Larranaga armed with enough information about Culley to convince a jury that the man had the necessary knowledge and expertise to commit these crimes. And I want Proctor Whitley put through an intense interrogation. Either he washes clean in all past or present cases or we book him on every felony we can think of that applies. Have Sergeant Pino take him into custody, remove him from the premises to police headquarters, and start the process now. Tell her we need to squeeze every bit of pertinent information we can out of him pronto.”
Clayton gave Kerney a quizzical look. “We’ve got a lot of time to work this case before it goes to trial. Why the big hurry?”
“Because
“Fair enough. Where are you going now?”
“To tell Helen Muiz that we’ve caught her sister’s killer. I’ll be back.”
In the days remaining until his retirement, Kerney put in long hours overseeing the progress of the investigation. While it was clear he would leave without handing Sal Larranaga the clear-cut proof needed to guarantee Culley’s conviction as a mass murderer, the circumstantial evidence that the team had amassed against Culley was overwhelming.
Detective Lee Armijo’s review of videotapes from surveillance and traffic cameras clearly put Culley in the vicinity of the Robocker-Connors murders on the day before the crime. A deep background check of Archie Pattison, aka John Culley, revealed that not only had he served in the Royal Marines, he’d been trained in an elite force that carried out special covert ops.
In the years following his military service, Culley had traveled the world, financing his extravagant lifestyle by pulling off well-planned robberies. Both the Brisbane coin heist and the Montreal weapons caper had been conclusively pinned on Culley and Denise Riley, and based on evidence seized at Culley’s house, the duo were primary suspects in a half-dozen more cold cases spanning three continents.
Arrest warrants for Culley had been issued by police departments of three foreign countries, and various federal agencies had slapped heavy felony charges against him for violating a number of immigration laws and criminal statues. But Kerney figured once Culley was convicted on the murder one counts, most of the pending cases would be dropped.
Ramona Pino’s interrogation of Proctor Whitley revealed the man was not an accomplice to any of Culley’s crimes. He agreed to cooperate fully and gave specific information about several heated arguments he’d overheard where Culley had demanded that Denise get an abortion. Because it went straight to the issue of Culley’s motive, Sid Larranaga loved it. Sid was also very happy when the paternity test results confirmed that Culley had been the father of Denise’s unborn child.
Even with his hectic work schedule, Kerney got to savor some special moments. In a ceremony at the Lincoln County Courthouse, with Sara, Patrick, Wendell, and Hannah standing at his side, he watched Grace and Sheriff Paul Hewitt pin lieutenant bars on Clayton’s collar. That same week, back in Santa Fe, he pinned lieutenant bars on Ramona Pino and announced that the mayor had appointed Larry Otero, Kerney’s second in command, to be the next chief of the department.
There were somber moments too. Kerney attended the burial of Deputy Tim Riley at the Santa Fe National Cemetery, a memorial service in Albuquerque for Officer Judy Connors, and Denise Riley’s funeral, all within the span of a few days.
Devastated by Denise’s murder and the revelations of her secret past, Helen Muiz chose not to return to work prior to her official retirement date. She sent her husband Ruben to clean out her office, and while he was there he told Kerney that he was taking Helen to Italy to visit the Vatican and that the archbishop was attempting to secure an audience for her with the pope.
Because he was still spending most of his time away from home on the case, Clayton talked Grace into taking some time off from work, letting the kids miss a few days of school, and joining him in Santa Fe. They stayed with Kerney, Sara, and Patrick in the guest quarters at the ranch, and for five days the house was a beehive of activity filled with the sound of children slamming doors, running in and out, giggling and laughing, arguing about what games to play, drawing pictures and coloring at the kitchen table, and asking any adult within earshot to let them go horseback riding again and again and again.
Having Clayton and his family as houseguests clearly emboldened Sara’s spirits. When their guests left to go back home, she told Kerney it had been the best five days since her return from Iraq.
“I could see that,” he said.
“It was my most fun time
“I could see that too,” he said. “Maybe you need a brother or a sister.”
“A little brother,” Patrick announced, “not another grownup one like Clayton.”
“What about a little sister?” Sara asked.
Patrick thought about it for a moment. “That would be okay.”
Sara reached down, scooped him up, and nuzzled his cheek. “We’ll see what we can do.”
There is a ceremonial mesa on the Mescalero Apache Reservation that gives a clear south-southwest view of White Sands, the Tularosa Basin, and the San Andres Mountains beyond, seventy-five miles distant. The day after Lieutenant Clayton Istee had wrapped up the Tim Riley homicide investigation, he tiptoed out of the house at three-thirty in the morning while his wife and children slept, and went to the mesa.
Although the dream of Tim Riley singing the Death Song hadn’t reoccurred, it had become fixed in Clayton’s mind and he needed to shake it off permanently. In the darkness of the night with the Big Dipper overhead, he took two large rocks, placed one at the north compass point and the other at the west, which was the direction the dead always took during their beginning passage. Between the two rocks Clayton buried a photograph of Tim Riley in uniform that he’d taken from the Canoncito double-wide and then bracketed the photograph with smaller stones to symbolically separate the image from the living world. Finished, he stood back, tossed a handful of dirt into the center of the circle, said a few words about Tim Riley, and left for home.
In four days, he would return to the mesa and remove all traces of the burial ritual. As he drove down the mesa, he could already feel himself letting go of Tim Riley. Or was Riley’s ghost letting go of him?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael McGarrity is the author of the Anthony Award–nominated
REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
McGarrity, Michael.
Death song: a Kevin Kerney novel / Michael McGarrity.
p. cm.
ISBN: 1-4295-7946-3
