I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming Page A

his teens, and his scraggly beard and patchy mustache made him look like a boy made up for a high school play.
    “Amado.” He tapped his badge. “
Yo no soy del ICE. No cuido sobre su estado
.”
    Clare’s voice. Surprised. “I didn’t know you spoke Spanish.”
    He gave her a look. Turned back to the injured man, who was wincing as Annie finished Velcroing the splints in place. “
Amado, charla a mí
.”
    “
Yo soy Amado Esfuentes. Soy legal
.”
    “No cuido. Deseo encontrar a sus amigos y ayudarles. ¿Cuántos de ellos están fuera de allí? ¿Cualquier persona estuvo lastimada?”
    “What’s he saying?” Flynn asked.
    “Same thing I was,” Knox said. “How many are there, is anyone hurt.”
    “Russ.” Clare’s voice was insistent. “I know how many men there were.”
    Of course she did. He was surprised to find a part of himself amused. Smack-dab in the middle of police business.
Just like old times
. He braced his hand against his thigh and stood up.
    “Sister Lucia said there were eight men in the van. They were headed for Michael McGeoch’s dairy farm.”
    He pinched the bridge of his nose beneath his glasses. “Mike McGeoch’s farm? On Lick Springs Road?”
    She shook her head, loosening more strands of hair. “She didn’t say where.” Donald Christie was looking at her, curious about her BDUs, maybe, but he didn’t show any signs of trying out his charm offensive. Of course, she didn’t have everything out there on a platter, like Knox. A jackass like Christie wouldn’t know how to appreciate a woman like Clare.
    He turned to the injured man. Karl and Annie were helping him to his feet. In the light from the ambulance’s interior, the kid’s face was gray beneath his caramel skin and thin beard. Annie frowned. “You’ll have to ask the rest of your questions at the hospital, Chief. We need to get this guy and the other one back.”
    “Okay. Thanks, Annie.” Russ pointed toward the Christies. “You two. Get to the pump truck and get briefed by John Huggins about the search before you call in any of your family.” Thankfully, they shambled off without protest. “And remember what I said!” he called after them. “Knox. Kevin.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Yeah, Chief?”
    “You two keep the van secure until the tow truck gets here. Kevin, show Knox how to write up the accident report.”
    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw desert camo sidling past him. “Where are you going?” he asked.
    “To help with the search.” Clare’s expression said,
What did you think I was going to do
?
    Help with the search. Of course she was. It was too much to hope she might stay out of it for once. “I’m taking off
now
,” he growled.
    “Oh, I’ll get a ride.”
    He sighed. Motioned to his junior officers. “I want you two to see that Reverend Fergusson gets back to her car. And then that she goes
home
.”
    “You want us to stay for the search, Chief?” Kevin sounded as if there was nothing he’d rather do more. Hadley Knox, on the other hand, looked appalled.
    “Yeah. I do. Knox, you’re the only other Spanish speaker here. Make yourself available as necessary.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Are you headed for the hospital, Chief?”
    He shook his head. “I’m going to the McGeoch place and let them know all their farmhands have run off.”
    Clare’s face, outlined in the gathering dark by the flash of red-and-whites, changed. She got it.
    “You know him, Chief?” Flynn continued.
    “Oh, yeah.” He sighed. “He’s my brother-in-law.”
     
     
     
V
     
     
    Amado heard him before he saw him. One of his own, no flashlight, no badly accented shouts of, “We are not I-C-E! We want to help you!” Just the thudding of footfalls and the whipping, crackling sounds of someone running through the forest.
Idiot
. There was a little moonlight shafting through the bare branches and pines, but not enough to make it safe to race all out as if you were sprinting down a street. He had spent