'So, I might get to start my new job with a murder case,' Karen said.
'That would be interesting. Why did you want to see me, Phil? Surely you can't want to talk over old times.'
'I don't. Your daddy paid my daddy a visit yesterday morning.'
Karen searched Phil's face with disbelieving eyes.
'That's not likely.'
'It's true,' Phil confirmed.
'Were you there?'
'No. By the time I saw Edgar's truck and left my house, he was driving away like a bat out of hell. Pop wouldn't talk to me about it, of course. He didn't say a word.'
'Such a sweet old man,' Karen said.
'Don't start, Karen. Pop's hard to deal with, I'll grant you that, but he is my father.'
'Horseshit,' Karen replied.
'He never was a father to you. The day your mother left him, he just got meaner. He's a nasty old man. If you hadn't held it all together and busted your ass for the last twenty years the ranch would have gone to hell.'
'I don't need you ragging on my daddy,' Phil shot back.
'And I don't need a family history lesson.'
'Maybe you do.'
'Let's stay on the subject. Until yesterday, our fathers haven't spoken to each other in sixty years.
What changed that?'
Karen took a long minute before replying.
'I'm not sure.'
'Has anything unusual happened recently?'
'Daddy got a letter yesterday. A man dropped it off at the house while he was in Silver City with Mom. Dad read it and then left for town.
When I asked him about it, he said it was nothing to worry about, but he seemed upset.'
'Who was the letter from?'
'I don't know. But the man who delivered it said he was Hector Padilla.'
Phil looked surprised.
'Hector Padilla is the name of the man that was killed at Elderman Meadows.'
Karen smiled vaguely at an older couple as they left Cattleman's, then frowned.
'That's a little more than strange. There was an old man with Hector Padilla. Daddy's age, a little older perhaps, but the same generation.
He stayed in the truck. Do you know what happened to him?'
'Jim Stiles and a temporary ranger named Kerney found him near the foothills of Mangas Mountain.
In shock, from what I've heard. He's hospitalized in Silver City.'
'This fellow Kerney gets around. He stopped at the house yesterday to ask Dad about a black bear poaching.'
'Yeah, that's how I met him, too. PJ and I found the bear.'
Karen faced her cousin squarely.
'Didn't the family know some people named Padilla back in the thirties?'
'Padilla is a pretty common name in these parts.
At least, it used to be.'
'Maybe the old man knew Daddy and Uncle Eugene.'
'Isn't that stretching it a bit?' Phil rebutted.
'No,' Karen replied.
'It doesn't seem like a stretch at all. Dad gets a letter, goes to see his brother he hasn't talked to in sixty years, and the man who delivers the letter turns up murdered.'
'I don't think what happened sixty years ago has anything to do with the murder of some Mexican national.'
'Do you know what happened sixty years ago? I sure don't. I'd love to know what it was.'
'Ask your father,' Phil snapped.
'Is that what you did?'
Phil shrugged.
'Of course you didn't. You wouldn't dare.'
Phil threw back his head and laughed.
'What's so funny, Phil?'
'You are, cousin. You don't know me half as well as you think you do.'
Karen closed her eyes and sighed.
'We're bickering, Phil. Just like old times. Let's give it a rest, okay?'
She opened her eyes, looked at Phil, and forced a smile. Jim Stiles and Kevin Kerney were standing next to Phil's truck. Both men looked dragged-out.
They had day-old beards and weary eyes and wore dusty, wrinkled uniforms.
'Hi, Jim,' she said.
'Karen. Phil,' Jim said, greeting both with a nod of his head.
'If you folks came to town for breakfast, the waitress is just now cleaning off our table.' 'Thanks,' Karen said.
'Do you two know Kevin Kerney?' Jim asked.
'Sure do,' Phil said.
Karen nodded in agreement.
Kerney nodded back.
'Mr. Cox,' he said, his voice heavy with exhaustion, 'I'd like to stop by and see you this evening. Would that be convenient?'
'Sure, drop by,' Phil replied.
'We'll set out an extra plate. You look like you could use a home cooked meal.'
'Good enough.'
'What about me?' Stiles asked jokingly.
'Don't I get an invite?'
'Come along,' Phil replied.
'I guess we can feed you, too.'
'Just kidding,' Jim responded.
'Besides, I don't see the fun in spending time with two old duffers like you and Kerney.'
'Watch what you say there, youngster,' Phil shot back with a smile.
'Yes, sir, Mr. Cox, sir,' Stiles said solemnly. He slapped his hand on the truck hood.
'Gotta go. See you, guys.'
Karen leaned across Phil to the window and smiled sweetly.
'Wrong gender. Jimmy. Are you still confused about sex, girls, and the birds and bees?'
'I'm slowly working it out.'
'God help her, whoever she is.' She switched her gaze quickly to Kerney.
'It's nice to see you again, Mr. Kerney.'
Her directness caught Kerney off guard. He'd been staring at her without realizing it. She was a damn fine- looking woman.
He smiled self-consciously.
'My pleasure.'
As the two men walked away, Karen studied Kerney for a minute, a vague memory tugging at her consciousness. It faded without expression. She returned her attention to Phil, told him to get off his butt, take out his wallet, and buy her breakfast.
'You won't pick another fight?' Phil inquired.
'It's a deal. No more fights. You can fill me in on Doris and the kids.'
