Trouble at the Red Pueblo Read Free Page A

love to go there again.”
    Jack turned to face Spider. “Uh, you too, Spencer. Glad to have you come. Do you ride?”
    Spider offered his hand. “Yes, but this is a working trip for me. I’d better not make any plans.”
    The two men shook, and then Spider walked behind Laurie, his hand on the small of her back, as they wove through the tables and across the foyer to the exit.
    Night had fallen while they were having dinner, and the evening was pleasantly warm as they walked back to the hotel. Laurie linked her arm through Spider’s. “Nicely done, Spencer.”
    “Yeah, well don’t try to talk me into going riding with you two.”
    A couple walked by, having an animated conversation in what appeared to be Japanese. Spider waited until they had passed and then remarked, “I’ve heard about three different languages tonight. I didn’t realize Kanab was such a crossroads.”
    “I think that’s why that summer I spent here was so exciting. People come from all over the world to see the nearby National Parks, and I got asked out in five languages.”
    “But you didn’t go because your true love was Cousin Jack.”
    “I didn’t go because I was a shy, small-town waitress, afraid to move out of her protected circle.”
    They reached the pickup, and Spider opened the passenger door for Laurie. As he walked around to his side, an ambulance went by, siren wailing. He got in and waited until the sound faded before asking, “Are you sorry you never ventured beyond the small-town life?”
    She shook her head. “No. Our sons moving so far away and doing great things showed me that distant places and different people aren’t scary. I guess a small town just suited me.” She looked both ways as the pickup stopped at the edge of the parking lot. “Do you know where you’re going?”
    “Yeah, I think. The highway is Center Street, and the stop light is Main. We need to go north a couple blocks and then east.”
    They drove away from the city center to where street lights were fewer, and Laurie rolled down her window. “I always loved the summer nights in Kanab. They seemed more exciting than the nights at home.” As they turned a corner, she pointed at flashing lights a couple blocks away. “Some family’s got a tragedy going on.”
    “Yeah, and by my reckoning, that’s just about where we’re headed. Can you see anything?”
    “Even numbers are on this side.”
    Spider pulled up behind the ambulance and peered through the windshield, trying to locate the address on the house that stood with its front door open. “That’s it,” he said, reaching for the door handle. “I don’t like bothering people when they’ve got something like this going on, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
    “At least the police aren’t here,” Laurie said.
    “Not yet, anyway. Stay here.” He got out and crossed the lawn, reaching the edge of the yellow circle thrown by the porch light as a uniformed man backed through the doorway on one end of a wheeled stretcher. His partner followed on the other end, and they passed by Spider on the way to the ambulance. In the shadows, Spider was aware that the man on the stretcher had gray hair and an oxygen mask. Two people trailed behind— a young man with his arm around an older woman. She walked with hunched shoulders and folded arms. They stopped near Spider as the EMTs slid the stretcher inside, and the sound of the legs folding rang loudly in the quiet of the night.
    The ambulance doors slammed shut, and the young man said, “Come on, Mom. We’ll meet him at the hospital.” He tugged on her arm. “You go get in the car. I’ll close the front door.”
    Feeling uncomfortable and intrusive, Spider followed him across the lawn. “Excuse me. Are you… is this where the Taylors live?”
    The young man whirled, obviously startled. “Yes?”
    “I know this is a bad time.”
    “This is a very bad time.” He jerked the front door closed and strode to the car with Spider in