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"You warn Ms Paz?"

"She ain’t going nowhere"

"How do you figure?"

He h "You’l see"

He touched the brim of his hat and ambled back toward his cruiser

Barrera looked wistful y at hisuseless on the side of the two-lane We hiked into the ranch

After a few yards,with sweat Thea picnic on the back of my neck

Barrera looked perfectly cool His shirt and tie betrayed no speck of ht at Quantico, I guessed Staying Starched Under Stress, Course 2101

"You’ve been out here since the trial?" I asked

Barrera looked at me blankly He returned his attention to the ht cal a sparkling conversationalist, but during the hour trip to Castrovil e, he’d been even less effervescent than usual

That could’ve been because he had a lot on his uess Or because he didn’t like me, which wasn’t

"Who was the last owner of this place?" I tried

"Businessman from San Antonio Died a while back Don’t remember his name"

"He let Gloria Paz live here for free?"

No response

Okay Thanks, Sam That clears it up

I wished I was in Austin with Erainya--getting Je the peace between the two heavily armed wo Stirhthe didn’t want to say in front of Erainya If I could get through the ht find out what

I tried to keep my mind off the mud and insects I appraised the McCurdy spread from a business point of view It struck me as more scenic and a lot less useful than my own family ranch in Sabinal

The terrain was rocky and uneven--hil s and li the Medina River Val ey, poorly suited for crops or cattle Touris Exotic gaed for any purpose in a long time Cattle feeders stood rusted and ele emaciated heifer stood under a mesquite tree Three vultures waited patiently on the branch above

We were almost on top of the ranch house before I realized it was abandoned--a limestone shel in a thicket of live oaks The ere square holes of cru mortar The dooras an e a patchwork of metal and cedar beam

Barrera hesitated in the doorway

He didn’t need to explain why The place radiated a quiet malevolence

Inside were three empty rooms, a fireplace, a doorway in back that probably led to the kitchen Acrooked over theroo a cel ar below That was unusual in a Texas house In most parts of the state, the winters were too mild, the soil too close to bedrock to make a cel ar practical

Barrera stepped careful y across rotten floorboards toward a set of descending stairs I’d never been a fan of underground, but I fol owed him down

The back half of the cel ar was stacked with building materials--slabs of Sheetrock and plywood, buckets of paint and caulking, al covered in plastic tarp, tied off with bungee cords The stuff looked like it had been there for a while The tarp was tattered, pools of rainwater crusting in the folds Rats, orthe labels off the paint cans

Two black iron hooks protruded from the wal

The liested spray patterns I’d seen wal s like that before--in a Hil Country abattoir that had served generations of deer hunters

"The table was here," Barrera said

He stood in the center of the roo theht the room was soundproof But up in the cel s, they could hear the screah the open squares in the roof I reminded myself I was just ten easy steps to the surface The floor beaht about the businessined his optiotten an incredible deal This load of building ain

I understood nohy he’d never finished the job, why thehere unused and the ranch would eventual y revert to the bank

"Stirman kneould happen to these women?" I asked

Barrera picked up a small piece of metal, a broken link from a chain "Stirman wouldn’t have cared"

"That doesn’t answer my question"

Barrera slipped the link of chain into his pocket "Co"

He led me back outside, doard the river Under the cypress trees stood half a dozen cinder block sheds and a sht have been kennels Each had a ate In the center of each ceht attach an animal’s chain

Then I noticed the lidless steel toilets

Barrera didn’t say anything I didn’t ask