by Aimée Thurlo
“There’s a problem,” he said, then sitting across from Mora’s desk, related what had just occurred with Eden and the man in the pickup.
“You say she won’t file a complaint?”
“That’s right. She chalked it up to one of our tribe trying to scare her. She’s also been getting some unsigned notes demanding she move off the pueblo, but apparently she tossed them out. I told her that nobody had a right to make any threats, but in spite of what happened tonight, she doesn’t think she’s in any danger.”
“Was she in danger this evening?”
“I sure saw it that way. The person chasing her in that pickup wasn’t kidding around. He could have easily run her over, or caused her to injure herself.”
“Did you get a plate or an ID?”
“No, it was too dark.”
“Then, until she wants to file a complaint, our hands are tied.”
“My gut tells me to get to the bottom of this before whatever trouble she’s in poses a danger to the rest of the pueblo.”
Mora regarded Nick silently, his eagle-sharp gaze cutting through to the heart of the matter. “Are you worried about the woman, or about the tribe?”
“Both,” he admitted, grudgingly. The direct approach was the only way to work with a man like Mora.
“There’s something I want you to see. I think it’ll give you some insight into what’s going on with Eden Maes. It all goes back to when her parents were alive.”
Captain Mora reached inside the file cabinet, extracted a letter from one of the folders and handed it to Nick.
“Keep what this says to yourself,” he said. “Eden brought the original letter to me the day she moved back into her parents’ old house. She’d wanted me to know why she’d returned and what she hoped to learn by being here. Take a minute to read it then give it back to me.”
Nick saw the letter was to Eden from her grandmother. The text was handwritten and difficult to read, but he persisted.
Dear Eden,
If you’re reading this, I have gone on to the Lake of our Ancestors and you are now alone. You always said that someday you’d clear your parents’ name, and if that’s what you choose to do now, there are things you have to know.
Your father told me everything. Your mother was carrying trash out of the Cultural Center at the end of the day, as was her custom, when she accidentally discovered that one of the boxes contained ritual items. She realized then that one of the employees had used her to take the artifacts outside where the real thief could take them easily without leaving a trail. But she couldn’t figure out who hated her enough to implicate her in something like that. She decided to go to your father because he was a BIA cop. But the thief photographed your mother putting the sacred objects into her car, and used that to blackmail her. Shortly after your mother got home and before your father could go to the police, the thief called them. He ordered your father to get the objects off the pueblo and leave them at a specific place.
My son put his own plan in motion and led the thief on a wild-goose chase while your mother hid the artifacts elsewhere. Realizing that he’d been tricked, the thief turned on Isabel and gave the police the photos that incriminated her. Isabel went into hiding but the thieves found her and kidnapped her. Then they called your father, and offered to exchange Isabel for the artifacts.
I know that James tried to free your mother. He went alone because they told him Isabel would die if the cops got involved. Later, when they were both found dead by the side of the road, I knew right away what had happened. There was no evidence that could explain the crime, but I knew where my son had gone and why, and that was enough for me. I told the police, but they never found anything that would solve their murders.
Afterward, I was told by people I trust that the man behind the scheme was Tall Shadow. He was well-known for wanting to keep non-Tewas off our land, and he particularly opposed your mother who was a white woman.
That’s all I know. Isabel’s mother disowned her when she married your father, so she never confided in Beth. I spoke to her before her death years ago, but she didn’t know anything more than what I’ve told you. If you choose to pursue this, you’ll be on your own. Be careful who you trust.
Grandmother
Nick read the letter over again, fighting the urge not to look up at Mora and see his reaction to the mention of Tall Shadow. Nick knew the nickname. It had been an old, rarely used one for his father, Paul Black Raven.
Nick finished the letter and handed it back to Captain Mora, searching Mora’s face to see if he also knew who Tall Shadow was, but finding no answers.
“James must have been up against the ropes if the thief had photos of Isabel putting the artifacts in her car,” Nick commented. “Incriminating evidence like that is very effective blackmail.”
“According to the statement James Maes made, the thief stayed one step ahead of them. And that eventually cost James and Isabel their lives,” Mora said. “Of course, Eden’s seeing far more in her grandmother’s letter than she should. She’s always wanted to clear her parents, and thinks that the information in this letter is a solid starting point.” Mora leaned back in his chair.
“What did you tell her?” Nick pressed.
“Without more to go on than an old woman’s memories—a woman who is now dead and can’t be questioned—we really don’t have anything solid. I also can’t remember anyone by the nickname ‘Tall Shadow’ but, of course, all this happened when we were both kids.” Mora put the letter back into the file folder.
“Eden won’t back off,” Nick said slowly.
“Of course not. I know for a fact that she’s actually been busy asking people all kinds of questions about the past and her parents’ lives here. I think she’s determined to gain acceptance here by finding the stolen religious objects. Unofficially, of course, I wish her luck on her search. The two missing items are a crucial part of our rites.”
“I’m not up on all that. Can you fill me in on what was stolen?”
“One of the two Tsave Yoh masks used for the Turtle Dance, along with its accompanying bear fetish, have been missing for almost twenty years now. The Tsave Yoh, as you probably remember, are supernatural beings entrusted with keeping the people’s ties to our gods strong. They’re said to be brought to life when specially appointed men wear the masks representing them. When one of those masks and the fetish were stolen, the power of the remaining Tsave Yoh was weakened. Our people believe that all the bad times that have befallen the pueblo since then—years of drought followed by persistent flooding and crop failures—prove that our people have slowly been losing the protection of our gods.”
“If she’s trying to find the artifacts, how come our people don’t support her?” Nick asked.
“I don’t think anyone believes she’ll get anywhere. She was only nine when her mother took the artifacts, so what can she possibly do now for the tribe except create division and more problems? To most, she’s just the daughter of someone who brought ruin down on us. Everyone already knows how hard our department searched for those objects. If the police couldn’t find them, it’s highly unlikely she will either. She doesn’t have access to any more information than we do. Remember the letter?”
Nick nodded. “Do you have any idea who’s trying to run her off, Captain?”
“No, and I can’t even begin to guess. She has many enemies here. Official opposition began the moment she applied for a teaching job. Samuel Runningwater, who’s been the director of the Cultural Center since it first opened, was dead set against allowing Eden to come back and live among us, let alone get a job as a teacher. But Mrs. Peña had transferred out and we needed a teacher badly. Eden got the matter put to a vote, and the elders decided to hire her and let her move into her old home for the school year. After her grandmother died, that house had been sitting vacant.”
Nick knew that Runningwater was Mrs. Chino’s father, and that raised some interesting questions in his mind. “Mrs. Chino is tak
ing care of Eden’s son. She’s Apienu, the head of the women’s religious society. No one is more respected than she is. How come that hasn’t helped Eden? If Mrs. Chino says that Eden’s okay, I would have expected others to fall in line, including her own father.”
“Laura Chino works for Eden and supplements her retirement income that way. That’s all there is to that.”
Weighing everything he’d learned this evening, Nick suddenly realized how little he knew about Eden’s life. “Thanks, Captain.” He stood. “I’m going to head back to the ranch. If you need me, I’ll be there.”
“See you tomorrow.”
Nick drove home slowly. As his thoughts returned to Eden, he felt his gut tighten. Her betrayal had ripped a piece of his heart away. He’d loved her once—more than he’d ever thought possible. He was not a man given to fantasies and daydreams, yet he’d felt closer to her than he had to any other person who had ever played a part in his life. Being with her had been like finding the other half of himself.
He still vividly remembered their fateful meeting fifteen months ago. He’d been giving a guest lecture at the university in Phoenix on the teenage runaway problem. As the head of one of the leading job training centers in the state at the time, his experience had been sought after.
He recalled walking up to the podium and finding Eden sitting in the first row of the auditorium. Their eyes had met, and suddenly their years apart had seemed like nothing more than heartbeats in time.
In high school, his love for her had been all encompassing and absolute—a boy experiencing his first real love. Then suddenly, almost twelve years later, there they’d been as adults. They’d spent every available moment of those glorious days catching up on the years spent apart, and trying not to rush into anything. But his love for her had deepened naturally and the raw power of their emotions had compelled them to follow their hearts.
Now, looking back on it all, he regretted everything that had happened between them that week. But it was over, and looking back wouldn’t fix anything.
As he reached home, the old bunkhouse, he felt a bone weariness that only came with mental exhaustion. He didn’t want to mull things over anymore trying to figure out what ifs. He didn’t want to dissect the situation. He just wanted peace.
He undressed then crawled into bed, wondering if he’d have to stare at the ceiling for a long time before sleep came. Yet, almost as soon as he closed his eyes, gray shadows closed in and images of the day when she’d stepped out of his arms and his life formed in his mind’s eye.
In his dream, the scene that had changed him forever unfolded once again…
“This is where you belong,” Nick said, holding her close to his side. They’d just made love and they were both feeling sated and at peace.
“I never thought this day would come,” she whispered, her warm breath tickling his throat.
“It nearly killed me to leave you at the pueblo when my father kicked me out,” he said, his voice soft. “All you had left was your grandmother, and you barely knew her. You needed me, but I had no way to provide for myself or you.”
“It was hard to say goodbye,” Eden said, settling against him, her cheek and the palm of her hand resting on his chest.
“The pain our families caused is finally behind us. Let’s not look back. We have each other, and that’s all that’s important.”
Only through passion had he ever been able to say everything he felt, and once again he began to show her what he couldn’t put into words. As long as they had each other, they’d never need anyone else. He molded her body with his hands, fitting her against him. He fed her soul with his kisses, speaking wordlessly to her of needs that would be shared for a lifetime.
“When you look at me that way, all I see in your eyes is love, steady and sure,” she whispered.
Always and forever. The words were in his heart when he entered her again, loving her fierce cries as he plunged deep inside her. Their release was sweet and he lay over her, their bodies still locked together.
Then suddenly Nick’s dreams shifted. Another scene unfolded, and Nick’s heart began to drum against his chest, anger and pain gripping him. He was standing in the center of his old room, trying to accept the fact that Eden was really gone. The note she’d left for him was balled up in his fist, the words branded in his mind. I made a mistake. I’m sorry. There’s life and there’s love, and we’ll never be able to make the two come together.
Black sorrow filled him and, with a sharp, angry cry, Nick jackknifed to a sitting position, coming abruptly awake. He got his bearings slowly as he looked around the bunkhouse and tried to focus on the present.
Back then he hadn’t understood what had happened. Afterward he’d wondered if it had been his stand on children, but if Eden had loved him enough, she would have understood. They’d both lived through so much pain as kids on the pueblo that it had seemed inconceivable to him that she might have felt differently from him on that issue.
They’d known each other well as children, but he wondered now how well they’d really known each other as adults. One moment they’d had an entirely new life waiting for them. The pueblo and the sadness in their pasts would have eventually been nothing more than a memory for them. Yet she’d vanished without explanation, taking a piece of his heart.
The love he’d felt for her had been real but the closeness he’d wanted and had thought they’d shared had only been an illusion. It hadn’t been anything said or left unsaid that had split them apart. What had really come between them was that there’d been another man in Eden’s life.
He took a deep breath. The gut-wrenching pain he’d felt fifteen months ago had not diminished with time. He’d simply filed it away mentally, banishing it to a spot where he could handle it. Now, understanding the depth of her betrayal, a coldness settled over his steel-encased heart.
Naked, he walked to the window and stared out at the stars. He would never again allow anyone to come as close to him as Eden once had. Gone forever was the boy who’d thought love could conquer all, and the faith that had allowed him to give his heart.
The only thing he would do now was protect her. As a cop it was his duty—and as a man who’d once lover her it was his debt of honor to the past they’d shared.
Chapter Three
It was shortly after eight the following morning and Nick was on his second cup of coffee. All night long he’d lain awake, unable to stop thinking about Eden. At one time in his life, she’d been the world to him. But now everything was different except for the way she could make desire twist through him. And, as always, she’d turned his life upside down.
The letter Eden’s grandmother had written to her mentioning Tall Shadow had disturbed him deeply. He’d only been a young boy, but he remembered how his father had hated the nickname, thinking that it made him sound like some kind of big boss the pueblo was required to look up to. His father had chewed out Martin, the ranch foreman, for using it, and he’d given orders that he was “Paul” on the ranch. Any ranch hands referring to him as Tall Shadow would be stuck with cleaning out the horse stalls permanently.
Lost in thought, Nick almost didn’t hear the phone. On the third ring, he picked up the receiver, half expecting to hear Captain Mora’s voice telling him he was needed to go on duty earlier than his originally scheduled shift.
Instead, it was his brother, Jake. “Nick, I need to talk to you. Can you come over this morning?”
“Sure.” Nick had moved into the empty bunkhouse several months ago. He’d told his brother and his wife Annie that he wanted to give them more privacy, but the truth was that he’d felt out of place there. “Is something wrong?” he asked Jake.
“You could say that,” Jake answered, his voice hard. “But I’d rather discuss this in person.”
“I’ll be there in five minutes.”
Nick put his coffee cup in the sink, then walked over to the main house, which was less than a hundred yards away. Jake’s tone had put him on his g
uard. Whenever Jake sounded this cool and reserved something major was brewing. And on top of whatever was going on, Nick knew he’d also have to tell Jake about the letter, and what Tall Shadow had been accused of doing years ago.
From the second Nick stepped into the main house, the large two-story adobe structure they’d both grown up in, he felt the tension in the air. Annie gave him a quick “good morning” as she met him by the door carrying nine-month-old Noelle in her arms.
Nick gave his niece a kiss. “Hey sweetpea.”
The baby smiled and so did Annie. “You’re so good with kids, Nick. Why don’t you hurry up and get married?”
“It doesn’t work that way. Not in my book anyway.”
“I thought Black Raven men never went by the book—unless they wrote it themselves.”
Nick laughed. “We only play by the rules when it suits us,” he said, following her to the library.
As they entered the room, he saw Martin, who’d been the ranch foreman for as long as he could remember, as well as a family friend. He was helping Jake remove books from a shelf, then searching each one.
“What’s going on? Lose something important?”
Jake came down the ladder that allowed him to reach the top of the highest shelf in the wood-paneled library. The ceilings in most of the ground floor rooms were ten feet high. “Our mother’s diary is gone,” he said flatly.
“Gone? You mean stolen?” Nick asked, his tone now as taut as his brother’s had been.
Jake nodded. “Precisely.”
That diary had already cost them their father’s life. Its loss now made Nick’s blood turn to ice. There was no telling what price getting it back would exact this time. The journal was a treasure trove of community secrets, since just about everyone had confided in Saya, their mother, and she’d written down all her private thoughts in that leather-bound book. Last time, as they’d worked to get it back, greed and jealousy over the contents of the diary had nearly claimed Annie’s life and that of her baby.
