southwestern summer heat begins to ease hot air balloons rise like spring flowers over albuquerque and the surrounding desert. it's the city's annual balloon fiesta. a money-making spectacle that draws tourists from all over the world to albuquerque for one week in october. it's unlikely that any of the balloonists who float out over the west mesa area spend much time studying the details of the sandy desert floor below. but if one of them had during the 2003 or 2004 festivals, they might have actually seen evidence of a murderer moonlighting as a grave digger.