Lena Jones 02 - Desert Wives

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.
    “Polygamy?” she breathed at me over the phone, her voice as thin as Arizona’s ozone layer. “In this day and age? Surely you can’t be serious.”
    I told her that I was very serious indeed, and brought her up to date on Esther’s case. When I reached the part about Rebecca’s possible return to Purity, I could almost hear her spine stiffen.
    “Well, that’s simply not to be allowed,” she said, her voice firmer. “Tell you what. I’m on the board of My Sister’s House, a shelter for victims of domestic abuse, and another board member, Ray Winfield, you know him, he’s the attorney who got Craig Merryweather off when he was accused of murdering that topless dancer. Ray and I…” She let the sentence trail off, but I could have finished it for her. According to the society pages, Ray Winfield and Serena had become an item, and rumors floated around town that they would marry as soon as her divorce from her third Eurotrash husband came through. “I can promise you that Ray will be down at the jail in less than an hour.”
    When Serena Hyath-Allesandro said she would do something, it was as good as done, so I thanked her and hung up. For a moment I sat looking out the window, just thinking about families and the trouble they could get into.
    “Lena? Lena?” Jimmy’s voice snapped me out of my reverie. He’d returned while I’d been on the phone with Serena. “How’s Esther?” The look on his face hinted at more than concern, and I realized that my soft-hearted partner had fallen for yet another client.
    “Her ex-husband is coming down from Utah to take Rebecca back with him. The kid’s with a friend of Esther’s roommate right now, but it’s just a matter of time before she’s handed over to CPS or her father. I think Esther’s more worried about that than the murder charge.”
    Jimmy’s tribal tattoos darkened. He loathed the prospect of returning Esther to Purity as much as I did. No surprise there. Pimas respected women, and their culture vilified the seduction of young girls.
    Then a small smile tugged at the edge of his mouth, and the tattoos lightened. “You know, Pima land is sovereign territory. We have our own police, our own court system.”
    I frowned. “Your point being?”
    His smile broadened. “My point being that Utah couldn’t pick up so much as a stray dog from Pima land, let alone a little girl spending some time with her Pima friends.”
    I got it. “Which Pima friends?”
    “Oh, let’s say for instance her dear friend Tiffany Sisiwan, who just happens to be my niece. Utah shows up at Tiffany’s house, well, Tiffany’s dad will get real irritated and show Utah the quickest way off the rez. Maybe even at gunpoint.”
    I smiled back at him. “Jimmy, you are the most underhanded noncriminal I know. I can’t begin to tell you how much I admire you for it.”
    Thought being father to the deed, Jimmy immediately called his brother and explained the situation, while I called Esther’s roommate and told her what we planned to do. Within minutes, Curtis Sisiwan and his wife were on their way to pick up Rebecca.
    Rebecca’s safety now guaranteed, Jimmy returned to his computer. Exhausted after flying in the face of so many child custody laws, I tried to relax by watching a herd of sunburned tourists exit a chartered bus and begin strolling along the neighboring art galleries on Main Street. It was something like watching the buffalo roam, except that tourists moved with less purpose. They drifted, sweating, into one gallery and out the other, emerging with bad paintings of Italian-looking “Indians” and plaster statues of howling coyotes.
    I understood why Scottsdale was considered an Eden in the midst of winter, when as the rest of the country shivered in sub-zero temperatures, we barbequed by the pool. But in summer? Why on earth would someone from cool, shady Minnesota visit Arizona, where asphalt had been known to melt as early as May?
    This conundrum cleared my mind wonderfully, and so I began to relax, my eyes following the tourists until they climbed back onto the bus.
    Jimmy began straightening his desk. “I think I’ll head over to Curtis’s house. Anything you want me to tell Rebecca while I’m there?”
    “Tell her not to worry, that her mother will be out of jail in no