“Good. If it’s him, nail the bastard. I won’t blow your cover by talking this up at the substation. But if you need some backup in APD jurisdiction, give me a call, will you? Kids are screwed up enough already without perverts messing with their lives.”

  Lee handed her his card with his cell number on the back. “If you think of anything else, give me a call. I’m just Lee. And don’t identify yourself except as Andrea, okay.”

  “Andy. They call me Andy. Now, here comes lunch.”

  Andrea gave him a smile, a real one, and he was relieved to see that despite her frankness she hadn’t become completely hardened by the job. Working vice, then the youth gang unit, could burn out anyone in record time. Or maybe she’d just become a great game player, living her work.

  The waitress set down the big toasted sandwiches, piled high with shredded roast beef and tangy barbecue sauce. The fries, which were thickly sliced and unpeeled, complemented the meal. No salad needed or wanted here.

  Lee asked for the bill, used to paying immediately, not knowing when he might have to leave. He watched Officer Moore for a reaction. Some women, particularly in their profession, took an offer to pay for the meal as a power or sexist issue, or a debt to be repaid later. He’d heard an officer once describe the courtesies he’d grown up with, like men paying for meals and opening doors for women, as benevolent sexism.

  Her expression was benign, a reaction he suspected was only temporary. When the waitress had left, Officer Moore finally spoke. “You paid for my lunch—because … ?”

  “Because you gave me the information I needed without having to go though the bureaucracy—an unofficial courtesy I respect. It was not payment for something a professional should have given freely, nor did it have anything to do with the fact that you’re a lady, although I was raised to respect values some might call old-fashioned these days.”

  “Either you’re every woman’s dream, or a heavy-duty bullshitter, Officer Hawk.”

  “Something to ponder while we’re having lunch, Officer Moore.” Lee shrugged, then began to eat.

  They both finished their meals quickly, from habit, and Lee was taking his second-to-the-last sip of coffee when Officer Moore got a call on her handheld. From what Lee could hear there was someone at a west side high school who’d just been arrested by campus security, and she was being sent to the scene.

  “Gotta go, Lee. Next time, I’ll at least buy the coffee.” She pulled out two dollars and placed it on the table.

  “Deal, Andy. Be smart out there.”

  Officer Moore stood, as did Lee, and she smiled as she grabbed her cap off the seat cushion. “’Bye.”

  She was gone in seconds. Lee took a final sip of coffee, stood, and picked up the foam container containing the sandwich he’d bought for Diane, then left the Two Bits lounge for his SUV.

  He was back on I-25 in ten minutes, heading for the Big I, where he’d exit for I-40 east. Lee picked up the phone, thinking of calling Diane, then decided to wait. She was supposed to call him, so if he hurried he could probably catch her at Howard’s in the canyon. They could get Cokes at the store and discuss the morning while she ate her sandwich.

  He was already in the canyon, Manzanos on the right, Sandias rising above him to the left, when Diane called.

  Diane had been working the cash register today, with Lonnie supposedly training her. Anna had updated the old cash register since Howard died, and the computer software and hardware were very familiar to Diane. It was virtually identical to a system she and Lee had used while working on the jewelry-smuggling case last year.

  There had been no problems at all, but Lonnie continued to hover, watching her breasts and ass more than the transactions, and it was starting to get annoying. She’d tried a few scowls, but he just didn’t seem to get the message.

  A pen rolled off the counter, and she bent down to pick it up. Glancing over, she saw Lonnie looking down her blouse. “You look at me one more time like that and I’ll crush your nuts with my bare hands.”

  Lonnie turned pale. “Oh—sorry, Diane. I wasn’t staring. I was just wondering if I should pick that up for you.”

  “How? You’re on the other side of the counter. Just keep your eyes to yourself unless you want to be staring up your ass with them.”

  Out of the corner of her eyes, Diane could see Anna, restocking the candy rack, trying to keep a straight face and pretending not to hear.

  “Umm, I apologize for making you think I was checking you out. Really. I don’t want any trouble.”

  “Good. You give me a reason and you’re going to be singing soprano.” Diane was having a hard time keeping a straight face herself. Lonnie had withered up like a prune and was definitely out of his league.

  “Um, you’ve got the register handled, so I’m going to clear out the storeroom.” Lonnie left in a hurry.

  Diane was starting to straighten out the display containing the lottery scratchers when Anna came over. “You really reamed him out good. Reminds me of my late husband Howard and some of the punks who came in here trying to make trouble. You ever work for the prison system?”

  “Worse. I attended public school all the way to graduation,” Diane responded. “I really didn’t know how to destroy a boy completely, however, until I was in the eighth grade.”

  Anna laughed, then grew serious. “You mentioned wanting to take a little break and look over the Trident gas station down the street,” Anna said, lowering her voice and looking around to make sure neither of the two customers over in the dairy section could hear.

  “Yeah. How about now? Fifteen minutes tops?” Diane asked.

  “Take your time, but hurry back,” Anna said.

  Diane chuckled. “You must have kept Howard in stitches,” she said, taking off her store apron and setting it beneath the counter.

  Anna nodded. “Made life a little easier, considering what we’d been through when he was on the force. You got a man, Diane?”

  “I think so. Or he’s got me. Maybe both. We’re moving slow. Two years now.”

  “Better decide, girl. You won’t live forever.”

  “Yeah. That could be part of the problem,” Diane said, her voice fading slightly. It was something she’d thought about often since meeting up with Lee.

  She managed to turn the expression into a smile, and Anna’s puzzled gaze suggested she was still two sentences behind in the conversation. “Be back by ten-twenty, boss.” Diane walked out the front door before Anna could come up with a response.

  The Trident station, with a mechanic on duty according to the sign, was only a quarter mile down the road, facing the frontage road and old Route 66. I-40, higher up and just north on a higher-elevation roadbed, carried hundreds of cars past every hour, and the gas prices, Diane noted, were only a few cents more than the best in the city. The pumps were self-service with an attendant inside, and the garage had two bays. Looking at the center block and sheet metal structure as she pulled up, she judged that except for the newer signs and the fancier pumps, this station could have been here fifty or more years ago.

  Diane drove up beneath the shaded pump island. The gas inlet was on the right-hand side of the vehicle, which gave her a clear view of the interior of the garage. She’d had a brief look the other day when Lee had dropped her off.

  Glover’s red truck was in the bay closest to the office and cash register. A new windshield had already been installed, and a mechanic in a red uniform shirt and jeans was bent over the engine compartment. Judging from the boxed items and tools on the little cart beside him, he was doing a tune-up.

  “Be right with you,” the blond-haired man she remembered as Mike said without looking.

  Role playing was necessary when undercover, but Diane still had problems looking at herself in the mirror after saying and doing some of the things required of her.

  “I’m not in a hurry,” she replied, releasing her seat belt, then leaning out the driver’s window slightly. The key here was to use the sexiest tone she could manage. With the “come and get me” makeup, it was using all her assets to best advantage.

  The “voice” got results. The slender, fair-haired mechanic turned his head around so fast he’d probably be needing a chiropractor. His arm came around a second later and he knocked the spark plug wrench off the fender. It clanged to the concrete, bouncing twice noisily before coming to rest.

  “I got it, Earl,” Mike replied eagerly, beating the chubby guy behind the inside counter to the punch. Mike had already decided his service to her was more important than the tool on the ground, apparently.

  “Hey, girl. I remember you from yesterday. Fill her up?” Mike was smooth, at least in his own imagination, and she barely kept her smile from turning into a laugh.

  “You got it … Mike,” she said, opening the door and climbing out of the cab. Mike stood there a second to watch, then ran around to pump the gas.

  “Key?” she offered, holding up the set.

  “Key? Oh, right, for the gas cap.” Mike came back around, taking the key, his face turning red as he made eye contact. Mike had to be eighteen, tops, and was probably still living at home.

  Still, Diane conceded, he was a potential informant. She’d need to find out everything he knew about Brian Sully and, hopefully, Newt Glover. She stepped closer to Glover’s truck.

  “That looks like my neighbor’s truck,” she said loudly enough for Earl to hear. He was standing in the doorway watching her anyway.

  “You live near Newt Glover?” Earl said, stepping out to talk. A customer, likely a tourist judging from the out-of-state plates, came up behind the man, waving a credit card.

  “Hey, Earl. You’ve got a customer. Turn around,” Mike yelled from across the other side of the pickup.

  “Oh, right.” Earl turned to help the man with the credit card. They both went inside, but Mike came out around the vehicle to join her.

  “Check the oil?”

  “No, it’s fine. This Glover guy, the one who owns the pickup. He some kind of nut or something?” She said it loudly, and Earl, inside, turned to look.

  “Oh no,” Mike said, equally loudly. “He jokes around a lot, but he’d a good ole boy. I like him.” Then he turned to make sure Earl had heard.

  The pump handle clicked, indicating the tank was full, and Mike went back to the handle, completing the operation and locking her gas cap back on. Then he came back around, stepping up within arm’s reach to hand her the keys. “He’s an asshole, a real troublemaker,” Mike whispered. “Stay away from him. But you didn’t hear it from me. Got it?”

  Diane nodded. “Thanks, Mike. I got it.” She reached for some money in her pocket and had to struggle a bit because her pants were too tight. Mike didn’t seem to mind waiting, and when she brought out a twenty, he waved her toward Earl. “You have to pay inside, ma’am.”

  She nodded. “I’d better let you get back to that pickup.”

  “Yeah,” Earl said from his vantage point in the doorway. “Or Glover’s gonna kick your ass.”

  “And your ass, and Sully’s, and everyone else’s all the way to Moriarity,” Mike added, walking back over to the pickup. He reached for a tool, then suddenly remembered it was still on the ground. “Stay away from Glover, I mean it,” he whispered as he bent down to retrieve the wrench.

  She nodded again. “Who’s Sully?” she asked, loud enough for Earl to hear. He was coming out with her receipt.

  “Mr. Brian Sully owns the station, a tire store in Albuquerque, and some apartments,” Earl said. “He’s our boss.”

  “Then why should he worry about Glover pushing him around? Glover lives in a tiny house out in the sticks and drives a five-year-old pickup,” Diane said, putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head with an attitude.

  “Mr. Glover has a lot more money than he’s showing, don’t let that little double-wide of his fool you. He runs half the—”

  “Keep it down, Earl,” Mike said, looking around to see if they were still alone. “We’re the lowest peckers in the pecking order around here. Remember what happened to Sully the other day? His Jeep?”

  “The same Jeep I saw this morning in Glover’s driveway?” Diane pressed.

  Mike nodded. “You tell her, Earl.”

  “What if it comes back at us?”

  “I’m not going to be talking to Glover. He’s pissed at me and my boyfriend anyway. We’re the ones who broke his windshield,” Diane said.

  “Glover said it was a flock of ducks coming up from a marsh beside the road,” Mike said, looking at Earl, who nodded.

  The two gas station employees took a step away from her, as if she’d suddenly become radioactive.

  “So what’s with the Jeep, guys. Our secret?”

  Mike looked at Earl, who shook his head. There was a pause, then the cable rang and they all looked over at the same time. A woman in a small sedan had just pulled up at the gas pumps. “I got it,” Earl said, eager to leave the conversation.

  Mike nodded, gesturing her over beside the pickup. “Glover came in, pissed as hell, and demanded to borrow Sully’s Jeep. Sully offered him my beat-up piece of crap over there instead,” Mike said, indicating his ancient pickup. “But Glover grabbed Sully by the … zipper, called him a pervert, and told Sully that he owed him a lot more than the keys to the Jeep. Sully nearly fainted, then gave him the Jeep.”

  They spoke a little longer, Diane getting as much information as she could. Finally she ended her conversation with him on a pleasant note and headed back. She had a lot to follow up on now. Glover was turning out just as expected, and Brian Sully was definitely worth investigating further.

  She’d pass the information on to Lee ASAP, and they’d decide what to do next. It was a long shot, but if Sully had anything to do with the missing boy, he’d become their next priority. Plans would change and Glover would have to wait his turn.

  CHAPTER 9

  “We need to shift our focus to Sully,” Diane said as soon as Lee pulled out of Howard’s parking lot. They were in the SUV, heading toward a picnic area just south of Tijeras.

  “I agree. Sounds like we’ve both made progress this morning,” Lee replied, keeping his eyes on the road.

  “What’s that wonderful smell. Barbecue?” She saw the foam container. “Two Bits. Good choice. Where’s yours?”

  Lee took a sip of the Coke she’d given him when she climbed inside. “Ate mine already. Part of my story.”

  “Okay. You talk, I’ll eat. Been around food all morning, never took a bite.” Diane unfolded a napkin on her lap, then reached inside for a piece of sandwich. The serving was cut into quarters, the bread was so big, and she had to be careful, keeping the container on the towel, to avoid dripping sauce on her lap.

  While Diane ate, Lee drove and explained what had happened this morning. She asked questions between bites, and by the time he pulled off the road beside a concrete picnic table, his story was done and her sandwich was finished.

  Instead of getting out, they sat in the vehicle, parked in the shade beneath a tall pine with the windows down, appreciating the scents of the forest as Diane told him about her visit to the Trident station.

  “I’ll get everything anyone has on Brian Sully, and try and track him down. Did you get any idea on where he might be at the moment?”

  “From Mike, at the station, I gather that Sully stops by the station randomly, any time of day or night. I also know he’s got a home on private property somewhere near the turnoff to the Fourth of July campground. There was a photo at the station that Anna saw once and she described it for me.”

  “And he also has apartments in Albuquerque, right? The Northeast Heights.”

  “Right. But Mike said that he overheard Sully tell someone that he’s been staying at the cabin for the past month.”

  “Why the switch in residence?”

  “If Mike knew, he didn’t tell me. But he did notice that Sully’s been buying a lot of camera equipment, lights and such. He saw the packages and boxes in Sully’s other car, a white Camry, while he was gassing up the vehicle.”

  Lee thought about it a minute. “There are two main specialty camera dealers in Albuquerque that I know about. I’ll give them a call for more information. Then I’ll start looking for a link between Sully, the missing boy, relocating to a remote residence, and that camera gear … .”

  “You’re thinking kiddie porn? New Mexico has always had weak laws in that area. You might want to check and see if there’s anything in the records linking Sully to something like that,” she said.

  “I’ll do it. And unless something happens between now and then to lead us in a new direction, I think we’re going to want to pay Sully a visit tonight,” he answered.

  “Every second is important when it comes to a kidnapping, Lee. Get some officers to check out Sully’s properties.”

  “You’re right. And I’ll have them keep him under covert surveillance if they happen to locate the guy. If Sully does have Timothy Klein, and the boy’s still alive, Sully may panic and try to get rid of the evidence. The thought of getting caught spurs a lot of perverts into killing their captives,” he said.

  “I’m with you. We’ll want to tread carefully and softly, though in haste. And if Sully has to be taken down, it’ll be best if it isn’t one of us. Any locals on the scene, even deputies, can’t be trusted not to give us up to Glover. I want to get the boy back and still get Glover, if at all possible.”

  “Okay, then. I’ll drive you back to Howard’s, and find out what I can about Brian Sully without tipping anyone off.”

  “If something comes up and you need some backup, Anna knows I’ll have to blow off work at the store,” she said.

  Lee started the SUV, checked for traffic, then pulled back out onto the highway. “One more thing I forgot to tell you. I can confirm that Glover is armed with a laser sight-equipped handgun.” He told her about becoming the target for Glover’s dry-firing activity earlier.