his paddle holster back on his belt and snapped his ankle holster in place. They stood in the lobby of the detention center, the huge windows looking out over the endless grassy plain, giving incoming prisoners one last glimpse of the big, beautiful outside world. It was cruel, in a way. It would almost be kinder if the windows overlooked an industrial site.

“I think the gang idea just got shot pretty much to hell,” Joe said.

“Yeah, I agree,” Gil said.

“Okay, where does that leave us?” Joe asked.

“I think we have to go back to the family,” Gil said. “There’s a lot of questions I need to ask them.”

“That sounds good,” Joe said, getting into the car. “I’d like to know about this stuff with Ashley’s dad. And, oh yeah, ask her why the hell she lied about who Brianna’s father was.”

Gil headed the Crown Vic back toward town and dialed Mrs. Rodriguez’s cell phone. She answered and told him they were all still at the hospital. Gil said he would meet her there.

As they drove along Interstate 25 and then took the downtown exit, Gil asked Joe to look over Fisher’s notes for any mention of Ashley’s dad. Joe flipped through a few pages before saying, “Okay, here it is. Ashley’s dad is named Rudy. He and Ashley’s mom split right before Brianna disappeared, but they aren’t divorced. Umm . . . it looks like he works for one of the pueblo casinos.”

“How involved was he in the initial investigation?” Gil asked.

“I’m not sure,” Joe said scanning the pages. “It looks like Fisher talked to him but that it was just a notification. We could check for any prior arrests, but Rudy Rodriguez is a pretty common name around here. Without his age or address, I’m not sure it would do much good.”

“We can get that from Mrs. Rodriguez,” Gil said without pointing out that this was information Fisher should have written down.

A few minutes later, Gil parked the car at Christus St. Vincent Hospital. They went up to the labor and delivery floor and were walking down the hallway to the patient rooms when someone said behind them, “Excuse me, officers.”

They turned around.

“Hi,” said an Anglo man who looked to be about twenty-five, with light brown spiky hair. “Rose wanted me to wait out here until you came. She’ll be out in a minute.”

This had to be Alex Stevens, Ashley’s boyfriend and the father of the current baby—or soon to be baby. Gil introduced himself, noticing that Stevens’s hands were rough and had deeply cut scars. Then he remembered he was a tow truck driver. Joe just nodded a hello to the man. The two of them probably hadn’t seen each other since the family filed the lawsuit.

“How’s Ashley doing?” Gil asked.

“Who knows,” Stevens said. “I haven’t got a clue about all this stuff.”

“Well, good luck,” Gil said, trying to think of a polite way to ask Stevens if he knew the identity of Brianna’s father. He couldn’t think of a way around the awkwardness of the question, so he let Stevens leave to go relieve Mrs. Rodriguez. Instead, he would try to find out from Mrs. Rodriguez, who came out a few minutes later.

“How’s Ashley?” Gil asked, thinking she would have a better idea than Stevens.

“They have her hooked up to all kinds of machines and tubes,” she said. “She’s not even due for another month. I’m worried the baby will be early like Brianna.”

“We just have a few questions for you and then you can get back in there,” Joe said. They went to an empty waiting area and sat down. Joe sat next to Gil and studiously took out his notebook so he could write down the important facts of the conversation. He was supposed to be unobtrusive about it, but Gil noticed Mrs. Rodriguez looking for any movement of Joe’s pen.

“We’re making progress in the investigation,” Gil said, to distract her, “and we just needed to check in with you about a few things, okay?”

She nodded.

“So, first of all, our investigation seems to be pointing toward someone who has some mental problems,” he said. “Do you know anyone like that?”

She shook her head and said, “No. Not at all.”

“No neighbors or cousins?” Joe asked.

She shook her head again.

“Okay,” Gil said. “That’s fine. The next thing we need to check with you about is Brianna’s father. We just got done talking to Tony Herrera, and he says he’s not her dad. Do you know anything about