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“Is she a bad woman, like the men in the helicopter?”
Sam chuckled, “Not hardly. But she is good at what she does, and she doesn’t give up.”
“You sound as if you like her.”
“We’re friendly. Not friends, but friendly.”
“If she comes, will you turn me over to her?”
Sam said, “I won’t lie to her, but I don’t have to tell her everything, either.” Miguel nodded. They were quiet for a while.
Miguel sighed as he stood, “Did the small tinaja catch water from last night’s rain? I saw lightning above the mountains.”
“I think so. Take whatever you need, and come back in a few days after all this dies down.”
“Thank you Sam.”
“Do you want to take a weapon?”
“Is my knife still here?” Sam nodded, “Then I will take it, and some twine for snares.” Sam scratched his dog’s head as they watched Miguel gather things.
He was gone ten minutes later, and Sam did not watch which way Miguel went. He patted Chula and said, “I won’t have to lie to the Border Patrol about that, at least.”
***
When Hunter and Raymond guided the others to the dead man’s site that morning, the body was gone. The County coroner and sheriff’s deputies joined them to look into the arroyo. The new Chief Deputy and current Acting Sheriff, Danny Montoya, spat on the ground as he looked at Hunter and said, “Alright, what the hell is going on. Where’s the body.” It wasn’t a question. Danny was the front-runner in the campaign for Sheriff, and he wanted everyone to know he was the man in charge.
Hunter pointed at the empty grave, “Do you ever watch that TV show, The Walking Dead? Well there you go.”
Raymond said, “Let us look around and see if we can come up with what happened.”
Montoya said, “This is a crime scene, so you and your smartass partner cool your heels. My men will work it out.”
Raymond and Hunter sat in the shade in the arroyo and drank water, watching Montoya’s new deputies, the ones he hired from his old office in Dallas, search aimlessly for something that would give them an ah-ha moment. The County Coroner, Coraline Brite, sat with the two Agents. She said, “I hope they leave something out there for you two to find. Right now it looks like they’re plowing.”
Hunter said, “Montoya is showing us the Dallas way to do it. Shuffle your feet to stir up dust, wipe the sunglasses for five minutes, and huff out air to show how hard you’re working. I’ve got to give it to him, he’s a pro.”
Raymond said, “He’s only been here eight months. Maybe he’ll come around.”
Coraline said, “The County Commissioners hired him because of his administrative skills, they said. He got a Superior Achievement award for developing additional filing categories to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office arrest reports. Hangs in a frame on his wall at the Marfa office. That’s a handy thing to have out here.”
Hunter said, “He’s forceful. Told us to sit and here we are, in the shade. You can’t argue with that kind of leadership.”
Coraline said, “You don’t like him because he told you – and I’m quoting you quoting him, ‘He was going to educate you hicks on how it is done.’”
“He’s showing it here with his incredible sign-cutting ability.”
Raymond said, “If he’d brought one of the other deputies, or Lee Rodriguez from Presidio, we really could have sat back. Lee’s the best deputy in the county.”
Hunter said, “Good tracker, too. I hope he gets the Sheriff’s job.”
Coraline said, “Me too.”
Montoya walked down the arroyo to where they sat. Sweat ran in muddy lines down his dust coated, flushed face. He said, “See if you can find anything.”
Before Hunter could open her mouth, Raymond said, “You bet.”
Despite deputies’ tracks everywhere, Hunter and Raymond found sign. They called Montoya over and Raymond said, “Three people came down into the draw and took out the body. One of them evidently is a tracker and followed the original sign out of here for a hundred yards or so, then returned and got in the copter, and they left with the body and the briefcase.”
