“What bandit?” Xander asked.
Reed stepped himself off the wall. “You haven’t heard about this? Been going on for a couple of years now. Summit, Jefferson counties, pretty widespread. Someone’s been breaking into the cabins and barns and helping themselves to some very nice stuff. Everything from weapons to axes to food. Even a cell phone here and there. We thought it was kids for the longest time, but last month, one of the camp owners got smart and rigged an outdoor camera. We caught the bastard on tape, dressed head to toe in BDUs, sporting a rifle on one shoulder, a coonskin cap and snowshoes. Got him dead to rights coming into the camp, breaking into the cabin and walking out with groceries. Owners were at some kind of party, came home to find they’d been burgled. They called me and since the trail was so fresh, we tried to go after him, but we got nowhere fast. Trail ended at Ridge Road. He must have taken off the snowshoes and hiked along the asphalt for a good ways, because we went up and down the ridge and never got another whiff of him. He hasn’t been spotted since, and we’ve had no new reports.”
“What exactly was he stealing?”
“Tools, supplies, food, you name it.”
“Did he ever hit Gerhardt’s place?”
“You know, come to think of it, he did. Last year. Around the time Gerhardt got sick the first time.”
Sam chewed on her lip. She didn’t believe in coincidences.
“You still have the video, right?”
“Sure. It’s an open case.”
“What are you thinking?” Xander asked.
Sam smiled. “Depends on what he stole. Are we talking tuna fish, or are we talking real supplies?”
Reed went to his desk and pulled out a wide file from the cabinet.
“Let’s see here—it’s mostly food, but when he does take things, it’s always really odd stuff, things that don’t match. The first one was fertilizer, potting soil, metal pipes, gardening supplies. The second was all kinds of food and vitamins. Kids’ vitamins. The third was weapons, the fourth he took the mufflers from the cars, and a whole wad of stuff from the garage—nails and tacks and PVC. The list goes on and on and on. He’s like our very own barefoot bandit. We haven’t decided if he’s harmless or not.”
Sam raised an eyebrow at Xander. “I’m going to vote for not. None of those things sound random to me. That’s all the makings to cultivate a crop of rosary peas, and build some delivery vehicles.”
Xander nodded. “Among other things.”
Reed’s phone began to squawk. He apologized and went to answer it. Carly followed him.
Sam and Xander sat down together at the table.
“I can just see Carly, marching off down that hill to necropsy the cow.”
“She’s very determined,” Xander said carefully, unsure of whether Sam was being serious or flip.
“Takes a special woman to treat animals,” she offered. Olive branch. Carly may have looked like a piece of fluff, but she was obviously smart, and obviously in love with her husband. Sam stowed her animosity and thought aloud about the bandit.
“I bet he has a greenhouse. That’s how he’s been growing the rosary peas. They need warmth. A hothouse would work just fine for that, especially up here with all the sun. Could be solar, or on a geothermal area—you’ve got lots of those pockets this high in the mountains.”
“How do you know that?”
She smiled at him. “Ledbetter’s book. It was one of the tricks they used for keeping themselves warm without having to use fire, since the smoke is a dead giveaway if you’re trying to stay invisible. They build their camps near a natural geothermal and pipe the hot water in.”
“Whoever is doing this was in the Mountain Blue and Gray when she was.”
“I agree. And growing rosary peas is hardly illegal, so anyone who happened upon it thinking it might be a marijuana operation would be sadly surprised. If he’s stealing the materials, he’s trying to stay off the radar. So there will be no records of him buying the makings.”
“You’re right. He’s totally off grid.”
“So it’s time to visit your friend and see if he can identify the people in the picture.”
Xander nodded. “Let’s go then.”
Reed and Carly came out of his office. “Man, I’m sorry, I gotta run. Accident up in Breckenridge, I’m gonna take Carly up there. They want someone from ski patrol. You have what you need?”
“We do. We’re heading up to Crawfords’ Ranch. Will is in town. When we push him with this new information, he might share more about what’s going down. He didn’t give me the whole story last time we talked.”
Xander and Reed shared a look that Sam couldn’t decipher.
“Careful up there,” Reed finally said. “Crawford’s all kinds of crazy. Dementia.”
“I know.”
Sam turned to Carly. “Thank you for the necropsy primer. I appreciate it.”
“No problem. I’ll check and see if those samples are still around the labs up there in Fort Collins.”