Ditch Rider by Judith Van Gieson Page B

it by her, Anthony, but I don’t think she’ll go for it. She says she acted alone.”
    He leaned back in his chair. “I find that hard to believe.”
    He wasn’t the only one.
    â€œWhere’s the weapon?” he asked.
    â€œShe says she threw it in the ditch.”
    â€œCan she show us where?”
    â€œ I’ll ask her.”
    â€œDon’t ask her, tell her.”
    â€œWhen it comes to teenagers, nobody tells them nothing, don’t you know that yet?”
    â€œIt won’t be like that when I have a family.”
    â€œDon’t count on it.”
    â€œI’ll have the bullet analyzed to see if it was the one that killed Padilla.”
    â€œIt’s in your hands,” I said.
    He flipped a pencil up on its tip and began poking the point into the pile of papers on his desk. “There is one more thing. Cade’s lawyer called and arranged to bring him in for questioning.” He laughed. “Maybe I’ll end up with two guilty pleas.”
    â€œNot likely,” I said.
    ******
    DNA analysis of the bullet would take time. Dredging the ditch could be done quickly, but more easily with Cheyanne’s cooperation. The APD could have searched the ditch without her. They could have followed the Chapuzar Lateral from the crime scene to Mirador Road, but they wanted Cheyanne to go to the scene with them to show them how and where she had shot Juan Padilla and to pinpoint the spot where she’d dumped the gun.
    I stopped by the trailer the following morning and found Cheyanne, Sonia and Leo sitting around the table having a cup of coffee before they went to bed or to work or stayed home all day and watched the tube. Tabatoe was curled up in Cheyanne’s lap. On the wall an orange tiger paced across a black velvet background. I looked out through the kitchen window and saw pigeons lined up like targets on the telephone line. I told Cheyanne that I’d given the bullet to Saia.
    â€œWill he believe me now?” she asked. Her eyes were wide.
    I glanced at Leo. I wasn’t sure this case should be discussed in front of anyone but Sonia and Cheyanne. “It’s all right,” Sonia said. “Leo’s in on what’s happening.”
    â€œIs it all right with you?” I asked Cheyanne.
    She studied her chipped fingernails. “I guess.”
    â€œIs that a yes or a no?”
    â€œIt’s an all right,” she said.
    I took that as a sign to continue. “If you were with Ron Cade and he shot Padilla, you could be charged with being an accessory. Saia will cut a deal if you tell him Ron Cade was the shooter.”
    Leo put his elbows on the table. He was wearing an undershirt and I could see the black curly hair on his chest, the chain on his right forearm and the Virgin of Guadalupe tattooed on his left bicep. “What kind of deal are they willing to cut?” he asked.
    â€œVery little or no time at all in the Girls’ School, I’d say. Saia has a vendetta against Cade, plus Cade is too old to be treated as a juvenile. Saia would prefer to prosecute him.”
    Cheyanne stared at the crumbs on the Formica table and said nothing.
    â€œListen up,” Leo ordered.
    She raised her head and flipped her hair over her shoulder. Tabatoe leapt off her lap. “Ron Cade didn’t do it, I did. Got it?”
    â€œDon’t get smart with me,” Leo snapped.
    â€œYou’re not my father.”
    Sonia’s cigarette was burning in the ashtray and the smoke was rising like a warning signal from a fire. “Knock it off, you two,” she said.
    Leo shut his mouth, but he tightened his grip on his coffee mug until the virgin on his muscle shivered. Had he gotten those muscles from lifting the ladder? I wondered. From emptying the water out of evaporative coolers? Or was it from pumping iron?
    â€œDo either of you own a thirty-eight?” I asked Sonia and Leo.
    â€œI didn’t get it from