Before Jim walked around to the back of the house, he wanted to check something out. Why let the opportunity to check out this pickup truck pass by? After all, whoever owned it didn't mind looting his truck given the chance. It was time to put together a few more pieces of the puzzle, he told himself as a way of justification.

He still wasn't able to completely shake the fact that he shouldn't even be there. But the hope that any minute the sheriff was going to pull up eased his mind a little. Still, he was worried that he was too far out on a limb.

He put the palm of his hand on the white truck's hood. It was hot. This told him the man hadn't been here long, for whatever that was worth. There were a few other things he wanted to quickly check. He walked around to the side of the truck and got down on one knee. Although his eyes were sufficiently adjusted to the darkness, he still needed the black flashlight to look at the under carriage of the truck and under the fenders. Upon a glancing inspection, he discovered inch thick dried red mud caked on the under side of the truck and it was even deeper under the fenders. The rear wheels were doubled, or dual wheels as they were called.

Jim stood and thought about what just that bit of information meant. The truck before him, and obviously the driver, was now linked to the cattle incident out at Sam Hauk's ranch and the crime scene itself. At the arroyo and at the cattle gate across from Sam's house there were dual wheel tracks. Clearly visible dual wheel tracks. No attempt whatsoever had been made to rub them out. And as Jim stood looking at the white diesel pickup, no attempt had been made to wash off the red clay.