Earthcrack: A Lin Hanna Mystery (40 page)

“Sounds like a plan,” Lin responded.
 

Soon they were heading into
Flagstaff.
 
Sue had the entire day
off so she could take Lin wherever she needed to go.
 
They headed for Brandy’s where they
discovered that Neal was already seated in a booth in the far corner.
 
He rose to greet them with at least a
semi-smile on his face.

“You’re looking better,” he smiled at
Lin, “your color is coming back,” he grinned as he touched her chin turning her
head so as to survey her scraped cheek, “ good color—blue, purple, with
just a touch of green and yellow!” he teased.

Lin tried to appear disturbed by his
remarks but the truth was she felt glad that he could tease and make a
joke.
 
It indicated his mood was
lighter than it had been the day before.

Neal had already ordered coffee for them
and soon they had placed their order and were enjoying warm croissants with
butter and jam.
 
His mood continued
to be good and more light- hearted, but he didn’t speak of anything related to
his own situation.
 
Instead the
conversation focused on Lin, on her improving condition, and on her desire to
return to Wupatki as soon as possible.

“ Just don’t try to do too much too soon,”
Neal advised.

“I won’t,” Lin responded, “but I do feel
the need to get back.
 
I’ll follow
Dr. Barnes directions though, I promise.”

They finished their ‘delicious as always’
breakfast.
 
Neal insisted on picking
up the tab over their objections.
 
As they left the restaurant, Sue walked ahead to the car leaving Lin to
have a more private moment with Neal.

Neal placed his hand on her good left
shoulder and turned her face toward him.
 
He smiled and leaned down to give her a kiss—lightly on the lips. “I
have a busy day ahead and you need to get to your appointment.
 
I promise I’ll be in touch really soon—later
today.
 
I know how cell service is
in the parks but I will be in touch—I promise.
 
Don’t worry, everything will be fine—at
least I think so, I hope so…” His lips brushed her uninjured cheek
lightly.
 
Then he was gone—with
no further explanation.
 
Lin was
left once again to wonder what was going on with him.
 
Sue had pulled up to the curb so Lin
hurried to get into the car.

It was a short drive to Dr. Barnes’s
office and Lin was not kept waiting.
 
Sue remained in the waiting room while Lin went in to be checked.

The exam was soon completed—the
worst part was removing all that tape. Dr. Barnes seemed pleased with how her
shoulder looked.
 
Lin was grateful
when he indicated she would now be using a sling that would mean an end to the
painful tape.

“Everything seems to be in place.
 
It will take some time to heal but I
think we can trust you with a sling for now.
 
Your head wound and the abrasion on your
face are healing nicely—no signs of infection at all.”

The nurse showed her how she could
manipulate a loose shirt onto the arm without disturbing the shoulder.
 
Then the sling could be put on over her
garment and the strap tightened around her back and middle.

“In another week, I want you back here,”
Dr. Barnes spoke as he wrote out instructions.
 
“If the shoulder is continuing to heal
well, we can dispense with the strap so long as you do not try to raise your
arm more than an inch or so.”

Before leaving, Lin asked the question
upper most in her mind, “Can I go back to my own apartment now?
 
I think I can manage on my own and I
will be careful.”

Dr. Barnes was thoughtful, “You can, if
you really feel you must, but I must caution you that you cannot drive a car
for at least another two weeks and you must be very cautious and protect your
shoulder.”

Lin beamed at the doctor, “You can trust
me. I do not want to be taped up again.”

After leaving Dr. Barnes’ office, Sue and
Lin did go shopping.
 
Lin purchased
several loose shirts, a size or two larger than she usually wore.
 
She also picked up a few non-perishable grocery
items to take back to Wupatki so she could prepare simple meals.

Since she was off for the remainder of
the afternoon, Sue agreed to drive Lin back to her apartment.
 
Lin’s car would remain at Sue’s for the
time being.
 
She could get it in a
couple of weeks when she was released to drive.
 
At Sue’s insistence, Lin did agree to
come back and spend the night with Sue the following Thursday as her
appointment with Dr. Barnes was, once again, early on Friday.

“I can probably hitch a ride into town
with Danielle or Toby—maybe even a ride home on Friday—if they are
coming to headquarters or something.”

“You know I can help,” Sue said, “just
call me any time and do be careful.
 
If you find you can’t manage let me know and I’ll come get you.”

“Thanks, Sue,” Lin was truly grateful for
such a friend. “By the way, when is your appointment with John Sessions—to
buy art, that is? ”
 
Lin asked.

“Next Wednesday, if I decide to keep it,”
Sue was uncertain. “I’m still convinced he is deep into the black market but I’m
also a bit worried he may find out who I really am.”

“You shouldn’t go back, in that case,”
Lin was sure of that. “We already know that there is real danger attached to
some of the people in this trade.
 
Sessions may not be tied to these murders, but he could be a problem,
nonetheless.
 
Whatever you decide,
 
be careful.”

“Trust me, I will. Now lets get back to
my place and pick up the rest of your things—it’s time to get you home.”
 
Sue smiled, in spite of her misgivings.

“One thing first,” Lin said. “I want to
drop by Billy Taylor’s office and tell him my assailant had a beard-a stubbly
beard.
 
It may help him identify the
man responsible.”

The two of them stopped by the sheriff’s
office but Billy wasn’t in.
 
Lin
carefully dictated a note that the receptionist promised to put on his desk.

“I feel sure he’ll stop in sometime this
weekend, if he’s not back in today,” she said. “He usually puts in a few hours
of weekend work—even when he’s not on assigned duty.”

Lin thanked her.
 
Then she and Sue left the office to get
her things and head out to her apartment.

Danielle and Toby had been happy to see
her—Toby had even fired up the grill for a celebratory welcome home
dinner of burgers and beans.
 
It was
just Toby and Lin at first (Danielle was off to town to see Billy Taylor!).
 
Steve Barton, the archeologist currently
working in the park, his wife, Elise, and young son, Tommy, joined them later.
 
Lin had met Steve before, but only once,
and Elise and Tommy not at all.

“Welcome Home!” Tommy grinned.

“I should welcome you too,” Lin
replied.
 
Tommy reminded her of Sam,
her grandson who was close to Tommy’s age, she judged.

Elise explained that she and Tommy would
be spending the weekend.
 
She was
beginning to get the house ready for all of them to live there during the
summer.

“I’ll look forward to having more
neighbors,” Lin said, “to getting to know all of you better.”
 
Tommy was thrilled to learn that her
grandchildren would be coming to visit in June—maybe for as long as 3 or
4 weeks.

“That will be neat—someone to play
with!” he beamed at his Mom.

“He’s been a bit worried that he will
miss all his friends in Flagstaff, though I’ve explained to him that we’ll be
back in town frequently and will return to our home before school begins,”
Elise explained.

“A few weeks can be an eternity at that
age,” Lin commiserated. She excused herself early, feeling tired and knowing
she still needed a lot of rest.

Turning to Toby, Lin said, “I’ll be in
tomorrow at nine.
 
I can’t drive or
do any ‘heavy lifting’,” she joked, “but I can answer the phone and talk to
visitors.”

“You do what you feel like doing,” Toby
responded, “We are happy for the help but don’t overdo it.
 
Danielle said that you can set your own
hours for the next few weeks, while you heal.”

“That was kind of her,” Lin smiled as she
headed for her apartment and her own bed.

***

Mindful of how grateful she was for Sue’s
friendship and how grateful she felt for all her help, Lin was still happy to
wake up in her own apartment the next morning.

Getting ready was a bit of a struggle but
she managed and she was at the visitor center by nine as promised.
 
Her shoulder had been a bit painful when
she first awoke but a couple of Tylenol had, once again, reduced that to the
dull ache that was more bearable.
 
Even that faded as she got her mind on other things.

It was a beautiful spring Saturday and,
if the morning were any indication, they would have a steady stream of visitors
in the park.
 
Lin manned the front
desk while Toby took over trail duties and Danielle went out to patrol some of
the other sites.
 
It felt good to be
back to normal, back to answering questions and distributing information flyers,
back to selling books and t-shirts and explaining exhibits.
 
The first couple of hours passed
quickly.

About ten, Toby came in for a break.
 
His face was warm and pink from the sun
but he too seemed to be enjoying the day.
 
“I’ve pretty much had to stay in here while you were in town.
 
I didn’t mind,” he hastily added, “but I
am enjoying being outdoors again.”

Lin understood.
 
She felt that she could easily handle
the outdoor trail to the ruin, after all it was her shoulder out of whack not
her legs, but Danielle had only agreed to let her work if she would remain
inside—at least for the first day or two.

Lin was surprised when she looked toward
the door to see Sophie and Michael coming into the center.
 
She greeted them warmly and asked what
she could do to help.

“Michael needs to talk to Danielle,”
Sophie said. “I need to go to town for a final checkup with the doctor but I
said I’d bring him.
 
He’ll have to
stay here, though, until I can come back to get him—probably about two—if
that is ok?
 
I promised Deputy
Taylor, I’d supervise him carefully—I’m not supposed to leave him alone
except when he’s in school.”

Michael stared at the floor, obviously
embarrassed, but he said nothing.

“He can certainly stay here,” Lin spoke. “Danielle
will be back soon, she’s on patrol.
 
He can stay here and help me, or walk the trail with Toby until you get
back.”

“Thank you,” Sophie smiled, “I’ll be on
time, don’t worry.”
 
With that she
was gone and Lin and Toby were left with Michael.

Toby offered him a soda and took him to
the patio.
 
Soon Lin observed the
two young men engaged in rapt conversation.
 
Toby was so genial and outgoing—it
was hard for anyone not to open up with him, Lin thought.

When Danielle returned, Michael noticed
and came back inside to ask to speak with her.
 
She took him to her office but left the
door open.
 
Lin could tell that he
was talking about what had happened, even though she couldn’t hear everything
he was saying.
 
In a few minutes,
Lin heard Danielle call for Toby on her radio, asking him to come back to the
visitor center.
 
Then she came out
and asked Lin to come to her office when Toby was back to take over the desk.

When Lin entered the office, Danielle had
her to sit down.
  
She
explained that Michael wanted to go back out to the crime scene.

 
“ If you feel up to it, I’ll back down on
insisting you remain indoors and ask you to go with him—provided you
agree to do no climbing about—just sit in the shade, if there is any,”
Danielle added.

“ Well, sure,” Lin said, “but wait, I can’t
drive—doc’s orders and I know I couldn’t manage that anyway.”

“I’m going back out that way on
patrol.
 
The sheriff’s department
reopened the area yesterday and pulled their men back to regular patrol duties
so I’m stepping up on my trips.
 
I
could drop the two of you off and then pick you up a couple of hours
later.
 
I just can’t let Michael go
out there unaccompanied.”

“ That will be fine,” Lin said, “I think
I can handle that, but Michael, why do you want to go?” she turned to the boy.

“Because, I still think I know where the
pots are.
 
The pots that my uncle
hid,” he hung his head as if in shame, “the ones he was going to sell to help
me.”
 
He explained further, “if the
pots are where I think they are, they’ve been moved to that place—they
started out somewhere else.
 
They
are not safe—they need to be found and returned to our tribe—or
maybe to the museum, that’s not for me to say, but I know they belong to our
people—it would be wrong to sell them.”

“I’ve explained to Michael, that if he
does know where the pots are and he does find them, they can’t be moved,”
Danielle said.
 
“A permit would have
to be issued to retrieve them, if he does locate them. If they are in some spot
where they are at great risk—that could be done fairly quickly.”
 
Danielle looked seriously at Michael , “I
know Michael wants to make amends—for his uncle—and to restore
honor to his family.
 
That is why I’ve
agreed to let him look.”

Michael seemed to realize that he might
not be successful, but it seemed worth a try.
 
Lin remembered that she still had the
topo map on which Neal had marked spots for his students to search—spots
she now knew were where he thought the pottery might have been hidden.
 
She saw Michael’s eye’s brighten as she
told him about the map and went to retrieve it from her desk drawer.
 
When he saw the map, he told her it
looked similar to the hand drawn map of the area which Raymond Tso had given
him and Teddy.

“This one is more sophisticated—it
has the elevations and stuff—but the “xs” seem to be in the same spots—this
will help,” Michael smiled.

Soon they were in Danielle’s SUV heading
for Lomaki.
 
The bouncing of the
vehicle caused Lin’s shoulder some discomfort but she tried not to let that
show.
 
She retrieved her bottle of
Tylenol from her daypack and took two pills with a swig from her water
bottle.
 
Danielle had found an extra
water bottle for Michael also.

“Are you sure you are up to this,”
Danielle asked as she pulled into the Lomaki parking lot.
 
It was the first day the ruin had been
reopened for visitors but only a couple of cars were evident.

“I’m fine,” Lin insisted. “I’ll find a
shady spot to watch while Michael checks the area—I promise, no climbing
or rambling over rocks.”

“Good,” Danielle said as they exited the
car, “It’s eleven now.
 
I’ll be back
here by one.
 
That should get us
back to the visitor center before Sophie comes back.
 
I’ll meet you right here in the parking
lot.”
 
Danielle reached for her own
day pack, “ Here, take some of my granola bars, it’s almost lunch time now—you’ll
at least need a snack.”

Lin grabbed a couple of bars and added
them to her pack.
 
She and Michael
got out of the SUV and Danielle drove off.
 
Before heading down the box canyon, Lin had Michael to spread the map
out on an information sign and they studied the lay of the land carefully.
 
Michael pointed to a marked spot that
appeared to be on a rise above the area where the bodies of Darren and Henry
had been found.

“There is a small ruin there,” he said. “It’s
near our clan’s collection site and it would’ve made a good hiding spot—the
soil might be softer there—easier to dig.”

“But you have no tools,” Lin reminded
him.

“No matter, I can’t dig anyway—at
least not with tools.
 
I think I can
tell if the soil is looser, maybe disturbed.
 
I can try anyway.
 
Use my hands.
 
I promise not to remove anything.”

Lin and Michael proceeded up the box
canyon toward the slot that led to the open area beyond where the bodies had
been found.
 
Lin found herself
cringing a bit as they edged past the large earth crack where Cullen’s remains
had been discovered earlier.
 
She
still wished she knew exactly what had happened to him.
 
The two of them threaded their way
through the slot area, emerging on the other side. This was the area where parkland
bordered private ranch land.
 
On the
ground it was impossible to know exactly where the line was.
 
Lin located a shady spot up against a
large rock outcropping where she could still observe the place Michael wished
to examine.
 
She insisted that
Michael take his water bottle with him.

“We can eat something later, when you
have finished examining this spot.
 
If you don’t find what you are looking for, maybe you will have time to
check a couple of the other spots which are marked on this map,” she said.

Michael set out to walk the trail that
led up the higher outcropping, while Lin settled herself in the shady spot to
wait for his return.
 
She had a
clear line of vision and could easily see Michael as he climbed to the higher
area.
 
That may have been where
Henry met his death, she thought.
 
The sheriff’s report indicated his body had been dragged from some
higher spot to where it was found near Darren’s.

Even though she sat in the shade, her
back and shoulder resting against a boulder, Lin felt the heat of midday.
 
She did feel tired but she wasn’t in
much pain at all—a good sign, she thought.

Michael had reached the higher ground and
she saw that he was examining the soil surrounding what appeared to be a random
pile of rocks.
 
She now recognized
that it was really a small collapsed wall—probably one of the many small
ruins that dotted this entire region that straddled the border between park and
ranch land.
 
She saw Michael stand
up.

“I think I may have found something here,”
he called down as he turned to further examine the rocky area, his back toward
Lin.

Just at that moment, Lin felt something
hard and cold against her neck and a familiar male voice shouted out, “Good
work Michael, I’ll be up shortly!”
 
A rough hand fastened onto Lin’s good left shoulder. “Get up you nosy
bitch! I’m tired of you trying to ruin my business,” John Sessions spoke
directly in her ear.
 
Lin cringed
realizing he had a gun—against her neck.
 
She had to warn Michael!

“Run Michael,” she screamed as Sessions
yanked her to her feet.
 
Sessions
shoved her roughly to the ground as he raised his rifle to fire at the fleeing
boy.
 
A searing pain rang through
her injured shoulder—momentarily blinding her as she hit the ground.
 
Two shots rang out.
 
She opened her eyes to see Sessions
standing over her—the butt of the rifle swinging toward her.
 
He killed those men she realized,
 
as
 
she rolled her body toward her good arm—seeking to dodge the blow.
She was not quick enough.
 
A searing
pain enveloped her head and the world went black, once more.