Pa Hayden led Lennox and Raynes into a spacious caravan at the rear of the Kingdom site. Two other men, both in their sixties, joined them. Pa sat down and unscrewed the cap from a Bourbon bottle. Poured drinks for himself and friends. Lennox and Raynes declined.

     "Okay," Pa said. "Where do I start?"

     "Go from where Radford is approaching the edge on the High Cut," said Lennox.

     Pa drank Bourbon and glanced at his companions. They nodded agreement. Pa wanted further assurance from Lennox. "What I say here remains confidential - right?"

     "Right," said Lennox. 

     "Just one thing. You look so like Billy Radford."

     "Maybe I do, but I ain't him. Now get on with it."

     Pa settled back, his eyes already in the past. "A dozen of us were in the trees near the High Cut. We could see dust clouds as a car came up the gradient from Allenby. It was travelling flat-out. I told the boys the driver would have trouble: you can't use too much speed on the High Cut. It's laying in wait for you to make a mistake. The car skidded across the road surface. Churning huge dust clouds. Came to the right-hand bend way too quick. Then we realised there was a second car following."

     Pa licked his lips and continued:

     "We saw the young couple walking the Cut towards Allenby."

     Raynes raised the photographs. "Meaning Amy Chalmers and Johnny Benson?"

     "Yeah, that's who I mean. Billy Radford's car - although just then we didn't know it was him driving - slid over the edge and crashed into the trees. Johnny Benson sprinted across the road. Disappeared in the dust. The following car skidded into the dust cloud. We heard brakes squealing. A thud. A cry. Dust was everywhere. Choking dust. It got you by the throat. Stung your eyes. We ran to help."

     Pa sank more Bourbon, and added:

     "Amy Chalmers was standing as a statue would stand. Unmoving. And then she screamed. Two of our boys stayed with her at roadside. We reached the second car and realised it belonged to the Allenby cop station. Deputy Camano was in the driving seat. Deputy Jones next him. Camano was shaking, babbling to himself. Some of us scrambled down the mountain to Billy's car. It was hanging low in the trees, engine whining, wheels still spinning. Billy had gotten out. Had one hand round a broken tree branch to avoid the drop. Was clutching a bag with the other. We almost reached him, but the car tilted and went down - taking Billy with it. We found another bag where the car had been."

     Lennox said, "And that held the money?"

     "Yeah, well, some of it. We weren't looking for it because we didn't know then there had been a robbery. There could have been other bags in the car. It turned out there were none. We climbed back to the road. The dust was clearing and we saw Johnny Benson laying face-up - obviously dead. And yet there was not an injury mark on him. Amy had seen him. She uttered no sound. Her hands were clenched into fists. Seemed to hold her breath forever. Camano was out the cop car. Started trembling as though he were being electrocuted."

     "What was Deputy Jones doing?" Lennox asked.

     "Comforting Camano. One of our boys opened Radford's bag. It was loaded with dough. I never seen so much in one heap."

     Raynes said, "And what did Jones say about that?"

     "Said he would acquire it."

     "You mean steal it?"

     "No. He would radio Sheriff Webster and hand over the loot."

     "So what did he do?"

     "He thought about it then backed out. Said if Webster learned of Johnny being killed by a cop then hell would be let loose."

     "Go on," encouraged Raynes.

     "We suggested to Jones that we handled everything."

     "By doing what?" From Lennox.

     Pa looked again at his companions, then back to Lennox. "This goes no further than this caravan, huh?"

     "Yes," said Lennox. "That's what I said. What happened to Amy?

     Pa continued:

     "Amy collapsed at the roadside when she realised Johnny was dead. In shock. Never spoke one word. Not until months afterward."

     Lennox said, "So you're saying that Amy suffered shock and she..."

     "Never spoke a word," confirmed Pa. "But that's jumping past what we did. We suggested to Jones that we bury Johnny among the trees near the Kingdom site."

     "And you did that?"

     "We did exactly that - after Jones had agreed to it. But Camano had nothing to do with that decision: he was in worse shock than was the girl."

     Lennox sensed he was closer to finding Amy. "Okay, so you buried Johnny. What happened to the bankroll?"

     "As it turned out, Billy had used two bags in the robbery. One went down the mountain with him and we had the other."

     "How much was in your bag?"

     "Nearly seventy-five thousand dollars."

     "What happened to it?"

     "We took that as payment for the cover-up."

     "And Jones agreed to that?"

     "Yeah, either he agreed to that, or he told Webster what had happened. Said Webster would hit him with the rule book."

     "And Camano had nothing to do with this arrangement?"

     "No. That guy was in another world. Shaking, sweating. Jabbering on without us understanding one word. Jones settled him down. Told him everything was okay. Then Jones radioed Webster. You know the rest."

     "So what happened to Amy?"

     Pa remained silent for some moments, then said, "We brought her to the Kingdom. She was fully conscious but seemed unaware of what had happened."

     "A mental block?" said Raynes.

     "Yeah, I guess so. Our women - one of them is nurse trained - looked after her. She was silent for upward of six months and then she began to speak. But she never spoke of Johnny, nor could tell us her name, or where she was from. It was obvious she had memory loss."

     Raynes, looking puzzled, said, "If Radford went down the mountain with a money bag, how come he nor the money were found?"

     Pa smiled at that one. "Take another look down that mountain, deputy. We're talking of a six, maybe a seven thousand feet fall. Sheer all the way. Hundreds of crevices. The cops brought in the Air Force helicopters to help them, but the car was all they recovered. No dough - and no Billy. We searched for years after that, but we found zilch."

     "You took seventy-five grand," said Raynes, "which means there was over two hundred grand in the lost bag."

     "What's gone is gone," said Pa, giving a knowing glance to his friends.

     Lennox asked the question he was longing to ask.

     "Where is Amy now?"


                                                    *   *   *


Before journeying back to Allenby to report to Sheriff Webster - whom they had already radioed to say that they were safe - Lennox and Raynes checked over their individual stories so that no holes appeared when they were questioned about their investigation.

     "Some cop I am," said Raynes. "I hide information on a robbery and a road death." He smiled in the sun as they stood overlooking the point where Billy Radford had left the High Cut Pass.

     "Thinking of changing your mind, Ganford? You're a young cop just starting out. You don't have to go along with this. But if you do - why?"

     "I thought of the outcome if we arrested Sheriff Jones and took him to Webster. They would shove Jones in the slammer. His wife would be left alone. Camano's family would learn that Amos was responsible for a young man's death. If all that came into the open, the Camano family would be hurt more than they are hurt now. Some of the Kingdom boys would be jailed - for aiding a cover-up and their taking of seventy-five thousand big ones. The Press would have a field day. Mrs Chalmers would discover what happened to her daughter, and the Benson family would learn of their son's death. And with Amy the way she is - maybe it's best that we just let her be." Raynes took off his Stetson and adjusted an already immaculate brim. "That, Jim, I why I'm going along with you. After all, Webster has his glory - the Rickard-Wade result is an extra stripe on his arm." Raynes stared across the mountain range. "And maybe Sheriff Jones will find peace of mind."

     "I can understand Jones allowing what he did allow," said Lennox. "Put yourself in his place, Ganford. You are a cop. Your partner runs down a kid and kills him while you are chasing a bank robber. If you stick by the book, your partner will wind up in jail. He is close to breakdown. He can't take the pressure. Deputy Jones can do nothing else but report what has occurred - but then the Kingdom boys show up. They try to help. They bury Johnny and they assist Amy to recover. We can curse Jones for what he did, but he was helping his partner. I'm sure of that."

     "And the Kingdom boys make plenty bucks covering up."

     Lennox shrugged. "They took a big chance. And so did Jones. Could have been trapped by Camano breaking down at the trial. That's all it needed. Just one wrong word out of place and the cover would have been broken. " Lennox watched the sun hovering through the trees, sending arrows of light across the valleys below them. "I realise now how Jones feels. Says he never forgot Johnny's death or Amy's reaction. Remembers them every day. Yeah, every day. He never told his wife, Olivia, what happened. Wanted to keep her love for him intact. He's a man living a lie - and he's still paying for it." Lennox turned to his Pontiac. "Come on, Ganford. Let's go see Webster."


                                              *    *    *


The tide was coming in gently at Baja California's Tango Bay. The town itself lay a half mile from the coast, resting between the Pacific Ocean and the Sierra de San Pedro Martir. Lennox had driven four days to reach his goal. He looked again at the instructions Pa Hayden had given him. The sun was heading for midday when Lennox left his Pontiac at a parking lot and took lunch at a hamburger cafe. Pa had arranged what was necessary and at two-twenty, Lennox headed for the local 'Los Tangos' supermarket and stationed himself just inside the main entrance. He recalled what Pa had told him:

     Joe Steadman, one of our boys, married Amy, even though we knew nothing about her. That was about a year after the robbery. We knew they could not live indefinitely at the Kingdom, and because Joe loved Baja California, he and Amy wound up there. They have one daughter. She's about ten now. Most of the seventy-five grand went in setting up Joe and Amy with a homestead...and just one thing, Lennox... Don't speak to her. She's getting along fine. Would be a pity to jolt her back to reality."


Lennox saw the blond-headed woman take a shopping trolley from a line up. He knew instantly this was Amy Chalmers. She had changed little since Mallory's photograph of her. Good figure. Dressed in blue blouse and dark purple jeans. A sky-blue band held her hair in place. Lennox wondered, if Amy had lost her memory, why was she wearing a sky-blue headband? Maybe a lost memory still remembered the odd bits and pieces. She seemed untroubled and content with life - she gave him a half-smile and walked past him to the fruit and the vegetables.

     Lennox drove east towards Phoenix, smiling to himself at what Sheriff Webster had discussed with Captain Jeavons over the telephone.

     "Hi, Captain. Your Jim Lennox has assisted us in stopping Rickard and Wade, multiple killers out here."

     Jeavons, without having the slightest idea who were Rickard and Wade, said:  "Glad to hear it, Sheriff."
 
     "We're sorry to lose him."

     "You may keep him, Sheriff, until his retirement."

     "Too late, Captain. He's already gone."

     "Gone - where to?"

     "He's still searching for Amy Chalmers."

     "Amy who?"

     "Amy Chalmers. You gave him permission to search for her."

     "Ah yes, so I did. Pleased we could be of help to you..."


     Lennox took five days out driving to Bordville, Pennsylvania, and after a telephone call to Dorothy Chalmers to arrange a meeting, called at four o'clock to her home. He had no news of Amy. But there were also no reports of accidents or injury. Amy, and Johnny Benson, along with thousands of other people, had disappeared to start lives afresh. There was nothing more he, Lennox, could do.
 
     He drove in the evening dusk, heading for New York. Feeling unworthy of being a cop. Maybe a cover-up was the best outcome. But that was no comfort to him. And for the rest of his days he would remember the disconsolate look on Dorothy Chalmers' face.

     But, she - and the Benson family - would suffer no extra pain by learning the truth.

    
                                                     END