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“Say ‘ain’t’. You can talk better than that.”
“Jesus, Ronnie. You’re about to take sides against me, prosecute me because I didn
’t let some scumbag shoot me, and you’re upset because I said ain’t?”
Belinda cried, saying, “Don’t fight, please don’t fight.”
Brightness lit them up and Hunter shielded her eyes from some of the light. Pepper’s voice was perfectly modulated, rich with emotion, “Ladies and gentlemen, the truth is sometimes harsh, but the camera doesn’t lie. You’ve seen and heard what we all hope never happens: An officer of the law who is so callous, so immune to the pain of others that she causes her own mother, lying in a hospital bed-” Pepper moved to the bed and leaned down, placing an arm around the shoulders of the crying woman, “-to cry uncontrollably.” Belinda cried harder, as if on cue. Pepper patted her and rose up to face Hunter, “And to show such hardness. To kill another human being, to take a precious life, and call Julian Garcia, a man who was serenading his wife that morning, a Scumbag?”
Ronald touched Pepper’s shoulder and said, “This is an emotional time for our family, perhaps another time would be better.”
Pepper said, “We understand, Ronald.” She turned to the camera, “We’ll have more on this saga, of a family with honor and…dishonor. This is Pepper Easton, KPSO News Seven.” She made the cut signal and the lights went out. She turned to Ronald and left a quarter-inch of space between her body and his, “Always a pleasure to see you, Ronald.”
Hunter checked Pepper’s hair from behind and imagined holding two long, red, ripped-out handfuls of it at her sides. The thought gave her satisfaction.
Pepper turned to face her, smiling like an old friend. “Well, Hunter, I think that went well, don’t you? Why don’t we do our one-on-one in the waiting room? Lots of comfortable chairs and good background colors to make us look more attractive to the male viewers…what?”
Hunter said, “Un-frigging-believable.”
“What did I do?”
Hunter held her hand in front of Pepper’s face with the thumb and index finger a half-inch apart, “I’m about this close to tearing that mike out of your hands and-”
Ronald stepped between them and walked Pepper and her cameraman out of the room.
Belinda said, “Baby, she’s not going to forget that.” She’d stopped crying.
Hunter nodded, “I bet not.”
“I hope you and Ronald can become close again. It’s killing me, watching the two of you fighting. You, especially. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so angry.”
“There are a lot of things going on, Mom.”
Ronald came in and went to Hunter. He put his hand on the side of her face, “I’m sorry. I didn’t call them here. I figure somebody at the hospital tipped them off. I wouldn’t have had that happen.”
Hunter didn’t say anything, but she didn’t move away, either.
Ronald said, “You know, you should get Truman to videotape you making a statement on this. He’s good at it; he could do a lot of damage control.”
“I figured you’d be tickled with all that.”
“I don’t take cheap shots, Hunter.”
She changed the subject, “You going to keep Mom with you for a while?”
“Yeah, I’ve got somebody hired to stay with her until the doctor says she’s all right.”
Belinda said, “You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not here, you know.”
Hunter went to her and kissed her cheek, “We knew you didn’t miss anything.” Hunter said, “I have to get back to Marfa. Got to go to work tonight.”
“Be careful, dear.”
Ronnie hugged her - no words, and she left.
***
Hunter didn’t go straight to Marfa; instead she drove across town to Biggs Army Airfield and stopped at the El Paso Intelligence Center, the premier information-gathering, multi-agency operation in the southwest. Hunter entered and presented her credentials, then went to a back office and knocked on the frame of an open door. Two men and a woman sat at a small conference table in front of a large topographic map of the U.S.-Mexico border. There were hundreds of small, colored pins stuck in the map, most of them clustered along the border, but others fanning out to the top margins of the map. “Hey, Hunter,” said the man closest to her.
