Decker 16 by Faye Kellerman

Author:Faye Kellerman [Kellerman, Faye]
Format: epub
Publisher: Unknown
Published: 2010-02-17T08:11:18+00:00

30

A S THE PLANE descended into Albuquerque, the winds buffeted the fuselage, producing a hard landing. The jet hit the ground with a thump that traveled up Decker’s spine, but he was whole and safe and that was all that mattered. Just that little bit of turbulence and discomfort had unnerved him, propelling his thoughts to the last moments of flight 1324. It was a dark space that left him momentarily terrified. He forced his concentration back to the onerous task ahead.They had come in before dusk, and by the time that they had secured the rental SUV and hooked onto the I-25 North toward Santa Fe, it was dark. Marge drove and Cathie kept her company in front. The boys sat in back. Dunn had been to New Mexico’s capital a half-dozen times in the last three years and she seemed at ease on the highway. Within fifteen minutes, the lights of Albuquerque had faded, an infinite sky blanketing the desert terrain with a myriad of pinpoint lights. There wasn’t anything to see except a few lit billboards and highway signs stating that they were traveling in and out of Indian territories.

“The area was dominated by the twelve northern tribes,” Cathie explained. “They settled the land thousands of years ago. The northern tribes weren’t decimated like the Cherokee and the Sioux, although the Spanish didn’t treat them as equals, that’s for certain. My mother is from the Santa Clara tribe; my father’s family, originally from Mexico, has been in Santa Fe for five generations.”

The woman measured a little over five four, her weight tipping the scales at 125. She had gleaming black hair that fell past her shoulders, and when she turned her head to talk to the boys in back, the tresses were like a wave of inky silk that swirled about her head. She had light green eyes, a broad nose, and a full face. She had dressed simply, in jeans and a cotton sweater, stating that no matter how hot Santa Fe was during the day, there was always a chill at night due to the seven-thousand-foot elevation.

When the car finally crossed the Santa Fe County line, Decker didn’t see much of anything that constituted a town. It took another ten minutes before Marge got off the interstate and onto a three-lane boulevard. Not much traffic interfered with their schedule. It was hard to see in the dark, but Decker could tell that the Western capital was low-rise and almost all the buildings were adobe or stucco and colored in various shades of brown. Many of the structures appeared to be fluid masses without corners and sharp edges, as if fashioned by whimsy. Others were just square boxes. Still, the uniformity of the color and material gave the town a distinct, Old West character.

The hotel where Marge had made reservations was in the center of town, right off the Plaza. It wouldn’t have taken more than twenty minutes to check in, but the detectives had elected not to waste any time on triviality.

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