Michael McGarity - Mexican Hat

"What about Henry's mother?"

"Yolanda works down at the Glenwood District Office as a secretary.

Charlie Perry hired her right after he came to the district. About two years ago.

I'm sure you've met her."

"I have. Does anybody in the family have a criminal record?"

Carol raised an eyebrow.

"That's a tall order. The Lujan and Ortiz families are rather large.

How deeply do you want to delve?"

"Just the principals we've been talking about."

"Amador served eighteen months for a residential burglary when he was younger. Twenty years or so ago. He got a governor's pardon right before he started working for the Forest Service."

"Do you know the reason for the pardon?" Kerney inquired.

"I think Edgar Cox arranged it for him. Edgar was chairman of the county commission at the time."

"So Henry and Steve have a clean slate?"

"As far as I know. Henry, certainly. With Steve I'd only be guessing, but Catron County is too small for me not to have heard something."

"Any womanizing?"

"Steve?" Carol asked incredulously.

"Yolanda would hand him his huevos on a platter if he tried.

And if she didn't do it, Amador would." She spread her hands out in a gesture of helplessness.

"Sorry I can't give you more. As far as I know, Steve, Henry, and Amador are solid citizens. I don't see them as bad guys."

"That helps."

"Speaking of bad guys, Charlie Perry came back this morning. He wanted to know if you had filed a final report."

Kerney held out the papers.

"Thanks," Carol said.

"I think I'll mail it to him.

Another reply came in to your inquiry right after Charlie left. A BLM officer down in Doming would like you to call him. He just got back from a trip to Washington and read your fax message." Carol pushed a piece of paper across her desk.

Kerney picked it up.

"You aren't going to give this to Charlie?"

Carol smiled sweetly.

"Of course I am. I'll mail it to him with your report. He should receive it in three or four days."

"That should do nicely."

"I thought you'd appreciate it." Carol leaned forward, her expression earnest.

"You did one hell of a job saving Jim. I think you deserve recognition for it."

"You're not going to get all mushy on me, are you?" Kerney chided.

Carol giggled.

"Absolutely not. But you do deserve something better than a pink slip for your efforts."

"I'll take that ride to Reserve," Kerney proposed.

Leaning against the corral fence, Edgar watched Cody practice roping his pony. A dark sorrel mare with a bald face, standing barely fourteen hands high. Babe was a gentle horse. Cody made another throw, the noose of the lariat fell short, and Babe loped to the far side of the corral, a good hundred feet away from the boy.

"I still can't do it. Grandpa," Cody moaned, slapping the rope against his leg.

"Yes you can," Edgar replied, as he stepped over to the boy.

"Watch me one more time." Edgar uncoiled his lasso and started a slow spin with the noose.

"You need to twirl a circle," he said.

"Don't let your noose flatten out. Don't try to spin it too fast. Let your wrist do the work for you. Swing the loop up above your head.

Listen to the sound it makes. Don't throw the rope at the horse. Let it float out to where you want it to go."

Edgar walked toward Babe with long, fluid strides, Cody at his heels.

Swinging the noose slowly above his head, letting it gradually pick up speed, he flicked his wrist and the loop settled over Babe's neck. He walked to the mare and retrieved the lasso. Babe snorted at him and walked away.

"What kind of sound did you hear?" Edgar asked.

"Kind of a whisper. A hissing whisper," Cody answered.

"That's the sound."

"I'll never get it right," Cody complained in frustration.

Edgar rubbed Cody's head.

"Yes, you will." He took Cody's lasso and shortened the loop. Babe had moved to the gate by the horse barn, where Carl Sloan, one of two hired hands, was cleaning out stalls. Edgar caught the mare by the halter and brought her back to the center of the corral.

"Let's try it with you sitting on my shoulders," Edgar said, as he lifted the boy up and moved ten feet back from the mare.

Babe gave them a snort and a curious look. Cody spun the lasso and Edgar waited until the sound it made cutting through the air was just about right.

"Let it go."

The noose fell neatly over Babe's neck.

"I did it!" Cody shouted.

"You sure did." He set Cody down, walked to the corral fence, and dropped his rope over a post.

"Now try it again."

As Edgar watched Cody, his thoughts wandered. It was hard for him to pretend it was just another ordinary day. Margaret was in the kitchen with Elizabeth, working up meals for the freezer that would carry Edgar through her surgery and hospitalization. She acted as though she were preparing for nothing more than one of her periodic visits to her sister. On top of that worry, he was damn unhappy with himself for lying to Karen. While she hadn't said a word about it, he knew she didn't believe him.

He could see it in her eyes.

Engrossed in his thoughts, Edgar didn't hear Kerney drop over the corral fence.

"Mr. Cox," Kerney said politely.

Surprised, Edgar turned his head.

"Mr. Kerney."

He looked back at Cody, who was moving in on Babe for another try. He didn't want to think about Eugene, Jose Padilla, or any of it. Not now.

Kerney remained silent.

Edgar got tired of waiting.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, his blue eyes searching Kerney's face.

"I thought you'd like to know about Jose Padilla.

Seems he is from around these parts."

"Did he tell you that?"

"No, his daughter did. Padilla died last night."

"I'm sorry to hear it."

"She also told me why Padilla came back. He thought his father was murdered."

"That's pretty unlikely."

"Why do you say that?"

Edgar paused, rubbed his palm along the smooth corral railing, and tried to stay calm. Cody's throw snaked out and the noose snapped against Babe's neck. The horse whinnied and skipped back from the boy.

"Let the noose open up before you throw it," Edgar called.

"Remember the circle. Don't let the noose flatten out."

Cody nodded glumly and walked toward the mare, coiling his lariat for another throw.

"Why do you say Don Luis wasn't murdered?" Kerney asked.

"Because he died in a fall with his horse."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure. Don Luis was an old man who went into the mountains alone once too often. He got caught in a blinding spring snowstorm and tried to find his way home. His horse plunged off a ridge.

Dropped a good sixty, seventy feet. Took Don Luis with him."

"Where did this happen?"

"Near Elderman Meadows. They didn't find his body for two weeks."

"What was he doing up there?"

"His sheepherder quit on him to take a WPA job building roads for the county. He hired a replacement, but the man didn't show. When the storm blew in, he went to check on the herd. He needed those sheep. He planned to sell them at the end of the season to pay a banknote and taxes. He was trying to hold on and get through the Depression, just like everybody else."

"What happened to the sheep?"

"Stolen. Most folks figured the sheep had been rustled before Don Luis left the hacienda."

"Was the crime ever solved?"

"No."

"Ever hear of a place called Mexican Hat?" Kerney asked.

"Can't say I have," Edgar answered.

"I hear you've been released from your position."

"That's true."

"Will you be staying on in Catron County?"

"Probably not."

Edgar watched Cody. He was all tensed up again and twirling much too hard.

"I didn't think so. Not many jobs hereabouts."