Michael McGarity - Mexican Hat

The early-evening sky was a banner of pink-and white clouds bordered by azure blue. Kerney checked his watch. Quitting time had come and gone.

Carol was probably at home. He'd swing by and see her.

Charlie Perry drove past as Kerney turned onto the road to the compound where Carol and her family lived. Kerney waved at Charlie to be polite and got a quick nod in exchange.

Carol's husband answered Kerney's knock, invited him inside, and had him wait in the front room. With a piano against one wall, a loom with an unfinished weaving next to a window, and the remaining space filled with homey overstuffed chairs and oak furniture, the room felt both cluttered and comfortable. Carol came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dish towel.

"I've been listening to the scanner," she said, before Kerney could greet her.

"Is Jim going to be all right?"

"I think he'll make it."

"Thank goodness." She draped the dish towel on the arm of a chair and sat down.

"Please," she said, motioning to another chair across from her.

Kerney joined her.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes. There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just barge ahead. I've been ordered to fire you."

Kerney took it in.

"Is that why Charlie Perry was here?"

"Peripherally. He's been given the mountain lion case."

"Any particular reason why?"

"Because the acting regional forester, who's some thing of a barracuda, decided my decision to use you on the investigation was ill-advised.

Charlie kissed up to him and got the assignment."

"Are you in trouble?" Kerney asked.

"No way. Charlie hasn't got that kind of juice.

Neither does the regional forester."

"So what's this really about?" Kerney inquired.

Carol shrugged.

"Public relations. Bad press. Inability to take the heat. You name it. Aldrich got bitched at by the state police chief and grilled by some reporters. Seems that Omar Gatewood's press release raised the attention of the media."

"That man is a real work of art."

Carol shook her head.

"Tell me about it. I chewed him out for not including me in on the plan."

"I assumed you knew."

"Not until I read it in the newspaper."

Kerney gave Carol an apologetic look.

"I should have told you what was happening. Are you sure you're not in hot water?"

"Not to worry. I already told you I wasn't." Carol stopped talking for a minute.

"You seem more concerned about me than yourself."

Kerney laughed.

"It hasn't sunk in yet. I've never been fired before." "I haven't told anyone about your termination, although I'm sure Charlie Perry will get the word out, if he hasn't already. So, I'm giving you two weeks' notice, and placing you on administrative leave with pay. Technically, your commission will remain valid till then."

"Do you want me to work undercover?"

Carol's eyes flashed.

"You bet I do. Especially after what happened to Jim Stiles. Now it's personal.

I like that young man a hell of a lot. This shooting wasn't a random act of violence. It couldn't be. It has to be tied in with the murder at Elderman Meadows. Are you game?"

"More than game," Kerney replied.

"Catch the bastard, Kevin."

"It would give me great pleasure."

"Two weeks," Carol reminded him.

"That's all the time I can squeeze out for you without being insubordinate."

"A lot can happen in two weeks," he replied.

Henry Lujan, the seasonal employee who manned the lookout tower on Mangas Mountain, gave Kerney a tour. The building, an elevated room on steel pillars with an outside deck that ran around the perimeter of the structure, was glassed on all sides. The amenities consisted of an outdoor privy situated under a tree at the base of the structure and a holding tank for drinking water, replenished by truck as needed.

Kerney walked the deck with Henry, a college student in his third year as a summer worker. The views in every direction were incredible, especially to the west, where a blood-red sunset slashed across the horizon. Lujan pointed out some landmarks before taking Kerney inside: a mountaintop in Arizona, the solitary Allegros Peak on the Continental Divide, and the barely visible plateau that marked the sacred Zuni Salt Lake.

"I can't believe what's been going on around here," Henry said. He hitched himself into a sitting position on a counter that held communication equipment, his feet dangling off the floor. He was about five feet five with a well-developed upper body. He had an easygoing style.

"First the thing at Elderman Meadows, and now Jim Stiles getting shot."

He shook his head in disbelief.

"Too much, man."

"Jim talked to you about Elderman Meadows."

"Yeah. The same day it happened. There wasn't much I could tell him. I don't pay any attention to the meadows. Nobody goes in there except our people and Game and Fish."

"What were you doing at the time?"

Lujan nodded at the cot in the corner of the room.

He had a young face for his age, bony and not yet fleshed-out. Under the cot was a set of barbells. A color television on a metal stand stood at the foot of the cot.

"I was crashed. The radio traffic woke me up. Weekends, I work split shifts because we've got more people camping in the forest. Mornings and nights, that's when I work. When the man-made fire danger is the greatest. Campfires. Cigarettes. That kind of stuff."

"So you were asleep?"

"Yeah. I heard Stiles call in that you'd found that old man. I listened for a minute and went back to sleep."

"You didn't get up to take a look?"

Lujan laughed.

"Look at what? I can't see anything through the forest canopy. I didn't start scanning the meadows until you reported finding a dead body. By then I was awake."

"Did you see anyone today in the vicinity of Padilla Canyon?"

Lujan pushed himself off the counter, got a pair of field glasses, gave them to Kerney, and pointed in the direction of Padilla Canyon.

"That's almost impossible for me to do. Take a look for yourself.

The canyon is hidden by timberland. You can't even tell it's there, except for a few small breaks in the cover. I can't see anything."

Kerney trained the glasses where Henry had pointed. The kid was right.

All he could see in the fading light was a faint gash of the deep ravine obscured by forest.

"Did you have any visitors?"

"Today? Just you."

"How often do you report in by radio?"

"Every hour I log onto the fire watch system.

That's during working shifts. I keep the scanner going and the radio on all the time."

Kerney handed Lujan the field glasses. It should be easy to verify Henry's schedule.

"Do you know a fast way to get from Mangas Campground to Padilla Canyon?" "Maybe fly?" Lujan suggested with a grin and a shrug.

"I haven't the foggiest. Hiking isn't something I'm into. Besides, some of the trails are new.

Not even on the map yet."

"But you can see some trails from here," Kerney proposed.

"Sure. I'll do a visual sweep if someone's reported lost or overdue.

Otherwise, I concentrate on general surveillance."

Next to the cot was a workbench with some tools and a partially disassembled portable shortwave radio-one of the old vacuum-tube models.

"I hear you're going to college," Kerney said.

"Yeah. I just finished my second year at Western New Mexico in Silver City."

Kerney looked at the workbench.

"What's your major? Electronics?"

"No, it's forestry. I bought the radio at a garage sale for ten bucks.

It doesn't work. I'm just tinkering with it to see if I can fix it. It passes the time when there's nothing good on the tube."

"Sounds like fun. Play any sports?"

"What? Oh, you mean my weights. I wrestled in high school. Don't have the time for it now, so I work out just to stay in shape."