"Christmas comes early in the desert."

Chambers liked to talk and draw things out.

Graha didn't.

"Translation?"

Chambers enjoyed unveiling clues with a flourish.

This morning he obviously had no takers.

"You know, hawk, you can be a real downer sometimes."

He began shuffling his files.

"I'll work on my social skills."

Somewhere in the distance a door slammed.

He wondered if the captain w having a hard day.

Martinez didn't believe in keeping thin in and letting them eat away at the lining of his stomac Maybe he should give it a try.

Graham fixed Chambers with a demanding look.

"What do you have?"

Chambers riffled through the folders on his desk, the o ject of his search apparently eluding him.

"That car that almost ran you down? It belongs to a big-time operator i California."

He slanted a look at Graham to see how took the news.

They were finally getting somewhere.

Graham sat up, alert.

"Name?"

"Garreo. Thomas."It was a name Graham was vaguely familiar with.Blackmarket babies, drugs.Major slime."Got a location on him?""Yeah."There was a catch.He could hear it coming."Can we pick him up?"A touch of black humor curved Chambers's wide mouth."Sure. In a pine box. He's dead."Damn.Graham sighed loudly, passing a hand over his face.So who had been driving the car?And where did that leave them?Square one?Momentarily abandoning his search, Chambers seized his opportunity.He raised his forefinger dramatically."Butthe number-one man in his organization, Horace Taylor, fits the description you and the lady whose lovely body-" his eyes sparkled

"-you're guarding gave us. Horace obviously took possession of his

boss's car after he was iced."

"Horace?"

Graham repeated.

"Nobody's named Horace anymore."

Chambers nodded, resuming his.

search for the file.

"Could account for his lousy disposition."

He sighed.

What the hell was Chambers looking for?

"So where is he?"

Graham asked impatiently.

Redhawk would live a lot longer if he learned to take things easy.

"Whereabouts are being checked out now, even as we speak," Chambers

drawled.

He leaned forward, grinning, clearly enjoying center stage.

Tiny dimples appeared at each corner of his mouth.

"He has a little thing going on the side with this exotic dancer at The

Feel Good Inn. Captain hopes she might lead us to him. There's a tail

on her now."

Chambers laughed under his breath as he opened a drawer and took out a candy bar.

"Juarez thinks he's falling in love."

Detective Juarez and his overactive libido were a matter of record.

They weren't his concern.

Caitlin was.

"We have a picture of this guy?"

"Yeah, somewhere."

Chambers shifted over a stack that looked to be collecting dust.

Graham shook his head.

He was far from neat, but clutter like that got in his way.

How could Chambers work like this?

"Don't you ever clean this mess up?"

Chambers took no offense.

He paused to peel back the wrapper on his candy bar and took a healthy piece.

"Yeah.

Sometimes.

Christmas.

Easter.

Triumph telegraphed through him as he found what he was looking for under the recreational vehicle magazine.

Grinning, he took out the black-and-white photograph from the folder and held it up to Graham.

"Leap year," he added.

That Graham could readily believe.

In the past seven years he recalled seeing Chambers's desk cleared only twice.

And one of those times had been when Chambers was out on disability for a gall bladder operation.

Everyone else had taken over his cases.

"That sounds about right."

Holding the photograph in his hand, Graham looked down at the face depicted there.

Bull's-eye.

It was their man.

He rose, pocketing the photograph in his jacket.

"I'm going to take this back to show Caitlin."

Chambers grinned so hard his eyes seemed to melt into his round face,