"There's always a chance."
They passed the stock tank and rode south through a thicket of big sagebrush that spread across the grassland.
They found the second windmill and tank, both in good working order, with no recent sign of cat de milling at the water source. Unless forced to move, cows stayed near water, trampling the ground bare and sterile.
The mesa rose gradually and seemed to run hard up against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. They crossed a brake of cholla cactus, moving carefully around the long, spindly branches that could dig dusters of thorns into a horse and rider, and entered another large sweep of open country.
All Kerney saw told him the range had been well rested. New grass was greening up nicely among the un foraged knee-high blue grama. His mind started racing with all that needed doing to put the land into production.
Maybe the cabin-the only structure on the ranch-could be shored up to serve as temporary quarters.
He would need to get inside and inspect it. But a place to stay wasn't the half of it: a barn, stables, corral, shipping pen, a loading chute, and new fences to segregate pastures were essential to put the land to use. Then he had to buy livestock.
Reality hit: starting up a ranch wasn't going to be cheap. It would take a big mortgage to get things underway, and Kerney had no idea if he could swing a large bank loan. The thought that he might not be able to pull it off put a knot in his stomach.
"Deep thoughts?" Dale asked, as he rode alongside.
"You could say that," Kerney answered, nodding at the stand of ponderosas that denned the far edge of the mesa. He didn't want to talk about his newfound worries.
"Let's see what's on the other side of those trees."
They followed a game trail into the woods, tall pines cutting the afternoon sun to half-light, and reached a treeless, rocky shoulder that jutted out over the backside of the mesa. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains, austere and vast against the skyline, stood a close two ridgelines away.
Below, in a small defile at the edge of a narrow valley, a forty-acre swath of trees had been dear-cut. Only stumps, dead branches, and slash remained. An alluvial fan of gravel and sand spread out from a small occasional stream that ran through the defile. Erosion had begun in the sandy soil; water-filled down-cut troughs twisted around tree stumps at the edge of the stream.
"Jesus," Dale said, "who would do something like that?"
"Good question," Kerney said, trying to contain his anger. He nudged Soldier ahead and the horse picked his way carefully down the slope.
In the defile they scoured the area and found tire tracks that petered out on a rocky Jeep trail that climbed up the adjoining mesa. A hundred feet in, they discovered a cut barbed-wire fence and a discarded motor oil container.
Kerney had started the weekend with no intention of doing any police work. He was totally unprepared to collect or document evidence. He left the container where it was, staked it with a tree branch, and noted its location. Back in the defile, they inspected the tree stumps. The absence of weathering pointed to recent harvesting.
"What do you think?" Dale asked, as he picked out some burrs that had galled Pancho's flank.
"I think we've got a poacher who sells firewood for a living. Someone who knows his way around the area."
"He sure picked a spot to cut where he wouldn't be seen."
"Exactly" "You're going to lose this acreage to erosion if you don't act fast. About the best you can do right now is slow it down and keep it from spreading. It's gonna take a chunk of money and a lot of hard work to save it."
"I know." Kerney looked up at the mesa. The tips of the ponderosas were tinged gold by the afternoon sunlight.
"We need to get started back."
"Do you think the poaching and the murder are connected?"
"Could be. You never know."
"Barbara and the girls aren't going to believe a word of this when I get home."
"Don't start polishing up your story yet. The weekend isn't over."
"What else can happen?"
"Just about anything," Kerney replied.
They rode back to the crime scene. Another chopper was on the ground and additional techs were busy field searching an expanded area. He could see Melody Jordan in the distance at another grove of trees. She turned and waved, but she was too far away for Kerney to tell if she had a thousand-watt smile on her face.
He found Sergeant Gonzales and filled him in on the wood poaching.
"Do you want me to jump on it right away. Chief?"
Gonzales asked.
"How far along are you here?"
"Nothing more has turned up. We'll be back out in the morning."
"Do you think Officer Thorpe can pick up some evidence and photograph tire tracks without your supervision?"
"He should be able to handle it."
"Send Thorpe in the chopper. Loan me your notebook and I'll sketch the scene for him."
Gonzales pulled a notebook from his pocket and held it out. Kerney drew a rough map of the defile, noting the location of the tire tracks, the cut fence, and the empty oil container.
"Have Thorpe bring back a sample of the cut barbed wire," Kerney said.
"We might get a good tool mark to use as evidence."
"Will do," Gonzales said.
"Stay with it. Sergeant."
"We'll be here until last light."
The chopper carrying Officer Thorpe took off soon after Dale and Kerney left. They watched it rise in the distance and turn toward the poaching site. Enough daylight remained for the two men to follow the south end of the mesa back to the cabin. They dropped off the crest and skirted around a sheared bluff that resembled a poorly chiseled arrowhead. A ranch road plunged down the mesa in a series of switchbacks, and faded into ruts that followed a fence line.
They made the turn around the mesa and joined up with the county road.
Dead ahead, barely visible in the growing dusk, stood the cabin, truck, and horse trailer.
Before they reached the cabin, Kerney could hear Shoe barking. He dismounted to the clamor of the dog scratching at the metal floor of the horse trailer. The mutt was trying to dig his way out of captivity. When Kerney spoke to the dog, it stopped scratching and sat expectantly, eyes fixed on Kerney.
"You'll have to wait a few minutes," Kerney said.