material the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department had sent up to Santa Fe: the autopsy report, forensic lab findings, and Clayton's field notes on the excavation of Anna Marie's body. Nothing had been uncovered that could tie Tyler Norvell, or any other unknown suspect, to the killing.
Kerney wasn't surprised; the victim had been murdered elsewhere and moved, and too much time had passed between the murder and the discovery of the body, which made the chances of finding any trace evidence almost nil.
Without physical evidence tying Norvell to the crime, Kerney would have to build a convincing circumstantial case. Anna Marie's letters and the fact that Norvell was in Santa Fe at the time of her murder put Kerney part of the way there. But he would need more persuasive information to convince the DA to approve an arrest affidavit for Norvell. He would have to develop the case in bits and pieces.
Kerney closed the files. Clayton had done a thorough job excavating Montoya's remains. He wondered if praising his son's good work would be worth the effort. Would Clayton simply respond with his usual cool disdain?
Kerney arrived for his follow-up interview with Helen Pearson curious to see how she'd held up overnight. Her hair was uncombed, her eyes were drained of emotion, and she moved in a distracted, almost awkward way.
'How long will this take?' she asked, her voice thin and troubled.
'Not long, I hope,' Kerney answered, still feeling the headache that had dogged him since waking. He hadn't taken anything for it. The nagging throb kept his thoughts off Sara, so it served a good purpose.
The living room curtains, open yesterday, were closed, darkening the room. Helen Pearson sat in a chair where shadows hid her face. Kerney turned on a table lamp next to her and she blinked like a startled child caught doing mischief.
'Belinda Louise Nieto,' Kerney said. 'Tell me about her.'
Pearson's mouth tightened, twisted. 'I didn't know her.'
'What do you know about her?' Kerney asked.
'She was just before my time,' Pearson replied.
'And?'
'She's dead.'
'You can do better than that.'
She thought about her answer, rubbing her lips together as if it would make the words come out. 'She was an object lesson to keep the girls in line.'
'Why was that?'
'She booked dates on the side, held back money, met with clients who hadn't been screened, broke appointments, rejected bookings with men who didn't appeal to her, demanded additional payment for anything kinky, and sometimes refused to travel.'
'She was murdered for not following the rules,' Kerney said.
Pearson nodded. 'The girls were told not to make the same mistakes Belinda did.'
'Who killed her?'
Pearson shifted away from the lamp as if the glare was somehow hazardous. 'Everyone figured it had to be Luis Rojas, or someone he sent to do it.'
'Why?'
'Because he was the enforcer.'
'Just for the girls?' Kerney asked.
'And clients who misbehaved.'
'Were you warned about any other object lessons?'
'A girl in Houston, a client in Phoenix. There may be more, I don't know. It's been a long time since I've been in the life.'
'So, Denver isn't the only base of operations.'
'No. There's Phoenix, Houston, and El Paso, and probably a few more cities by now. Sex is a thriving business,' she added sarcastically.
'Albuquerque?'
'I don't know.'
'Did you know a woman named Anna Marie Montoya?' Kerney asked.
'The murdered woman who went missing from here years ago?'
'Yes.'
'I never met her.'
'Did Norvell ever mention her to you?'
'Not that I recall.'
'Tell me about your clientele.'
The request made Pearson angry. 'Will knowing who I fucked for a living get you off?'
'I left here yesterday amazed at how you'd turned your life around,' Kerney answered. 'I'm still impressed.'
'Sorry,' Pearson said with a flicker of an apologetic smile. 'It's hard to think about all of this. The men I saw were wealthy, well-known celebrities, or prominent people in their home communities. One was a network television journalist, another was a professional basketball player. The list goes on and on. I even saw a city police chief from Texas for a time. Does that surprise you?'
'Not really. Anyone from New Mexico?'
'Just one man Tyler set me up with. That's how I first came to Santa Fe. I spent three or four weekends with him over a period of about a year. His name was Raymond, but I think that was fictitious.'
'Why do you say that?'
'Anything more than an evening in a hotel room usually happened away from the client's home turf. That means dinners out and being seen together without worry, a little shopping to buy the girl a present or two, taking in the sights. Raymond didn't want to do any of that. We just stayed at Tyler's house the whole time. Plus it was all a freebee. I was never paid a dime. Several other girls had the same experience with him.'
'I'd like you to look at some pictures,' Kerney said, handing over the photographs Sal Molina had left behind last night.
Pearson held the photos in the light. She shook her head at the one of Gene Barrett, identified Luis Rojas, and held up the last photo. 'That's Raymond.'
The image of archconservative state senator and attorney Leo Silva stared back at Kerney. According to Sal Molina, Silva was licensed to practice law in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Texas, and was affiliated with law firms in El Paso, Phoenix, Denver, and Houston.
He now knew that Pino and Vialpando were right, Silva was the fifth partner.
'I need you to write out a statement covering what we discussed yesterday and today,' Kerney said.
'All of it?'
'Yes.'
'Then what?'
'When the time comes, I'll present it to the district attorney and ask that you be treated as a confidential informant. He might agree to avoid bringing you before a grand jury.'
'You can guarantee that?' Pearson asked.
'Not yet,' Kerney replied. 'But if I gather a few more facts it might be possible.'
It took some time for Pearson to write her statement. Kerney sat with her at the kitchen table, refreshing her memory as needed. She kept her head down as she wrote, stopping to look up when Kerney spoke, absorbing what he said like a schoolgirl taking class notes. It made her look innocent and vulnerable.
Kerney decided there was a deep reservoir of goodness in Helen Pearson, and that she deserved to have her new life protected.
Kerney left Pearson and his headache behind with a promise to keep her informed. Outside, a stiff spring wind blew dust through the evergreens and rolled a few brittle leaves across the gravel driveway. Downtown, the thick stand of poplar and Russian olive trees surrounding the state capitol building swayed in the wind, bare branches clacking together in erratic patterns.
Bill Perkins, the legislative staffer who had pulled Norvell's per diem reimbursement voucher at Kerney's
