Kerney got introduced around and then trudged with Bollinger through the snow to the yellow tape surrounding Stewart's body. There were footprints all around the corpse and the body had been moved from its original position. Except where the snow had been carefully cleaned away from his forehead, Stewart's face resembled a stark white frozen plaster cast. The leg wound had been revealed in a similar fashion.
Glenn told him the scene had been photographed, including a number of close-up shots of the wounds, and the snow he'd removed to expose the wounds had been saved in evidence vials for further analysis.
With Bollinger following, Kerney stepped over the crime-scene tape, knelt next to the body, and studied Stewart's face. The hard freeze and new snow had kept swelling around the wound to a minimum, The bleeding out of one ear looked like a long solidified dark crystal droplet. The forehead laceration showed a slightly angled horizontal groove and one circular imprint in the skin. The pattern injury was unusual.
Kerney looked up at Bollinger.
"I noticed that too," Glenn said.
"What do you think?" Kerney asked.
Bollinger unholstered his semiautomatic sidearm.
"Thumped hard with one of these is my guess."
"Mine too," Kerney said.
"I want the body taken to Santa Fe for an autopsy and a forensic work-up. But don't transport right away." He handed Bollinger the small evidence kit.
"Have your search and-rescue people thaw him out enough so the ME can take hair, blood, and skin samples for me."
"We'll put him in a toasty ambulance and warm him up," Bollinger said.
He holstered his weapon and looked quizzically at Kerney.
"Should I even bother asking what you're hoping to learn?"
"Probably not," Kerney said. The knee tortured him as he stood up.
"You did a good job here, Glenn. Can you hold off on telling the news media or anyone else who might be interested that Stewart was murdered?"
Bollinger shrugged.
"If I'm asked, I'll say we're waiting on the autopsy report.
How much time do you need?"
"Eight hours will do. More if you can swing it."
"I'll do what I can," Bollinger replied, glancing back at the group that watched impatiently from a distance.
"All of those guys owe me at least one favor. That doesn't mean that the news won't leak out. This is a small town."
"Just try to keep the leak from spreading to Santa Fe too fast," Kerney said.
Chapter 9
In his office at the state police headquarters, Andy Baca took a call from Melody Jordan, a senior crime-scene technician. She curtly asked him to visit her in the lab right away and hung up before he could ask any questions. Andy put the phone down and the button on his very private phone line blinked off.
Only his wife, his secretary, Kevin Kerney, the governor's chief of staff, and a few high-ranking commanders in the department had access to the number. Melody Jordan wasn't one of them.
Andy dialed Melody's extension, dropped the handset in the cradle after twelve unanswered rings, and checked the time. He had ten minutes before a scheduled meeting. The state police lab did most of the forensic testing for local police departments, including the Santa Fe cop shop.
Only Kevin Kerney would've been able to get Melody to pull such a stunt.
He went to the laboratory to find out what Kerney wanted.
Through a window in the lab he saw Kerney and Melody Jordan standing in front of a stainless-steel table in the small clean room, a sterile environment designed to ensure no contaminants adversely affected DNA testing results. He watched as they filled out evidence labels, attached them to fluid vials and evidence bags, and sealed everything in a Plexiglas box.
They stepped out of the clean room and removed their white lab coats and plastic gloves. Melody Jordan gave Andy a disconcerted look.
Kerney had a gleam in his eye.
Ignoring Kerney, Andy smiled reassuringly at Melody.
"You called?" he asked blithely.
Melody blushed in embarrassment.
Kerney intervened.
"Blame Melody's phone call on me, Andy."
"I already had that figured out. Why are you here taking up Ms. Jordan's valuable time?"
"She ran a few tests for me," Kerney said.
"I thought you'd be interested in the results."
"You have my undivided attention."
"I've analyzed the hair, skin, and blood samples taken from Scott Gatlin with the remaining physical evidence we have from the Terrell case,"
Melody said.
"Phyllis Terrell did have sex with Scott Gatlin prior to her death."
Andy shot Kerney a quizzical look.
"So the FBI let you confirm their findings.
What's the big deal?"
"That's not quite how it happened," Kerney said.
"How did it happen?"
Kerney turned to Melody.
"Will you give me a few minutes alone with Chief Baca?"
Melody nodded and left the room.
"Well?" Andy said.
"Charlie Perry faked the DNA findings. The night Phyllis Terrell died her bed partner was a neighbor named Randall Stewart, not Scott Gatlin.
The whole FBI investigation is a scam-their evidence, Gatlin's confession, and his suicide."
"Do you have Stewart in custody?" Andy inquired.
"That's not possible," Kerney answered.
"He was murdered."
Andy raised an eyebrow.
"When?"
"Sometime yesterday up in Red River. It was made to look like a skiing accident."
"Suspects?"
Kerney shrugged.
"I'd like to think it was Charlie Perry. But he's not the professional-killer type. My best guess is that it's someone who is operating under the color of law."
Although he didn't want to believe it, Andy had no reason to doubt Kerney.
"Does Perry know you've blown a hole in his case?"
"He will in about four hours when the news of Stewart's murder is made public."
"Jesus, what have you fallen into?" Andy asked.
"Quicksand," Kerney said.
"What are you going to do?"
"I want to move the bar up a notch. Let me use your criminal intelligence people to wire Perry and Applewhites hotel rooms for sound and tap their telephones."
"Have you got a court order?" Andy asked.
"Do you know a judge who'd give me one?" Kerney replied.
"I'd be laughed out of chambers. At worst it's my word against the FBI.
At best it's pure speculation."
"You're asking me for something I'm not willing to do."
"Would you be willing to change your mind if I told you that I have reason to believe Father Mitchell's murder is directly tied to the Terrell case?"
"What reasons?"
"Start with the fact that yesterday Bobby Sloan found a stack of videotapes and a briefcase ful of information Mitchell had assembled that points to a major government espionage operation in South America.
Add to that Applewhite's arrival at Bobby's house after midnight armed with a federal court order requiring that all the evidence be immediately turned over to the Bureau."
"You better give me the whole story."
"Not in your office," Kerney replied.
Andy reached for a phone.
"Let me cancel a meeting and we'll find a nice, private place in the building to talk."
Andy took him to the armory, a room with thick, reinforced concrete walls and a steel door, where tactical weapons and ammunition were stored.
"Start at the beginning," Andy said, closing the door.
Kerney ran it down.