J.A. Jance's Ali Reynolds Mysteries 3-Book Boxed Set, Volume 2: Trial by Fire, Fatal Error, Left for Dead Read Online Free PDF Page A

unions of any kind. Neither had their long-term employees. In her previous career Ali had joined unions because membership had been a prerequisite to taking a job in some places, but she understood Dave’s take on the situation. It was pretty much her own.
    “You could have told me about all this up front,” Ali said.
    “I suppose so,” Dave said, “but if I had, would you have done signed on?”
    “Probably not,” Ali said.
    Dave grinned at her. “See there? It’s a lot harder to back out now that you’ve been introduced to a roomful of people. So how about it? Can I drag you down to Kate’s and buy Yavapai County’s new public information officer a cup of coffee?”
    Ali relented. “I guess so,” she agreed with a laugh. “But the operant word here is ‘temporary,’ not ‘new.’ ”
    “Right,” Dave agreed. “I stand corrected.”
    “Don’t you have something better to do?”
    “Actually, I don’t,” Dave said. “Since I’m not a member of either camp, Sheriff Maxwell asked me to take charge of you. You need to be decked out in your own Kevlar vest, one that you can wear under civilian clothes. You also need working ID badges that’ll let you in and out of the department as well as in and out of this end of the building. That way you won’t have to call down and ask for an escort.”
    “Which reminds me,” Ali said. “Who is the sourpuss behind the partition out in the public lobby? She acted like she was ready to bite my head off.”
    “A younger woman, but not all that good-looking?” Dave asked. “She wears glasses and sort of resembles a horned toad?”
    Ali couldn’t quite suppress a giggle. Dave’s incredibly uncomplimentary description was also on the money.
    “Yes,” she said. “That’s the one.”
    “That’s Holly Mesina, Sally Harrison’s best friend. The two of them go way back.”
    “I take it she’s not too happy about any of what’s going on,” Ali said, “and most especially my showing up on the scene?”
    “That’s right,” Dave said. “She thinks it’s all a witch hunt on Gordy’s part.”
    “As in, any friend of my enemy is my enemy,” Ali added.
    “You’ve got it,” Dave agreed. “Now, how about that cup of coffee? Then we’ll take care of the Kevlar vest, not that you’re ever going to need it.”

CHAPTER 3
    It was a grueling week. On the days Ali had to go all the way to Prescott, the three-hour round-trip made her think she was back to doing a southern California commute, except for the fact that there was a lot less traffic. And far more varied terrain.
    On Friday, to reach the sheriff’s Seligman substation, she’d had to pass through Flagstaff and a vast ponderosa forest. Today, on her way to visit the substation in Congress, she had to drive through Prescott and then down Yarnell Hill, passing from pine to piñon to prickly pear and yucca and finally to saguaro.
    When Ali had worked on the East Coast, she had discovered there were plenty of people there who assumed that Arizona was all saguaros all the time, but that wasn’t true. Saguaros are picky about where they grow, and they like to grow together. No matter how many times Ali drove down to the desert valleys that surrounded Sedona, she always watched for the first sentinel saguaro. In this case, the first one was at the top of a cliff near milepost 274. Soon there were dozens more.
    Shortly after passing that outpost saguaro, she ran into aroad-widening project. When a flagger stopped her to wait for the return of a pilot car, Ali leaned back in her seat, closed her eyes, and thought about what she was doing.
    Right, she thought. Something for the home team.
    It was ironic to think that the inspiring words Ali had delivered so cheerfully to the graduating seniors a week earlier were now coming back to haunt her. Other than Dave Holman and Sheriff Maxwell himself, no one else on the sheriff’s office “home team” had been what you could call welcoming of the new