“She’s not authorized to drive the van, only Cruz and I. And what can I do here anyway? Everything I know about him is on the sheet.”
Bernie looked at the paper again. It contained most of the obvious information the searchers would need, including his coat with that reflective trim that makes it shine at night and the brand of his hiking boots: Merrell.
Cooper pointed to a black sleeping bag near the picnic table. “That belongs to Dom. He has his backpack with his other personal stuff with him.”
Bernie said, “Leave it here in case they want to bring in a dog to help find him.” In her search and rescue training, she’d learned enough to know that the teams used two kinds of dogs, air scenters and ground trackers, to search for missing people. When necessary, they also used cadaver dogs.
“I don’t think dogs can work in the lava. Even when they wear those speical boots—it still hutrt their pads.” Cooper turned to the girls, standing in anxious clusters. “Campers, make a final check of the area. We’ll load the van in five minutes.”
Bernie said, “I need a moment with Annie. We’ll meet you at the van.”
She found the girl by herself, her gear in front of her, staring into space. Bernie stood next to her, speaking softly. “I wanted you to know I found the cave.”
Annie stood straighter. “You believed me.”
“Yes. That’s why I went out with Mayfair to bring in your equipment.”
“I should have gone out to get my own stuff, but Cooper doesn’t trust me. Did you see that thing in there?”
Bernie nodded.
Annie looked around. “Did you tell anybody?”
“I told Mayfair I saw some old bones. I didn’t make a big deal of it.”
“I don’t want to talk about that ever again.”
“I understand why that scared you. Are you a Navajo?”
Annie shrugged. “Yeah.”
Bernie unzipped her backpack, got a business card, and then found a pen and wrote something on it. “This has my number at the station and my cell phone on the back. You can call me if you think of anything else. Please tell your parents to call me if they would like to talk to me about a ceremony.”
Annie hadn’t mentioned chindis, the restless spirits of the dead. Bernie wasn’t going to bring it up, but because she would want a ceremony to cleanse herself of the residual evil in the cave, she’d mention it to Annie’s parents if they called her. Maybe she and the girl could be healed together, reducing the cost of the ritual for each family.
Bernie saw the look of concern in Annie’s face. “Girl, you did the right thing back there, and I’m glad you told me about the cave.”
Annie nodded. “I don’t have much family. My mom is . . . gone.”
“Cooper told me your mother pushed to have you in the program.”
Annie didn’t miss a beat. “Yes. That was her last wish.” She put Bernie’s card in the front pocket of her backpack. Bernie followed her glance to the girls assembling near the van. “Can I stay and help look for Mr. Cruz? He got lost because of me.”
“No. We don’t know what happened to Mr. Cruz, but it’s not your fault. We don’t know why he hasn’t come back, but he’s an adult. He was responsible for keeping you safe, not vice versa.”
Bernie heard footsteps and saw Cooper standing just out of earshot. She tapped her wristwatch.
“Time to go,” Bernie zipped her pack’s front pocket. “I’ll walk to the van with you.”
“You don’t have to.” Annie trudged off to join the other girls.
“Why is it taking so long for the searchers to get here?” Cooper said. “It’s been a while since you called.”
“I’m wondering the same thing. I thought the officer from Grants would have been here by now. I’ll call again.”
Outside the van, Cooper took the keys from her front pocket and went to open the driver’s-side door. “I want to give you the topographic maps we used to plot the solo sites. That will make it easier for the searchers.” She slid the key into the door lock, turned it, and paused, looking puzzled. “Mayfair, did you leave the vehicle unlocked?”
“Of course not. You know me better than that. It must have been you or Cruz.”
Bernie walked closer to inspect the lock for signs of tampering. “When I went to my unit to call about the search, I noticed that the van door was ajar, so I closed it, but I left it unlocked. I couldn’t see anything that looked messed up.”
“It couldn’t have been open.” Cooper sounded convincing. “I know I locked it.”
“Maybe you only forgot.”
“No. But even if I did, Dom always double-checked everything. He wouldn’t have let us hike off without making sure the van was secure. We never would have left the door open.”
“You and Ms. Mayfair had better double-check in case there’s been a break-in.”
“How did the lock look?” Mayfair peeked in the window. “Jimmied or something?”
“Not that I could tell.”
Cooper opened the driver’s door, climbed in, and put her key in the ignition. She gave Bernie a report: the radio, a thief’s usual target, was in place; the glove box and center console, other favorite spots to ransack for money, were untouched.
Mayfair joined the conversation. “Make sure it starts.”
Cooper turned the key, and the old van’s engine came to life almost immediately. “At least they didn’t steal the battery or siphon the gas.” She turned off the engine, studied the interior for a few minutes, grabbed the maps, and scooted out.
Mayfair climbed into the van and looked around, taking longer than Cooper had. “Everything is OK.”
The campers were milling about, generating let’s-get-out-of-here energy. Cooper gave the orders. “Girls, line up by the back door. Please load your packs and equipment neatly. Mayfair, you supervise. Then come over to me, and I will return your phones.”
Bernie moved to stand between Cooper and the girls. “Let me know if anything is gone.”
Cooper opened the van’s double back doors.
“Backup first aid kit, extra blankets, water, energy bars, the box with the girls’ electronics. All here. Nothing has been disturbed as far as I can tell.”
Bernie could feel the girls’ impatience. She turned to Mayfair. “Do you see anything missing?”
“The nylon bag that had some extra water bottles and energy bars is gone. Or did we bring it?”
“I think Cruz put it on the floor in the front seat.”
Mayfair scrambled to look. “Not here. It’s gone.”
“What if somebody stole my phone?” a young voice yelled.
Bernie used the tone she’d found to be effective in getting the attention of drunks. “Girls, listen up. Mrs. Cooper needs to make sure all your electronics are here, and I’m going to stay at the van until everyone has whatever she came with or we know if anything has disappeared.”
“After I give you your phone, climb up into the van,” Cooper said, sliding the side door open for access to the seats while Mayfair began the loading process in the back. The girls waited expectantly as Cooper returned their possessions, but Annie, who had been standing at the back of the crowd, bypassed the phone line, headed to the van, and found a window seat.
Bernie climbed in beside her. “Don’t you have a phone in the box?”
“Nope.” Annie scrunched her eyes closed, and her chin started to tremble. “I wish I had one.”
“Don’t forget to tell your family I want to talk to them.”
“Right.”
But from the tone of Annie’s voice, Bernie doubted that she’d hear from them. “Annie,” she said, “think about what happened out there, and if you even caught a glimpse of Mr. Cruz after you ran from the cave. It could help find him.”
She glanced at Cooper’s cardboard box that had held the girls’ phones. It was empty. “Anything else missing?”
“All the phones, iPods, and the rest are accounted for.” Cooper hesitated. “I hate
to ask you this, but can you loan me twenty dollars? I have to return the van to the rental company full of gas. I’ve got a little money, but not enough to fill it, and Mayfair is always broke. Dom had the company credit card.”
Bernie had forty dollars. She gave Cooper four $5 bills.
“Thanks. I’ll pay you back in Shiprock.”
Bernie nodded. “What happened to Annie’s mother?”
“What do you mean?”
“Annie told me she was dead. Maybe that’s why she’s been difficult on this trip.”
Cooper put her hands on her hips. “Dead?”
“She said gone, actually, and I thought she meant dead.”
“Annie’s mom goes to a lot of meetings, but she’s alive and—well, I could say more about her, but we better go.”
After the van pulled away, Bernie walked to her unit and called the substation.
Sandra’s voice sounded scratchy over the phone. “Anything new out there on the lost guy?”
“No. Still waiting for search and rescue.”
“How’s that girl who was lost?”
“Embarrassed but all right. I need to talk to the captain about something else.”
“The captain wants to talk to you, too.”
Largo’s deep voice came on the cell phone. “I contacted our office in Ramah and the Cibola County Fire and Rescue Department about the situation there. The search teams are on alert, and they say they’ve got a good group of volunteers ready to go out there as soon as the state police give the OK. Anything else going on?”
“Yes, sir. I found what I think could be a burial in a cave in the lava.”
“You’re kidding.”
Bernie stayed silent.
“Tell me.”
She told him.
“Why were you in that place?”
“Remember the girl from Cruz’s program who was lost but made her way back?”
“Go ahead.”
“She told me that she climbed into a cave for shelter and that something scared her. I thought if she had found a burial site, it should be protected, especially with a crowd of searchers coming out there. It looked like someone sealed the cave at one point. I noticed the spiral petroglyph Annie described. I saw the sandal she mentioned, and bones. I’m sure they are human, sir, because the skull was there.”
She could almost hear Largo thinking over the phone. Finally he said, “As far as you could tell, had Cruz been in the cave or near there?”
“No sign of him at all, sir. That’s another thing I was looking for.”
Largo said, “Based on what I know about the archaeology of the area, it’s likely that the bones are those of a Pueblo person. But he’s now on Navajo land or in a national monument, right?”
Otherwise, she knew, she and Largo had no reason to be involved with the cave of bones. “Sir, it’s hard to tell where the boundaries are when you’re hiking out here.”
“Hold on.” Another pause. She pictured Largo digesting the information.
“Sandra just confirmed that a state police officer from Grants is almost there. Make sure you tell him you’ve searched that cave and that it’s off limits to the team because of the bones. Then get back here.”
“Yes, sir.” She paused. “You know, it might be a her.”
“What?”
“The bones might be a woman.”
Largo chuckled. “Noted. Speaking of that, I met the new FBI person, Cordova’s replacement. Agent Sage Johnson. She’s a she.”
“Sage? Is she a Native?”
“Not from around here. I didn’t ask her, and she didn’t mention it. She’s fresh out of training, first experience working on the Navajo Nation. Maybe her first trip to the Four Corners.”
“Cordova said he thought a woman from California would be coming our way.”
“She’s from San Diego. You have anything else for me, Manuelito?”
“Well, maybe.” She told him about the odd smell in the cave and then about the unlocked van and the potentially missing water and energy bars. “There was no damage, but Mrs. Cooper swears they wouldn’t have left it unlocked. Except for the water and food, they didn’t find anything missing, and there were jackets, flashlights, some change in the console untouched.”
“Mention it to the state cop. And, Manuelito?”
“Yes, sir?”
“While you’re waiting for the state cop to show up, keep thinking about what I asked you to consider.”
They ended the call. Bernie climbed out of her unit and stood in the sunshine. She had been considering Captain Largo’s request that she get some training to work with domestic violence victims. She agreed with him that having a woman investigator could make it easier for the victims. But the recent car bombing at Shiprock High School had stirred her interest in learning more about explosives, arson, and the profile of people who like to blow things up. She was sure someone offered courses in that, too. She had talked it over with Chee, but his only advice was “Follow your heart” and “You can always do something else if you don’t like it.”
The next class in responding to domestic violence would be starting soon. She needed to decide.
She considered using this break to call Darleen, but the silence seduced her. She studied the natural carving of wind and water on the cliff face, which reflected the color of warm desert sand. She watched a cloud form and scud across the immense and brilliant sky. The sharp, clear winter air smelled of possibilities. Was change in the air for her?
Three cars roared past on the highway, perhaps heading to Quemado or Fence Lake. A fourth, a black-and-white from the New Mexico State Police, pulled up next to Bernie’s unit, and the driver, a uniformed officer, unfolded himself out of the big car. He was a small, slim man probably in his late forties. An out-of-uniform silver chain glinted at his neck.
“You must be Officer Manuelito.” He extended a hand. “Cristóbal Manzanares. Call me Cris. So one of the grown-ups from Wings and Roots is missing? It’s usually the kids who wander off.”
“A girl was lost, but she came back on her own. The missing person is one of the leaders, Domingo Cruz, the man who went to look for her. The program director left a note with information about him and some maps for the searchers.”
Manzanares slid back into the driver’s seat of his unit, keeping the door open. “I’ll get things moving. How long has he been gone?”
“Maybe five hours now.”
“The guy is Dom Cruz, a big Navajo who likes to takes pictures, right?”
“You sound like you know him.”
He fingered a silver chain around his neck. “A little. His sister, Merilee, married my cousin, and we met at the wedding reception. So how did you and the Navajo Police get involved in this? You think he’s on Ramah land?”
“Who knows? Mrs. Cooper wanted a woman cop to come out to talk to the girls in Wings and Roots. When I arrived, Cruz was missing. The whole group was upset.”
The radio squawked, and Manzanares began the relay of information. He confirmed that the situation was legitimate, the missing person had not been located, and the search could begin immediately.
While he spoke, Bernie spread Cooper’s maps on the shiny black hood of the state police car. “The girl Dom went to find spent the night in a cave. I checked it out. It might have been an old burial site. No sign Cruz had been that way. I’ll show you the area on the map so no one will have to waste time there.” She pointed out the approximate site of the cave, the base camp, and the trails where Mayfair and the girls had done a quick search.
Manzanares studied the map. “I’ll make sure it’s off limits. Did you go inside?”
“Yes. It looked like it had been looted.”
He ran his hand over the silver chain again. “These burials shouldn’t be disturbed. Did you see any sign of who’d been in there?”
“Nothing. I think some animal must be living in the back. The cave had a stench.”
“I bet you got out of there pretty quick. I
know how you guys feel about dead people.”
The insinuation that she hadn’t done her job bothered her. “I bet you don’t like corpses much either, do you?”
“That’s another reason I’m glad I’m a short-timer. I retire in two weeks. I’ve seen enough car accidents, suicides, overdoses, all the rest, to last me a long, long time. I’m planning on doing some traveling. I just need to find my Saint Christopher medal. I always wear it along with Saint Michael around my neck inside my uniform for protection, but since I’m KMA, I can wear my chain anyway I want. What are they going to do to me? It will take them more than two weeks just to figure out how to discipline me for violating uniform standards!”
She raised an eyebrow.
“KMA as in Kiss My Ass. Saint Christopher is the guy upstairs who protects travelers. My patron saint.”
Bernie mentioned the unlocked van and the missing food and water. “Nothing else was taken, not even the girls’ cell phones, iPods, or headphones.”
“My guess is that someone forgot to lock up and they didn’t bring that stuff they say is missing. If it was a break-in, the van would have been ransacked. I’ll make a note of it.” He winked at her. “You did your job, Officer.”
Manzanares took another look at the map and turned to Bernie. “Have you been to the base camp?”
“Yes. I met with Mrs. Cooper there.”
“Good. Hold on to this map and show the incident commander both the location of the cave and the base camp, the place Cruz was last seen.”
“Can you wait? My captain wants me back in Shiprock.”
He shook his head. “I would, but you can handle this. You’re the one who talked to the program director, visited the base camp. That’s where they will want to start the search. This is yours, Officer. Another experience for your résumé. Beside, I’m KMA and I’ve got an appointment with HR.”
“But—”
He interrupted. “The incident commander, the gal who directs all the volunteers, sets up logistics and the communication center, will be here in a few minutes. But just leave the note and map if you want, and I’ll radio her. No skin off my nose.”
Bernie was thinking about something else. “Are you going to call your cousin’s wife, Cruz’s sister, and tell her about the search? It might be easier to get the news from family.”
Cave of Bones Page 5
