Earthcrack: A Lin Hanna Mystery (21 page)

“ We will certainly let you know when
that happens,” Lin wanted to leave a door open for seeing Smith again,
however.
 
“Meanwhile, I’ve been
doing some reading about archeology and history in this area and I’d welcome
the opportunity to talk to you more about this.
 
It is truly a fascinating place—apart
from recent events.” She tried to inject a lighter note to her remarks.

Neal gave her a broad smile, “I would
enjoy that also.
 
Perhaps we could
have that dinner we talked about earlier sometime soon.
 
I’ll give you a call—if that is
ok.”

“Certainly,” Lin responded.
 
“Cell phone service is not good here, as
you know. So it would be best to call the visitor’s center during business
hours.
 
I’m usually there but you
can certainly leave a message if I’m off.”

“I’ll call soon,” Smith nodded as he got
into his vehicle and drove off with Mark and Ginger.
 
Lin relaxed a bit—maybe he was
still interested in seeing her after all.
 
She couldn’t quell her lingering questions, however.

As Lin got into the park SUV, she noticed
the sheriff’s men taking down information and talking to the visitors who were
beginning to leave the area.
 
Maybe
they were seeking to learn how the victims had arrived.
 
Lin had seen no vehicles near the crime
scene so these men must have parked somewhere else.

As she returned to the visitor’s center,
Lin thought about what had happened.
 
In her mind it seemed clear that there was some connection between these
deaths.
 
The belt buckle seemed to
ensure that—but what was it—one victim appeared to have had an
accident, and that long ago.
 
The
bodies found today clearly represented a crime but one victim may have had some
connection to the person who died earlier.
 
This was becoming a more complicated puzzle indeed!
 

Lin wasn’t sure how she wanted to proceed
but she definitely didn’t want to stop looking into the circumstances of Cullen
Honeyestewa’s death last year.
 
In
fact now, more than ever, she wanted some answers to her questions.
 
She couldn’t know at this point whether
or not Neal Smith had any knowledge of the two current victims, but she was
still sure he had known Cullen in some way.
 

It was past closing time when she arrived
back at the visitor center but Toby was still there waiting for them.
 
She and Danielle drove into the parking
lot at about the same time.
 
Together they headed in to the offices to return the keys and finish the
end of the day’s routine.
 
They were
both hot and tired.
  
They were
happy to learn that Toby had already finished with the cash reports and the
other routine closing procedures.
 
Apparently things had been relatively quiet in this part of the park.
 
All that remained was for the three of
them to lock the building and set the alarm.
 

Lin was grateful to finally get back to
her small apartment and into the shower.
 
She needed to wash away the dust and relax.
  
This day had left her physically
and emotionally tired and she had no desire to do anything other than relax and
rest.
 
After bathing and donning
some comfortable clothes she made a sandwich and sat down on her sofa to eat
it.
 
She was hungrier than she
originally thought so she also grabbed some fruit to add to her meal.

After eating, Lin stretched out with one
of her mystery books to read.
 
Maybe
a fictional mystery would help her forget the very real mystery that was
building in her mind.
 
Exhaustion
soon caught up with her and she found herself nodding off.

Finally, she gave up and went to bed
early—not forgetting tomorrow was still her day off and she had plans in
Flagstaff.

Lin awoke early.
 
She realized that the gallery in
Flagstaff wouldn’t open until later so she took advantage of the cool early
morning air to take a long walk.
 
She climbed Woodhouse mesa that rose behind the park apartments.
 
The trail here was well used and not too
difficult but she was a bit winded by the time she reached the top.
 
She found a flat-topped boulder to sit
on and enjoyed the vista that spread before her.
 
She could see beyond the junipers and
pinions that covered most of the parkland to the flatter areas that marked the
beginnings of the Painted Desert.
 
In the far distance rock formations were visible, tinted with shades of
pink and purple.
 
She vowed to
herself that one day soon she would drive east to the Petrified Forest National
Park to see these beautiful spots up close.
 
Maybe Sue would like to accompany
her.
 
That had been her original
plan for her days off during her volunteer stint—see as much of the surrounding
area as she could; right now she had other things to do.
 
She had to continue seeking answers as
to what happened to Cullen Honeyestewa.
 
The events of yesterday made all this seem even more urgent to her.

Returning to her apartment, she showered
and dressed in comfortable slacks and a T-top.
 
She picked up the small shopping list
she had made also.
 
Trips to town
meant taking care of as many needs as possible.
 
Glancing at the clock as she left, she
realized it would be lunchtime before she finished talking to the gallery owner
plus running her errands.
 
Maybe Sue
Gray could meet her for lunch if her schedule allowed time.

Lin didn’t stop by the visitor center
before leaving.
 
She was due to work
at two anyway and didn’t wish to be delayed right now.
 
She drove out of the employee area and
turned toward Sunset Crater.
 
When
she reached the first high point at Painted Desert Vista, she pulled off the
road into the picnic area.
 
Cell
phone service was pretty good here so she tried a call to Sue at the Walnut
Canyon visitor center.

“Sue is off today,” the young man who
answered responded. “Try her cell though, I saw her car when I walked over a
few minutes ago so I think she is still home.”

Lin reached Sue a few moments later and
briefly told her that she was heading into Flagstaff to check in with the
gallery owner regarding the card given to her by Cullen’s mother.
 

“I should be through there by lunch time,
care to meet me somewhere?”

“I’d love to,” Sue responded.
 
“I have errands to run myself but I
should be done by lunch also.”

The friends agreed to meet at Heritage
Square in the center of downtown.
 
There were a couple of restaurants and some food vendors usually there
and they could enjoy eating outside.

“I have a lot to catch you up on,” Lin
responded, “I don’t know if you have heard yet, but we found more bodies in the
park yesterday!”

“I just briefly overheard one of the
staff members reporting on a phone call he had received relative to having to
close that area of the park again.
 
He mentioned more deaths but I couldn’t hear all he was saying.
 
No one gave us any more information,”
Sue reported.

“Well, I guess I am just lucky!
 
I always seem to be landing in the thick
of these things.”
 
Lin said, “I can
fill you in from my perspective.
 
I
guess park officials are waiting for the sheriff’s office to issue formal
statements before they say anything but I was on the scene and I can tell you
this raises even more questions.
 
I’m
not sure what is going on here but something is.
 
I’ll fill you in when I see you.”

“I can’t wait,” Sue responded as she
broke the connection.

Lin proceeded into town.
 
As it was still a bit too early to expect
the gallery to be open, she decided to run some other errands first.
 
She stopped at the supermarket on the
east side of town.
 
Fortunately, she
didn’t have any perishable items to purchase so timing was not an issue.
 
She purchased some canned and packaged
food items and grabbed another bottle of wine.
 
Adding a box of tissue and a roll of
paper towels to her basket, she moved to check out.
 
It was still half an hour before she
could be sure of the gallery being open but she decided to head downtown.

Arriving in the downtown business
district, Lin located a parking spot near the square where she was meeting
Sue.
 
She walked over to San
Francisco Street where the gallery was located.
 
The lights were not on and the shop was
obviously not open so she proceeded down the street to Late for the Train, a
popular coffee shop she’d been told about.
 
It was a tiny little place with only limited seating but she went in and
purchased a cup of coffee.
 
One
table on the sidewalk had emptied so she picked up a copy of the local
newspaper from a basket beside the door and sat down to peruse the front page
while she drank her coffee.
 

Surprisingly, there was only a small
story in the right-hand corner of the front page reporting the discovery of the
bodies yesterday.
 
It was probably
late when the reports first surfaced.
   
The only official statement
was a quote from a “representative of the sheriff’s department” that
acknowledged the discovery and the “ongoing” investigation and promised more
information once the medical reports and other evidence had been
evaluated.
 
The reporter had,
however, mentioned the remains that had been discovered earlier and the fact
that the sheriff’s representative had refused to speculate when asked about
possible connections, mentioning that the earlier death had been ruled an
accident.

There has to be some connection, Lin
thought.
 
I do not think these
deaths are linked only by coincidence!
 
Something more is going on here and the story will come out
eventually.
 
I, for one, am going to
get some answers—at least for the Honeyestewa family.
 
Lin glanced at her watch—the
gallery would be open now.
 
Replacing the paper in the basket, she tossed the empty coffee cup in
the trash and proceeded to walk back down San Francisco St.

Arriving at the gallery, she was happy to
see that John Sessions was behind the counter and it appeared that there were
no customers in the shop.
 
He was
talking with his assistant who was standing nearby.
  
He handed a stack of paper slips
to the young man as Sue entered the store.

“ These are all new orders,” Sessions
spoke to his employee, “You’ll need to locate and package all of these items
for shipping this morning.
 
We need
to get them out this afternoon.”

“Yes sir, I’ll get right on it,” the
young man replied as he moved toward the back of the store.

“May, I help you?” Sessions turned toward
Lin, “Oh, I’ve seen you here before, you’re Neal Smith’s friend—sorry, I
seem to have forgotten your name.”

“Lin, Lin Hanna, I was in your beautiful
gallery once recently and Neal took me to lunch following.
 
I bought some earrings,” Lin replied, “I’m
enjoying them.”
 
She wanted to begin
her conversation on a positive note.

“Glad you are, what can I help you with
today?” Sessions smiled.

“Well, I would like to look at some more
jewelry, if you have some priced as reasonably as those earrings—they
were quite a good deal.
 
I was
thinking of making some purchases for use as gifts later.
 
I’ve found it pays to take advantage of
good prices when you see them!”

By this time, Sessions was happily
removing several trays of earrings, bracelets, and rings from the cases and
placing them on the counter for Lin to see.
 
He was very relaxed and happy with his
customer.

Lin bent to look at the items displayed.
 
She was not entirely kidding about
making purchases.
 
While she was
using shopping as an intro to talking with Sessions, she did think that he had
some exceptional bargains and she did have a number of friends and relatives
whose birthdays and other special events would be coming up later in the
year.
 
She would be purchasing
something for these ladies anyway so she might as well use this as a reason for
being in the gallery.
  

About half an hour later, Lin had
selected a few items for purchase.
 
“Could
you box those for me?
 
I’ll gift
wrap them later on.”
 

“Certainly,” Sessions responded.
 
As he placed several small boxes on the
counter and began to wrap the items in cotton layers and place them inside the
boxes, Lin reached for her wallet and extracted her credit card and the small
business card she’d received from Myrna.

Sessions rang up the sale and placed the
boxes in a plastic bag.
 
Turning to
Lin he smiled, “ Thanks for your business—is there anything else I can
help you with today?”

“As a matter of fact, there is.”
 
Lin placed her package in her shopping
tote and turned toward Smith. “I’m sure you remember that a couple of weeks ago
the remains of a Hopi man were found out at Wupatki.
 
Neal probably told you about it,” Lin
spoke freely, trying to sound casual. “ You may also be aware that two more
dead men were found near the same area yesterday.
 
There’s a small item in this morning’s
paper but the investigation is just getting started.”

“ Yes,” Sessions spoke calmly but
cautiously, “ I remember Neal mentioning the first incident—it seems his
class made the discovery—he was a bit rattled by it, I think.”

“ We all were, at the time, but the official
investigation concluded that the man died accidentally.
 
Of course, we do not know about the two
found yesterday,” Lin added.

Sessions pulled back from the counter, “
and just what did you want to ask me about, I really don’t know anything about
that first incident, and I just read about the other in today’s Daily Sun—no
one knows anything much about that yet.”
 
Sessions moved a bit further back, away from Lin, and turned toward his
desk that was piled high with papers. “ I’m really pretty busy here, lots of
orders to get out today.”

“I won’t take much of your time.
 
I know you are busy,” Lin smiled at
Sessions who now was beginning to appear impatient. “ I had occasion to visit
recently with the Honeyestewa family in Moenkopi.
 
Cullen, the victim found by Neal’s
student, was their son and brother.
 
As you can imagine, the family is quite upset—they have been since
Cullen went missing last year.
 
They
asked me if I would try to find out what he might have been doing at the park
at the time of his death.
 
They know
it has been ruled an accident but they have questions they would like to have
answered.
 
They gave me some of the
papers found in Cullen’s truck—receipts and such—and I’m trying to
see if I can find some answers for them.
 
I found this business card among those items and thought perhaps you
might recall if Cullen ever came in your shop or if he did any business with
you?”
 
Lin let the question fall as
she placed the card on the counter in front of John Sessions.

Sessions picked up the card and flipped
it over—noticing the number on the back.

“ I’m sorry, but this really doesn’t help
me recall anything.”
 
Sessions
placed the card carefully back on the counter.
 
I’ve never met anyone by the name Cullen
Honeyestewa and I must have hundreds of customers who pick up these cards
during the tourist season alone.”
 
He indicated a small rack of the cards nearby at the cash register, “Almost
every customer takes a card.
 
I wish
I could tell you something about this man.
 
I know the family may be upset—but I can assure you I never met
him and I certainly do not know what he might have been doing in the park a
year ago!”
 
Sessions snapped, “Now,
I really must get to work.
 
I’m
sorry I can’t help you.”
 
He began
to turn back to his desk.

“Just one more thing,” Lin pressed on. “This
number on the back of the card.
 
It
belongs to Neal Smith.
 
Perhaps you
might recall if he introduced you to this man?”