Read Online Tularosa: A Kevin Kerney Novel (Kevin Kerney Novels) by Michael McGarrity - Free Book Online Page A

suppose." She walked to the door and held it open.
    "Jim, don't ever come into my office again and try to tell me how to do my job. Understood?"
    "Feeling a little testy?" Meehan asked with a chuckle.
    "Just setting the ground rules. Captain." Meehan smirked.
    "You really can be a bitch, Sara."
    "You bring it out in me," she answered sweetly, closing the door behind him. She hoped Meehan's assessment of Kerney was wrong. It would give her great pleasure if Kerney turned up something she could stuff it down Jim Meehan's throat, bit by bit. *** "You're not walking with your tail between your legs," Andy observed, as Kerney came into his office.
    "I thought for sure Sara would rough you up a bit."
    "She did," he said, sinking into the chair in front of the desk. "The lady is an expert butt-chewer." Andy nodded sympathetically.
    "Don't feel bad. She jumped down my throat with both feet." He shrugged philosophically.
    "Trying to finesse the captain wasn't such a good idea. I think I underestimated her. After living with Connie for twenty-two years, I should know better. Did she send you packing?"
    "No."
    "Amazing."
    "I need your help, Andy. I have one slim lead that may go nowhere and not much time to run it down."
    "Tell me what you've got." Kerney filled him in on everything he knew before getting to his request.
    The most disquieting fact, Sammy's disappearance in the middle of the desert from a highly secret test site, raised the chances that the boy was dead. Unhappy with the thought, Andy got out of his chair and walked to the window, wondering what pressures Sara Brannon was facing. It was a standing joke in the community that the missile range had more garden-variety spooks, spies, and intelligence operatives than the Pentagon had two-star generals. He turned to Kerney, who was making his pitch.
    "I want to find the Toyota Sammy was driving and talk to the man who was with him the night Carla Montoya saw them together."
    "That's a long shot," Andy noted.
    "I know it."
    Andy decided swiftly.
    "It's worth a try. I'll give you two deputies for the remainder of the day. Both are fresh out of the academy. That's the best I can do." He picked up the phone and asked for two officers to report to his office.
    Kerney's temporary detail arrived quickly. Both of the boys, one with peach fuzz on his chin and the other with the gangly look of an awkward adolescent, looked much too young to hold commissions. Andy filled the deputies in on their assignment and told Kerney to use a small office near the radio room. Kerney put himself and the team to work immediately, reviewing computerized motor vehicle records on the off chance that Sammy had bought and registered another car, and calling all the dealers in the city to see if anyone remembered Sammy as a customer. It was boring, repetitious work, and after hours on the phone with no success the initial enthusiasm of the deputies had waned. He looked at the wall clock. The lunch hour had come and gone. Maybe his guys were simply running out of fuel.
    He ordered pizza to be delivered and got appreciative smiles. When the food arrived, they kept at it, chasing down car salesmen who were at home on days off. Kerney hung up on his last call and rubbed his ear. His team was back to looking wilted.
    "Let's try insurance agents," Kerney suggested, as he flipped through a phone book and reached for the telephone.
    "Hit the ones that cater to military personnel. Call the national offices if you have to. Ask if Sammy inquired about car insurance or got a rate quote." The deputies nodded dully and got back to work. Kerney was in the middle of his list when the gangly deputy put the mouthpiece against his chest.
    "I've got something," he said.
    Kerney waited impatiently as the deputy asked questions, scribbled some notes, and finally hung up. He almost yanked the piece of paper out of the officer's hand. At the door, he stopped and remembered his manners.
    "Thanks. I'll let the sheriff know that you