Michael McGarrity - Hermit_s Peak

"Nothing."

With Gabe at his heels, Kerney checked the front door, found it locked, walked to the backyard, and tried the rear door to the empty apartment.

The doorknob turned and he stepped inside the kitchen of the empty apartment.

Gabe moved to the sink.

"This window is unlatched," he said.

"I think Bernardo is ready to make his move," Kerney said.

"I hope you're right. Chief," Gabe said as he stared out the window.

"What's Orlando got to do with this?" he asked softly, almost to himself.

It wasn't Kerney's question to answer. By now, Gabe had to suspect Orlando and Bernardo were somehow linked together in the Luiza San Miguel slaying. Maybe Orlando had been just a witness to the rape and murder, or maybe he was an equal partner in the crime. Whatever fell out, it was impossible to dismiss Orlando's disappearance as a coincidence.

"Let's see what pans out," Kerney replied.

They took a quick tour of Jessica's apartment to check the layout.

Bernardo threw the empty beer can out the truck window and popped open another one. There were only a few old dudes fishing along the shore of the lake at the Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge. The wintering waterfowl were gone for the season and without the birds as an attraction nobody but fishermen, a few curious tourists, and occasional picnickers came to the place during the spring and summer.

Situated on the high plains a few miles outside of Las Vegas, there wasn't much to the refuge-just marshes, the lake, cornfields planted to lure and feed migrating birds, and a view of the mountains.

Bernardo swallowed some beer, thought about Jessica Varela, and got a warm feeling in his groin. Everything he knew about her told him she was going to do exactly what he wanted, the way he wanted. Which meant he'd be able to save the best for last. That made Bernardo smile. He was going to have a real good time.

He finished the beer, flipped the can out the window, and fired up the truck. Everything was set to go. The cops were off his case, Orlando was dead and buried, and Jessica would be all alone in her apartment with no downstairs tenants for him to worry about. It couldn't be better.

On the highway into town, a state police cruiser passed him going in the opposite direction. He smiled and waved, and the cop waved back.

He watched in his rearview mirror. The cop kept heading south without slowing. Cops, including Orlando's old man and that gringo with the limp, were stupid fuckers.

He checked the time. He had a couple of hours of work to do at home in the horse barn. Then he'd eat supper, clean up real good, and get ready for his date with Jessica.

Beasly and his prospective renters showed up late and didn't leave until eight o'clock. Kerney and Gabe waited until they drove away before approaching the house.

Ben Morfin, who'd been glued to Barela since he'd been sighted on the highway, came on Kerney's handheld as they crossed the street.

"He's moving toward town."

"Shit," Kerney said as he unlocked the front door.

"ETA?"

"Traffic is light," Ben said.

"Five minutes, max."

"Talk him in to me."

"Copy that," Ben said.

With Gabe behind him, Kerney hurried up the stairs.

He opened the door and used his flashlight to scan the front room. It was crammed with furniture. In the middle of the room, a Victorian love seat faced a bentwood rocker and two walls of books sat on shelves made out of bricks and boards. Under the front window, an arrangement of plants in ceramic pots filled the top of an occasional table.

Magazines and newspapers littered a glass-top coffee table and spilled over onto the floor.

"ETA two minutes," Ben said.

"He's coming your way."

"Check the bedroom," Kerney said to Gabe as he opened the entry closet.

It was small and stuffed with coats, jackets, boots, mops, brooms, and an upright vacuum cleaner.

"Clear," Gabe said as he came out of the bedroom.

Kerney threw an armload of coats in Gabe's arms.

"Put this stuff on the bed." He grabbed the vacuum cleaner, mop, broom, and a few more coats, followed Gabe into the bedroom, and dumped the load on the floor.

"He parked three blocks away," Ben said.

"He's on foot and carrying a small bag."

"Roger mat," Kerney said, turning to Gabe.

"I'll take the bedroom. You take the closet."

"I want first crack at him. Chief," Gabe said.

"Do it by the book. Lieutenant."

Gabe didn't answer.

Kerney shined his flashlight in Gabe's face.

"Did you hear me?"

"I heard you."

"Two blocks," Ben said.

Kerney clicked his send button to acknowledge Ben's transmission.

"I want Barela all the way inside, understand?

We don't move until we see what he does."

Gabe nodded, switched off his flashlight, and got inside the closet.

In the bedroom, Kerney fanned his flashlight quickly over the room before killing it. The beam illuminated a row of teddy bears on a dresser top, a desk that held a lamp, clock radio, and laptop computer, and a mattress and box springs that sat on the floor covered by a comforter.

The apartment felt like a hideout from the world.

Kerney doubted that another human being had been invited to the apartment since the day Jessica moved in.

"He's in the garage at the back of the house," Ben said.

"We're going off the air," Kerney said.

"Two radio clicks mean you move, Gabe."

"Ten-four."

Kerney left the bedroom door slightly ajar so he could see into the living room. With Gabe positioned in the closet, once Bernardo gained entry, he'd be boxed in.

Kerney glanced out the bedroom window. A gusting wind buffeted branches of an elm tree against the glass.

He wondered what Gabe would do once he got his hands on Bernardo.

Kerney wanted answers as badly as Gabe.

Should he let Gabe step over the line, or hold him back?

The sound of footsteps on the stairs made Kerney stop thinking about Gabe. He heard the rattling of tools, followed by the sound of a hammer striking metal. It made no sense until Kerney realized Bernardo was taking the door off the hinges. The first pin popped free and clanged against the wood floor of the landing.

Two more pins fell and Kerney heard the scrape of metal against metal as Bernardo pulled the locked door free. It thudded against the threshold. A brief silence was followed by the sound of the hammer striking metal again as Bernardo rehung the door. Then the door closed and the deadbolt clicked into place.

Through the crack of the door, Kerney could see the beam of Bernardo's flashlight sweep across the living room. Bernardo put the flashlight on the coffee table, dropped to his knees, took a blanket out of the bag, and spread it on the floor. He reached into the bag again, removed a long-handled butcher knife, and placed it on the blanket. He brought out two candles, placed them on the coffee table, and lit them. Then he sat on the blanket, stripped to the waist, and started sharpening the knife with a whetstone. Finished, he put the knife down, stood up, and walked to the bedroom door.

Kerney took a step back, clicked the transmit button twice to signal Gabe, and tossed the handheld on the bed. When the door opened, he stepped forward and slapped the barrel of his semiautomatic against Bernardo's mouth. Barela reeled back into Gabe's arms.

Gabe spun him quickly, slammed him against the wall, and stuck his weapon into Bernardo's bloodied mouth, breaking teeth as he did it.

Kerney hit the light switch and Bernardo blinked in the glare.

"Where's Orlando?" Gabe asked, forcing the barrel deep into Bernardo's mouth.

"He can't talk with a gun in his mouth, Gabe," Kerney said.

"He can move his fucking head," Gabe said.

"Is my son alive?"