Earthcrack: A Lin Hanna Mystery (27 page)

Lin awoke early on Monday morning eager
for her meeting that afternoon with Sophie and, hopefully, a visit with her son
at the jail.
  
After her visit
to Moenkopi on Saturday, she was more convinced than ever that the wrong people
had been arrested for this crime.
 
There were so many unanswered questions though.
 
The more she learned the more complex
this situation seemed to be.
 

Lin didn’t have to report to the visitor center
until opening at nine.
 
She was only
working until noon today.
 
She’d
worked a full day on Sunday and it had been a busy one.
 
She’d scarcely had time to think about
anything else. Now she welcomed having an extra bit of time before her day
began in earnest.
 
She decided to
get some exercise before she showered so she donned some sweats and headed out
to Woodhouse Mesa.
  
She felt a
small bit of satisfaction when she wasn’t as winded upon reaching the top as
she’d been on her first foray.
 
Maybe she was getting into a little bit better shape.
 
Still, she knew that she needed to give
more time to walking and other exercise.
 
Maybe when this mystery was solved.

After enjoying the view atop the mesa for
a short while, she headed down—but not before noticing a sheriff’s
department vehicle pull into the parking lot below.
 
Her curiosity was aroused—maybe
Deputy Taylor was bringing more information to share about this current
case?
 
She knew that Danielle was
probably already at work in her office but the center was still closed.

Lin didn’t try to hurry; she knew she
would never reach the center before the early visitor left but she did
determine that she would ask if there was any news about this case.
 
Now was not the time to squelch her
curiosity.
 
These recent murders
were related to Cullen’s death somehow—she knew that.
 

When she arrived at her apartment, she
noticed that the patrol car had already left.
 
She still had an hour before she was due
to report for work so she showered and dressed quickly; she took a cup of
coffee and a warm toasted bagel outside to enjoy breakfast.
 
It was a beautiful spring morning.
  
The surrounding mesas and hills
were bathed in a golden glow and the air carried the warm scent of sage.
 
Lin spotted several robins hopping about.
 
She’d been surprised to learn that
migratory groups of these spring birds usually visited the park this time of
year.

When she arrived at the center for work,
Toby greeted her.
 
“You have a
message from Sue Gray—she wants you to call her at Walnut Canyon as soon
as you can.”

“Thanks, I’ll do it now before we get too
busy,” Lin responded.
 
She noted
that the shared workroom at the back of the office area was vacant.
 
Toby was on the desk and Danielle was in
her office. She could speak to Sue with some degree of privacy.

When she reached her friend, she greeted
her, “ I have a lot to talk to you about, Sue.
 
My Saturday was pretty interesting.”

“Mine too, that’s why I was calling.
 
I wanted to call yesterday but I was too
busy here at the park all day,” Sue said.

“Same here,” Lin responded, “ but I only
have to work a few hours this morning and then I am off here.” She lowered her
voice, “ I’m meeting Michael’s mother at the jail.
 
I hope to be able to visit him.
 
He’s not talking—not even to his
attorney. Sophie is worried that he’s not trying to help himself so I offered
to go with her.”

“ I see,” Sue responded, “ I get off at
three today.
 
Maybe we could meet
somewhere after your visit.
 
I
learned a lot myself this weekend.
 
We need to discuss what to do next—this situation is getting
complicated.”

“Meet me at Heritage Square about three-thirty,
if you can make it,” Lin said.
 
“ We
can talk and then maybe have an early dinner somewhere.”

“It’s a date,” Sue responded, “I’ll be
there.”

Lin observed that the visitor center was
still quiet and Danielle was still closed up in her office so she decided to
take a few minutes to try to phone Michael’s attorney.

She dialed the number for David Cameron’s
office.
 
A pleasant female voice
answered.
 
When Lin introduced
herself and asked to speak to Mr. Cameron she was told that he was in court and
probably would be there all morning.

“ Would he have a few moments to see me
this afternoon,” Lin asked, “ I have some information regarding the young man
he is defending in these recent killings—the victims found out at Wupatki—and
I really need to share this with him.”

“Let’s see,” the receptionist responded. “It
looks like he has some time between two and three this afternoon.”

“Put me down for two-thirty,” Lin
decided.
 
She should be finished
with the jail visit before then—they were probably limited to an hour
there anyway.
 
She concluded her
call and headed down the hall toward the front desk.

As she passed Danielle’s office, she
noted that the door was open and Danielle was examining some papers on her
desk.
 
Lin decided to take a chance…

“I saw that someone from the sheriff’s department
was here early today, I was out walking on the mesa and saw the car pull in—any
 
news?” she queried.

Danielle gave her a smile—“Always curious,
aren’t you?”

Lin felt a bit embarrassed but it was too
late to withdraw her question now.

Danielle gestured for her to sit down, “
That’s ok, I’m curious myself about all that has been going on.” She indicated
the papers on her desk, “ this is a copy of the police report on the case of
those two men found last week—at least what they have so far.
  
Billy—that is Deputy Taylor—brought
it out this morning.”

Danielle handed some of the first pages
to Lin and continued reading herself.

Lin couldn’t believe her good fortune—she
had felt forced to sneak a copy of the report on Cullen’s death.

The two women read in silence for a while,
Danielle handing Lin pages as she finished them.
 
Some of the information they already
knew but there were some new facts as well.
 
Finally, they had both completed the
report.

“ The medical report is rather strange,”
Lin commented. “One victim was hit on the head with something big and heavy and
he also had stab wounds, while the other was shot.
 
No weapons recovered as yet.”

“Yes,” Danielle responded. “Deputy Taylor
has concluded that the same person may not be responsible for both deaths”

“ That would seem to raise even more
questions about the arrest of those boys from the reservation,” Lin added.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Danielle
reflected.
 
“There
 
were two boys remember.
 
Billy said that they may have worked
together—one had a knife, the other a gun.”

Lin noted with interest that Danielle had
slipped back to referring to Deputy Taylor as Billy—perhaps they were
friends?

“In any case—no weapons have been
found, right?”

“That’s true—at least not thus far.”
Danielle looked back at the report.

“They did find Darren Steele’s truck
across the main road near a forest service road and hidden behind some
junipers.
 
He had a lot of tools and
a topographical map of the park, but no weapons were found.
 
They also found lots of footprints in the
area where the bodies were found.
 
They could match the victims and ours and they also found tracks they
believe belonged to the boys. They found others also—probably from back
country hikers,” Danielle sighed, “ it seems we can never keep folks from
entering the back country without permission.”

“ Yes, I knew that the truck had been
found but I didn’t know about the tools or the map,” Lin said thoughtfully, “ I
guess back country hiking is always a problem with our limited personnel
situation here.
 
Since we have had
no rain recently it would be almost impossible to know when footprints were
made—unless they belong to someone we know was there—like
 
 
us.”

Danielle smiled, “ That’s true.
 
Those other prints could have been made
by almost anyone at any time—some of them probably belong to Neal’s
students—and there certainly could be others.”

Lin wondered why Danielle seemed to be so
willing to share this report and to discuss it.
 
Her attitude seemed quite different than
it had been when Lin talked to her earlier about looking into what happened to
Cullen.
 
She wondered at the change—as
well as her seeming familiarity with Deputy Taylor.
 
Well, the latter was simply personal
business but she felt she could address the change in attitude and decided to
go ahead.

“ I know that I told you I wouldn’t try
to find out anything about this current police investigation.
 
I certainly don’t want to cause any
problems there at all—but since you have shared this information with me—I’m
beginning to really feel that there is some connection between Cullen’s death
and these more recent killings.
 
Too
many things seem connected—the place, the belt buckle, and—most
especially—the arrest of Michael Honeyestewa and his friend.
 
I seem to see connections everywhere I
look.” Lin said.

Danielle sat back in her chair and stared
thoughtfully at the report on her desk.
 
Finally she spoke, “I’m afraid that you’re right.
 
I hate to think that the park has been
the focus of criminal activity at any time but I must agree with you.
 
There has to be some sort of connection
here.
 
Billy, still doesn’t think
so, but I can’t ignore it either.”

Noting, once again, the familiar
reference to Deputy Taylor, Lin responded. “ I appreciate your candor and your
willingness to keep an open mind.
 
I
want to be honest with you and I can’t seem to avoid these connections.
 
I’m trying to help the Honeyestewa
family and that is what my focus will continue to be.
 
I can promise that, should I uncover any
information related to this most recent case, I ‘ll take it to Deputy Taylor
right away.”

“I think that is all you can do,”
Danielle responded, “but please be careful.”

Lin turned to the remaining pages of the
report.
 
She had found some
interesting background information there regarding the victims and she wanted
to explore this further but she had already taken up a lot of time and she knew
Danielle had a busy schedule.

“Would you mind if I made a copy of some
of these pages?” Lin asked. “I know you are busy and I have to get out front
and help Toby, but there is some background information regarding these victims
which I would like to read in more detail. I wonder about possible connections
between Henry Piestewa and Cullen and how the other man fit into everything.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Danielle responded, “
In fact, I think most of the background information has been made public
already.
 
Billy didn’t tell me not
to share any of this,” she added. “Cullen and Henry certainly had connections—they
both shared responsibility for collecting eaglets and feathers for their clan.
 
I don’t know how the other man fit in
though.”

Lin gathered the pages and headed for the
copier.
 
She made her copy and
placed it in a closed envelope that she left in her desk drawer in the shared
office.
 
She would have time to read
it more carefully later.

The remainder of the morning passed
quickly even though things were a bit slower in the visitor center since it was
Monday.
 
Lin was working on a new
presentation regarding the early rangers who lived in the ruin and who were the
first occupants of the house Danielle now occupied.
 
Civilian Conservation Corps workers had
built the house—a lovely stone dwelling that reflected the architecture
of the ruins themselves. It had been completed in 1941.
 
Lin had found a nice collection of
photos that showed the home through the years.
 
It was now on the National Register of
Historic Sites.
  
Perhaps, when
the presentation was complete, she could prepare a small display on the home
for the center.

Noon arrived before Lin realized it.
 
Putting her work away and hastily
retrieving the envelope containing the police report, Lin hurried to her
apartment to change.
 
She didn’t
take time for lunch, as she didn’t want to be late meeting Sophie.
 
She could grab a bite later when she met
Sue.