Earthcrack: A Lin Hanna Mystery (28 page)

Lin pulled into the parking lot at the
Coconino County Jail just at one o’clock.
 
Scanning the parked vehicles, she spotted the truck which belonged to
Sophie’s father; Cullen’s truck was probably still in police hands, Lin
surmised.
 
Leaving the police report
in her car to be reviewed later, Lin got out and walked to meet Michael’s mom
who was now waiting on the sidewalk near the jail entrance.

Lin noticed that Sophie was carrying a
large basket, presumably loaded with food for Michael.
 
At least, the aromas were enticing.

“Can I help you carry anything?” Lin
offered.

“ No thanks, it’s all here,” Sophie
managed a small smile, “I brought enough for us too.
 
Maybe, we can eat outside with
Michael.
 
I hope so anyway.”

The two women entered the building and
Sophie spoke to the officer at the desk.
 
Lin held back, hoping that she would be allowed to visit with
Sophie.
 
She noticed that the
officer looked at her with some recognition; it was the same person who had
been on reception when she came to see Deputy Taylor

“You will need to sign in,” the officer
nodded in Lin’s direction, “ and you must stay with Sophie.
 
You must both leave in one hour but
Michael can meet you outside.
 
You
can eat at one of the picnic tables.”

“ Thank you,” Lin and Sophie spoke
together.
 
The officer directed them
to a side door and they exited to the patio area.
 
They entered what could have been a
pleasant sitting area had it not been for the high walls topped with barbed
wire. There were several tables and some other patio chairs even a few potted
plants about.

Sophie chose a table and began to unpack
her basket.
 
She had brought a
picnic cloth that she placed on the table.
 
Soon she had a generous lunch spread out—mutton stew, beans, fry
bread, and several bottles of water.
 
As she finished she looked up.
 
Michael was approaching with a guard.
 

The guard spoke to Michael softly,
indicating that he would be waiting just inside the door, but he did remove the
handcuffs from the boy.
 
“Enjoy your
lunch,” he offered as he stepped just inside and took a chair.

Michael hugged his Mother and nodded at
Lin. “I remember you.
 
You came to
visit a couple of weeks ago,” the boy said.

“Yes,” Lin responded, “I’ve been trying
to find out more about what happened to your uncle Cullen.
 
I know you and your family still have a
lot of questions.”

Michael’s expression did not reveal any
feelings and he did not respond.
 
The boy sat down and began to fill his plate with the good food his
Mother had brought.
 
Sophie handed
Lin a plate also so she joined them.
 
She had, after all, not eaten lunch and this stuff smelled great.
 
Soon she was enjoying a generous helping
of mutton stew and some fry bread that was simply out of this world—light
and puffy.
 
She wondered how it had
managed to remain so considering the long ride in from the reservation.

Sophie and Michael engaged in some small
talk about family and friends as they ate but neither raised the issue of what
Michael and his friend Teddy were facing.
 
Lin desperately wanted to talk to the boy but she knew he would simply
shut her down if she were not careful so she waited.
 
Finally, the lunch complete, Sophie
turned to her son.

“Michael, I brought Ms. Hanna with me
because she wants to tell you something.
 
Something that might help your case—please listen,” there was
pleading in Sophie’s voice.

Michael said nothing but he did turn to
look at Lin.
 
Encouraged that he
was, at least, listening, Lin proceeded to tell him about the medical examiner reporting
that the two men died during the weekend, most likely Saturday.

“I know that your grandmother still had
that belt buckle on Sunday when I was at your home.
 
She didn’t give it to you until
later.
 
That means that you couldn’t
have been at the crime scene during the weekend.
 
You were there on Monday like you said
earlier.
 
I’ve already told that to
Deputy Taylor.”

Michael spoke slowly and softly, “Yes,
but Deputy Taylor doesn’t believe me.
 
He will never believe me and he thinks my family is lying to protect me.”

“ Maybe he could believe you, if you
would talk about when you were there and why,” Lin ventured. “The belt buckle
was yours and you evidently dropped it there at some time but, if you will not
talk about what you were doing, the authorities can believe anything they want.”
 
Lin wanted to be encouraging but it was
hard under the circumstances.
 
She
felt that she couldn’t avoid the obvious facts of the case and only Michael
could explain these.

“ It is no use.
 
If I talk I will just make things worse
for everyone—including Teddy and my family.
 
The deputies never believe natives tell
the truth anyway,” Michael was sullen as he spoke.

“What about your lawyer?”
 
Lin asked, “ At least talk to him.
 
Tell him what happened.
 
He can’t help you if he does not know
the facts.”
 
She went on to explain
to Michael about client confidentiality. “Your lawyer can’t reveal anything to
others that you tell him, unless you say it is ok, but with no information he
can’t help you.
 
He needs to know
the truth—even if you do not want to tell anyone else.”

The guard had returned to the patio,
indicating that the time allotted for the visit was over.
 
Sophie rose and grabbed Michael in a big
bear hug, “ You are a good son Michael—you have made some bad choices but
you are young and you have your whole life ahead of you, if you can get this
mess cleared up.
 
I do not believe you
are a killer—neither do your grandparents and,” she looked at Lin, “
neither does Ms. Hanna and she is trying to help you by telling the authorities
whatever she can find that might help out.”
 
A desperate tone entered Sophie’s voice,
“ but Michael, it is up to you.
 
If
you do not help yourself nothing good can happen.
 
You have to take a chance and talk to
your lawyer—please.”

Michael shuffled his feet and looked at
the ground.
 
The guard moved to
place him back in cuffs.
 
As the
guard began to pull him away, Michael looked at his mother, “I’ll try he
said.
 
I ‘ll talk to the lawyer.”
 
The guard led him away.

Lin helped Sophie to clear up the remains
of their lunch and pack up the basket

“Maybe our visit has helped him,” Lin
said hopefully, “Maybe he will share information with Mr. Cameron he is not
willing to share even with you at this point”

“I hope so,” Sophie said. “I have no idea
why he was at that crime scene but I do believe him that it was on Monday when
he and Teddy were there.
 
He will
not say anything more to me but maybe…” tears began to well in her eyes.

As they walked back through the jail reception
area to the parking lot, Lin spoke. “Please try to have faith and hang in
there,” she said, “ I’m going right now to see David Cameron.
 
I’ll tell him what I know and what you
have told me.
 
I’ll tell him that
Michael may talk, if he understands that information will only be shared with
his permission and to help his case.
 
We can hope that the truth will soon be known by everyone.”

Sophie tried to smile but her sadness was
still quite evident. “Thank you for coming and thank you for what you are trying
to do for my family.
 
I have already
lost my brother and I don’t want to lose my son.
 
Something very bad is happening here and
it must stop before any of us can have any peace.”
 
Sophie placed her basket in the truck
and turned to go. “ Again, I thank you—and my family thanks you.”

“And I thank you for letting me come with
you today—and for the wonderful lunch,” Lin clasped Sophie’s hand as she
got into the truck.

After Sophie had pulled out, Lin returned
to her car.
 
It was almost two-thirty
and she had to hurry to make her appointment with David Cameron.
 
She had to admit to some misgivings
concerning the public defender.
 
She
knew that such offices were sometimes staffed mostly with young attorneys fresh
out of law school.
 
She also
wondered just how seriously the defense of young Native Americans might be
addressed in such circumstances—especially if the defendants appeared
uncooperative and there was strong evidence against them.

As she was ushered into David Cameron’s
office a few minutes later, she was pleasantly surprised.
 
As Cameron rose and extended his hand in
greeting she saw a young but very poised professional—young, but not
fresh out of law school—she placed him in his mid-thirties.

“I’m happy to see you Ms. Hanna,” Cameron
offered her a comfortable chair near the window and sat down opposite, “I
understand you have some information about my clients.
 
I would welcome anything you can
share.
 
My instincts tell me these
boys are innocent but I’m not getting any cooperation from them.”
 
His earnestness revealed a man who
clearly took his work seriously and wanted to help his clients.

“I’m happy to help, if I can, “ Lin
offered, “I agree with you—I don’t think these boys killed these men but
I’m afraid I do not know what they were doing at the scene of the crime.”
 
Lin proceeded to bring Cameron up to
date on what she did know.
 
She told
him about the discovery of Cullen’s body earlier and of his connection to
Michael.
 
She also explained the
connection of the eagle-head belt buckle.
 
She observed that David Cameron was taking her information very
seriously—making notes as she talked.
 
After she had told him about her visit
to the reservation and seeing the belt buckle still with Michael’s grandmother
on Sunday, she saw him pause…

“Then, it is highly unlikely that Michael
and Teddy could have been at the scene of the crime on Sunday—unless it
were very late in the day,” Cameron said.

“That’s right,” Lin responded. “Michael
says that he and Teddy took the truck, and the belt buckle, on Monday—presumably
to come to Flagstaff and shop for a belt.
 
He hasn’t said why they made a side trip to the park—which they
obviously did—and lost that buckle at that time. The medical report
places the deaths during the weekend—most likely Saturday—which
says to me that, even if deaths on Sunday were a slim possibility, they would
have to have occurred early in the day and we saw that buckle at the
Honeyestewa house at midday.”

“That is very helpful information,”
Cameron responded with a smile, “in a criminal case the essence of any defense
is to be able to raise doubt about the prosecution’s case and there does seem
to be doubt here.”

“I would be happy to testify as to what I
observed during my visit,” Lin offered, “if you need me.”

“Thank you, but my first goal would be to
avoid any charges being brought at all or to have them dismissed before
trial.
 
Now my task is to get
Michael to talk to me, Teddy too.
 
They have the answers as to what they were doing and they need to
understand that I can’t help them if I don’t know,” David was quite serious.

“I realize that,” Lin responded.
 
She told Cameron about her visit to the
jail with Sophie and their conversation with Michael.
 
“I think he’s trying to hide something
from his family.
 
He doesn’t want
them to know what he and Teddy were doing in the park— why they were
actually there.
 
I tried to explain
confidentiality to him and also to make him see how important it is that you
know everything, if you are going to help him.
 
I can’t be sure, but he did tell his
mother he would talk to you.”

“Good,” Cameron offered, “I’ll try to see
him again as soon as possible.
 
Is
there anything else you can share with me?”

Lin had seen that Cameron had a copy of
the police report on his desk.
 
She
wondered if he knew anything more about the victims than was revealed there.

“ I’m sure you know this, but Henry
Piestewa was a Hopi clan leader who was authorized to collect eaglets and eagle
feathers at Wupatki.
   
He
shared this responsibility with Michael’s uncle—the man whose body was
found earlier.
 
I have been seeking
some connections here—the Honeyestewa family has had a hard time
accepting his death as an accident.
 
Frankly, I’m having trouble with that also—especially now that
these new killings have occurred.
 
I
am still seeking answers for them, but haven’t found anything concrete.”