"Just for a quick look. I'd heard you weren't grazing it."
"It's posted. Stay off."
"I'd like to talk to the owner."
"You can't. She's dead."
"Do you think the land will come up for sale?"
"Everything is for sale at the right price."
"Are there woodcutters working in the area?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I saw a truck hauling logs out this morning."
"That's normal. Since the Forest Service started limiting permits, some of the private land owners have been selling woodcutting rights."
"Anyone in particular that you know of?"
"Osborn and Patterson, I've been told."
"Is anyone cutting wood on your leasehold?"
"Nobody cuts wood on that property."
"You're sure?"
"I would know."
"Who bought your ranch?"
"An Englishwoman owns it. I never met her. She lives in Los Angeles.
A local attorney handled the sale for her.
You ask a lot of questions."
Kerney smiled and shrugged off the comment.
"I'd really like to find some land where I can summer over my cattle.
I've heard there is a high meadow north of the mesa. Would that serve?"
"It's a small parcel on a bad road. You couldn't run more than five cows on it. A family from California bought it. The man used to teach college, or something like that."
"I'm sorry I've taken so much of your time, Senor Barela."
"Stay off the property," Nestor said.
"It is still under my care." He closed the door in Kerney's face.
Kerney made a quick stop at the state police office where he found the district commander on duty. Capt.
Victor Garduno briefed him on the continuing search of the mesa.
Additional skeletal remains had been found about a mile from the original crime scene, including parts of the spine, ribs, and an arm bone. But no skull.
"We're still looking," Garduno said. A lean, big-shouldered man, the captain had a self-contained, confident manner.
Kerney switched gears and gave Captain Garduno a brief rundown on his conversation with Nestor Barela, and his hunch that the wood could have been trucked out through the meadow.
"I'd like to learn more about Nestor, his family, and the owner of the timber-frame cabin," he added.
"Barela said the guy who built it moved here from California."
"That won't be a problem," Captain Garduno said.
"Can you get me crime statistics for the San Geronimo area?"
Garduno wrote a note to himself.
"Consider it done, Chief. Sergeant Gonzales has asked for a records search on missing women over the last ten years. You should have the report on your desk when you get back to your office."
"Good deal. Has Melody Jordan reported in?"
"She's back at headquarters, examining the bones.
Sergeant Gonzales would like to remain the primary officer on the case.
Chief."
"Are you recommending him?"
"He spent five years in criminal investigations before he made his sergeant stripes. I use him as an investigator whenever I can't get an agent assigned out of Santa Fe."
"Can you get along without him for a while?"
"A senior patrol officer can cover his duties."
"Give him the green light."
Kerney got back to the truck and Dale groused at him for taking so long, and complained of being hungry.
Kerney bought lunch at a Mexican place on the plaza.