'She wasn't his type at all. Vernon had a reputation as a man who only dated the best-looking women in town. Marsha wasn't particularly popular or exceptionally pretty. She was more the homemaker type. Few people expected the marriage to last. I don't think it was a happy marriage, especially after Linda and Eric were born. The children held them together.'
'Did Penelope ever talk about her affair with Vernon?'
'Not that I know of. Certainly not with me. But you can't hide that sort of thing in a small town.'
'Marsha never learned about it?'
'I don't think she cared to know.'
'Did the judge have any enemies?'
'I really couldn't say.'
'Who would know?'
'Talk to Bud and Jean McNew. He had some business dealings with Vernon that went sour, and she was about Marsha's only friend for a time.'
Kerney spent an interesting hour with Bud and Jean McNew at their small ranch east of Roswell. The adobe home McNew had built on his two sections of land looked out over a sweep of sand hills that changed color from warm yellow to dull brown as passing clouds cut the sunlight.
Bud McNew, who once owned an oil drilling supply company, had been screwed by Langsford on a couple of equipment contracts back when crude prices made drilling new wells unprofitable. McNew had sued, and Langsford settled with him before the civil case went to trial.
Bud didn't think Langsford had any serious enemies, just a number of jobbers and suppliers who got rubbed the wrong way by his habit of not paying the corporate bills on time. All that changed when Langsford became a judge and corporate management was assumed by a blind trust set up to ensure that he would have no conflict of interest in any legal matters involving his companies. During Langsford's tenure on the bench, the companies had cut back on gas and oil drilling and expanded into land development, which increased his wealth several times over.
Kerney got Bud talking about Langsford and his associates and learned that Vernon had used Danny Hobeck as a contract geologist to assess state trust lands and bid on gas and oil leases for his company.
Jean McNew talked about the early days of Marsha's marriage, and how happy Marsha had seemed at the time. She never knew what soured the relationship, but always suspected it was Vernon's womanizing.
According to Mrs. McNew, Vernon had a string of extramarital affairs before he 'settled down' into a relationship with Penelope Gibben.
When Kerney asked her to describe Marsha Langsford's personality, Jean said that she was a submissive person who never asserted herself. She characterized most of Marsha's illness as psychosomatic. Although she couldn't say for sure, Jean felt that Marsha knew about Vernon's philandering and had simply retreated in the face of it. Arthur's tragic death had pushed her over the brink into an almost total self-imposed isolation.
After leaving Bud and Jean McNew, Kerney tried a second visit to Margie Hobeck. His knock at the door was answered by the three cats and a woman Kerney didn't know.
'Margie has gone away with her brother,' the woman said. 'I'm watching the cats for her.' She nodded at the adjacent house. 'I live next door.'
'Where did she go with Danny?'
'Albuquerque. That's where he lives.'
'How long will she be gone?' Kerney asked. 'Three or four days.'
'Has she ever asked you to watch her cats before?'
'No, but I'm delighted to do it,' the woman said with a smile. 'It's about time she did something more than just stay at home.'
'Did you see her or speak to her before she left?'
'No, her brother called and then brought the house key over before they left.'
Kerney decided it was time to talk to Leonora Wister, Vernon's first cousin, again.
The afternoon sky had clouded over when Kerney arrived at the Bitter Lake Bed and Breakfast where Leonora Wister was staying. Her Cadillac was parked outside and a light was on in the cottage. She answered the door dressed in traveling clothes.
'Danny wasn't very happy with me for telling you where to find him,' she said.
'I don't see why,' Kerney said, again trying hard not to stare at Leonora's blue gray hair. 'We had a pleasant conversation.'
'You threatened to arrest him on the night before his best friend's funeral.'
'But I didn't.'
'That's true.'
'I came here to ask you for your help. I know you must want Vernon's killer found.'
'Of course I do, but everyone is saying that Eric killed his father.'
'We don't know that for sure,' Kerney said.
'How can I be of any help
'The more I know about Judge Langsford, his family, friends, and associates, the more I can narrow down my investigation. I know it's an uncomfortable time for me to be interviewing people, but I have no alternative.'
Leonora's expression softened. 'You do have a job to do, don't you? What would you like to know?'
'Tell me about Danny.'
'Danny couldn't kill Vernon. Vernon meant everything to him. Vernon's father gave Danny's father a job-the best job he ever had-and paid Danny's way through college. He was Vernon's room mate. He's had a contract with Vernon's company ever since he became a registered geologist. Without the support he got from Vernon and his father starting out, Danny would have probably been a roughneck oil worker, living in a trailer park, drawing unemployment six months out of the year.'
'Did Vernon's father help any of Danny's other friends with their schooling?'
'Not that I know of. It was a special situation. Danny and Vernon were inseparable-almost like brothers. Vernon told his dad that he wouldn't go to college unless Danny went with him. And when Vernon took over the companies, he made sure that Danny had a chance to build his reputation as a petroleum geologist. He's considered one of the best in the Southwest.'
'That makes a lot of things clearer. Did you know he took Margie with him to Albuquerque?'
Leonora's eyes widened. 'That's amazing. I've never known Margie to budge from her house for anything other than work and necessary errands. Good for her. It's about time Margie did some thing besides stay at home.'
'She doesn't speak highly of Vernon.'
'She never got over feeling that Vernon stole her brother away from her. She used to adore Danny; followed him everywhere until Vernon took over Danny's life.'
'Took over, how?'
Leonora shrugged a shoulder. It made her thick upper arm jiggle. 'You know how boys are, one always has to be the leader. Vernon led and Danny followed.'
On his way back to town, Kerney called Lee Sedillo and asked if any correspondence from Danny Hobeck had been found during the search of Judge Langsford's house.
'Nothing, Chief,' Lee said, after checking the inventory of reviewed documents. 'And no long-distance telephone calls, either.'
From the parking lot of a family-owned grocery store near his motel, he called Penelope Gibben.
'Does Ranchers' have a current consulting contract with Danny Hobeck?' he asked.
'Yes.'
'How much do you pay him?'
