He turned away from the window thinking he had to keep his priorities straight. He was married to a woman he loved deeply, and he was about to come into a sizable chunk of money that would give them more options. He needed to start thinking more creatively, but he didn't know where to begin.
His thoughts turned to the Langsford case. He decided to spend the evening piecing together what he knew about the family, to see what kind of profile developed.
In the morning, Kerney waited for Sara's flight to arrive. When it did, she was the first one out the jetway, and he started grinning the moment she appeared. Each time he saw her again he couldn't contain a feeling of elation.
She dropped her overnight bag, pressed up against him, and planted a long wet kiss on his lips while the other passengers flowed around them.
She pulled back and gave him a lascivious smile. 'Do you have a room.'
'Nearby, milady.'
'You're one smart man, Kerney. I may not have to divorce you after all.'
She grabbed her bag and folded her arm in his. 'Let's go.'
An hour or so later, after very little talking, Sara found the spot on Kerney's shoulder where she liked to rest her head. She reached over and started gently scratching his chest.
'I haven't heard from you much this week, Grandpa,' she said. Kerney groaned in response. 'Not funny, huh?'
'Unsettling.'
'Tell me about it.'
Kerney brought her up to date on Clayton, including the surprise introduction to his family at the Roswell motel. 'It sounds like an overture to me,' Sara said. 'A small one, perhaps. We'll see where it goes.'
'And the case?'
Kerney put the week's events into a series of highlights, concentrating on Eric Langsford's suicide, the disappearance of Danny Hobeck and his sister, and his difficulties dealing with Kay Murray, Penelope Gibben, and Linda Langsford.
'Murder, suicide, drugs, missing persons, sexual deviants, harlots, pushy women, family secrets,' Sara said, when he finished. 'What have you gotten yourself into?'
'The sex angle intrigues me. Vernon's bizarre need to have Murray dress up and act like a provocative schoolgirl, Eric's twisted voyeurism, Linda's aversion to intercourse, statements that Vernon's wife was passive and frigid. I've even wondered if Penelope Gibben may have groomed her niece, Kay Murray, to become Vernon's mistress.'
'At Vernon's urging?' Sara asked.
'Perhaps. And why did Kay Murray tell me a useless lie about continuing to be Vernon's lover up until the time of his death, if the sexual relationship had ended?'
'Sex and secrets,' Sara said. 'A potent combination.'
'Murray offered to give me a blow job if I left her alone.' Sara raised an eyebrow.
'Really? Did you take her up on it?'
'No, it wasn't the type of bribe I usually accept.' Sara punched him on the arm in response.
Kerney shook off the love tap and tickled Sara's tummy. 'What do you make of it?'
Sara pushed his hand away. 'Stop it. I think you're right to follow the sex angle. Something has been going on in the Langsford family for a long time that everyone wants kept secret, and it's connected to the judge.'
'That much I know. But what is it?'
'You'll figure it out. But not this weekend, if I have anything to say about it. I hope you haven't made any plans.'
Kerney cocked an eye. 'What have you cooked up?'
Sara pushed herself into a sitting position. 'We're weekend guests at Dale and Barbara's.'
'Don't you have to be back at the post tomorrow night in time for Monday classes?'
'Classes don't resume until Tuesday morning. I've rented a car to drive down to the ranch.'
'Are we in a hurry?'
Sara lifted the bedsheets, looked at Kerney's crotch, and smiled. 'Not necessarily. What have we here?'
'Has all this sex talk turned you on?'
'No more so than you, it would appear,' Sara said. 'Did I mention that I'm fertile this weekend?'
'Thanks for the late warning.'
Sara laughed as she swung a leg over Kerney's torso. 'Matrimony usually brings with it the promise of children, Kerney. That's a given, unless negotiated otherwise.'
'So I've heard,' Kerney said, thinking back to his conversation with Bill Kendell.
The Rocking J, Dale and Barbara's ranch on the western slope of the San Andres Mountains, bordered White Sands Missile Range and spread down to the Jornada del Muerto-the journey of death-a waterless, desolate savanna of cactus, creosote, and mesquite. Once part of El Camino Real that ran from Mexico City to Santa Fe, the Jornada earned its name because of the scores of lives it claimed during the early days of Spanish settlement.
The remote ranch headquarters stood on a ridgeline overlooking a deep canyon, with views of the basin below and the red-tinged forested mountains inside the missile range. Only the soothing sound of the wind in the trees and the call of Mexican blue jays broke the silence.
On arriving at the ranch, Kerney became pensive and somewhat quiet, and although he hid it well, his moodiness remained just be low the surface.
Sara didn't press him about it, thinking that perhaps staying in the old foreman's quarters, where Kerney and his parents had lived after losing their ranch to the army, brought back sad memories, including the harsh reminder of the tragic death of his parents, who had died in an auto accident on the day of Kerney's return from Vietnam.
Kerney had buried them in a small family cemetery under a grove of old pine trees on the Rocking J. After greeting Dale, Barbara, and the girls and chatting for a while, he paid a solo visit to the grave site for the better part of an hour.
When he came back, Dale got him to help with some chores, and the routine of ranch life seemed to lift his spirits somewhat. Sara watched the two men for a while and then worked on supper with Barbara and the girls, all of them talking up a storm as they prepared the evening meal.
The two girls, Candace and Meaghen, were lovely, wholesome, spirited teenagers who made Sara yearn for a daughter. As she flattened bread dough with the heels of her hands, she wondered if her lovemaking with Kerney had turned that longing into reality. The possibility brought a smile to her face that made Barbara raise an eyebrow as she passed by on her way to the kitchen sink with a bag of potatoes that needed peeling.
Working with Barbara and the girls reminded Sara of her own family's Montana sheep ranch and her mother, who had taught her to work as hard as a man and cook as lovingly as a woman. There was something to be said for the country life, Sara thought, as she molded the dough, covered it with a towel, and set it on the top of kitchen windowsill to rise. If nothing else, it was a welcome break from the spit-and-polish routine of the military.
She looked at her three busy companions, took in the delicious smells of the roast in the oven, the handmade welcome wreath hung over the kitchen door, and the neat row of hand-painted antique food canisters on the shelf next to the stove. Barbara was still peeling potatoes, Meaghen was putting final touches on an apple cobbler, and Candace was busy snapping string beans.
'Why the big grin?' Barbara asked.
'This is just a lot of fun,' Sara replied, as she found a paring knife and joined Barbara at the sink.
The remainder of the weekend went wonderfully well, and after an early Sunday supper, Barbara left the dishes for Candace and Meaghen and invited Sara on a walk. They followed the ranch road into the canyon, the creaking sounds of the lovely old wooden windmill next to the corral wafting along behind them on a slight breeze,
