Scavengers — Steven F. Havill

While new sheriff Bobby Torrez is at a law enforcement conference, former deputy Estelle Reyes-Guzman is landed with the case of a body found in the desert - that of a man who had been badly beaten and then shot. Estelle and her deputies begin the forensic process - photographing, sending the body to autopsy, looking for identification and clues as to why the man was killed. Not long afterward, the discovery of another body yields more evidence of what happened and why. But Estelle is still a long way from finding all the answers; meanwhile, she is coping with an aging mother and a case of flu that has most of her family on their aching backs. Gastner, who is in the area tracking down a rumor of animals being illegally brought over the border, can help and does, but the horrifying and breathtaking climax is Estelle's burden alone, and she carries it off with honors.