People Of Darkness

27

THE SECRETARY from Dr. Huff’s office met them as they left the storage room. The message was from Chee’s Crownpoint office. It told him to call Martin at Albuquerque FBI headquarters.

“I thought nobody knew where we are,” Mary said. She was frowning. “Wasn’t that how we were going to stay safe?”

“Nobody but my office,” Chee said.

“But if your office knows, can’t somebody else…?”

“How?” Chee asked.

Mary thought about it, still frowning. She shrugged. “I guess you’re right,” she said. “But you know how people are.”

Martin wanted to remind Chee that he was supposed to come in and look at photographs.

“Maybe in a day or two,” Chee said. “To tell the truth, I’m going to stay away from places where this guy might be waiting around for me.”

“I think you can relax a little now. He’s gone.”

“How do you know?”

“We made a clean sweep,” Martin said. “Checked every motel, every hotel, every place he could be staying. We even checked new apartment rentals.”

“Lot of work,” Chee said.

“He’s no place around here,” Martin said. “And we found the green-and-white Plymouth. It was in a little garage in Gallup. The son of a bitch drove it in and told the mechanic it needed a valve job and he was in no hurry for it. That’s why we didn’t find it abandoned anywhere.”

“That was smart,” Chee said. “You know how he got out of Albuquerque this time?”

“We’re pretty sure he stole a car. Just drove it somewhere. Maybe El Paso or Denver. Somewhere far enough to miss our stakeouts. And then he took a plane for wherever he goes.”

“So he’s not in Albuquerque?”

“Not unless he’s staying with relatives,” Martin said.