knowing that he wanted my daughter, what he was going to do to her, Iâ¦I just lost it.â
âHow badly did you lose it?â I had visions of Esther wresting the shotgun away from old Solomon and giving him both barrels in the chest. It was probably what Iâd do if Rebecca had been my daughter.
âI started screaming at him, calling him all sorts of names. I told him heâd marry Rebecca over my dead body. It became ugly enough that he told the other men to leave us alone. I think he was afraid of what I might say. About him. About Purity.â
I thought about this for a minute. âAnd did they leave you two alone?â
She nodded. âThey went further up the canyon, in the direction of Zion City. But not so far that I couldnât hear them stomping around in the brush.â
I pulled my pen and notebook out of my carry-all. âGive me the menâs names. Theyâll probably be called as witnesses, so we need to be prepared.â I waited expectantly.
Nothing.
âEsther?â
Her lower lip quivered. âEarl Graff was one of them. We never got along.â
I jotted the name down. âAnd the other man?â
âMy father.â
I sat up straight. âYour father? Thatâs good, then. He wonât want to testify against you.â
She shook her head miserably. âBefore my father left me with the prophet, he called me the Whore of Babylon.â
Not so good. âYour father called you the Whore of Babylon and then he and that other guy, Earl Graff, left you and Solomon alone. What happened next?â
She didnât say anything for a second, then finally took a deep breath. âI called him a pedophile. He slapped me. I started crying and ran back to my car.â
I frowned. âDo you think the other men heard him hit you?â
She shrugged. âWhat if they did? Women get slapped around all the time up there. Itâs how the men keep them in line.â
I frowned. The story sounded reasonable, more or less. I would have liked to learn the real reason Solomon had sent the two men away, but the hard edge in Estherâs voice told me the interview was over. Still, for all the holes in her story, I doubted if Esther had killed Solomon. If she had, Graff and her father would have heard the shotgun blast and nabbed her on the spot. Then they might have indulged themselves in a little Wild West justice. The kind with a rope.
I put my notebook away and prepared to make my exit. Forcing a smile, I patted her hand. âDonât worry. Iâll make sure you have a damned good attorney before Abel gets down here. Weâll have your ex-husband so tied up in red tape on this custody and extradition business that heâll look like Houdini.â
Hope leapt into her eyes. âDo you really believe you can prevent Rebecca from being forced back to Utah?â
âI know I can.â
Iâm such a liar.
Jimmy had left for the semiconductor plant again when I arrived back at Desert Investigations, so I rushed straight to my desk and began making phone calls. I soon discovered that Iâd forgotten that Scottsdaleâs rich and famous tended to flee our hideous heat every summer to hole up in cooler places, such as London or Copenhagen. But after an hour of punching in numbers, I finally hit pay dirt.
Serena Hyath-Allesandro, one of the Valleyâs richest women, remained in town. She had just been released from rehab with her doctorâs warning not to dance the European tango with the fast crowd she usually danced with. Even though I had recently been involved in a murder case which devastated her family, Serena and I had nonetheless developed a wary friendship.
âPolygamy?â she breathed at me over the phone, her voice as thin as Arizonaâs ozone layer. âIn this day and age? Surely you canât be serious.â
I told her that I was very serious indeed, and brought her up to date on Estherâs