Michael McGarrity - The Judas judge

"How did she hook up with Langsford?"

"I don't know."

"Murray was Langsford's lover. She's also having an affair with her former therapist, Joel Cushman. Cushman's married. He said he was with Murray in an Albuquerque hotel the night Langsford was shot."

"Do you think Cushman and Murray may have come up with the spree killing scheme so that Murray could inherit the million dollars?"

"Maybe. But it appears that Cushman is well-off, and we know Murray hasn't been hurting for money. Cushman swears Murray was with him in his room from eleven-thirty at night until the next morning. He says they ordered room service and had breakfast together Have the agent who backtracked on Murray talk to house keeping, room service, and the hotel auditor. And let's take a close look at Cushman."

"Roger that."

"Have you got any documentation on Murray?"

"The usual," Sedillo said, as he pulled a file from his briefcase and passed it over. "Copies of her birth certificate, public school and college transcripts, motor vehicle records, the criminal records check, and the agent's field notes."

Kerney opened the file. "Did you hit any pay dirt with the Langsford search warrant?"

"Nothing more than what I already told you about, Chief."

Kerney scanned Murray's junior college transcript, closed the file, and stood up. "I'm going to Roswell."

"What's up?"

"Murray's home address on her junior college transcript is the same as Penelope Gibben's."

Penelope Gibben's office in the Ranchers' Exploration and Development suite on the eighth floor of the tallest building in town afforded her a view of a slice of Main Street and the old warehouse district next to the railroad tracks.

She sat behind a polished walnut desk and looked at Kerney with a wrinkled brow.

"I saw no reason to tell you Kay was my niece," Gibben said. "She came to live with me after her mother-my sister-died. It was my idea to take her in."

"Did you pay her tuition and expenses while she was in school?"

"Of course. She wanted to be more than a coffee shop waitress or a barmaid. She would have gone to college right after high school if her mother hadn't been so sick with cancer."

"So Vernon Langsford must have known Kay while she was living with you."

"Yes. He grew very fond of her."

"How fond?" Kerney asked.

"In a fatherly way."

"How did Langsford come to seek Kay out and offer her a job?"

"They kept in touch after she moved to Albuquerque. He knew she was working as a housekeeper and trying to get her career in fiber art under way. Soon after he moved to Ruidoso, he made her an offer that gave her the opportunity to earn a decent living and still have time for her art."

"Did you know Langsford left the same amount to both of you in his will? A million dollars each. He must have held you both in high regard."

"What an interesting thing to say."

"Did you know that Kay was his lover?" Kerney asked.

"I had my suspicions."

"That didn't trouble you?"

"I've already told you my sexual relationship with Vernon ended with the death of his wife."

"When did Langsford start sleeping with your niece?"

"I assume it was after she went to work for him."

"Not before? Not when Kay was living with you?" Gibben looked at Kerney frostily.

"You and your niece are very much alike, in personality and looks. She was young, pretty, creative, and intelligent. Surely, Langsford had to be drawn to her, just as he'd been drawn to you."

"I think we've talked enough."

"Did you send her to college in Albuquerque to get rid of her?"

Penelope stood up and pointed to her office door. "Good day, Mr. Kerney."

"To have your niece-a young woman you so graciously took in compete for your lover's attention and affection must have made you jealous and angry."

Frozen in place, Penelope Gibben didn't answer, but Kerney could see fury building in her eyes. He smiled and let himself out of her office.

Kerney caught up with Kay Murray outside her town house.

"Go away," she said, striding past him.

"Would you be more comfortable talking to me at the city police headquarters?" he asked.

She stopped and wheeled. "You're such a bully. Are you the morals police, Mr. Kerney? Is that what this is all about? Do you have some lowbrow, pernicious interest in other people's personal lives?"

"You've talked to Joel Cushman."

"You bet I have."

"I have only one question: When you were living with your Aunt Penelope did Langsford seduce you or did you seduce him?"

"Jesus, you just don't quit."

"Well?"

"It was mutual, okay?"

"That must have been hard on your aunt."

"She threw me out because of it. Vernon forced her to take me back."

"How did he do that?"

"Penelope was so entwined in Vernon's life on every basic level, that she had no choice. She needed him."

"For what?"

"All the creature comforts."

"Or did she use him?" Kerney countered.

"No, Mr. Kerney, she needed him. That's why Vernon turned to me. I used him. He never had to question the nature of our relationship. It was always clearly understood."

"Neat and tidy."

"Exactly."

"Do you think Penelope is capable of murder?"

"Murdering Vernon?"

"And his wife," Kerney added.

"No more so than I am. Neither of us are violent people, capable of murder."

"Is that a fact?" Kerney said, turning away. "You don't believe me?"

"Why should I?"

Kay tapped her forefinger against her temple. "I get rid of people in my mind, Mr. Kerney. It's a lot cleaner and neater. Just like locking a door and walking away."

"What are you going to do with the million-dollar inheritance?"

"Use it to stay far away from people like you."

Kerney left Kay Murray standing on the walkway and started the drive back to Alamogordo. Just about every possible motive for murder-sex, jealousy, money, revenge, politics, adultery, and deceit was bouncing around the Langsford killing, and Kerney didn't have one hard target in sight.

He ran over some suppositions in his mind. Did Murray kill Langsford for her inheritance? And if so, was Joel Cushman her accomplice?

Money problems would have to surface for that notion to stand up. Or was the killer Penelope Gibben, who might be holding a grudge about being dumped for a younger woman by her ex-lover? That idea had some possibilities.

But in spite of an initial unwillingness to cooperate, all of them had folded easily under questioning, and none of them appeared to have the stealth or cunning needed to pull off a copycat spree killing to get to Langsford.

One question rang true: Why did every one of them still seem to be hiding something?

He made radio contact with Lee Sedillo and asked about Linda and Eric Langsford.

"Still nada, Chief."

"I'll be at my motel room."

"Ten-four."

Clayton Istee took a deep breath, made a fist, and knocked on the motel room door. He heard some movement inside and then the door opened to reveal a shirtless Kevin Kerney. Low on his bare stomach was an ugly surgical scar.

"We might as well get this over with," Clayton said, raising his eyes to Kerney's face.

"Come in," Kerney said.

Clayton stepped inside and watched Kerney pull on a sweatshirt. "So you're my father," he said.

"That's what I've been told."

Clayton scanned Kerney's face. "I've always wondered what you looked like."

"I hope it's not too much of a disappointment." Kerney sat on the edge of the bed and gestured at the chair. "Have a seat."

Clayton swung the chair around from the desk and sat. His body felt tight and his stomach churned. "I don't know if I'm ready for this."

"I don't know if I am, either," Kerney replied.

"You're willing to take my mother's word that you're my father?"