couple
glasses of wine, they found themselves in the bedroom, he forgot the lecture
altogether.
“I’m sorry I worried you,” Sam
said afterward, running a finger down the middle of his sweaty chest. “I didn’t
intend that.”
He started to say something about
wanting to keep her safe, but the sex had been great and he was in a much more
expansive mood now. There was no point in prolonging the discussion and letting
it degenerate.
“I could make us a special
coffee,” she offered. “Or hot chocolate?”
Sam put on a robe and Beau slipped
into his jeans and an old, soft shirt before following her downstairs. He
scooped food for the dogs, filling her in on the latest in Sembramos.
“So, do you think Lee Rodarte will stay away?”
She located some cookies she’d brought home a few days ago, to go along with
the coffee.
Beau shook his head. “No idea. I
doubt it. I’ve got deputies assigned to the funeral tomorrow and I’ll try to be
there too but, realistically, I think the only way this thing is going to calm
down is if I can find out who really did kill Angela Cayne seven years ago.
Basically, everyone in that town has taken a side—some on Lee’s, more on the
Starkeys, a lot who feel for Sally Cayne and that family’s loss. Everyone wants
justice. If I can catch whoever set the whole mess in motion, maybe we can give
them that.”
Sam poured coffee and carried mugs
to the living room.
“I just wish I had the manpower to
devote to a cold case. I don’t know where we’re going to find the evidence
we’ll need. And we’ve got new cases all the time. With budget cutbacks, it’s
all I can do to serve warrants and handle traffic.”
“So, what if you and I started
going through the file, reviewing it? We might come up with something that was
missed the first time around. You said Sheriff Padilla didn’t seem to work this
one very hard.”
“Yeah, well that was my perception
at the time, as a new deputy in the department. It did seem like he raced
through it. And I was always uneasy about that confession.”
Sam reached for a notepad and pen.
“The file’s here. Let’s do it.”
Beau brought the thick folder to
the coffee table and unfastened the metal brads holding it together. “This
thing’s impossible to hold on your lap and even more impossible for two people
to read at once. Let’s divide it up. The pages are numbered—we’ll just put it
back together when we’re done. Besides, maybe looking at it in some other order
than the way it is now will give us a few new ideas.”
He handed Sam a half-inch thick
chunk of pages and took one for himself.
Sam read two pages and immediately
decided she would have to take notes. A half hour later they paused to compare.
“I’m reading Lee Rodarte’s
statement after he was picked up,” Sam said. “After Jessie implicated him
during the confession. Lee says he had ridden his motorcycle out toward the gorge
bridge that night, wanting a little time alone. He said no one was with him, no
alibi, but we should find out if anyone was even asked whether they could give
him one.”
“Make a note about that—a list of
unanswered questions. We may come across the answers as we read, and we could check
them off, but I want to be sure everything fits together before this is all
over with.”
Beau thumbed through his set of
pages. “This section basically describes the crime scene. Angela Cayne was
found in a ravine near the creek. She’d been badly beaten and strangled. She’d
been there nearly three days before she was found.
“From my interviews in town, she
was reported missing within two hours after she was taken, and that seems to
fit with the timeline in the initial report. The parents had gone to Taos and
she had stayed home. Her grandmother was staying with them at the time but
she’d not been feeling well and went to bed early. I met Sally Cayne and can
attest to the fact that without her hearing aids she wouldn’t have
glasses of wine, they found themselves in the bedroom, he forgot the lecture
altogether.
“I’m sorry I worried you,” Sam
said afterward, running a finger down the middle of his sweaty chest. “I didn’t
intend that.”
He started to say something about
wanting to keep her safe, but the sex had been great and he was in a much more
expansive mood now. There was no point in prolonging the discussion and letting
it degenerate.
“I could make us a special
coffee,” she offered. “Or hot chocolate?”
Sam put on a robe and Beau slipped
into his jeans and an old, soft shirt before following her downstairs. He
scooped food for the dogs, filling her in on the latest in Sembramos.
“So, do you think Lee Rodarte will stay away?”
She located some cookies she’d brought home a few days ago, to go along with
the coffee.
Beau shook his head. “No idea. I
doubt it. I’ve got deputies assigned to the funeral tomorrow and I’ll try to be
there too but, realistically, I think the only way this thing is going to calm
down is if I can find out who really did kill Angela Cayne seven years ago.
Basically, everyone in that town has taken a side—some on Lee’s, more on the
Starkeys, a lot who feel for Sally Cayne and that family’s loss. Everyone wants
justice. If I can catch whoever set the whole mess in motion, maybe we can give
them that.”
Sam poured coffee and carried mugs
to the living room.
“I just wish I had the manpower to
devote to a cold case. I don’t know where we’re going to find the evidence
we’ll need. And we’ve got new cases all the time. With budget cutbacks, it’s
all I can do to serve warrants and handle traffic.”
“So, what if you and I started
going through the file, reviewing it? We might come up with something that was
missed the first time around. You said Sheriff Padilla didn’t seem to work this
one very hard.”
“Yeah, well that was my perception
at the time, as a new deputy in the department. It did seem like he raced
through it. And I was always uneasy about that confession.”
Sam reached for a notepad and pen.
“The file’s here. Let’s do it.”
Beau brought the thick folder to
the coffee table and unfastened the metal brads holding it together. “This
thing’s impossible to hold on your lap and even more impossible for two people
to read at once. Let’s divide it up. The pages are numbered—we’ll just put it
back together when we’re done. Besides, maybe looking at it in some other order
than the way it is now will give us a few new ideas.”
He handed Sam a half-inch thick
chunk of pages and took one for himself.
Sam read two pages and immediately
decided she would have to take notes. A half hour later they paused to compare.
“I’m reading Lee Rodarte’s
statement after he was picked up,” Sam said. “After Jessie implicated him
during the confession. Lee says he had ridden his motorcycle out toward the gorge
bridge that night, wanting a little time alone. He said no one was with him, no
alibi, but we should find out if anyone was even asked whether they could give
him one.”
“Make a note about that—a list of
unanswered questions. We may come across the answers as we read, and we could check
them off, but I want to be sure everything fits together before this is all
over with.”
Beau thumbed through his set of
pages. “This section basically describes the crime scene. Angela Cayne was
found in a ravine near the creek. She’d been badly beaten and strangled. She’d
been there nearly three days before she was found.
“From my interviews in town, she
was reported missing within two hours after she was taken, and that seems to
fit with the timeline in the initial report. The parents had gone to Taos and
she had stayed home. Her grandmother was staying with them at the time but
she’d not been feeling well and went to bed early. I met Sally Cayne and can
attest to the fact that without her hearing aids she wouldn’t have
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