Stepping onto the porch, Lee let his jacket come open enough for Glover to see his pistol tucked into his waistband, then opened the door and slipped inside. “Honey, I’m home,” Lee said loudly, bringing out his pistol.

  CHAPTER 13

  “He had a pistol in his hand when I stepped out of the pickup, but he set it back down on a bookshelf. I can’t see him now. What’s he doing?” Diane asked.

  Lee stepped back into the room, making sure he was in shadows and not outlined by anything behind him, and took a long look. Glover had stepped back in the room, as well, away from the window, and Lee could only see half his face. “He’s just watching, trying to see what we’re doing. I don’t think he’s going to be walking around close to the windows for a while.”

  “Think he’s got a low-light or infrared scope? He might wait until dark and take another shot at you.”

  “Or you. It’s safer to assume there’s going to be danger here twenty-four/seven from now on. He’ll want to get us before we make a move on him. And because he had a background check done on my fingerprints and ‘knows’ I’m definitely not a cop, and we didn’t report his ambush, he sees we’re not going to play by the rules.”

  Diane poked her head out from the small study at the far end. “He’ll be wondering what illegal things we’re up to. We should sleep in shifts from now on. You want to keep watch while I brew some fresh coffee and get some dinner started, Lee?”

  Lee gave her a thumbs-up with his “injured” hand. “I’m just going to wear this sling in front of Glover. It should make him think he’s at least slowed me down a little.”

  Forty minutes later, having eaten dinner and cleaned up, Lee and Diane brought out the CD and the recording system to check if portions of it had been erased.

  “If you know where to look in the software, the system will give you the time of starts and stops. It automatically logs in when and where portions of the captured images are erased or edited.” Diane had connected their video equipment to the laptop and was able to look at the files on a bigger screen than before.

  “We used media that could be overwritten to save a few dollars. But there are CDs that cannot be erased, correct?”

  “Right. But these were definitely erased. Then one of the batteries was pulled loose to cut the power. The time of the power loss is recorded.” Diane pointed to the number on the screen.

  Lee looked at the screen. “The timing is right. He had about a half hour to erase what he wanted, loosen the battery to kill the system, search the place, then get out before I showed up.”

  “Think he was wearing gloves?”

  “Probably not. Why bother? He must think we’re up to something illegal ourselves, putting in a surveillance system like this. Or maybe he’s assuming we’re covering ourselves in case there’s a break-in. My silver jewelry, materials, and tools are worth something.”

  Diane shrugged. “He’s probably more curious than ever, us not reporting the shooting. My guess is he’ll jump to the conclusion that we didn’t want the cops involved because we’re doing something illegal.”

  “Speaking of illegal, there are two sheriff’s department cars coming up the street—no headlights. Think they’re about to bust Glover?” Lee offered with skepticism in his tone.

  “Only if Mrs. Weiner reported the harassment incident, and I doubt she’d risk the retaliation from Glover. Hopefully she told her husband, and they’ll be more careful going outside when that sleazeball is around. My guess is that they’ve come to see us. Now that Glover sees you’ve survived the murder attempt, he’s probably hoping we’ll get busted for dealing pot. You sure you got it all?”

  Lee nodded. “Even aired out the SUV quite a bit. Unless they’ve got a dog, they shouldn’t even pick up a whiff.”

  “Well, let’s be normal, I guess. We’d better put our weapons in the nightstand.” They both walked into the bedroom and placed their pistols and ammunition into the nightstands on each side of the bed.

  They returned to the living room. Hearing vehicles stopping outside, Diane hit the remote and turned on the TV. “Let’s see what happens. And watch the deputies.”

  “If they go for the SUV and check under the seat, that’ll let us know at least one of them is in cahoots with Glover,” Lee said.

  “‘Cahoots’? That word is straight out of an old movie,” Diane said with a grin.

  “Hey, what can I tell you? Those old movies were new to me. I particularly loved westerns and cowboys like Roy Rogers. Only chance to see someone playing an Indian.”

  “I remember Roy. And Trigger. Their lunch boxes go for big bucks on eBay,” Diane said, then laughed.

  Lee tried not to react as a deputy walked past the curtained window, most likely going around to cover the back door. The officer was in the dark and believed he couldn’t be seen.

  There was a firm knock on the door. “Deputy sheriff, Mr. Begay. Can I speak with you a moment?”

  Lee nodded, pointing to the remote. Diane put the TV on mute. “Whaddya want?” he yelled.

  “Just talk, Mr. Begay. Come on. Open the door.”

  Lee smiled, then walked across the room. The deputy was standing to one side, not visible through the small window, with his hand on the butt of his handgun, but Lee could see his distorted figure through the little viewer.

  Lee opened the door less than six inches. “I’m here, what’s going on, Deputy? Somebody kill that asshole across the road and you want us to sign the thank-you card?”

  Deputy Harmon, who’d been there the other day talking to Diane, cleared his throat and looked a bit awkward for a second. “Umm, your girlfriend here, too? Maybe you both could come outside for a moment. I’ve got some questions. Apparently there’s been some trouble in the neighborhood.”

  “It’s that deputy, the one who escorted you home the other night, babe. Wanna go outside with me for a moment?” Lee grinned at Harmon. “Diane told me all about you, Deputy. Protecting the neighborhood and all.”

  Diane came to the door. “Okay, I’m here, sweetie. Whatever the deputy wants, we’re cooperating. Right?”

  Harmon stood back as they walked down the steps, and Lee heard the other deputy’s footsteps as he came around the corner of the house behind them.

  Diane turned at the sound. “You didn’t walk through my garden, did you?” she asked the second officer.

  The young officer looked back with his flashlight for a second. The ground was bare. “Very funny, Miss Garcia.”

  “Hey, your fame precedes you, Diane,” Lee joked, noting the officer had known her name, though she hadn’t given it to him yet. Seeing Glover standing on his own front porch, watching the action from a distance, he added, playing innocent, “How’d you know our names?”

  “It’s our job. That your vehicle, Mr. Begay?” Officer Harmon pointed to the SUV.

  “Yup. Even got the pink slip. Well, I did last time I looked. We just moved here a few days ago and it’s probably still in a box.”

  “You sure, Mr. Begay? We had a report of a stolen vehicle matching this make and model.”

  This line of questions ruled out the incident with Mrs. Weiner as the reason for their visit. The real reason the deputies were there was connected to the pot Glover or whoever had planted in the SUV—the setup. “I thought you said there was trouble in the neighborhood. Don’t tell me someone down the street owns an identical SUV,” Lee said, adjusting the sling on his supposedly wounded arm.

  Deputy Harmon walked over to the SUV and aimed his flashlight inside, while the second deputy kept his eyes on Lee’s hands. “Got the registration inside the vehicle?”

  Lee reached for his pocket and saw both officers move their hands toward the butts of their handguns. “Whoa. Lighten up. Just getting my keys. Only got one hand available tonight.”

  Diane laughed. “I’m the only one around here who watches for a bulge in my old man’s pockets, guys.”

  Lee brought out the keys with two fingers, then tossed them to Harmon. He grabbed for them with one hand, but they bounced off his knuckles and fell to the ground.

  “Nice catch,” Lee said dryly.

  The officer picked up the keys, then opened the SUV driver’s door, watching Lee out of the corner of his eyes. Harmon was getting a little annoyed, and Lee could also see his hand shaking slightly, either in fear or anticipation.

  Both Lee and Diane knew enough to stand perfectly still and keep their hands in view. “It’s in the glove box,” Lee said.

  “Watch these jokers,” Deputy Harmon said, leaning across the interior, then realizing he’d have to sit inside to reach the box. He opened it up, brought out the various papers, then found the insurance card and registration.

  Lee watched as the deputy looked them over carefully. They were real and authentic, the best the state police could forge.

  Then Harmon looked under the front seats, shining his light. He climbed back out, then searched the backseat and the floorboards. Lastly, he aimed the flashlight into the rear section. The storage area was empty except for the spare tire compartment.

  Lee had noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that Glover had come over to the middle of the street and was watching closely now. The second deputy had glanced at Glover briefly and nodded, but continued to keep his eyes on Diane and Lee.

  “Can’t find what you’re looking for?” Lee asked Deputy Harmon, then looked over at Glover and smiled.

  Harmon looked at Glover, then at Diane. “Mind if we look inside your house, ma’am?”

  “Think we hid the stolen SUV in the den? I’d like to see that on a warrant,” she said, then chuckled.

  “We about done here, Deputies? My wounded arm is starting to ache from the cold,” Lee said.

  “Wounded? What happened to your arm, Mr. Begay?” Deputy Harmon asked, now curious again.

  “My neighbor took a couple of shots at me this morning with his forty-five. Just a scratch, though. He’s a really piss-poor shot, even with a laser sight. Want to be a good citizen and confess, Glover?”

  Glover obviously hadn’t expected this and his face turned red. Yet, in the weak light out there in the street, Lee suspected he was the only one in a position to know that particular detail. Glover’s expression had remained neutral almost, a credit to his self-control.

  He finally forced a laugh, but it was short-lived, and neither deputy joined in, though the younger one sneaked a look at Glover, gauging his response.

  “You’re a real comedian, Mr. Begay,” Deputy Harmon responded, shaking his head. “Let’s go, partner.” He nodded to the other deputy and gestured toward the cars. The young officer took another look at Glover, then stepped toward his unit.

  “Aren’t you forgetting something, Deputy?” Diane asked.

  “What?” Deputy Harmon stopped, as did the other officer, who was beside his vehicle now.

  “Our registration and proof of insurance.” She pointed to his hand.

  “Right. Okay.” He gave the papers to Diane, then turned and walked to his open car door. “Stay out of trouble, you two,” he said, indicating Lee and Diane, then got inside and started the engine and turned on his headlights.

  Glover was walking away now, but still watching them out of the corner of his eye. Lee waited while Diane put the papers back in the glove compartment and locked the doors, then they both went back up the porch steps. Glover was staring at them from the front door when they stepped back inside.

  They immediately retrieved their weapons. “So which deputy do you think is on the take? They both seemed concerned with Glover’s reaction to what was going down,” Diane pointed out.

  “I’d put my money on the older guy, Deputy Harmon. Glover would want the people with seniority. They make the decisions. The young deputy … he might still have some integrity left.”

  “I agree. He was watching Glover’s reaction when you said who shot you. And he sneaked a look just after that. Too bad he’s under Harmon’s thumb,” she said.

  “Let’s see what the Bureau can dredge up about Deputy Harmon’s record, personal life, background, money situation, and like that,” Lee said.

  “I’ll make some calls. You going to watch for visitors?”

  Lee nodded. “Glover moved quickly last time we pissed him off. I’m thinking he’s going to do the same again, only next time, he’ll choose a different weapon.”

  “Like?”

  “Trying to burn us out, blow up our propane, force us off the highway, or drop coconuts on our head.”

  “Coconuts?”

  “Hey, I read in the newspaper a few months ago that more people die from coconuts falling on their heads than from shark attacks.”

  “No freshwater sharks around here. So we worry about coconuts. Got it.” She started to laugh now, and he joined in.

  After a few moments, Lee remembered a problem they’d have to deal with if they intended on tracking Glover. He’d sneaked out the back either last night or early this morning, with serious consequences to them. They’d have to find a way to keep watch on the rear of his home so he couldn’t pull the same thing again.

  “We need a motion detector or something that’ll warn us when Glover goes out his back door,” Lee said. “It’ll have to be small, pretty much undetectable, and capable of sending us a signal whenever he tries to sneak away. The weapons labs and Sandia Corporation probably have some, and maybe the old nuclear weapons facility. Think you can get one for us so we won’t have to hide out in the woods twenty-four hours a day or bring in more help?”

  “I think so. I’ve seen some disguised to look like rocks. The various national labs here in New Mexico use them along remote fence lines to catch anyone trying to climb over or snoop. Area Fifty-one out in Nevada probably has hundreds of them. Let me call Logan. We can probably borrow one or two.”

  “In the meantime, I’ll disguise one of our remote mikes—a sound-activated one—then plant it beside his back gate. He’s not going to climb the fence, he’d just walk out. We couldn’t see him from here and he knows it,” Lee said.

  “What about his surveillance camera? You could be spotted.”

  “It angles down. My guess is that it only covers the area close to the house and, at night, it can only see what’s within the range of the floodlights. Along the fence line things will be nearly dark. I can attach the mike to the underneath of a small pine branch, then put it into position close enough so it’ll switch on and send his footsteps or the clank of metal to our receiver when he opens and closes the gate.”

  “Okay. He probably doesn’t even view the camera images unless he thinks something has gone down, like you or me sneaking around back. See the footprints, view the video, right?”

  Lee nodded. “I’ll get one of the devices ready, then put it into place ASAP.”

  They both went to work on their tasks, and fifteen minutes later Lee joined Diane in the study. “I’m going to pay a little visit to Glover’s backyard. I’ll take the phone, but won’t be talking, probably. Text message me.”

  “Okay. Logan is having one of our agents pick up a remote monitor from a lab for us. It’s sensitive enough to pick up cat footsteps within fifty feet.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Maybe, but that’s what the tech at the DOD said, which is where Logan dug one up. They’re reconfiguring the alarm. We’ll be able to pick it up on our cell phones if Glover or a stray cat sets it off. That’ll eliminate the need for a classified monitoring center that would take a delivery truck and gather way too much attention.”

  “Cool. I’ll be out, sneaking around.”

  “Be careful. If he happens to have a low-light scope, he might be watching for us.”

  “I’ll see him first. My eyes are much better than any of those night-vision devices. Unless, of course, his is attached to a rifle.”

  “That’s why I said be careful, smart-ass.”

  “Hey, you’re really taking your cover identity to heart, woman. You’ve got attitude.”

  “Hell, Lee, we both have attitude. Why shouldn’t we? Think of all we’ve been through the past two years.”

  “I see your point.” He put on his black cap, backward, adjusted his leather gloves, also black, then checked the Beretta in the holster at his waist. “Cell phone in my pocket, and listening device tied to a branch out on the back steps. See you in a while.”

  “If I notice Glover coming outside, I’ll send you a buzz.” She said, then looked down at the laptop screen, where the summaries of the officers who watched Sully today had been posted.

  Lee left the room silently and stepped out back, passing through the tiny utility room. He locked the door behind him, then walked quickly, straight to the tree line. Once inside the forest, he circled around, grateful again that they were at the end of the street—and the small development—and he had cover to the west instead of another cleared area with houses on each side and in front.

  From his vantage point he could see down the street, the front and one end of his and Diane’s house, and the rear of Glover’s place. He could also see the left-rear fender of Glover’s Jeep.

  The camera mounted on Glover’s roof moved slowly. Diane had seen the monitor inside, so they had an idea about how far out from the structure it retained its effectiveness. At night, even with the 150-watt floodlights, the camera probably had an effective range of fifty feet, not even to Glover’s fence, in a half circle.

  Lee saw lights on in Glover’s kitchen and bedroom, but no sign of Glover. He crouched, picked a path through the brush and past three trees, then moved slowly forward. Fifteen feet from the fence, he froze beside some rabbit brush and watched the sweeping camera, timing the motion. The gate wasn’t centered along the property line, so the area, a third of the way from the eastern corner of the fence, was out of frame slightly longer than if the gate had been centered.

  The camera covered an arc of slightly less than 180 degrees in ten seconds, give or take a second, then swept back after a two-second pause. After watching the motion for a few minutes, and assured that the cycle never varied, Lee made the final adjustment on the bug, hidden at the bottom of the branch, and stood. When the camera reached the seven-second point, the gate would be out of view. He’d have five or six seconds to run out, place the branch close to the gate, then drop back out of range. He’d worn moccasins, which left no tread or heel marks, so the tracks he left would be minimal. He could go back and erase them, if necessary, once the bug was in place.