by Vella Day
A direct question deserved a direct response. “Used to be.”
Her smile disappeared. “Did your wife leave you?”
The familiar rush of agony stabbed at his gut. “She died over two years ago from cancer.”
Her face reddened as she averted her gaze. “I’m so sorry.”
Kane nodded and maneuvered his way to Officer Nash’s desk. In front of her, a photo lay face up, and his stomach tightened at the decapitated male.
Not wanting to invade her space by standing over her, he dragged a chair from an empty desk and placed the seat in front of her desk. She pulled what looked like a murder logbook toward her and began writing, apparently unaware of his presence.
He leaned forward. “Excuse me?”
Her head jerked up, and her eyes darted right then left as if she thought he’d materialized out of thin air. “How did you get here?”
“I drove?”
She rolled her eyes before a small smile caught her lips. “What I meant was, I didn’t see you come in.”
Had he not been here for serious business, he would have enjoyed the banter. “You were preoccupied with your body there.”
“You’re right. That’s not a good trait for an officer, now is it?” She tossed him a smile and shoved the photo into a manila folder. “What can I do for you, Mr.—?”
He stuck out his hand. “Kane Cornell. I work security in Phoenix.” She returned the handshake before leaning back in her chair.
“Sky Nash.” She swiped an errant strand of hair off her face. “Phoenix, you say? You’re a long way from home. How can I help you?”
He stared at her, surprised a white woman would be employed at the Reservation.
“To answer the question you’re too polite to ask,” she said, “I was adopted by a Navajo family after my parents were killed. I was twelve before I found out I had a grandmother back in West Virginia, but by then I was happily enjoying my life here.”
“I see.” That explained a lot. He placed his card on the desk. “I need to deliver a message to Senator Overton and hope your fellow there isn’t him.”
“A senator’s in Savory?” She glanced at the closed folder. “For your sake, I hope so too, but from his body type, I’d say he’s a tad too young to be our Congressman. This one was murdered two days ago. When was the last time anyone heard from the Senator?”
“He flew from Washington DC to his home in Phoenix yesterday, so your man, thankfully, isn’t him. Overton planned to drive his RV to Page, meet his constituents, and then take a short vacation in Salt Lake City. His office has been trying to contact him since he left but has had no luck.”
“He’s missing?”
“I’m guessing he’s just hiding from all the crazies back in DC.” He chuckled. No lie there.
She steepled her hands, the tips of her fingers resting on her lips. “We’re only fifty minutes southeast of Page, but he would have come up 89 from Flagstaff. Route 98 is out of his way. You sure he came through here?”
“According to a gas receipt he did.”
“I trust you called him?” She tapped her fingernail against her lips, taking his mind to the wrong place. “Mind you, cell phone service around here can be spotty.”
“I called several times. Twice, I got his voice mail, and the rest of the time, the call was dropped. I stopped by to let you know why I’m here, should anyone give you flak about me asking questions.”
“I appreciate that, but you need to be careful. It’s easy to get lost and driving can be quite tricky with all the soft sand and falling boulders.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He stood and grabbed the back of the chair to return it to the empty desk.
The bell above the door rang and loud footsteps smacked the floor. Kane turned. A Navajo man, who was closer to sixty than fifty, marched toward them. From the decorated uniform, this man might be the one in charge.
When the imposing figure reached them, he nodded to Sky, and then faced Kane. “Heard someone new was in town. What can we do for you?” They shook hands. His nametag read, Chief Lapahe.
The town didn’t need cell phones when news traveled this fast. Perhaps the receptionist had blown his cover. “I was just telling the officer here that I’m trying to locate Senator Paul Overton.”
His brows rose. “Didn’t know he was here. You might not be aware, but this is a Navajo Reservation.”
“I am thank you.”
His lips twisted. “There are places you shouldn’t go; it can be dangerous for a white man to roam around alone asking questions, even today.” He turned back to Officer Nash. “Take this young man around and help him with whatever he needs.”
Her brows rose and her chin edged forward. Clearly, she wasn’t happy with the command.
“I was about to run down one of my leads on the case you assigned me,” she said.
“Don’t tell me a UFO really did land on Earl’s place?” Lapahe raised his brows in an exaggerated fashion.
“No, but the dead body you didn’t tell me about was real.”
He shrugged. “Thought Chee was making that part up.”
“He wasn’t. Can’t someone else take Mr. Cornell around?”
Clearly, she didn’t care he was standing next to her.
The chief looked around. “Like who?”
She took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly as if she was trying to decide how much to argue. “Fine, I’ll take him.” She waved a hand. “I guess my dead man will be just as dead later this afternoon.”
Not wanting to inconvenience her, Kane took a step forward. “Sir, that’s more than generous, but I’m good.”
The Chief’s eyes narrowed. “That wasn’t a suggestion.”
Kane needed to find the Senator fast to provide him the needed protection, so having a guide might speed up the process. “Then sure.”
Too bad General Stentfield didn’t know who had invited the Senator to visit the research lab on the outskirts of Page or the location of the lab itself, or he could have asked them. Top-secret operations had a way of holding tight to that kind of information.
As they exited, Kane held the door open for Sky, and her eyes briefly widened. Maybe there weren’t many gentlemen around Savory or else all five foot two of her had intimidated the lot of them with her long stride and gun.
She reached the bottom step and faced him. “If, as you said, the Senator didn’t reach Page, maybe he decided to stay at one of our RV parks. We’ve got two nice ones.”
“Great. Let’s check them out.” Perhaps the RV parks closer to Page had been booked.
“Could you drive? Someone decided to use our new cruiser for shooting practice.”
“Ouch.” He nodded to her injury, and she turned a pretty shade of pink. “Did you get in the way?”
“I’m hoping it was a ricochet.”
“I’d have thought such a small town wouldn’t have a lot of crime.” He prayed those same criminals hadn’t done something to the Senator.
She chuckled, and the sound came out pleasant. “Not a lot, but unexplained things happen here all the time. There’s a large contingent who believe aliens are coming to attack the city, and they need to protect themselves at all cost.”
He laughed. “Duly noted.”
They reached his Jeep and Kane opened the door for her before walking around and sliding in on the driver’s side. “Which way?”
“Head west on 98. We’ll start with the Wildacres RV Park. It’s the nicer of the two, and given that your subject is a senator, I’m betting he’d stay there.”
“Works for me.”
The drive west was rather desolate but still beautiful. Red rock hills were surrounded by miles of golden sand mounds striped with blues and browns against a brilliant azure sky. The landscape was interrupted only by a blazing sun. The quiet drive gave him time to think. To his surprise, the silence between him and the officer didn’t bother him like it usually did when he was paired with someone. Then again, his occasiona
l partners weren’t this pretty. Don’t even go there.
“Turn right at the next road,” she said.
Make that a bumpy dirt road. He couldn’t imagine the Senator staying at a trailer park, but if he’d driven the camper, he probably didn’t have many choices. As Kane rounded the curve, an oasis appeared with pines, green grass, and a sign claiming there was a swimming pool with a Jacuzzi tub. It was all very impressive. Two tall stone pillars bordered the entrance leading into the campgrounds. “Who’d a thunk it? This place is nice.”
“Told ya.” She grinned, but he refused to address what that did to him, or how much he actually enjoyed the jolt of pleasure slicing through him.
Don’t get sidetracked.
A small mobile office sat wedged between two doublewides. Off to the side was some kind of combination convenience store and Laundromat. According to the sign, showers and restrooms were behind and to the right. An expensive looking RV sat beneath a Piñon pine on the far side of the park, and no other trailer came close to matching the elegance of that vehicle. He nodded in its direction. “Looks like I’ve found what I came for.”
“We need to check in at the office first. It’s protocol and politeness.”
He had no problem following the rules as long as it suited him. A thin woman with a slightly hunched back, no younger than seventy, came out of the office favoring her right leg and smoking a cigar. “Howdy, Sky. Who do you got here?” Her voice was so low, he wondered if she took steroids or had suffered from throat cancer.
Sky made the introductions and told her that Kane needed to speak with the Senator.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” the office manager said. “I knew he must have been some kind of celebrity given his fancy ride.” Betty hacked up something into a tissue. “Sorry.” She inhaled again and coughed.
He urgently needed to speak with the Senator, and ask him to call his aide. Kane knew he would have to stay for a few days until the tour concluded, ensuring that the Senator returned home safely. However, to hurry these two women from catching up might be a mistake. Finally, Sky must have taken sympathy on him and said her goodbyes to Betty.
Despite the cool breeze, the sun made standing in the open quite warm. They made their way over to the only ritzy set of wheels on the lot, and after a quick check of the license plate, relief rushed through him. He’d found the Senator. Kane knocked then stood back, but no one answered. Damn.
“Seems he took off,” Kane said. Maybe he was already at the facility, which wasn’t good.
“Did he trail a car behind the RV?”
It had been careless of him not to ask. “Don’t know, but I can find out.”
He dialed the Senator’s office in Phoenix. After being forwarded three times, he received his answer. “Thanks.” He faced Sky. “No car.”
“I wonder how he planned to get around. Driving this big RV would waste a lot of gas.”
“I agree.” Kane knocked again in case the Senator was asleep or indisposed, and then jiggled the knob. “That’s odd. It’s open.”
Sky smiled. “We trust people here.”
“The Senator is from Phoenix and works in DC. He wouldn’t change his habits that quickly.” Kane stuck his head inside and called, “Senator?”
Once more, there was no answer.
Since Kane’s job was to protect the man, he pushed protocol aside and entered.
“You can’t go in without permission,” she called from behind.
She was the protective kind. Good. “Ma’am, where the Senator is concerned, I do have permission.” He wouldn’t mention Overton’s life could be in danger. The less she knew the better.
“For the record, I don’t condone what you’re doing,” she called out. “We should ask around first.” Her first remark came off a little harsh. She must have realized it because the second request sounded sweeter. The mix of nice and sassy suited her.
“You do that. I’m going to check out his place.” Fortunately, she turned around and honored his request instead of trying to drag his ass down the steps—not that she would have succeeded.
While he didn’t open any drawers, he did search for car keys or a printout of an itinerary, anything to indicate what might have happened or where the Senator might have gone. When nothing looked disturbed, he allowed himself to relax. Once he completed his search, Kane climbed down the steps.
He was almost surprised to see her waiting for him since he thought she’d be checking with the neighbors. She squinted since the sun was right in her face. “I found something,” she said.
“What would that be?”
“I need to show you.” He followed her to the back of the trailer. “See those shoe marks?” She dropped to her haunches and pointed to the impression.
He shrugged. “I’m sure lots of people walk around here, and with the lack of rain, there’s no telling when the footprints were made.”
She stood. “True, but this one,” she said, pointing with her toe at one of the indents, “is a drag mark.”
“You think someone took the Senator?”
“Maybe, but that’s not all.” A small smile turned up her lips as she produced a business card from her pocket that she’d wrapped in a tissue. “I found this a few feet from the first footprint. It’s from a company in DC. Not saying it belongs to the Senator, but it could.”
“You might be right, though the card alone doesn’t indicate foul play. It might have fallen out of his pocket.”
“Agreed.”
They walked back to the front where he scanned the rest of the fifty or so vehicles parked there. “Do most live here full time, or is it more transient?”
“A little of both.” She sounded friendlier now.
“If those heel marks did belong to the Senator, he might be in trouble. If they didn’t come from him, perhaps he made the acquaintance of some locals and decided to go off for the day.”
“Sounds reasonable.”
The meeting could have fallen through or his contacts could have driven the Senator to the rendezvous point. “How about we start knocking on doors?”
“Didn’t I just suggest that?” she asked.
He couldn’t tell if she was angry or feigning outrage—probably a little of both. Hell, she could be flirting with him for all knew. He believed in giving credit where credit was due. “You did.”
The first three neighbors didn’t answer, possibly because Sky’s uniform might have stopped them from coming to the door. The fourth person, who drove a small camper, did respond. The man had a barrel chest, a blond ponytail, and a beer dangling from his fingertips. He had pit bull written all over him and didn’t seem the type to work at a research lab.
“Sure. I saw him drive in. He talked with Pat and Clay Wilson in the Coachman for a bit, but the Wilsons pulled out a few hours later and they haven’t been back since. That’s not unusual for them though. They often take off for weeks at a time.”
Helpful bugger. Looks sure were deceiving. Maybe Pat and Clay were the Senator’s contacts. He turned to Sky. “Do you have time to ask around about these two?”
She glanced at her watch. “I’m good for a little while.”
As they were halfway to the next trailer, a man in a motorized wheelchair wearing an NRA cap came down the road with American flags attached to the sides, flapping in the wind. He waved. “Excuse me.”
Kane closed the gap. “Yes?”
“Hi, I’m Pete. Betty told me you were asking about the Senator.”
A quick shot of adrenaline coursed through him. “You know something?”
“Not exactly, but Pat was all excited the Senator had agreed to go cave hunting with them.”
“What’s cave hunting?” He glanced at Sky who had a twinkle in her eyes, and he decided this couldn’t be good.
“I can see you’re not from around here,” the old man said.
“Phoenix.”
“I’m guessing Sky hasn’t told you about all the UFOs that have landed here?” She s
hrugged. In her defense, she had warned him. “Well, you see, the government is trying to cover up the fact that spacecrafts often land, or crash in the Arizona desert. They don’t want us plain folks to know about the space people, so they hide the ships in the big caves until they can retrieve them at night.”
Either this man was loco or he’d been brainwashed. “You know the location of these caves?” Not that he believed the wild story, but perhaps Overton decided to see something unique for himself.
“Sure. Everyone around here does. Sky can take you.”
He bet his tour guide wouldn’t volunteer for that job. While she’d been polite and even patient, from the way she frequently checked her phone, she wanted to return to town and do her thing—like find the identity of her mystery man. “Thanks for the heads up.”
Before Kane had a chance to even ask her if she’d be willing to take him around, her cell rang. She turned her back and walked away, the conversation appearing to be personal.
“If I see the Senator, you want me to tell him you’re looking for him?” the NRA man asked.
Kane handed him his card. “I’d appreciate it.”
Sky returned. “We need to leave.” The color in her face had receded, and her eyes had lost a little of their sparkle.
“What’s wrong?”
“Someone else just went missing.”
Chapter 3
The fear in Pearl’s voice when she’d called to report her daughter missing echoed in Sky’s mind. Good thing Kane was driving, or she might have broken a few speeding laws on the way back. With him at the wheel, his strong profile allowed her to focus on something nice instead of on the possible crime.
Every woman in Savory would have called Kane Cornell hot. Some would claim it was the way he filled out his military camouflage pants, others how his biceps bulged every time he turned the wheel. The problem with someone like him was, the moment he delivered his urgent message to the Senator he’d high-tail it out of there, and she’d be back to breaking up bar fights, finding lost dogs, or looking for disappearing aliens all by herself. He appeared to be the type to do things his way, and win-win probably wasn’t in his vocabulary, which meant she needed to keep her libido in check—seriously in check.
