checked the time. He had ten minutes before a scheduled meeting. The state police lab did most of the forensic testing for local police departments, including the Santa Fe cop shop.
Only Kevin Kerney would've been able to get Melody to pull such a stunt.
He went to the laboratory to find out what Kerney wanted.
Through a window in the lab he saw Kerney and Melody Jordan standing in front of a stainless-steel table in the small clean room, a sterile environment designed to ensure no contaminants adversely affected DNA testing results. He watched as they filled out evidence labels, attached them to fluid vials and evidence bags, and sealed everything in a Plexiglas box.
They stepped out of the clean room and removed their white lab coats and plastic gloves. Melody Jordan gave Andy a disconcerted look.
Kerney had a gleam in his eye.
Ignoring Kerney, Andy smiled reassuringly at Melody.
'You called?' he asked blithely.
Melody blushed in embarrassment.
Kerney intervened.
'Blame Melody's phone call on me, Andy.'
'I already had that figured out. Why are you here taking up Ms. Jordan's valuable time?'
'She ran a few tests for me,' Kerney said.
'I thought you'd be interested in the results.'
'You have my undivided attention.'
'I've analyzed the hair, skin, and blood samples taken from Scott Gatlin with the remaining physical evidence we have from the Terrell case,'
Melody said.
'Phyllis Terrell did have sex with Scott Gatlin prior to her death.'
Andy shot Kerney a quizzical look.
'So the FBI let you confirm their findings.
What's the big deal?'
'That's not quite how it happened,' Kerney said.
'How did it happen?'
Kerney turned to Melody.
'Will you give me a few minutes alone with Chief Baca?'
Melody nodded and left the room.
'Well?' Andy said.
'Charlie Perry faked the DNA findings. The night Phyllis Terrell died her bed partner was a neighbor named Randall Stewart, not Scott Gatlin.
The whole FBI investigation is a scam-their evidence, Gatlin's confession, and his suicide.'
'Do you have Stewart in custody?' Andy inquired.
'That's not possible,' Kerney answered.
'He was murdered.'
Andy raised an eyebrow.
'When?'
'Sometime yesterday up in Red River. It was made to look like a skiing accident.'
'Suspects?'
Kerney shrugged.
'I'd like to think it was Charlie Perry. But he's not the professional-killer type. My best guess is that it's someone who is operating under the color of law.'
Although he didn't want to believe it, Andy had no reason to doubt Kerney.
'Does Perry know you've blown a hole in his case?'
'He will in about four hours when the news of Stewart's murder is made public.'
'Jesus, what have you fallen into?' Andy asked.
'Quicksand,' Kerney said.
'What are you going to do?'
'I want to move the bar up a notch. Let me use your criminal intelligence people to wire Perry and Applewhites hotel rooms for sound and tap their telephones.'
'Have you got a court order?' Andy asked.
'Do you know a judge who'd give me one?' Kerney replied.
'I'd be laughed out of chambers. At worst it's my word against the FBI.
At best it's pure speculation.'
'You're asking me for something I'm not willing to do.'
'Would you be willing to change your mind if I told you that I have reason to believe Father Mitchell's murder is directly tied to the Terrell case?'
'What reasons?'
'Start with the fact that yesterday Bobby Sloan found a stack of videotapes and a briefcase ful of information Mitchell had assembled that points to a major government espionage operation in South America.
Add to that Applewhite's arrival at Bobby's house after midnight armed with a federal court order requiring that all the evidence be immediately turned over to the Bureau.'
'You better give me the whole story.'
'Not in your office,' Kerney replied.
Andy reached for a phone.
'Let me cancel a meeting and we'll find a nice, private place in the building to talk.'
Andy took him to the armory, a room with thick, reinforced concrete walls and a steel door, where tactical weapons and ammunition were stored.
'Start at the beginning,' Andy said, closing the door.
Kerney ran it down.
Andy said nothing until Kerney finished.
'The connection between Terrell and Mitchell is a stretch, Kevin,' he said.
'The MOs are completely different.'
'All four murders, if you include the Gatlin suicide, are different,'
Kerney countered.
'Which is exactly the way a professional killer would operate.'
'You're assuming one killer, possibly a government agent, did them all?'
'I think it's highly probable.'
'This is risky business, Kevin.'
'I know it.'
'I don't think you do. You've got a new wife, a child on the way, and a career to think about.'
'I'd be very happy if none of this had happened, Andy. But it has.
Would you let it slide?'
'Not completely,' Andy said.
'I'd want some answers, but I wouldn't risk my neck to get them.'
Kerney thought about Sara, his impending fatherhood, and all he had to look forward to.
'I don't plan on going off half cocked. I want information, not confrontation. Will you help?'
'You want electronic surveillance on Perry and Applewhite?'
'That could get us some of the answers I need.'
'And ruin our careers,' Andy said.
'Okay, you've got it.'
'Thanks.'
'Don't thank me,' Andy replied.
'I'm already regretting my decision.'
The police radio squawked Kerney's call sign. Larry Otero wanted to talk to him, Helen Muiz had paperwork
