and opened it. A small woman stood there, mostly hidden by an elaborate bouquet of flowers.

“Where would you like me to put them?” the woman asked.

“On the table over there,” Eagle said, “to your right.” He stepped back and allowed the woman to enter. As she passed, he snagged a small envelope hanging from the bouquet, opened it and read the card:

Thanks for everything, Ed. You deserve this.

Barbara

“When did you take this order?” Eagle asked the woman, who had set down the bouquet and was turning to face him. He heard the noise before he saw the gun in her hand. He flinched as something struck his left ear, then he ran for the front door, hoping to close it between them before she could get off another round.

“Susannah, get out of the house!” he yelled as another shot struck the doorjamb.

Then he heard another, louder noise, just once, and everything went quiet.

“Ed?” Susannah called.

“She’s got a gun!” Eagle yelled, flattening himself against the outer wall of the house.

“Not anymore,” Susannah said. “You can come back in.”

Eagle peeked through the front door. The flower woman was lying, spread-eagled on her back, her chest pumping blood. Susannah still stood in a combat stance, holding the.45 that he kept in his bedside drawer.

“Who is she?” Susannah asked.

“I have no idea, except that she delivered a message.” He picked up the card from where he had dropped it and handed it to Susannah.

She glanced at it but kept the pistol pointed at the flower woman. “She’s still bleeding, so she must still be alive. You’d better call an ambulance and the police. Make that two ambulances; you’re bleeding like a stuck pig.”

Eagle put a hand to his ear and walked over to the flower woman, kicking her small pistol away from her. “She’s stopped bleeding,” he said, bending over and putting two fingers to her throat. “She’s dead.”

Susannah walked to the nearest phone, called 911, and spoke to the operator, then she went to the fridge in the kitchen and came back with some ice wrapped in a dish towel and applied it to Eagle’s ear.

“You’ve got a nice, clean notch there,” she said. “A battle scar in the Barbara wars.”

“Which are now, officially, over,” he said.

“That’s what you said five minutes ago,” she replied, kissing him. “I’m going to keep going around armed for a while.”

“So am I,” he said, putting an arm around her and leading her back to the bedroom. “We’d better dress for the police.”

“When they’re gone, I’ll start over with the eggs Benedict,” she said.

“When they’re gone, we’ll start over with everything,” Eagle replied.