"Does that piece-of-shit mutt have a current rabies tag?"

"Yeah, you're in luck," Garcia said.

"Walk him around to the road, put him in your truck, and stand by."

"I've got three pending calls," Garcia said.

"Not anymore you don't," Herrera said. He keyed the microphone and called in the homicide.

Lieutenant Salvador Molina, special-investigations commander, peered inside the open patio door of the Terrell residence. The victim lay on her back approximately three feet inside the house, with her feet pointing south toward the door. A blood pool darkened a thick Oriental rug. Dog tracks and human footprints wandered erratically across the floor of the expansive living room.

The expression on Phyllis Terrell's face seemed peaceful. It was a strong, attractive face with even features. She wore expensive diamond studs in her ears, and a larger single diamond on a gold chain around her neck. The scissors protruding from Terrell's chest looked like the type Molina's wife used whenever she tried to sew something.

Molina heard footsteps on the flagstone patio behind him. He'd been waiting for the crime-scene unit and the medical examiner to arrive, so he didn't look back.

"This area is off limits," he said.

"Go in through the garage door."

"What have you got so far, Lieutenant?"

Kevin Kerney asked.

Molina stiffened and turned. Kerney, the new Santa Fe police chief, looked past him at the body on the floor.

Kerney had been appointed at the first of the year over the muttered dismay of many officers who didn't like having a cop-killer for a boss no matter what the reason. The incident had happened last fall while Kerney was serving as a deputy chief of the New Mexico State Police.

The official story was that a dirty cop had started a gunfight he couldn't finish, but some on the force didn't buy it.

Kerney had been cleared by an independent internal-affairs investigation. But his resignation soon after the event fueled the flames of speculation. Now people were saying that the chief had managed to get hired through some political string-pulling.