“Any idea where to start?”
“None. But there’s always a trail of some kind. I feel like I’m stretching my muscles on this one, but I will find the answers.”
Sam smiled at her husband. If there was one thing she’d learned about Beau in their few years together, it was that this guy was sharp and he didn’t give up.
Chapter 16
Beau gave Sam a kiss when they parted outside the deli and watched her get into her bakery van. His commute was to walk across the street. He punched in the digital code for the back door into the squad room. Until the shift change in an hour it would be fairly quiet, so he headed for his desk and stared at the file and evidence bags he’d locked in his office.
Examining the autopsy photos, he couldn’t spot the injection site the toxicology expert had told him about, even though he knew where to look. It was amazing the medical investigator had found it. Whoever administered the drug either knew precisely what they were doing or got extremely lucky. Just not lucky enough to go undetected.
The physical evidence was in. All he could do was to look for the killer, and he would have to dig into Lukinger’s life to find answers. It always went back to the central three objectives: Who out there in the world had motive, means, and opportunity to murder Percy Lukinger? So far, Beau didn’t know enough about the victim or his recent movements to hazard a guess at any answers.
He got his computer to wake up and checked email. Winston Reed had said he was emailing some documents. Sure enough, his secure mailbox held several messages with attachments. He opened each one and studied it. On a yellow legal pad, he began making notes. By the time his deputies began gathering in the squad room for their afternoon briefing, he had assignments lined up for them.
Voices and the jangle of keys and equipment told him the day shift guys were coming back and the evening shift had begun to arrive. Beau stepped to the open doorway.
“I need everyone to stay a few extra minutes,” he said.
He ignored groans from a couple of the men who’d already put in their eight hours. Too bad. It wasn’t worth repeating the briefing again tomorrow. A murder case brought special demands and they all knew it. Updates would happen, like it or not.
Beau carried folders with him into the squad room and began tacking photos to the cork board on the north wall. The department was too small to have the luxury of a separate briefing room or a command center that could be assigned specifically to high-profile cases. As the board filled with additional information on Lukinger, less urgent cases would get squeezed to the edges. Every law enforcement officer on earth wished he could give full attention to every case, and all departments in the country wanted to solve every crime and tie up each loose end. But that didn’t always happen—cases overlapped. The best he could do was to act upon the information he had as quickly as possible.
“Okay, gather around,” he announced.
Desk chairs were pulled out and swiveled to face Beau. He began with the victim’s name and the autopsy results, then filled them in with the little he had discovered at Lukinger’s home.
“Now that this whole thing has become a top priority, I want a team out there to go over the property with a fine tooth comb. Just because I didn’t spot anything at a glance doesn’t mean it’s not there. I don’t care if it’s a loose floorboard or a hidden panel somewhere, or an envelope taped to the bottom of a bathroom drawer … Rico, I’m putting you on this one. Martinez and Salazar, you’re with him. Get Lisa and her forensic kit and scour the house and the whole property. We want something—anything—that will tell us who disliked this guy enough to kill him.”
Rico nodded and made notes on a pad.
“Travis, I’ve uploaded the file with Lukinger’s fingerprints digitally scanned. I need you to run them through every national database. Maybe he’s been in trouble in another jurisdiction and we can find an enemy out there somewhere.”
Travis was his youngest deputy, but savvy about computers and up to date on the latest ways to gather information quickly. He liked digging through digital records and wouldn’t gripe about it the way a couple of the older men would. Beau had assigned those tradition-minded guys to accompany Rico.
“There’s a wife,” he told them. “Travis, while the computer is chugging through fingerprint files, I need you to find background information on a Ramona Lukinger. From what I could tell, she doesn’t live in the house on Montaño Lane, but she has to live somewhere. His house here is pretty sparse so it could be Percy’s important stuff is with her. Get an address and we’ll pay the lady a visit.”
The funeral home had said Ramona requested a small memorial service for Percy. Beau wanted to find out when that would be, and he planned to attend. Friends of the deceased would be of interest—enemies even more so.
He dismissed the men. Those going home for the night seemed relieved they’d not been pressed into working a double shift. Travis rubbed his hands together in anticipation and turned to his computer keyboard. While they waited for Lisa, the forensics technician, Rico’s team gathered evidence bags, powerful flashlights, and latex gloves. Beau went back into his office and quickly sent the fingerprint file to his eager young computer expert.
A call to Sanchez Mortuary got Monica Sanchez on the line, and he asked whether the Lukinger service had been scheduled yet.
“Yes, I just spoke with Mrs. Lukinger,” Monica told him. “She said it wouldn’t be a large attendance, and our smallest chapel was available, so we’ve scheduled the memorial for five o’clock tomorrow afternoon.”
“Thanks. Do you have her file handy? Could you give me Mrs. Lukinger’s number and address?”
“I can look it up,” she said. A half-minute passed. “Okay, here it is—it’s fifty-four Montaño Lane, here in Taos.”
Beau swallowed his disappointment. Clearly, Ramona Lukinger was keeping up the pretense that she and Percy lived together in that house. However, the phone number she’d given the funeral home was different from the one she’d given the OMI’s office. He thanked Monica for the information and hung up.
He started to dial Ramona’s number but stopped partway through the digits. Her caller ID would likely show the call coming from the Taos County Sheriff’s Department, and he didn’t want to alert her. His personal cell phone would show his name and, being an elected official, he might be recognized. It was much too easy for a suspect to ignore a phone call—making initial contact face-to-face would be better. He would have to think about the best approach. At least he had until the following afternoon to decide.
While Travis watched data flicker across his computer screen and the other deputies examined the adobe house he’d already searched, Beau felt a little at loose ends. Until they had further evidence, this was the lull before the storm, in a way.
“Sheriff?” Travis called out. “Want to take a look at this?”
Beau went to the deputy’s desk for a look at the computer screen.
“There’s a Lukinger in Albuquerque, but the names are Ron and Bobbie. Could be related?”
“I’ll give a call.” He jotted down the number. “Any hits on the fingerprints yet?”
Travis toggled to the screen where his query was still racing through the database. “It’ll make a ping sound if there’s a match.”
Beau knew that—he was just becoming impatient. In his office, he dialed the number Travis had given him. The woman who answered sounded at least in her sixties.
“Mrs. Lukinger?”
“Speaking.”
“This is Beau Cardwell, sheriff of Taos County.”
“We already donated, just last week.” She sounded short and ready to hang up.
“Wait, it’s not about a donation.” Damn those organizations that called people about some group loosely connected to police work. “We’re investigating a traffic accident up here near Taos, and I have some questions.”
“Taos? Well, I sure as heck haven’t been anywhere
near Taos in a long time.”
“That’s fine. I’m actually looking for a Ramona Lukinger—is she related to you?”
“Ramona … no, nobody named Ramona at this end of the Lukinger family.”
“Or a Percy Lukinger—is that a relative?”
“Sorry, no.”
He asked her to write down the department number in case her husband might know of someone or if either of them thought of some pertinent information later. It was a complete longshot, he knew.
His personal phone rang and Sam’s picture appeared on the screen. The time showed 4:18.
“I haven’t forgotten about dinner at Zoë’s tonight,” he said immediately.
She laughed. “I knew you wouldn’t.”
Actually, he wouldn’t admit it but a birthday dinner was a little low on his priority list right now. Still, he’d said he would go.
“I’m going to leave the bakery van here at the shop so Becky can deliver a cake on her way home. Can you come by here and pick me up?”
They discussed whether they would go home and change into civvies or just show up at Zoë’s in their work clothes. Decided it would depend on whether each could get away from work within the next ninety minutes.
“Try to leave in an hour if you can, Beau. We’ve stood up our friends a few too many times.”
He assured her he would do his very best. Once the call ended, he decided to take his chances with Ramona Lukinger’s cell phone. Worst case, she would hang up, but maybe by using the “wrapping up a few loose ends on the car crash” excuse she would agree to see him.
He was surprised when she answered, more surprised when she didn’t brush him off after he introduced himself. She seemed friendly and agreed to stop by the office first thing in the morning.
Chapter 17
Beau was on his phone when Sam set Zoë’s birthday cake on the back seat of his cruiser and climbed in the front.
“Okay. Got it.” He jotted notes in his small pocket notebook. “Start tracking those, see if any have local addresses.”
She sat patiently, wondering how long the call would go on; they had thirty minutes to get home and change clothes before turning around and coming back into town for Zoë’s birthday dinner. She’d just learned that Kelly and her boyfriend Scott were also invited, and a purely social evening suddenly sounded like great fun after the harried week she’d spent.
Beau ended his call and turned toward her. “Sorry, darlin’, but it looks like we may have just caught a break in this case.”
“A good one?”
“Yeah. Travis got more than one hit on the fingerprints of our victim. Turns out he’s been arrested in several jurisdictions—under several different names.” His eyes had a sparkle that hadn’t been there the past couple of days, and he handed her the notebook while he put the SUV in gear.
Sam read his precise block lettering: John P. Lukinger, Percival Johns, Johnny Luck.
“Johnny Luck?” She felt a chuckle building inside her.
“Yeah, that one was in New York where he was apparently running a street game of three-card Monte.”
“That’s a con game, right?”
“Yeah, all the charges we’ve found were con games. He’s got long rap sheets in New York, New Jersey, and Southern California.”
“So … now there are almost an infinite number of people with motives to be angry at this guy.”
“That’s what I’m thinking.” He’d taken the back route northward, toward home. “This morning I was scraping around for a motive and now suddenly I have a bunch.”
“But to kill a guy over losing some cash in a street card game?”
He sent an indulgent smile her way. “There’s got to be more to it than that, but I feel like this is just the outer layer of a very complicated onion that I’m going to have to peel away.”
He tapped the face of his phone to make a hands-free call and soon had his senior deputy, Rico, on the line. Beau repeated the aliases Percy Lukinger had used, telling Rico to have the search team look for anything in connection to those names.
Sam saw his lingering glance when they passed Civic Plaza Drive and knew she’d be lucky to have ten percent of his attention tonight at the birthday party. He ended the call to Rico when they turned onto the final stretch for home, and she could tell his mind was zipping along at a million thoughts a second. Although she’d been involved in several of his cases and always found it intriguing to know what was going on, right now it was best to simply let him mull things through.
At home, she left Zoë’s cake and gift in the cruiser while she raced through the routine of feeding the dogs their evening meal and turning on some lights around the house. A quick swipe of the washcloth took off the dusting of powdered sugar she always brought home on her face and arms. While Beau unburdened himself of his belt full of lawman gear and searched the closet for a casual shirt, she slipped into the dress slacks and cashmere sweater she’d set out for herself that morning. In under fifteen minutes they were ready to head to Zoë and Darryl’s place.
Sam felt her mood lighten during the drive. Becky was back at work, which helped tremendously, the furnace situation at the chocolate factory had been repaired, and although the break-in house loomed as a project to finish, she refused to think about it until she absolutely had to. When they pulled into the driveway at Zoë’s, she spotted Scott’s Subaru.
Her daughter had met this wonderful man last year. A history professor at the Taos UNM campus, Scott Porter was interesting and, best of all, level-headed and stable—a first in Kelly’s love life. Their happy relationship was another cause for Sam’s peace of mind.
The smell of barbeque sauce reached them before the back door had opened, and Zoë greeted them, looking radiant in one of her standard long gypsy skirts and a gauzy top. Her graying hair was pulled back into a braid that reached halfway down her back, and she held a glass of wine in one hand.
“That barbeque smells good enough to make my knees weak,” Beau said with a grin toward Darryl. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
Sam seconded the sentiment as she handed the cake box to Zoë and they shed their coats. The big round kitchen table was set for six, with a bright Mexican-blanket tablecloth and vivid cloth napkins to match. Talavera plates shone at each setting and glassware sparkled from the light of slender candles in the center of the table. Sam added the small wrapped box containing the beaded necklace to the stack of gifts on the sideboard.
Darryl carried a huge pan covered in foil to the table and set it in the middle. Bowls of coleslaw, veggies and a basket of cornbread already awaited. He turned to Sam, still wearing his monster oven mitts, and gave her one of his standard teddy-bear hugs.
“Good thing everyone’s hungry,” he said. “This is enough to feed the army.”
“Or our B&B guests for another solid week,” Zoë added.
“Huh-uh,” said Darryl. “They get your breakfast burritos and homemade muffins. Ribs—these are mine.”
Sam noticed Kelly and Scott hanging to the side a bit as Darryl and Zoë gave the table a final scan and asked each other if everything had been set out.
“What’s with you two?” she chided her daughter. “You look like you’re keeping a big secret.”
The minute she said it, her breath caught and she glanced at Kelly’s stomach.
“No! It’s not that, Mom,” Kelly said. “Not yet.”
Realizing everyone in the room had stopped to stare, Kelly blushed clear to the roots of her cinnamon-colored curls. Scott ushered them toward the table and raised his wineglass. “I have the honor of telling you that this very beautiful woman has accepted my proposal.”
“We’re engaged!” Kelly squealed. She held out her hand and flashed a diamond solitaire.
Chapter 18
“Well, the evening sure took a turn,” Sam said, smiling and leaning back in her seat in the cruiser.
“Yeah, it did,” Bea
u agreed.
Once the word wedding had escaped Sam’s lips, the three women had gone into some kind of feminine planning frenzy. Words like bridesmaids, wedding gown, venue, and cake bounced around the room like ping-pong balls. He didn’t recall Sam getting this worked up over their own marriage ceremony. Zoë didn’t seem the least bit upset that her birthday celebration had been usurped, although Kelly kept saying how she’d planned to hold on to the news until later, for that reason.
At one point, Beau had received a call from Rico, which he excused himself to take in another room. The investigative team had made no big discoveries at the Lukinger home—no surprise, really—and Rico said the few items they’d picked up were now bagged as evidence and would be ready for Beau in the morning. Lisa had taken fingerprints from a variety of surfaces and bagged hair brushes and toothbrushes from the bathroom so they could establish a chain of evidence proving the home was the residence of the dead man. It was all they could accomplish tonight, and Beau told Rico to release the other deputies for routine calls, to get some sleep, and to be ready to review all the evidence together in the morning. He also had the appointment with Ramona Lukinger to look forward to.
He tossed and turned in bed that night, suspecting Sam was doing the same. The rich food and news of Kelly’s engagement no doubt accounted for his wife’s restless night; his unrest had to be chalked up to the frustrating lack of clues in his new case. By four a.m. he’d given up on sleep. Dressed in flannel-lined jeans, and several layers of shirts and jackets, he walked the crackling, frost-covered path to the barn. Scooping oats for the horses and talking to them, feeling their hot breath on his hands brought the familiarity of routine to his morning. He chopped the layer of ice from the water trough, performing his duties quickly.
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