"Let's go get Bernardo," Gabe said.
"Not yet."
"What more do you want, for chrissake? We got Bernardo calling Orlando at home, and a witness who puts Bernardo in the immediate vicinity an hour before Orlando's car was discovered."
"I want the same thing you do, Gabe. But first we find out what everybody working the case has uncovered."
"My son could be out there hurt or dead."
"I know how you feel."
"No, you don't know. You just think you know."
Kerney's call sign came over the radio. He picked up the microphone and responded.
"Go to secure channel," the dispatcher said.
Kerney switched over.
Garduno came on the horn.
"Our subject has eluded surveillance."
"When did it happen?"
"At twelve hundred hours."
"Where?"
"The Rough Rider Bar."
"Bring Thorpe in and have him stand by."
"He's standing by."
"Swarm the city with every available officer," Kerney said.
"I want that subject found."
"We're already looking. Nothing so far. Stop and detain. Chief?"
"Negative. Locate and follow only. Morfin gets the call as soon as the subject has been spotted."
"Ten-four."
"Anything from search and rescue?" Kerney asked.
"No sign of any campers in the canyons. The dogs are out and the team is still looking. They'll shut it down at nightfall."
"Ten-four." Kerney's head hit the roof as Gabe gunned the unit over the flagstone outcropping.
"We're on our way back."
"This is bullshit," Gabe said as he spun the wheel and made the last turn before the county road.
"For chris sake, tell Garduno to pick Bernardo up. We've got enough to hold him for questioning."
The unit hit a series of bowling ball-size rocks and Gabe fought the wheel to keep control. The ruined undercarriage jolted Kerney's head into the roof again.
"We do it my way, or you go home," Kerney said.
One block over from Jessica Varela's apartment, Bernardo waited in his truck until the lunch hour ended and students were hurrying out of their apartments headed to afternoon classes. He walked down the alley between the two streets, past the detached garages at the back of the lots. He stopped, pushed against the side door to the garage in Jessica's backyard, and stepped inside. Except for some old garden tools, a rusty green push lawn mower, and several cardboard boxes, the garage was empty. A small window facing the back porch of the house let in a shaft of light. The garage and the window would give Bernardo a perfect hiding place and vantage point.
He left the garage and continued down the alley, watching and listening for dogs. On his past visits he'd seen only one, a young puppy kept on a leash in the front yard at a corner house. It was far enough away from Jessica's apartment for Bernardo to easily avoid it. But he wanted to be completely sure he hadn't overlooked any other dogs that could draw attention to him. He heard no barking as he walked, and saw no evidence of animals kept in the yards.
The alley wasn't used much. Weeds, leaves, and small branches from backyard trees carpeted the lane and there was no evidence of recent tire tracks. Bernardo figured only meter readers and utility trucks used the alley.
He didn't see anybody outside, but a few backyard windows were open and he could hear the sounds of music every now and then. Since just about everybody in the neighborhood attended the university, Bernardo guessed some students were home studying or kicking back after morning classes.
He ran over his plan as he walked to the truck. The only access to Jessica's apartment was through the front door that led to the ground floor apartment and a staircase to the second story. He would have no trouble getting into the building. During his tour of the empty apartment with the property management dude, he'd unlocked the back door and unlatched a kitchen window.
Once inside, breaking into Jessica's apartment would be no sweat. Her apartment door had been hung with the hinges on the exterior side. All he had to do was pop off the hinges and he'd be in. Then he'd rehang the door and be waiting when Jessica got back from her night class.
Bernardo had given the man from the property management company a fictitious name and a story that he was moving to town from Santa Fe to attend summer school and looking for a place to rent. If the cops questioned him it would be enough to throw them off.
He lit a cigarette and drove away, wondering what he would do to Jessica after she got home. There were so many options to consider.
But he had all day to decide.
The thought struck him that Jessica's long blonde hair would be a trophy worth keeping.
Russell Thorpe stopped talking and sat on the edge of his chair in the conference room with his knees locked together, looking like an overgrown, burly schoolboy who'd been sent to the principal's office.
He didn't know which made him feel worse, blowing his assignment or lying about it with a lame story about how a beer delivery truck had blocked his view of the bar just long enough to allow Bernardo to leave unnoticed.
Russell kept his gaze fixed on the wall behind the four men sitting across the conference table and waited for the ax to fall.
Captain Garduno consulted the notes he'd made while Russell had been talking.
"What exactly happened at the vacant apartment?"
Russell blinked and met Garduno's hard stare.
"Uke I said, Bernardo met this man from a property management firm. They were inside the apartment for maybe five minutes. When they came out, they talked briefly, the man gave Bernardo his card, and then left.
Bernardo threw the card away. I guess he didn't like the place."