Michael McGarrity - Hermit_s Peak

"You read them?"

"Not really."

"Our affair ended after three summers. Erma was not comfortable with it. After she stopped coming to the mesa, I hid her letters in the cabin. I couldn't bring myself to destroy them."

"I understand."

"I loved my wife, Mr. Kerney."

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Mr.

Barela."

"I remained Erma's friend until she died."

"You could do no better than to have Erma as a friend."

"She used to speak to me of a young man who went to the university. The son of her college roommate."

"That was my mother."

"Erma had great affection for you."

"We were both lucky to have her friendship. Did you go to the cabin yesterday to remove Erma's letters?"

Nestor rose from his chair.

"Yes. I feared the cabin might be searched because of what happened on the mesa. I didn't want the letters to be found. Will you keep my secret?"

Kerney got to his feet.

"Your secret is safe with me. I do have one question for you, on a different subject.

Does Bernardo frequently use your truck?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"I'm looking for a witness who may have seen a young woman on the day she disappeared. A vehicle much like yours was reported in the area on that same day."

"Bernardo can only borrow my truck for work. That is my rule."

"Is it a hard and fast rule?"

"On occasion, when his car has not been running, I have let him use the truck."

"Do you remember when that was?"

"The last time was just after Thanksgiving. He needed to get a new water pump for his car."

"And before that?"

"It was last spring, in April, I believe. Bernardo's car would not start, and he had a friend to meet."

"Do you remember who he was meeting?"

"No."

"Do you remember the day?"

"It was on a weekend."

"I doubt it's important," Kerney said with a shrug as he held out a business card.

"But I do need to talk to Bernardo. Would you ask him to call me when he has a chance?"

"I will see that he does."

"Thank you."

Kerney left the Barela compound thinking that digging up Nestor Barela's long-buried secret had unearthed another reason to suspect Bernardo. His next step was to identify the passenger in Nestor's truck, find the kid, and take a statement.

The evening wind blew hard out of the mountains. It swirled last fall's leaves into the air, whipped through tree boughs dense with buds, and shouldered the car toward the center of the roadway.

Kerney headed for the district office. He would check in with Santa Fe, deal by phone with whatever required his immediate attention, and stay the night in Las Vegas.

In the morning, he'd start looking for Bernardo's bros.

Minutes after checking into a Las Vegas motel, Kerney got a phone call that took him to Anton Chico. He arrived to find a group of locals lined up along the fence of the Aland property, watching crime scene technicians gathering evidence from a pickup truck inside a garage.

Several uniforms were searching large trailers parked on the lot. On the wooden deck of a modular home, a young woman barely out of her teens watched the activity with wide eyes. She wore a warm coat and held a baby bundled in a blanket against her hip.

Kerney spotted Captain Garduno in front of a single-story adobe house.

Garduno, red-faced and angry, had Gabe Gonzales, Russell Thorpe, and another uniformed officer braced. Kerney stayed back and listened while Garduno butt-chewed Gabe for pursuing an investigation while on administrative leave. When Garduno finished ragging at the other two men for helping Gonzales, he saw Kerney, and walked to him.

"You heard that?" Garduno asked.

"I did. You need to know that I authorized Sergeant Gonzales to continue his investigation."

Garduno's face turned red.

"We got a chain of command here. Chief. You should have informed me."

"You're right, I should have."

Garduno pulled his chin back and scanned Kerney's face.

"If you want to take over my job and run the district, at least tell me to my face."

"That was not my intention, Captain."

Garduno squared his shoulders.

"This is a policy violation.

I have to document it for the record."

"Write it up. Captain, and make it dear in your report that I assume full responsibility for the infraction."

"Are you serious?"

"You bet I am. Send your report directly to Chief Baca."

"You mean that?"

"Consider it an order. Captain." Kerney took a step away from Garduno and stopped.

"It looks like Gabe has made some progress in the case, doesn't it?" he added.

Garduno opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it, and damped his lips together.

Gabe, Russell Thorpe, and the patrol officer-a man Kerney didn't know-nodded when he drew near. The officer wore corporal chevrons and hash marks on his uniform shirt denoting a senior patrolman with ten years of service. His name tag read Art Garda.

"Is everything squared away?" Gabe asked.

"I think so."

Gabe introduced Kerney to Art Garda. After shaking Garda's hand, Kerney asked for a status report.

"We've recovered a handgun, a chain saw, and a pair of wire cutters from the truck," Gabe replied.

"The gun is the same caliber used in the Boaz shooting. There's blood splatter on the driver's door, and the tires match the tread impressions we took at Boaz's cabin."

"Do you have any idea why Rudy killed Boaz?"

"According to Boaz's journal, he was squeezing Rudy for more money. I figure he knew that Rudy was pulling jobs in the San Geronimo area, and fencing hot merchandise out of Texas. My guess is Rudy wanted to make sure Boaz didn't talk."

"That's a damn good motive for murder. Have you tied Rudy into any of the San Geronimo burglaries?"

Gabe shook his head.

"Not yet. But I think Lenny Alarid and Joaquin Santistevan were in on them with Rudy. I doubt Rudy was the brains behind the operation."

"Run it down for me."

"Rudy was part of an interstate burglary and fencing scheme operating between here and West Texas. We've recovered a number of items from the Boaz cabin and Angle Romero's house that were taken in major West Texas heists. I believe Rudy kept some of the stolen merchandise for himself and gave some to Boaz as partial payment for access to the woodcutting site."

"What else have you got?"

Gabe nodded at the girl on the deck.

"Joaquin is supporting a wife at home, as well as Bema over there with her new baby. He bought Bema a house, a car, and furniture, which I don't think he paid for out of the salary his daddy gives him.

"Bema is Lenny's step-daughter. He makes frequent runs to West Texas, hauling firewood and wood chips for Santistevan. I don't think that's all he's been freighting"

"Do you have any hard evidence?" Kerney asked.

"No, but Bema said Lenny keeps a semitrailer on the property mat he uses for special runs. She doesn't know what kind. He moved it off the property yesterday."

"You think he transferred the stolen goods?"

"That's what I would have done," Gabe replied.

"I'd like to send Thorpe and Officer Garda down to Santa Rosa to poke around. If Aland did move the stolen merchandise, Santa Rosa would be a good spot to store it."

"Don't."

Gabe turned to Thorpe and Garda.

"Take off. guys. I want every warehouse, storage unit, or possible hiding place in Santa Rosa covered by morning. Call me at home if you find anything."

Thorpe grinned and Garda nodded.

Kerney waited to speak until the two men were on the way to their units.

"What can you tell me about Bernardo Barela mat isn't in the background information Captain Garduno prepared for me?"

"Not much. He had some juvenile arrests when he was in his early teens. Mostly for getting into fights and underage drinking. Nothing serious enough to get him locked up. He was released to the custody of his parents."