The story, along with sidebar editorial pieces on the shoot-out at the Slash Z, remained at the top of the nightly news for several days.
Kerney made copies of Edgar's deposition, the newspaper articles, and Molly's historical research on the Padilla land swindle and mailed them off overnight express to Dr. Padilla's daughter in Mexico City. Leon Spence had fingered Steve Lujan as Hector's murderer, and Kerney included that information in a hand-written note to Senora Marquez. She called the next morning to say she was thinking of retaining an attorney and suing the United States government and Eugene Cox's estate for damages.
The only decent furniture in Jim's living room was an eight-foot sofa, an overstuffed easy chair, a floor lamp, and a framed T. C. Cannon poster of a somber Indian in full regalia sitting in a wicker chair. The rest of the room was taken over by an exceedingly large work table fashioned out of plywood and two-by-fours that Jim had slapped together.
What Jim used it for Kerney couldn't say. It held mostly old newspapers, junk mail, empty drink containers, and an assortment of stuff that needed to be put away.
Kerney had been bunking with Jim since the day after the Slash Z incident, and he was home before sunset for the first time in what seemed like weeks.
Stiles found him stretched out on the couch, dead to the world, and shook him awake. When Kerney opened his eyes, Jim flopped down in the easy chair with a shit-eating grin on his face and a paper sack in his hand.
Kerney groaned in disgust and sat up. Sleepdeprived, he had hoped for a solid eight or ten hours of rack time.
'What is it?' he snapped.
'I've been promoted,' Stiles announced in a rush.
'You're looking at the new area supervisor for the Game and Fish Department.'
'That's great. You deserve it. Where is home base going to be?'
'I'm setting up a new office in Silver City. I'm going to move down there.'
'Molly will like that.'
Jim's grin widened.
'We're getting married.'
Kerney got up, pulled Jim out of the chair, and pounded him on the back.
'Now, that is very good news,' he said, grinning back at Stiles.
'When?'
'Next month. We'd do it sooner, but Molly wants me to heal up a bit more. She said she doesn't want wedding pictures that make the groom look like he'd been beaten into submission.'
Kerney laughed.
'Do me a favor?'
'Name it.'
'Be my best man.'
'It will be my great pleasure.'
'You'll do it?'
'Absolutely.'
'Great.'
'Now can I go back to sleep?' Kerney asked.
Stiles pulled a bottle of whiskey from a paper sack.
'Not until we celebrate.'
'Thank God I don't have to work tomorrow,' Kerney said as Jim cracked the seal and handed him the bottle.
'Mom, Cody is being a jerk again,' Elizabeth called out from the kitchen.
'He's teasing Bubba.'
'I'm just playing with him,' Cody yelled.
Bubba yelped.
'Leave the puppy alone and stop acting like a jerk,' Karen said as she entered the kitchen.
'I'm not a jerk,' Cody retorted, his eyes hurt, his voice quivering.
Karen knelt down and hugged her son.
'No, you're not. I'm sorry I said that.'
Cody sniffled and nodded his acceptance of the apology.
'Did you finish the geography lesson I left for you this morning?'
'Yes.'
'Let me see it.'
He got his spiral notebook from the kitchen table and plopped down on the floor, eagerly leafing through the pages to find his work. Karen sat with him. Bubba ran over and crawled into Cody's lap, his tail slapping happily against Cody's leg. Elizabeth, standing on a low stool at the kitchen sink, returned her attention to the dinner dishes.
She went over the lesson with her son, praising his good work and pointing out his misspellings. She decided the next set of lessons would have to be on penmanship and spelling, two areas where Cody was having difficulty. Elizabeth could help. She was excellent at both.
Karen let the children stay up a little later than usual, mostly for her own sake. She had seen them only in snatches during the last five days, as she ground through the investigations with Kerney and prepared the cases. But the crunch had finally eased.
Her boss had assigned another ADA from Socorro to help, and had reassigned all of her pressing trial appearances to other staff.
She got the kids tucked into bed, went into the living room, and curled up on the love seat. With the day off tomorrow she could turn her full attention to the children and her parents. All of them, including Karen, needed to get over the Slash Z fiasco and put things back together again.
While Mom had sailed through surgery, she needed help at home during the recovery and adjustment.
Dad, still in shock over killing Eugene, hadn't purged all the guilt he felt, although going public on Luis Padilla's murder had certainly helped.
Karen sighed. And then there was Cody, who had become more emotional and wired since the Slash Z debacle. He would need a lot of attention.
Only Elizabeth-dear, sweet, beautiful Elizabeth-seemed able to take everything in stride.
Karen had watched her daughter closely since arriving home from work, and could find no trauma or suspended reaction to the events they all had witnessed.
She hoped it was true. She needed someone in the family besides herself to be on an even keel.
The thought of stability turned Karen's attention to Kerney. If anyone was solid as a rock, he was. She had liked Kerney when she first met him, and over the past week she had added feelings of respect and an appreciation of his abilities. Mingled in with it was a pleasant feeling of arousal that passed between them every now and then during their long days together. Nothing had been said, but Karen knew it was mutual.
She smiled as the thought of some well-deserved, healthy lovemaking crossed her mind. She had arranged for Kerney to draw a salary through the DA's office until everything was wrapped up. Maybe she could organize a way to keep Kerney around for a while longer, just to see what developed.
Instead of a traditional bachelor party hosted by the best man, Jim asked Kerney to organize a picnic.
The guest list would be limited to Molly and Karen.
The destination was Elderman Meadows, and it would happen on everybody's next day off.
Kerney agreed. The day before the event he made a special run to Silver City, where he bought every picnic delicacy he could think of, and an expensive hamper complete with utensils, plates, and all necessities-which he planned to leave behind for Jim and Molly when he moved on.
They rode in on the horse trail and reached the meadows just in time to see an elk herd moving into the trees. Nobody spoke until the last animal disappeared from sight.
'It's too early to eat,' Jim announced.
'What do you propose as an alternative?' Molly asked.
'Let's find Mexican Hat,' Jim answered.
