"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."