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any reason to believe that they’re in jeopardy?”
    He shrugged lightly. “A single woman and a young child? In hiding? Trying desperately to avoid the legal authorities? What would be more likely than their being in jeopardy?”
    I nodded. “I’ll reconsider taking the case. On two conditions. The first is that Mrs. Mondragón agrees. The second is that when I locate Mrs. Alonzo, if I locate Mrs. Alonzo, I don’t disclose her whereabouts. Not to you, not to anyone. I’ll contact her, I’ll explain your offer. I’ll act, as you put it, as a go-between. If she decides she wants to buy into the game, fine. But if she decides to pass, then it’s over. I leave it alone. And you leave it alone.”
    He pursed his lips thoughtfully, but I noticed, once again, the twinkle in his eyes. “If you succeed in locating her, what is to prevent me from hiring someone else to locate the two of you?”
    I smiled. “The Code of the West?”
    Norman Montoya chuckled once more. His eyes still twinkling, a slim, slight, Hispanic Santa Claus, he smiled at me. “Will you take my word, Mr. Croft, if I give it?”
    â€œIs your word any good?” When you say that to someone like Norman Montoya, even when he’s in Santa Claus mode, you say it with a smile.
    Still twinkling, still smiling, he said, “If I tell you yes , how will you know I’m not lying?”
    â€œI suppose I won’t. Maybe I should reconsider my reconsideration.”
    â€œDo you mean to tell me, Mr. Croft”—he smiled—“that even if I gave my word, and even if you accepted it, you would not take precautions against my having lied to you?”
    I smiled. We were doing a lot of smiling tonight, the two of us. A couple of old buckaroos sitting around beaming at each other. “No,” I said. “I don’t mean to tell you that.”
    â€œVery good.” He nodded approvingly. “And I do give you my word. My word, you will discover if you inquire, is good. And I do accept your conditions. If she refuses to negotiate with Roy, I will make no further attempt to contact her. So long as you make clear to her that whether she negotiates with Roy or not, I should like to offer my assistance to her and her daughter.”
    I nodded.
    â€œWould it be appropriate now to discuss your fee?”
    â€œAfter I talk to Mrs. Mondragón.”
    â€œAnd when will this be?”
    â€œIs Alonzo still outside?”
    â€œYes. In his car. We arrived separately.”
    â€œHe’ll accept the conditions that we’ve discussed?”
    â€œYes.”
    I nodded. “Then I’ll call her now.”
    He stood. “Very well, Mr. Croft. I thank you, and I shall await your answer outside.”

    â€œJoshua,” Rita told me over the phone, “you said you never wanted to take a case like this.”
    â€œI think we might be helpful here. And I think that in terms of protecting the girl, everything is pretty much covered.”
    â€œCan you trust Norman Montoya?”
    â€œI honestly don’t know,” I said. “But if I can find the girl and her mother, I think I can find them without leaving a trail that anyone else could follow.”
    â€œBecause your heart is pure?”
    â€œBecause my heart is tricky.”
    â€œWell, just in case, I’ll have Paul draw up a contract specifically for Mr. Montoya.” Paul Gallegos was our lawyer.
    â€œThanks for the vote of confidence,” I said. “Paul can’t put together a contract that forbids Montoya from hiring another investigator.”
    â€œNo, but if it’s important to Montoya that he’s perceived as a man of his word, and his word is given on paper, then perhaps he’d be less likely to violate it.”
    â€œWorth a try, I guess.”
    â€œThanks for the vote of confidence.”

Four
    T HOUSANDS OF FEET BELOW US, THE parched tan plains of western New