him?'
'He's a possible murder suspect,' Robert replied, reading her uneasiness. 'Six people were killed and robbed. What did he give you, Brandy?'
Her voice lowered to a whisper as Humberto scowled at her.
'Nothing.'
'Let's go down to the police station.'
'You can't do that,' Humberto said. 'She's working.'
'Why do I have to go with you?' Brandy asked, keeping her gaze on Humberto.
'Because I think you're lying, and we need to get this straightened out.'
Brandy's pretty face lost color. 'He didn't give me anything the night I was with him. But he sent me something in the mail. It came two days ago.'
She got her purse from the makeup table and handed Robert a ruby ring surrounded by a cluster of diamonds in a gold setting. Humberto's scowl turned mean.
'I have to take this into evidence,' Robert said. 'If it was stolen, you won't get it back.'
'Give her a receipt,' Humberto said, eyeing the treasure.
'Sure thing. Did a note come with the ring?'
'Yeah,' Brandy said. 'Do you have it?'
'What did it say?'
Brandy thought about her answer before replying. 'Something like thanks for a nice time.'
Doubting Langsford's note had been so prosaic, Robert scribbled a receipt for the ring. The two cops left Humberto and Brandy in the green room-which was really soft peach in color-and walked outside.
'Brandy's in some deep shit with Humberto,' Olivares said.
'It's not smart to hold goodies back from your boss,' Robert said. 'No sympathy?'
'I doubt Humberto is going to damage his merchandise.'
'Not so it shows, anyway,' Olivares said. 'You think the ring is real?'
'It sure looks it to me. Can I use your office phone?'
'You bet,' Olivares said.
When Robert Duran reached him by phone in his Alamogordo motel room, Lee Sedillo immediately started taking notes.
'Get up here as soon as you can with that ring,' Lee said. 'I need to get it photographed and faxed to all the victims' families for an ID. You may have busted this case wide open.'
'We can drive a tank through the holes in Langsford's alibi,' Robert noted. 'Tell Chief Kerney he's got probable cause to book him on multiple murder-one counts.'
'I'm sure the chief will do that, as soon as we find Eric Langsford,' Lee replied.
'Langsford's not in jail?'
'He got bailed out by his sister and ran off,' Lee explained. 'That sucks,' Robert said.
'Did Langsford use a credit card to book his hotel room?' Sedillo asked.
'Nope.'
'Too bad. We would have a tighter case if he'd used one of the victims' charge cards.'
'I'll see you in a little while, LT,' Robert said.
'Good job, Bobby.'
Lee walked down the corridor and knocked on Kerney's door. 'We've got some good news, Chief,' he said, when Kerney opened up.
Kerney heard Sedillo out and shook his head. 'I'm losing my touch, Lee. I didn't think Eric Langsford had the chutzpah to pull off the murders, let alone the capacity to do it.'
'It's looking more likely all the time,' Lee said.
'Did Duran tell you everything he learned?'
'Just the highlights. I told him to get back here fast.'
'Do you have a good description of the ruby ring?'
'Yep. It's an oval ruby lady's ring, about a carat in size, surrounded by diamonds, with a gold band.'
'That will do. Let's call the victims' families. You take three, and I'll do the others.'
Lee went back to his room to make his calls while Kerney pulled out a list of phone numbers and started dialing. He struck out on the first two and punched in Linda Langsford's number.
'Did you find Eric?' she asked, after he identified himself.
'No, but we may have recovered a piece of jewelry taken during the crime spree.'
He described the ring and listened to Linda's sudden intake of breath.
'My father gave my mother a ring just like that on their twentieth wedding anniversary.'
'Do you have a fax machine at home?'
'I do.' She gave Kerney the number.
'I'll fax a photo of the ring to you for confirmation.'
On the way to Lee Sedillo's room, Kerney thought about Eric's rip-off of his father four years ago. He wondered if Kay Murray would be able to ID the ring as one of the items Vernon had turned over to Eric. If not, a reasonable assumption would be that Eric had taken the ring from the motor coach after the murder.
That would simplify Kerney's life, let him pull the pin on his shield, and finally get out of the cop game for good. He stopped at Lee's door. He was good at his job and he liked the work.
Did he really want to quit just because he was about to become rich enough to buy a ranch? Or was the Shockley shooting making him feel like he had to bail out?
Kerney checked by phone with Linda Langsford after faxing a picture of the ring to her. She positively identified it as once belonging to her mother, said it had been promised to her, and wanted it returned as soon as possible. She hung up without waiting for a response.
The agent who'd showed a photograph of the ring to Kay Murray reported back that Eric had taken the item from his father during his staged robbery. That cooled Kerney's hopes for conclusive evidence needed to link Eric to the murders.
Eric still remained the only viable suspect in the case, so Kerney decided an early morning trip to El Paso was in order to meet with Brandy Wine and see what more he could learn about Langsford.
Agent Duran's report had included a fact sheet on Ronda Shields, aka Brandy Wine. She was twenty-four years old, a native of Nebraska, and had been runner-up in a statewide beauty pageant during her senior year in high school. She had two solicitation convictions out of southern California and a drug possession bust in Phoenix. No arrests had been made since her arrival in El Paso six months ago.
Before leaving, Kerney made sure Lee Sedillo had the team looking for Eric Langsford, working background investigations on the Langsfords, Murray and Gibben, and canvassing all businesses along the murder route one more time.
Ronda lived in an apartment on the west side of El Paso within striking distance of a major shopping mall and the Interstate. Her limp blond hair was pinned carelessly behind her ears, and her red-rimmed eyes looked wide and vulnerable.
Agent Duran's report noted that Eric had commented on Ronda's resemblance to his sister. Kerney saw the similarities: she was the same height and weight as Linda, and her blond hair was a perfect match.
Ronda led Kerney into a cove kitchen where two large bird cages on the floor held a noisy cockatoo and a squawking parakeet. Birdseed crunched under Kerney's feet as he joined her at a counter that separated the kitchen from a dining area. She sat stiffly on a stool and winced, and while there were no visible signs Ronda had been beaten, Kerney guessed she'd been punished in some unpleasant way by her pimp for withholding the ring.
'You called Eric Langsford kinky,' Kerney said. 'What did you mean by that?'
Ronda lit a cigarette and blew smoke in Kerney's face. 'I said he was flaky. Kinky has a whole different meaning. I don't do kinky. If a client wants that, I walk.'
'Okay, flaky. How so?'
'Guys get off on different things. He wanted me to pretend like I was, like, a Lolita. All innocent and
