Cait and Jack held hands at a trailhead in Albuquerque’s Elena Gallegos Open Space, the shadowed foothills of the Sandia Mountains before them. The western horizon was tinted pink from the sun’s dying rays.
A few snowflakes floated down from ponderous slate-gray clouds that filled the sky and promised more white stuff.
“So Elena Gallegos was one of your ancestors?” Cait asked.
“Dad says so. She was a child when her family fled during the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. Her family returned after Diego de Vargas re-conquered New Mexico. Eventually she came to own a tract of land around Albuquerque in the early 1700s. How she became a landowner isn’t clear.”
He squeezed her hand. “I wish I could have gone with you. You had a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
“I’ll never forget it. Co’ya was the most beautiful wild creature I’ve ever seen. I emailed a video to Estrella and her husband in Tucson. They were so happy.” Cait turned toward the sunset. “Estrella had some good news. Her creepy neighbor, Curt Wester, is facing charges for waving a gun at us in Saguaro East. Chris and Jon will keep an eye on him and his brother, Jer. Their days of shooting up wildlife and poaching Gila monsters are over. I’m sure they had something to do with the jaguar’s capture in the Rincons. We can only guess how it wound up at Sonny Para’s ranch.”
Jack held out a hand to catch snowflakes. “I don’t understand why Mac Spitzer went bad. He had high-ranking law enforcement experience that he could have exploited to make more money. He could have worked for the feds or started his own security company.”
Cait shook her head. “Mac wanted to be rich without having to work for it. I remember him from a Christmas party we went to last December. The one with all those people from APD? He seemed so nice and sincere.”
“It was all a big façade. Let that be a lesson to you, especially as a reporter. Someone can be corrupt and evil and hide it well.”
Cait leaned her head against Jack’s shoulder. “Sonny Para didn’t hide his black soul. But he’s dead. His gang is defused and all that fentanyl is off the streets. And now we can have a normal life again. Our parents can stop worrying. But what about that poor couple whose house was torched? Como and Zena Rico. And Jason Gonzalez, whose parents were murdered?”
He slipped an arm around her waist. “Habitat for Humanity is rebuilding the Ricos’ home. Jason’s back with his girlfriend and attending community college. Speaking of new beginnings, Clark Bush called me this morning. His mom Fern is moving to Albuquerque to live near him. It looks like she’ll recover most of the money she was scammed out of by Rod Stone. Fern didn’t have insurance on her destroyed house, but that parcel is still worth a lot. Someone’ll buy it and put up a big old mansion.”
Cait shuddered at hearing the malicious con artist’s name. “I hope Stone stays behind bars permanently.”
“He won’t see blue sky again. Except through a cell window, if he’s lucky.”
Jack faced her. “What about that nice young couple who wanted to get married?”
“They have absolutely no excuse now.” Cait leaned in for a kiss.
The End
Also by M.E. Smith
Deception Man
(A 2018 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards finalist in eBook Fiction):
Fraud poisons New Mexico’s tourist trade in iconic Native American silver and turquoise jewelry . . . Reporter Cait Zapata, whose father is a well-known Zuni Pueblo artisan, is targeted by a shadowy con artist . . . Her investigation into the source of phony artwork and stolen designs may be her last . . .
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