"Or maybe he's camped nearby with some friends."
Gabe looked at the dense forest on the far side of the river.
"Orlando doesn't like to camp. Where the fuck is that rancher?"
"Pullerton will be here," Garduno said as he went to his unit and reached for the radio handset.
"Check around those stone walls. Lieutenant."
Gabe didn't move.
Garduno took his thumb off the transmit button.
"Stop thinking the worst and check the ruins, Gabe.
Let's go to work and find Orlando."
Garduno waited until Gabe moved off before clicking on the handset.
"I want search and rescue and every available unit at my location ASAP," he said.
"Contact Chief Kerney and ask him to get up here pronto."
He dropped the handset on the car seat and went to join Gabe.
The helicopter pilot cleared the ridgeline and dropped down to follow the river. Below, Kerney could see an assembly of police cars and search and rescue vehicles, some with horse trailers. A blue domestic coupe, cordoned off with crime scene tape, sat in the middle of a dirt road. On a small rise behind the car, several uniforms were searching the ruins of old settlers' cabins.
The pilot gained altitude to keep propeller wash from disturbing the activity on the ground and planted the bird on the road a hundred yards away from the blue coupe. Kerney jumped out. Garduno and Gonzales met him halfway.
Gabe's face had worry written all over it. Garduno's impassive expression looked forced.
"What have we got?" Kerney asked.
Garduno took the lead.
"Gabe's son left home yesterday morning. He cut his classes at the university, didn't show up for work last night, and never went home.
One of Ariin Fullerton's ranch hands noticed Orlando's car here about noon yesterday. There was nobody around.
The car wasn't reported as abandoned until this morning when Fullerton and a few of his people came back to move some cattle to another part of the ranch."
Kerney looked at Gabe.
"No sign of struggle?"
"No," Gabe said flatly.
"You searched the car?"
Gabe nodded.
"Nothing's missing. But I found over seven hundred dollars on the dashboard. Orlando cashed his paycheck and cleaned out his savings and checking accounts right after the bank opened yesterday morning.
Withdrawal slips were in the envelope with the money."
"That gives us a time frame to work with," Kerney said.
"Was the vehicle locked?"
"No, and the keys were in the ignition," Gabe said.
"Orlando would never do that. He worked too damn hard for the money to buy that car."
"Did the car break down?"
"It runs just fine," Gabe answered.
"Do you have any ideas why Orlando needed so much cash?"
"None," Gabe said.
"But it's every dime he had."
Garduno broke in.
"Ariin Fullerton said mat people park here to hike and camp in the woods or party by the river. There are several trails on the other side of the river that lead to some remote, pretty canyons."
"Orlando isn't into camping," Gabe said.
"I'm still sending the search and rescue people up there," Garduno said.
"For all we know Orlando may be with some of his friends, or snuggled into a sleeping bag with some pretty young thing."
They reached Garduno's unit and stopped.
"Have you found anything to suggest Orlando is with friends?"
Kerney asked.
"We lifted four different sets of fingerprints from the vehicle, but that could mean anything," Garduno said.
"Is there any other physical evidence?"
Garduno shook his head.
"Pullerton and his people trashed the area. They loaded the cattle on stock trucks right in the road. There's nothing but hooforints, cow shit, and heavy-duty tire tread marks."