Undercover Scout
Hemi flashed by, circling the ruins. The red stone walls still stood rising ten feet in places and in others lay as piles of rock strewn on the ground. The interior chambers of rooms that had collapsed hundreds of years ago were visible and the roof beams hung at odd angles.
Once an ancient people had lived and farmed in this place, leaving behind the remnants of these communal residences. Her people called them the ancient ones, for they were here and gone before the Apache moved into the Southwestern territory.
Funny that many Americans thought that settlement of this country began in Plymouth in 1622 when at that time this settlement of hunter-farmers was living in an ancient version of a condominium right here.
The upper ruins were even older and of a different people. The Anasazi dwelt in cliffs and the whys of that were still mysterious. A drought? A new enemy? All that was known was what they had left behind.
“How many cliff dwellings up there?” she asked.
“Four, I think. More tucked all over the ridges around here.”
Hemi was now on the move toward the winding path that led to the upper ruins.
Ava knew that the tribal museum gave guided tours to these two archeological sites twice a week or by arrangement. She had never seen either, but she had seen ones like it.
They hiked for thirty minutes up a steep trail. She saw tire tracks in the sandy places consistent with a bike tire. Her thigh muscles burned from the strenuous hike. She wondered how anyone could bike such a thing. The sweat on her body dried in the arid air, making her wish she had brought water.
Hemi disappeared and then reappeared, checking on the progress of the slow-moving humans. They found her, at last sitting beside an expensive-looking mountain bike that lay on its side.
“That’s not good,” said Ty.
“That’s his,” said Kee, studying the bike with worried eyes. He reached and then stopped himself.
She was glad because she didn’t want to talk like a cop in front of Ty.
Ty glanced at Hemi, who lay with her paws outstretched toward the bike.
“Trail ends here,” said Ty.
“Definitely?” asked Kee.
Ty glanced at Hemi, her tongue lolling as his dog looked to him for further instructions.
“It ends here or goes where Hemi can’t follow.”
They all stepped past the bike to look over the cliff. Below were rocks and trees but no obvious sign of Dr. Day.
“Might have fallen,” said Ty.
“With his bike way over there?” she asked. That didn’t seem right.
“Stopped to take in the view. Lost his footing.” Ty shrugged.
Was he trying to sell her on this scenario?
“Either way, he’s not here,” said Kee. “We should call Jake.”
Ty backed away. “If you’re calling tribal, I’m gone. They’re already trying to hang me for giving Kacey a ride. They’ll tie me up in this, too.”
A ride? Is that what he called kidnapping? Ava could not keep from gaping.
Kee stared at Ty. “What are you talking about?”
Didn’t Kee know?
Ty had been detained for questioning and released. He had not been arrested or charged. Tribal police would keep such matters private particularly if there was an ongoing investigation. She knew of Ty’s situation only because her chief had been told of a possible connection to the tribe’s gang and a known associate, Ty Redhorse. But the police here had taken steps to be certain Ty’s detention remained secret. She knew he was a suspect but Kee did not, which meant that his brother had not told him. Ty did not want Kee to know. Was Ty protecting him or hanging him out to dry?
Ty shook his head. “Just tell them you found the car and followed the trail. That you know he bikes this route and you were checking. But I was never here. Got it?”
Kee’s mouth was tight. “You want me to lie to the police?”
“Omit,” said Ty.
“It’s lying.”
“Hey, you do what you want. Just don’t call me for help again.” He turned to Ava and gave her a two-finger salute. “Officer.”
Then he disappeared back down the trail. Hemi followed, venturing out before him.
Kee turned to her immediately. “Why did he call you—”
“What’s that?”
Ava spotted a tiny speck of canary yellow visible between the treetops below the cliff upon which they stood.
Exactly the color Kee said Dr. Day had been wearing.
Chapter Four
Ava didn’t think Kee had pushed Richard Day, but she kept him in front of her on the descent. When they reached the bottom of the trail it was nearly six at night. The sun had disappeared behind the opposite ridgeline and the colors were gradually fading all around them. Kee tried tribal police but there was no cell service out here. He offered Ava the last of the water he carried and she took a long swallow before returning the empty bottle.
“You know it will be really dark soon. We have thirty minutes,” she said.
“Maybe we should go to the police.”
Yeah, except she was certain how Detective Jack Bear Den or the chief of police would respond if they knew where her personal leave from her soon-to-be previous job had taken her.
She’d interviewed. Been hired here, and Tinnin himself had briefed her about her first case. This case. The missing women from Turquoise Canyon, but he did not know that the last girl taken was Ava’s niece. The niece that she had helped raise. So Ava was not playing by the rules on this investigation. So for now, she couldn’t let either of those men see her. Not yet.
“We could find him,” she coaxed. “He’s maybe ten minutes in that direction. It will be harder in the dark.”
Kee hesitated, glancing in the direction of the lot.
She gave one final push. “What if he’s alive?”
That set him in motion. She pushed back the admiration. Kee seemed kind and conscientious and really sweet. But appearances could be deceiving.
“Do you know if anyone would want to hurt him?” she asked.
“No. I don’t. He’s only been here since early October. You think it’s him, don’t you?”
“You said he was wearing yellow.”
Kee looked back along the trail. The sky still held a few bands of orange but that wouldn’t last.
“I don’t think anyone could survive such a fall.” He looked to her. “How can you be so calm?”
Because she’d seen death before, too many times.
“We should hurry,” she said, motioning. “Have you seen anyone strange around lately?”
“Outsiders?”
“Yeah. At the clinic or speaking to Day or maybe just in your neighborhood?”
“We only treat tribal members.”
Kee drew up short. “It’s him.”
Ava came alongside him. It was a body, battered and bloody, and wearing yellow spandex that seemed to glow with unnatural brightness in the twilight.
Ava had seen bodies in worse shape. Mostly natural causes, left inside a hot trailer for days before anyone went to check, and then there were the auto accidents. But her reservation was small and relatively quiet and flat. No one fell off anything high and she was not prepared for the damage to Dr. Day.
His body had clearly struck the rock face on the descent and possibly some of the tall pines, judging from the deep lacerations on his torso and thigh. There were branches and debris surrounding him. He lay on his stomach with his arms and legs sprawled as if he were about to use a horizontal Stairmaster.
Kee knelt beside his roommate and checked his carotid pulse, but Ava knew from the brownish stain on Day’s cornea and the pooling of blood in the lower half of his face that Day was gone.
Her Apache heritage included all sorts of beliefs that it was dangerous to touch the dead. That ghosts could follow you even if the deceased was a good friend in life. Ava didn’t believe that dead bodies and ghosts could haunt her but she dearly hoped that whoever did this would be haunted because she was certain Day had not fallen. He’d been pushed. That was her theory and she was going with it.
She swept the body with her gaze, looking for clues, and found them right there in Day’s hand. His nails were torn and bloody and there was skin and hair under them. That was what you’d see if Day had fought his attacker. So whoever pushed him would have scratches on their face or arms. Maybe both.
Ava tried to think of a way to take a sample from his nails.
“I have to call Hector,” said Kee.
That was an odd first call, she thought. Why not to Jake, his brother who was on the force?
He looked at Ava with wide, troubled eyes and swallowed, sending his Adam’s apple bobbing. “He’s our medical examiner.”
Of course he was, she thought.
Kee rocked back on his heels and wiped his mouth with his hand, looking truly unsettled. Rattled, she corrected. She knew he had faced death. All physicians did. But this death was harder. He knew the man, so it was personal. Day was young and he had been Kee’s colleague plus they’d shared a FEMA trailer. Add to that the damage to the corpse and you had a horror that would not soon be forgotten.
She dropped to a knee beside Kee and draped an arm around his shoulders. Kee clasped her hand with his opposite one.
“Look at his nails,” she said and pointed.
“What is that?” He leaned closer.
“Looks like skin.”
Kee straightened and stepped quickly away. She watched him pace, both hands locked behind his head. Finally, he came back beside her.
“You think he was pushed. You think he fought his attacker.”
“Don’t you?”
He nodded gravely.
“Should you take a sample?” she asked.
He shook his head. “The police will do that. I’ll make sure they do.”
“What about photos?” she asked. The scene might not be so pristine later on and it would be dark. She did not want to use her phone knowing that it would be confiscated as evidence and that would give the police here easy access to who she was. But those photos could be vital.
“Should I take some?” He had his phone out.
“Might help your police.”
Kee took a few shots, his mouth squeezed in a look of distaste. She nudged him to photograph Day’s hands, face and all other injuries. Finally she suggested a few long shots of the scene.
“Might help with location,” she said, knowing it would. He finished and his arm dropped to his side with the glowing phone gripped in his hand. He stood staring at Day as if he could not believe what he was seeing.
She slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow and he jumped.
“You want to see if you have cell service here?” she asked.
He placed his hand over hers and rubbed as if to give her comfort. “Doubtful. But I’ll try.”
Kee lifted the phone, searching for a signal.
“Nothing.”
“Come on,” she said. “We’ll go tell the police what we found. You can lead them back here.”
Kee stood over the body, head bowed as if he were a mourner at a grave.
“I was afraid something like this had happened,” he said.
Ava’s antenna picked up. It was the sort of thing a person who knew what would happen would say.
“Why is that?” she asked, keeping her tone conversational.
“He was gone too long.” Kee glanced back toward the body, arms folded protectively before him. “He was going to get a haircut after work today.”
Now, that was the kind of crazy thing people did say when someone was ripped unexpectedly from their life.
She didn’t like to admit it, but her opinions as to Kee’s involvement were eroding. Ava had an instructor in the academy who told her students to keep a few brain cells open to the possibility that your prime suspect was innocent. Those brain cells were recruiting others and that troubled her. What if she was wrong about Dr. Redhorse? If she were, then she needed to expand her search or target his fellow doctor more closely. It just seemed with his brother Ty’s involvement and his brother Colt’s disappearance into witness protection without Kee’s knowledge that the tribe considered Kee a prime suspect. Ava was unsettled and she did not like the uncertainty growing within her.
They walked back using their phone flashlights to help illuminate the trail. Once at the cars they paused. Ava needed to not be here when the police arrived.
“Listen, I’d like to get home. My sister has a thing at the school tonight and if I’m there she can cancel the sitter.” An AA meeting that Sara had promised to attend. “The girls are more anxious since Louisa’s disappearance.” Ava shrugged. “So how about this, I’ll call the police when I get cell service and send them back to you. Okay?”
Kee frowned. “I’m sure they’ll want to speak to you.”
“Yes, I’ll be at my sister’s. They can come there. Better if it’s after nine. Kids in bed.” She shrugged.
“All right. I’ll tell them.” He clasped her arm and she felt the strength of his hands as he leaned in. “You be okay walking back alone?”
“Yes. I’ll be fine.” She tried and failed not to let his concern affect her. Ava smiled and met his warm gaze, feeling the unwelcome stirring of attraction thread between them.
“Thank you, for everything.”
On impulse, Ava lifted to her toes and planted a kiss on his cheek.
Kee’s mouth dropped open and his hand slipped away. She’d surprised him. She took the opportunity to make her escape.
She did call the police, did not give her name, pretending she was upset by events, and sent help in Kee’s direction. They had her number, of course, but there was no need to track it unless they could not find her. If she was lucky, she had a day or two of anonymity left.
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