Six feet tall, with a weight lifter's build and a boyish face, Thorpe nervously questioned Kerney under the watchful eye of Sgt. Gabriel Gonzales. Kerney figured that Gonzales had warned him not to screw up in front of the deputy chief.
After double-checking Kerney's statement for accuracy, Thorpe bagged the two sneakers as evidence and went to the patrol unit to call for a response team.
Sergeant Gonzales tagged along to oversee, and stood by the open door of the patrol car while Thorpe transmitted radio messages.
Kerney found Dale stretched out on the seat of his truck, snoozing. In the back of the extended cab, Shoe was curled up in a ball. He fashioned a collar and leash out of some rope, put the collar around Shoe's neck, got the dog out of the truck, and shook Dale awake.
"Got any flea powder?" he asked when Dale sat up.
"In the tool box," Dale said.
"There's a bottle of equine spray."
"That will do."
Kerney found the bottle, tied Shoe to the front bumper, and began spraying. Fleas started jumping off the dog.
"Chief."
Kerney turned to face Sgt. Gabe Gonzales. Twenty years on the force had set deep creases on either side of the sergeant's face. His eyebrows turned up at the corners of his eyes, and a stubby chin gave him a squared-off, serious cast.
"We'll have a helicopter here in thirty minutes with a crime scene unit," Gonzales said.
"Good enough."
Kerney rolled Shoe on his back and squirted flea spray on his stomach.
The dog started scratching busily.
Gabe eyed the dog's performance.
"You might want to spray the inside of the truck, while you're at it," he suggested.
"Good idea," Kerney said.
"Did your rookie do his job right?"
Gonzales smiled.
"By the numbers. He'll be a good one."
"Pass on my compliments," Kerney said.
Gonzales smiled and nodded.
"I'll do that. Chief. Do you want a copy of the field report sent directly to you?"
"You bet," Kerney said.
Gonzales went back to watch over his rookie, and Kerney finished up with the dog. He fed him some lunch meat from the cooler, put him in the horse trailer, and then sprayed the inside of the truck. He put a basin of fresh water in with the dog and added a sock. Shoe took the sock in his mouth, shook it, wagged his tail, and sat, looking pleased with his new possession.
"Are you ready?" Kerney asked. He turned to find Dale holding out Soldier's reins and grinning.
"What are you smiling about?"
"Hell, I'm having a good time. Cops, skeletons, homicide. This sure beats watching a police show on television."
"We'll stop by the crime scene so you can have some more fun," Kerney said as he took the reins and swung himself into the saddle.
"That's what I wanted to hear."
They cleared the tree line on the mesa as the sound of a chopper broke the silence. They entered the open grassland and the state police helicopter passed overhead, veering in the direction of the first stock tank.
It took half an hour by horseback to reach the grove where Kerney had found the bones. He slowed Soldier to a stop and watched. Gonzales and Thorpe were doing a field search around the perimeter of the trees, while two crime scene techs worked in the shadows under low branches.
Dale sidled up to Kerney.
"Aren't you going to see if they found anything else?"
Kerney didn't want to interrupt the search.
"We'll wait and watch for a few minutes."
Finally, a figure emerged from the grove and Kerney recognized Melody Jordan, a senior crime scene technician who specialized in forensic pathology. Jordan did all the preliminary assessments of human remains for the department.
Aside from being highly competent. Melody was an attractive woman. No more than thirty, she had lively brown eyes, a mouth with a sexy little pout, and wheat blond hair. Born and raised on a ranch in the Hondo Valley, she had a frank and casual style that Kerney found charming.
Melody walked in his direction, pausing briefly to brush some pine needles out of her hair. When she got close, he introduced her to Dale. She shook Dale's hand, stroked Pancho's neck, and looked Soldier over before turning her attention to Kerney.
"You made quite a find here, Chief," Melody said.
"How so?"
"We've recovered a pelvis and some bones from the lower extremities.
Femurs, fibulas, and feet. The pelvis strongly suggests it was a female. I'd guess she's been dead about a year. Maybe less."
"The skeleton is incomplete?"
"So far. There are some tool marks on the bones.
Prom the looks of it. I'd say the body was sawed or cut up."
"Was she lolled here?"
"That's hard to say. Maybe not."