'Probably. Find the order requiring the chief's approval to assign additional detectives to a major crime investigation and type up a memo rescinding it for my signature.'
'That will make Sal Molina happy. Have you decided to stop rubbernecking and start driving?'
'You have an insubordinate personality, Mrs. Muiz.'
'Isn't that why you're glad I'm here?'
'No comment,' Kerney said lightheartedly.
'Don't bother to get the city manager on the line. I'll call him myself.'
'How egalitarian of you,' Helen said with a laugh.
'Shall I prepare another memo directing senior staff to answer their own phones and place their own calls whenever possible?'
'Why not?'
Helen's smile broadened.
'I knew having you as the chief would be fun.'
'I'm glad I've made at least one employee happy,' Kerney replied.
Through the one-way observation window Kerney watched Santiago Terjo as he sat alone in the interrogation room. Neatly dressed in jeans, work boots, and a heavy cotton shirt, Terjo was clean shaven and had dark curly hair that drooped over his forehead.
'According to Customs he's legal,' Sal Molina said, referring to the notes from his preliminary interview with Terjo.
'Born in Hildalgo del Parral-wherever that is. Age thirty-eight. No wants, warrants, or priors. He's got a wife and three kids in Mexico, and a girlfriend and one baby here in Santa Fe.'
'What kind of story did he give you?' Kerney asked.
'He says he moved the RV from the stables to the house yesterday after work before going to his girlfriend's house, where he spent the night.
He last saw Terrell alive at about six o'clock in the evening when they talked for a few minutes about what she wanted done while she was gone.
According to Terjo, Terrell was alone at the time.'
'Does the girlfriend confirm he was with her?'
'All night. Her name is Rebecca Shapiro, originally from New York.
Someplace on Long Island. She's a jewelry maker who works out of her house. Shapiro said Terjo didn't leave until seven-thirty this morning.'
'Is she lying?' Kerney asked.
'Not likely,' Molina replied.
'She independently confirmed the events of their night together. Terjo came over, helped Shapiro make dinner, and then they ate. He played with his daughter, Aspen, age one, until her bedtime.
After that Terjo gave Shapiro a Spanish lesson-she's trying to learn the language. Then they watched a little television and went to bed.'
'Does she know about Terjo's wife and children in Mexico?'
'Yeah. She says she's perfectly comfortable with her relationship with Terjo.
Isn't into the marriage thing.'
'What happened in the morning?' Kerney asked.
'Terjo leaves his dog, Zippy, at the stables when he stays with Shapiro because she's allergic to animals. In the morning he stopped by to feed him and let him out. He left his truck behind and walked up through the arroyo to the house, so Zippy could do his business. Then he put the dog in the RV and went to work.'
'Doing what?'
'Taking out some trees in front of a rock outcropping on an upper slope behind the house. Terrell wanted the area cleared because she was planning to have Terjo build a pergola and an outdoor fireplace on the site, and the trees blocked the view.'
'Did anybody see Terjo working?'
'One neighbor heard the sound of a chain saw, and another neighbor coming down from his hilltop house saw Terjo at the site. The detective who examined the area said the trees were freshly cut.'
'Why did Terjo run?'
'He came down to the house to get something to eat and let the dog out of the RV. Supposedly, Mrs. Terrell gave him standing permission to raid the refrigerator whenever she was away. He went into the house through the main entrance. That's when he saw Terrell's body. He got scared, panicked, and went back to the RV just about the time Matt Garcia was chasing Zippy up the hill. He saw Garcia and took off. He said he thought Garcia was the murderer.'
'It's a good story,' Kerney said.
'Do we have any physical evidence from the crime scene?'
'No prints on the scissors,' Molina replied.
'But we've found some pubic and head hairs and a small fluid stain on Mrs. Terrell's bed sheets. Also, we have one set of footprints that don't match up with the victim, Terjo, or Matt Garcia. They're from a size-ten hiking boot. The tracks start at the front side of the patio, drop down the hill, and end at the road.'
'Anything else?'
'Yeah. Seven Baggies of marijuana, hidden in the stables. Terjo says he knows nothing about it. But I think he ran away so he could move his stash.'
'Have you asked Terjo to provide head and pubic hairs for comparison purposes?'
'He agreed to it in writing. I took him to the hospital on the way here and had a nurse take samples. The lab has them. We're still waiting on results.'
'You've found no other physical evidence?' Kerney asked.
'Not yet,' Molina said.
'If the precipitating event was a lovers' quarrel or a burglary gone bad, there should be.'
Molina nodded.
'No prints on the scissors and no sign of forced entry does seem to make it look a little too neat and tidy. I've been thinking that maybe the murder was staged.'
'For what purpose?'
'If you can tell me that, Chief, then I'd have a motive.'
Kerney studied Terjo through the glass. The man was nervous, rubbing his hands together and constantly shifting his weight in the chair.
'Terrell and her husband were separated. Maybe Terjo knows something about Phyllis Terrell that can help us answer that question,' he said.
'I think he'll cooperate,' Sal said.
'He already knows how much time he's facing on a possession-with-intent-to-sell conviction.'
'If you can make it stick.' Kerney nodded in Terjo's direction.
'Let's see what he says.' *** Santiago Terjo had seen enough television cop shows to figure people were watching through the mirror and talking about him. He slumped against the back of the metal chair and tried to remain calm.
But the longer he waited alone in the small room the more his hands got nervous and his gaze wandered toward the mirror.
He'd lied to the police lieutenant about the marijuana, and about his family in Mexico. In truth, Terjo had no wife and children. If the cops found out he'd assumed his dead brother's identity, Terjo could go to prison first and afterward get deported. Then there would be no more money to send home every month for his only sister-in-law, Lupita, her children, his parents, or his aunts and uncles.
Three years ago Santiago, his brother, had died from a stomach illness while home for a visit. Ignacio, who had much the same features as his brother and was only a half inch taller, had used Santiago's green card to enter the United States and find work.
Because Santiago had worked in Texas, Ignacio had decided to go to New Mexico, where the switch wouldn't be discovered. It had worked perfectly. To Rebecca, Mrs. Terrell, and everybody he'd met in Santa Fe, he was Santiago.
