he'd disposed of several in the past.
Carlos finished the long drive back to Santa Pc, parked the Range Rover in the garage, and climbed the stairs with tired, heavy feet, hoping De Leon would be satisfied with his report. One could never be sure how the patron would react.
He found De Leon at his desk in the library.
Enrique looked at Carlos kindly before smiling and gesturing to an empty chair.
'Sit down, Carlos, and relax. You look very tired.'
Only somewhat relieved by thejefe's reaction, Carlos sat and waited for De Leon to question him.
'Did all go well?' De Leon asked.
'Yes, patron. All matters have been attended to. Nick is dead, the woman's body has been disposed of, and me van has been destroyed.'
'I am pleased,' Enrique said.
'Thank you, patron.'
'I have additional work for you after you have rested.
You are to assemble a complete dossier on Kevin Kerney. I want to know where he lives, where his office is, and who his friends are. Full particulars are essential.
What is the arrangement of his living quarters? His office? Is either place accessible? Does he maintain a routine schedule? Does he travel the same route to and from work? Is he seeing a woman? If so, would he be vulnerable when he is with her?'
Carlos nodded.
'I understand.'
De Leon pushed an envelope across the desk. There is sufficient cash in the envelope to purchase a car which will not attract attention.
Buy it from a private party, so that you do not have to register it immediately. Follow Kerney closely and take exacting notes. Remember, he knows you. Do not expose yourself to him.'
'I will be careful,' Carlos replied, pushing his thumb against his upper plate.
De Leon saw hate flash in Carlos's eyes.
'You are to take no action against Kerney.'
'As you wish, patron.'
'Go now and get some sleep.'
Carlos rose, picked up the envelope, and departed.
Enrique leaned back and thought about Kerney. His last attempt to have the policeman killed injuarez failed when Kerney had been rescued by an undercover army investigator posing as a hunchback. That failure meant that Kerney had to be killed in just the right way to make everything balance out. Retaliation against an enemy was a normal part of doing business. But in this case, the reprisal would be all the more satisfying to achieve. the snowstorm parked over the city stopped before it reached the Galisteo Basin. The escarpment that broke across the valley stood like a vast, ominous battlement looming over the rangeland.
For several years, while he recovered from the wounds that had forced him to retire from the Santa Fe PD, Kerney had lived and worked on a ranch in the basin with a view of the escarpment and the Ortiz Mountains in the far distance. He had never tired of the sweep of the land against the sky, and the ever-changing colors that painted the scenery new again each passing day.
Kerney made good time on a dear road. He arrived at the Torrance County courthouse in Estanda and went looking for Wesley Marshall, who wasn't in his office. He found Marshall, Bradley Pollings, and Gary Dalquist waiting for him in an empty jury room.
Puffings had brought in a co-counsel with impressive credentials.
Dalquist specialized in capital murder cases.
He was a short, older man with a deep, rumbling voice and a cherubic face. Criticized as a flamboyant showman, he had a strong track record of acquittals, dismissed cases, and reduced felony plea bargain agreements.
Prosecutors hated to go up against him.
Marshall got up and walked to the door.
'Aren't you staying?' Kerney asked.
'Can't,' Wesley replied.
'I meet with the grand jury in ten minutes. You can handle it without me.'
Kerney handed him a copy of Robert Cordova's statement.
'What's this?' Marshall asked in a surly tone as he stuffed the papers in a jacket pocket.
'Something you might want to read.' He nodded in Dalquist's direction.
'Looks like you have some serious opposition, Counselor.'
Marshall grunted and walked away.
After a quick introduction, Kerney gave another copy of Robert's statement to Dalquist before the actual Q and A began. Dalquist read it, glanced at Kerney with a gleam in his eye, and passed the document to Puffings.
'Shall we get started?' Dalquist asked, his finger poised over the tape recorder.
'By all means,' Kerney replied.
Dalquist was thorough in his questioning. He concentrated on the arrest procedure, Nita's mental state at the time both confessions were made, and the fact that Nita's first confession preceded Kerney's Miranda warning.
He was looking for screwups he could use to have the confession thrown out.
Kerney's answers didn't please Dalquist.
Dalquist moved on to Nita and asked whether or not Kerney thought she knew what she was doing the night she shot Gillespie; Rerney declined the bait.
Finally, Dalquist turned to Robert's statement and grilled Kerney about Cordova. Kerney obliged with the facts he had at hand.
'Do you think Mr. Cordova would make a competent witness?' Dalquist asked as he hit the stop button to the tape recorder.
'I'm not a psychiatrist,' Kerney said.
'But along that same line, has the psychological evaluation on Ms.
Lassiter been completed?'
'The report will be in the judge's hands in the morning,' Dalquist said.
'I expect Ms. Lassiter to be released on bail by noon.'
'That's good to know.'
'Do you plan to force Robert Cordova to corroborate Ms. Lassiter's statement that he saw her leaving the murder scene?' Dalquist asked.
'I don't think I can force Robert to do anything,' Kerney replied. wesley marshall waylaid Kerney on his way out of the building.
'Why the hell didn't you tell me you planned to interview Robert Cordova? The case fell under my jurisdiction when I signed off on the paperwork. You don't take this kind of action without my approval.'
'Robert found me. I didn't go looking for him. Do you want all the facts. Counselor, or just those that will help you win the case?'
'I want them all, of course,' Marshall said.
'But you may have given Dalquist an early Christmas present.'
'Wouldn't it be helpful to have Robert put Lassiter at the scene of the crime?'
'I'm not railing him as a witness. He's a mental case, for chrissake.
Totally unreliable.'
'Then impeach him on the witness stand, if Dalquist decides to use him for the defense.'
'Don't do this again, Kerney. This is the second time you've messed with me.'
'I think you're fairly new at the game, Mr. Marshall, so let me remind you of the drill. My responsibility to you consists of gathering all the facts, and that doesn't end until a decision is reached in a court of law.'
'Whose side are you on?'
'This isn't about taking sides.' andy baca was waiting for Kerney when he got back to the office. The clerical
