'Going on five years now. I work out of Santa Fe but spend a lot of time down here. Especially this time of year.' He took out his wallet and gave Sara a business card.
'If you'd like to see the herds, give me a call. We do periodic fly overs to track the herd and check on the new lambs. I took the commanding general up last year. He enjoyed it.'
'That would be fun,' Sara admitted. 'Can I heat some water? I'd like to wash up.'
'I'll put the pot on for you.'
'Thanks.' After eating, Sara took the pot of hot water into the bathroom, stripped out of her clothes, and sponged off the sweat and dirt, feeling better by the minute. She wondered what Kerney must feel like to see the ranch for the first time in so many years. She dressed in fresh clothes, barely managing to get the boot on her injured foot, and limped out of the bathroom. The living room and kitchen were empty.
The packhorse gear was on the living-room floor. She searched through it for the handheld radio. Andy needed to know they would be late getting back to the Jennings ranch. The case, seriously cracked, came apart in her hands. The radio was dead as a doornail. Probably damaged when the gelding slammed into the roan during the storm, she thought, returning it to the pack. She went looking for Kerney and found him stretched out on his bedroom floor, his jacket stuffed under his head, fast asleep, and breathing generously through his mouth. She brought her gear into his bedroom, spread it next to him, and shook him gently with her hand.
He woke up quickly. 'So we're a couple now, are we?' he said, sitting up.
'In your dreams, Kerney.'
'How did you guess?' Sara suppressed a blush and gave him an unreadable look.
'Did you question Gutierrez?'
'No. I fell asleep.' He rubbed his face with his hands and looked at the sleeping bag and pack on the floor next to him.
'Are you bunking with me?' She poked his arm with a warning finger.
'Only for appearance' sake. Go back to sleep. I'll talk to Gutierrez.'
Kerney nodded and rolled onto his side. 'Thank you, dear.' Sara stuck out her tongue and left.
Gutierrez, stretched out over the seat of his truck, was cleaning out an accumulation of trash. As Sara approached, he climbed out and moved the bench seat back as far as it would go.
'Hi.'
'Hi,' Sara replied.
'I wonder if you have time to answer a few questions.'
'Sure. What's up?'
'Did you know Sammy Yazzi?'
'I never met him, but I know who he is,' Eppi answered.
'I was up range when the search team started looking for him. I heard all the radio traffic. I stay tuned to the military police channel whenever I'm on the range.'
'Where were you?'
'Camped out up on Sheep Mesa, identifying animals for a relocation project. I was stopped and questioned by a patrol when I got back down here, the day after the search started.' Gutierrez chuckled. 'They even searched my truck.'
'Did you ever have any unexpected visitors at Sheep Mesa?' Gutierrez shook his head.
'I would have remembered something like that. The areas I work in are mostly off-limits. The only people I see are military police and other wildlife officers.'
'Thanks. Would it be all right if I used your radio?'
'Go ahead.' Gutierrez started to move away, then stopped.
'I guess you haven't found that soldier yet.'
'No, we haven't.'
'Well, good luck with it. There's fresh coffee on the stove. Help yourself.'
'I'll do that.' She waited until Gutierrez left, keyed the hand mike to the radio, called the base dispatcher, and left a message to be passed on to Andy Baca that they would be late returning.
Inside the house, Eppi looked up from the desk, closed his notebook, and put down his pen.
'That was fast,' he said conversationally.
'How long will you be on the range?' Sara asked. Gutierrez gave a harried sigh.
'You'll have the place to yourselves in the morning. I'm heading back to Santa Fe. We've got a drawing for bighorn hunting licenses this week.' His expression brightened. 'I could get you a V.I. P permit, if you like.'
'I'll pass, but thanks just the same.' He shrugged.
'If you change your mind, let me know.' Kerney emerged from the back of the house into the kitchen, scrubbed and clean, wet hair plastered to his forehead, carrying his boots in one hand and his still-damp cowboy hat in the other. Sara was drinking coffee at the table.
'I couldn't go back to sleep,' he admitted, sitting down. He shaped the hat to get the right crease back in the brim and placed it on the table. 'Andy's going to start looking for us in the morning unless I give him a call.'
'I took care of it,' Sara said.
'Good.' He started pulling on his boots.
'Did Gutierrez have anything interesting to say?'
'Let's talk outside,' Sara suggested, nodding at Gutierrez through the open kitchen door. Kerney grabbed a small kit from the pack, and they left the house, walking toward the horses. The bay lifted his head as they approached. Kerney brushed him down with a curry comb and checked his legs for soreness.
'Well?' he asked. 'What did Gutierrez have to say?' He handed Sara the comb.
'Not much,' she answered, brushing the gelding while Kerney rubbed some antibacterial ointment into a small scrape on the animal's neck.
'I asked if he knew Sammy, and he said he didn't. But he was on the base when Sammy turned up missing.' Kerney worked on the gelding's hoofs, brushing a dressing under the hair and into the band.
'Was he questioned?'
'Stopped, questioned, and searched,' Sara answered.
'Nothing suspicious was uncovered.' The packhorse rolled in a patch of wet grass. Sara got the animal to its feet, and while Kerney treated a sore rubbed raw by the pack frame, she gave the roan a fast brushing.
'We know Sammy was in the area, and Gutierrez sleeps at the ranch when he's on the base,' Kerney commented as he repacked the kit. 'Should we question him some more?'
'He seems straight enough.'
'It's your call,' Kerney noted.
'I'd rather wait and do it later, when we're back at the main post.'
They left the horses and walked to a sheared-off dead cottonwood that had been struck by lightning. One thick branch remained on the tall stump; it bowed and touched the ground. It had the shape of a wizened woman bending over, extending a long hand to the earth. It was the witch tree of Kerney's childhood, a favorite hangout where he would perch with a book and read until sunset.
Sara reached in her pocket for the cavalry insignia and held it in her open palm. 'Any ideas about this? I found it in the cave.' Kerney took it, turned it over several times, and shook his head in wonderment.
'Right in my backyard.'
'What?'
'Apache plunder. Mexican silver. The Lost Bowie Mine. The treasure at Victorio Peak. I used to sit on the witch tree, read Frank Dobie books, and dream of finding riches.' He tossed the pin in the air and caught it.
'Dale and I would spend days on end searching. We never found a damn thing.' He handed the insignia to Sara.
'Amazing.'
'This type of insignia hasn't been used since the nineteenth century,' Sara said.
'Did you find anything else?'
'No. We'll see what the crime scene unit uncovers.'
'Let me guess,' Kerney speculated. 'We'll wait to send them out until after we get back.' Sara laughed.
'That's an excellent idea.' *** After Kerney and Sara Brannon were asleep, Gutierrez crept quietly out of the house. He took an alternate route to the cave, picking his way carefully to avoid leaving footprints. The nearly full
