“Years ago when I was a kid,” Green replied.
“Leave your hand where it is,” the nurse said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes to give you a shot and stitch you up.”
Sara was taken directly from the admitting area to labor and delivery, where the doctor was waiting. Dr. Carol Jojoya finished her exam of Sara, stripped off her gloves, and stepped back from the bed. Jojoya had a slightly dimpled chin, thick, curly dark hair, impish brown eyes, and an easy, calming manner.
“I think we’ll keep you overnight,” Jojoya said to Sara.
“What’s wrong?” Kerney asked, jitters getting the best of him.
“Nothing,” Jojoya said with a reassuring smile. Her eyes held a hint of amusement. “The baby isn’t quite ready to make his appearance, but there’s no sense in having Sara go home just to turn around again and come back.”
“You’re telling us everything?” Kerney asked, as he stepped over to Sara, who shook her head to signal that he was acting silly.
“My only concerns,” Jojoya said, “are that Sara has a narrow pelvis, and is about to deliver her first child. Sometimes those factors can make childbirth a bit difficult on the mother.”
“How difficult?” Kerney demanded.
Jojoya laughed. “Not to worry. Your wife is very physically fit. It’s just that first births can take a little more time. At the worst, your wife will probably be exhausted and sore when it’s all over.”
“That’s it?” Kerney asked.
“That sounds like enough to me,” Sara said.
“Relax, Chief Kerney,” Jojoya said. “Everything is normal. We’ll leave Sara here and wait for nature to take its course.”
“I want her in a private room,” Kerney said.
Jojoya shook her head. “She doesn’t get a room until she’s done her job.”
“Then I’ll stay with her,” Kerney said.
“Go away, Kerney,” Sara said with a wave of a hand. “Just post a security guard nearby and get back here in time to meet me in the delivery room.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Kerney said, “and it will be a police officer who’s stationed outside, not a security guard.”
“What on earth for?” Jojoya asked, her voice ringing with surprise.
“Don’t ask him to explain,” Sara said. “Just accept it as a good thing to do.”
Jojoya looked at the couple, decided not to probe, and patted the edge of the bed. “I’ll be around,” she said. “Just press the buzzer when the contractions start up again.”
Jojoya left and Kerney leaned over and kissed Sara’s cheek. “You’re all right?”
“Peachy,” Sara replied, looking decidedly uncomfortable.
“I’ll arrange a few things and be back in a flash.”
Sara gave him a weak smile and waved him away with her hand.
In the area just outside Sara’s exam room, Kerney met with Gloria Baca, filled her in on Sara’s condition, and made arrangements by cell phone to post one officer at the hospital and have another take Gloria home.
Gloria went in to see how Sara was doing, and Kerney used the time to call Andy Baca.
“So, are you a father?” Andy asked.
“Not yet,” Kerney replied. “It may be some time before the baby comes, so I’m here for the duration. I’m sending Gloria home with one of my officers. How’s the search going?”
“We missed him,” Andy said. “But the train engineer reported he blew his horn as a warning because a car was parked on the railroad right-of-way access road. Maximum speed on the spur line is fifteen miles per hour, so he got a pretty good look at the vehicle. It was an older, full-size domestic sedan, possibly an Oldsmobile or Buick, white in color, with Arizona plates. I’ve got people out there now looking for evidence, but they’re probably not going to find much until daylight.”
“Where are you?” Kerney asked.
“Halfway to town, taking Sara’s camera to the lab. I’ve got a tech standing by to print the photos she took. I’ll bring them to you ASAP.”
“Thanks, Andy.”
“Best to Sara,” Andy replied before he cut the connection.
Kerney looked through the open door into the waiting room. A young mother paced the floor holding a crying infant, and an older man with a swollen cheek sat reading a magazine. A bald-headed man with a bandaged hand came out of an exam room, glanced at Kerney, and walked off in the direction of the billing office, holding a piece of paper. From the blood on his pants, it appeared he’d cut himself badly.
Kerney felt more awake than he had in several days. The pending arrival of Patrick Brannon had gotten his adrenaline pumping. He found Jojoya, who told him it might be some time before the baby was delivered, and went to check on Sara.
“You again,” she said, as he gave her another kiss.
“Yeah, me,” Kerney said. “Looks like we’re gonna be here for a while.”
“Why don’t you find something to do?” Sara said. “I don’t need a nervous, expectant father hovering over me.”
“Am I acting silly?” Kerney asked.
“Almost.”
Kerney sat in the chair next to the bed, called Sal Molina and told him to gather up Cruz Tafoya plus all the case materials from the Socorro crime scene investigation and get to the hospital pronto.
Sara smiled as he hung up. “That’s better.”
“I’m staying until the officer arrives.”
“You’re damn right you are,” Sara replied.
Samuel Green quickly paid his urgent-care bill with cash and returned to the waiting area to find Kerney nowhere in sight. His initial shock of seeing Kerney had rapidly given way to the happy thought that he no longer needed to search for him. But now Kerney was gone, and Green wondered if he was back to square one. He decided not to hang around inside hoping Kerney would reappear, and walked through the automatic doors to the parking lot just as two city police squad cars pulled to the curb.
Green tensed up until the two cops passed him without a second look. He stepped between one of the police cruisers and the SUV parked in front of it and stopped. The temporary license sticker in the rear window of the SUV was made out to Sara Brannon. Because of the pain in his hand, he’d paid no attention to the vehicle on his way in.
Had Kerney brought his wife in to have the baby? Or had she called Kerney and driven herself to the hospital? Were the two cops inside to provide security, or was Kerney there on official business?
Samuel Green needed clarity. He walked to the side of the building. There were no ambulances, police, or fire department vehicles outside the emergency room entrance, and he couldn’t find Kerney’s unmarked unit in the almost empty parking lot.
Kerney might have left, but Green doubted it. He sat in his car waiting to see what happened next. Within several minutes, a hospital security officer took up a position outside the urgent care entrance, and a second security guard entered the lot in a hospital vehicle, cruising past parked cars.
Green drove off the hospital property to a nearby medical office building where he had a clear view of the entrance, and settled down to watch. When Kerney came outside, moved his wife’s vehicle from the curb to a parking space, and went back into the hospital, Green knew for sure the baby was on the way.
Now he could start thinking about the exciting times that lay ahead. The mental picture of a helpless Kerney watching as he brought the hammer down on the baby’s head made Green chuckle in anticipation.
After the officer came, Kerney got permission from the hospital administrator on duty to use a staff training room. Sal Molina and Cruz Tafoya showed up within minutes and immediately asked Kerney about Sara’s condition. Although he remained anxious and concerned, he told them everything was just fine.
They joined him at the long table and Molina arranged a number of digital photographs in front of Kerney.
“Pino sent these up by computer,” Molina said, as he leaned over Kerney’s shoulder. “They’re shots of five circular burial mounds, about ten feet in circumference and three feet tall, taken before excavation began.”