Michael McGarrity - Hermit_s Peak

"Sleeping. The doctor gave him a sedative. Gabe's got an appointment to see a shrink in the morning. I sent all the relatives away about two hours ago."

"Did his ex-wife come up from Albuquerque?"

"That was ugly," Art said with a nod.

"She made it sound like Gabe was responsible for Orlando's murder.

That nearly flipped him out."

"Is the ex-wife here now?"

"No. She checked into a motel with her boyfriend.

Do you need to see her?"

Kerney shook his head.

"Keep her away from Gabe if she acts up again. He doesn't need a guilt trip laid on him. He's carrying enough as it is."

"I'll let the troops know. You need to speak to Gabe? I can wake him up."

"Let him sleep. Tell him it's very important not to talk to the ADA until he speak with me."

"Wll do."

"Have the funeral services for Orlando been set?"

"Not yet." Art eyed Kerney warily.

"Gabe told me he put a big hurt on Bernardo to get a confession."

"I didn't see it that way. I told the ADA we used reasonable force to stop the action, and Bernardo's confession was voluntary."

Art looked relieved.

"I'll tell him that when he wakes up."

"Do that, and have him call me."

Bernardo looked up from his concrete bunk and stared at Kerney through the bars of his cell. His broken nose, which had been set by the jail doctor, was covered with a bandage, and two of his upper front teeth were missing.

"I'm not talking to you," Bernardo said.

"My lawyer said not to."

"You don't have to talk, just listen. You're going to prison on a life sentence without parole, if they don't fry your ass. Either way, I'm going to make the time you have in the slammer very interesting."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The boys in the joint are going to smack their lips when they hear that you're going to join them. You'll be somebody's girlfriend within a week. Maybe everybody's."

Bernardo flinched.

"You can't do that."

Kerney smiled.

"Watch me. Take my advice, Bernardo.

Go with the flow. You're not going to survive in prison any other way."

"I'm walking out of here. My lawyer said he's going to get my confession suppressed because you and Gonzales beat it out of me."

"I don't think so. It will be your word against ours.

But if by chance you ever live to see the light of day outside of a prison cell, let me tell you a secret, Bernardo."

"What?"

Kerney gestured with his finger.

"Come here."

Cautiously, Bernardo approached the cell bars.

Kerney dropped his voice to a whisper.

"I'll hunt you down and kill you."

Kerney's bluff made Bernardo's face turn white.

"Have a good day," Kerney said.

Kerney called Dale Jennings at five-thirty Saturday morning just as Sara came out of the bedroom wearing nothing but panties. She kissed him on the cheek, ruffled his hair, and moved to the kitchen, drawn by the smell of fresh coffee.

Dale answered on the first ring.

"Have you had your coffee yet?" Kerney asked, knowing full well Dale had been up for at least an hour.

"Yep. I don't have a cushy eight-to-five job like you.

Gotta work for a living."

"Are you sitting down?"

"Should I be?"

"Maybe. Sara and I are getting married."

Dale whooped.

"Well, I'll be damned. What a lucky son of a bitch you are."

"I know it. I want you to be my best man."

"Tell me when and tell me where."

"Montana in a week, at the Brannon ranch. Can you, Barbara, and the girls make it?"

"Wouldn't miss it. Damn, Kerney, I'm happy for you.

It's about time."

"I'm pretty happy myself."

Sara came back from the kitchen, sat next to Kerney on the couch, and sipped her coffee.

"You got yourself a prize, old friend."

"My prize is nibbling on my ear as we speak."

"Barbara hasn't nibbled on my ear in a week."

"I hear that happens to old married folks."

"Stop wisecracking and put the bride-to-be on the phone. Maybe I can talk her out of making a big mistake."

"Who's wisecracking now?" Kerney held the phone out to Sara.

"He's all yours."

Sara put the coffee cup down, covered the receiver with her hand, and glanced at Kerney's crotch.

"You look very sexy in boxer shorts. What's that thing that's poking out?"

"A surprise."

"I like surprises." She took her hand off the receiver and sat on Kerney's lap, facing him.

"Dale, can I call you right back, in about twenty minutes?"

"Sure thing," Dale said.

"Talk to you then." Sara dropped the phone on the floor.

Kerney and Sara arrived at the old stone cabin at the foot of the mesa to find the gate open and a dozen or so vehicles neatly parked in front of a cardboard sign stapled to a wooden stake that read volunte bbs park here.. Another similar sign at the ranch road read shuttle

VAN AND DELIVERY TRUCKS ONLY.

Kerney had filled Sara in on the weekend project underway at the Knowkon cactus site, and the demand Ruth Pino had made that he meet with a Nature Conservancy staffer.

"It seems she has everything well organized," she said.

"I don't think Professor Pino leaves much to chance.

I'll bet she's working her volunteers like an infantry squad on bivouac."

"She's not your favorite person."

"Maybe you can relate to her."

"Are we hiking in on our own, or taking the Ruth Pino-guided nature tour?" Sara asked as she reached for her backpack and slipped her arms into the shoulder straps.

"We'll hike," Kerney said.

He slung on his backpack and made a beeline up the side of the mesa. At the top, Sara tried to slow Kerney down. She stopped to take in the view, examine wild 5 flowers, and adjust the harness on her pack. Each time, Kerney waited impatiently, looking preoccupied and withdrawn, before striding off again.

When they reached the windmill and stock tank, Sara tugged on Kerney's shirtsleeve.

"Want to talk about it?"

"About what?"

"Your silence. This forced-march pace we're on. The fact that you haven't said five words in the last hour."

"Sorry."

"What's bothering you?"

"I can't get Gabe Gonzales out of my mind."

"You're worried about him," Sara said.

"He's a damn good man, and his life has been ripped apart. He has to live with the fact that his murdered son was a rapist."

"That can't be easy," Sara said.

"It's a hundred times worse if you're a cop."

"Can Gabe cope?"

"I hope so. I don't know."

"What about you?" Sara asked.

"Me?"

"You don't seem very happy."

Kerney looked at the high flanks of the mountains that dominated the skyline and the soft green spring grass that rippled across the mesa.

"I've been trying to enjoy myself," he said, "but it isn't working. I can't hold on to this land, Sara."

"Sell it."

Kerney smiled sadly.

"That's what Dale said. I've got no choice in the matter, anyway."

"Do it."

"Erma wanted me to have it."

"Erma wanted you to be happy. That was her gift to you." Sara stroked Kerney's face.

"Use it to make her wish come true."

"Think she would understand?"

"Of course." Sara pulled Kerney by the collar and kissed him on the lips.

"What's that forF Kerney asked.

"Luck. Let's go hear what kind of deal the Nature Conservancy has to offer. Just don't give the place away."

"I'm not that stupid."

Sara's voice rippled with laughter.

"You'd better not be."

After arriving at the Knowlton cactus site, Kerney and Sara worked through the morning with Ruth Pino and her volunteers, setting fence posts and stringing wire.

At the noon lunch break, they sat down with Reese Carson and listened to his proposal. The Nature Conservancy wanted to buy all ten sections, not only to protect the rare Knowlton cactus, but to stop any further subdivision of the land.