when it happened, but it created a big buzz in the department and among the politicians.'
'Why?'
'Langsford had just ruled against the Mescalero Apache Tribe's casino operation, and ordered it shut down on a legal technicality. Everybody figured that Langsford was the target of the letter bomb, and the murder was tied to his ruling invalidating the gaming compact with the state. But nothing materialized to prove it.'
'You have our case file?'
Sedillo nodded and patted a thick folder. 'I almost burned up the fax machine getting it, but here it is. That's your copy.'
'Have you talked to the Ruidoso PD?'
'Yeah, and they don't have much. Langsford kept a low profile. He lived alone and, except for his golf buddies, kept pretty much to himself.'
'Was he under any kind of protection?'
'Not since before his retirement.'
'I want a list of everyone who visited the four campgrounds during the past month,' Kerney said.
'Do you think our killer reconnoitered the campgrounds?'
'We can't dismiss it as a possibility.'
'Visitors pay on the honor system, Chief, if they pay at all. We'll have to gather the pay envelopes, pull the license plate information, and run motor vehicle checks. We're talking thousands of day and overnight visitors, Chief.'
'I know. Get started on it tonight. Tell the team to pay particular attention to anyone who visited all of the sites on the same day, or in a very short time span.'
'Will do.'
'And keep working the background investigations on the other victims. We can't rule out the possibility that Langsford wasn't the only primary-or even the last-target until we're sure that we haven't missed anything. If Langsford knew any of the other victims casually as the camp host at Oliver Lee State Park, or had a prior personal or professional relationship with any of them, that could be important.'
'Another long day at the office,' Sedillo sighed, as he scribbled a note to himself.
'If any promising connections or motives turn up, get an agent on a plane as soon as possible to check it out.'
'Are we looking at money, revenge, sex, profit, and politics as motives, Chief?' Lee asked dryly.
'All of that, plus extremists. Using a letter bomb to kill Langsford's wife goes way beyond an ordinary homicide.'
'You got it.' Lee paused. 'Hutch told me about Shockley, Chief.'
'I'm glad he did.'
'You and I go back a long way. Can I speak freely?'
'I've never known you to do otherwise, Lee.'
'Every member of the team knows you did what you had to do. If I hear any flak about it, I'm gonna kick some butt.'
Kerney squeezed Sedillo's shoulder and picked up the letter bomb file.
'Thanks, Lee, but don't waste time on adjusting attitudes. Just keep your people focused on the job.'
Outside the command trailer, Kerney watched the day fade on the western horizon, tinting the San Andres with flecks of amber. The lights along Tenth Street flicked on in a hot pink that gradually turned yellow as the fluorescent filaments powered up. In the morning he would go to the mountain resort community of Ruidoso, an hour away by car, where Vernon Langsford had lived, and start digging. But tonight, he would read the file on the murder of Langsford's wife, catch a couple hours sleep, and then drive the killer's route from Carrizozo to Alamogordo, starting at the time of the first shooting.
He wanted to experience the conditions encountered by the killer: see the terrain, move through the campgrounds, drive the roads, time his movement along the route, and get a feel for the killer's efficiency.
His cell phone rang.
'I got your message that you weren't coming,' Sara said lightheartedly. 'Does this mean our romance has soured?'
The sound of Sara's voice made Kerney smile. 'That's the last thing I need to have happen.'
'Bad day?'
'Worse than bad.'
'Want to tell me about it?'
'Have you got the time?'
'Now that I have all weekend to work on it, my stunning analysis of military operations in Haiti since its independence from France can wait a few more minutes.'
Kerney walked away from the command trailer. 'I killed a cop today, Sara.'
'Was it an accident?'
'No, I had to shoot him.'
'Tell me what happened.'
Kerney walked to the lawn that bordered the walkway to the district office, stood under a tree that had yet to shed its leaves, and started talking to his wife.
At first light, Kerney entered the command trailer. The core of the trailer, a rectangular space with built-in workstations, communications equipment, computer terminals, and office machines, was crowded with agents who looked as sleep-deprived as Kerney felt. He found Lee Sedillo in the small office, hand on his chin, staring blankly at some papers.
The FBI and ATF files had arrived, and Kerney wanted a briefing before starting out for Ruidoso.
Sedillo filled Kerney in. The letter bomb matched no signature of any other, either before or after the event. Reconstruction experts had determined the device was similar to, but not identical with, several that had been mailed to abortion clinics in the Southwest. Postal inspectors had intercepted those devices before delivery, but no suspects were ever identified. Nothing in Langsford's court docket over a ten-year period showed any rulings that could be connected to an anti-abortion issue.
'Have all the victims' next of kin been notified?' Kerney asked. 'All but Langsford's,' Lee said. 'His only living relatives are a daughter and son. Son's name is Eric, the daughter is Linda Langsford. Eric is single and thirty-two years old. His last known address is in Cloudcroft, twenty miles away. I sent an agent up there last night.
He moved a month ago with no forwarding address. We're checking with his last employer.'
'And the daughter?'
'The daughter is thirty-five, divorced, with no children. She practices law in Roswell, specializing in oil and gas leases and litigation. Her law partner said she started a vacation two days ago.
He doesn't know where she is, exactly. She took off on a road trip to Colorado. I've asked all Colorado law enforcement agencies to keep an eye out for her.'
'Have you found any connection between Langsford and the other victims?'
'So far, we've struck out, Chief, and it looks like we're not getting anywhere on a motive for any of the other killings.'
'Have the public information officer release all the victims' names, except Langsford's,' Kerney said, 'and tell him to keep emphasizing the spree-killing theme.'
The fairways at the Ruidoso golf course were still green, and several foursomes were out on the links in spite of the cool morning.
Langsford's home, a pitched-roof, single-story ranch-style house, was on the back nine with a nice view of the tenth hole and the heavily forested peak behind the course. The house looked closed up and no one answered Kerney's knock at the front door. He walked around the exterior noting the burglary alarm system on the windows
