There was some revival of interest later, when Leah returned to Weldonville as a homicide detective. She came back to Weldonville a short time after the new city manager, Mark Ballard, did. People who hung around city hall and the police station learned that Leah had known Ballard and his wife during the time when they’d all lived in Denver. But as far as Leah could tell, the local gossips never took up the story from there.

They could have. Leah’s record as a police officer was impeccable. Her personal life was not. She was the girlfriend of the city manager, but the way they had gone about their adultery had never been exciting enough to interest anyone else. She and Ballard slept together at her house about twice a week, nearly always on Monday and Thursday, but the rest of the time they were apart. A few times a year they went off for a couple of weekend days together to some resort where nobody knew them to attend a convention related to Mark Ballard’s work. Their cell phone records would have indicated that they didn’t even talk to each other every day. There had never been any scandal, and none of the three had said anything to anyone about the others. They were all nice people.

She reached Los Angeles on August 24 and checked into a hotel. There was no question in her mind which man she was going after first. It would have to be the most dangerous one. Matt Bysantski was a violent man, and Paul Duquesne was the one the FBI believed had organized the others and called for a prison break. But they were not charismatic figures who inspired other men. They were people who hired other men.

Martin Ortega was the scary one. He had been one of the leaders—“shot callers” was the common term—for the largest of the Mexican prison gangs. He was a genuine leader. He exhibited all the traits. He had shown physical bravery and ruthlessness many times in fights, shootouts, and killings inside and outside prison, so he was a role model for others. He was cunning and wily in his planning and execution of criminal activities. And he seemed to have spent a lifetime showing loyalty to his superiors and respect to his inferiors, and they returned both. If she didn’t get him first, he would have a chance to raise a little army.