There were only a few visitors in the center. Most were browsing through the exhibits or the shop. Toby was on the desk but did not seem too busy so Lin headed back to the staff office area. After all, she would be on the desk most of the afternoon so she might have a bit more time to read in the next half hour before her break. In the back of her mind were Smith’s words about Sarah Chee. She would have to meet that lady soon, she thought. She was enjoying the learning aspects of her position a lot. It was an opportunity for her to expand her own knowledge in a most enjoyable way.
Soon Lin became so absorbed in the article she was reading that she lost track of time. Toby poked his head in the door, “Time for your lunch break and you better hurry. You take over the desk from me in 45 minutes. I’m off this afternoon so you need to be on time!” He teased.
“Indeed, I do!” Lin grinned as she returned her reading to the folders. She hurried back to her apartment to eat and relax a bit before her busy afternoon. Most days she didn’t work a full day, but she had volunteered to add working with Smith and the students to her weekly schedule so this meant a full shift today.
The afternoon was busy but manageable and passed rather quickly. Lin had seen Danielle come back from an earlier meeting but she had not had time to speak to her then. Now, as they were preparing the center for closing, she saw that Danielle was in the break area getting something to drink so she approached.
“Things went well with Dr. Smith and the students this morning,” she offered, “I think I will learn a lot from them. Their work is very interesting.”
“Yes, it is,” Danielle smiled, “in fact that is the main reason I enjoy my assignment here so much. I love the archeology and history. Actually, I majored in history in college and took a few archeology classes as electives. I’ve always enjoyed field work and would love to do more someday.”
“ Dr. Smith mentioned that Sarah Chee was a great source of information about the park including its history and archeology. He suggested I talk to her if I wanted to learn more. Would that be possible?” Lin did not want to intrude on the elderly lady.
“By all means,” Danielle replied, “Sarah loves visitors and she loves to talk about this place and its people. I think she sometimes gets a little lonely out here. She has no children. Her nephew does come to visit her and sometimes takes her to town when she needs to go. There are a few cousins but she often goes for days without seeing anyone. She would welcome a visit I feel sure.”
“Hey, I just remembered, we’re having a sort of open house next week for the monument’s birthday. You could extend a special invitation to her when you go. It will be in the local papers and we have some artists coming to display their work. There will even be a birthday cake. She might enjoy coming down. One of us could pick her up and take her home later, of course,” Danielle was enthusiastic.
“That gives me a good excuse to drop in on her,” Lin smiled. “ I’ll go on my next day off.”
“No need to wait that long,” Danielle responded. “Why not go out tomorrow morning? Our schedule is not heavy tomorrow and I’ll be here all morning, along with Toby, so we are covered here. You can wait to come in until after lunch. Besides, you put in a lot of hours today.”
Lin was excited. She looked forward to her visit with Sarah. As she left the center and headed home to her apartment she was already thinking about things to ask. She would jot down a few questions that she had after reading some of the articles. It would be fun to have a personal source of information about this place.
***
Lin woke bright and early, eager to head out to Sarah’s for her visit, but she was afraid it was still a bit early. She dressed in her uniform so that Sarah would recognize her as a park representative, then she fixed some breakfast and took it outside to eat under the tree. The morning was cool and pleasant but the day ahead promised to be warm. She watched an Abert squirrel cavorting in the branches of the tree that shaded the yard in front of the apartments—at least it provided a bit of shade even though it would be hard to call it a “shade tree” back home. These little squirrels had cute, pointed ears, quite different from their eastern cousins.
She was also joined by a couple of western fence lizards that had chosen to sun themselves on a nearby rock. It seemed so peaceful and restful here, she thought. It was hard to believe that only a year ago someone had met with a violent death nearby—accident or no. Lin was still concerned about the particulars of this incident and she couldn’t seem to put it out of her mind.
After breakfast she walked down to the visitor center and grabbed a key to one of the park SUVs. She also grabbed a two-way radio. Radio communication was more dependable than cell phones in most of the park area. Danielle had sketched a map of the way to Sarah’s home for her. Soon she was on her way.
Not far from the visitor center she left the paved park road for a one-lane dirt track that narrowed even further as it approached Sarah’s home. The track ended in front of a small wooden house with a front porch. There was a small Hogan beside the house and a pen nearby. Several goats and a handful of chickens roamed the yard.
Sarah Chee was seated on the porch in front of a loom working on a rug she was weaving. Lin was intrigued by the beautiful designs of these Navajo rugs and this one was not a disappointment. She recognized it as the “Storm” pattern. Danielle had a similar one in her house. The zigzags in the geometric design represented lightning, she had been told. Each clan or location seemed to specialize in one pattern or another so a weaver usually learned one pattern from their family and that was the kind of rugs they made.
Lin was eager to examine the rug and speak to Sarah but she knew that courtesy required her to wait in her car until Sarah acknowledged her presence and invited her in. Soon Sarah reached the end of the row she was weaving. She carefully put down her shuttle, got up from her footstool, and motioned for Lin to come.
When she arrived at the porch, Sarah surprised her by saying, “You must be that new volunteer down at the park. I’m afraid I have forgotten your name.”
“Lin, Lin Hanna,” she responded, “I’m surprised you knew about me.”
“That boy Toby, he comes to visit me sometimes. He told me about you. I have been expecting you to turn up here sooner or later,” Sarah grinned her pleasure at having company, revealing a row of white, even teeth gleaming in her copper colored face. “Sit down, I’ll get you some lemonade.” Sarah entered the house and soon returned with two glasses of lemonade and a package of store bought cookies. She placed them on a small plastic table and settled herself in the other plastic lawn chair that graced the small porch.
Lin found Sarah open and friendly, a bit of a surprise since she knew Navajo were often rather reserved. Evidently Sarah did enjoy having company. Soon they were chatting away about happenings in the park. Lin first issued the invitation to next week’s birthday party and Sarah seemed excited to attend. After assuring her that someone would pick her up that afternoon, Lin moved the conversation toward the topic she wanted to discuss.
“I understand that you know a great deal about the history and archeology of this place,” she inquired.
“Maybe not so much but I know the stories I have been told and I have met a lot of the people who have worked in the park at one time or another. My father used to help with excavations years ago and he told me stories too.”
Soon Sarah was deeply engaged, sharing some of these stories and talking about how many people thought there was still good pottery to be found in the area.
“Much of it has already been found and some has been lost forever,” she spoke seriously, “but this was a place of many traders in the days of the Anasazi people.” She used the Navajo word for “ancient enemy” rather than the Hopi ancestral term—Hisatsinom. “My father always said that traders often hid some of their wares in an area for future trips so that they would not have to carry so much. After all, they had newly traded for merchandise to take home and might not want to carry untraded items b
ack home. Many of them came several times a year so they hid things—sort of like using a storage unit today I guess.” She smiled at this thought.
“I have read similar things in some of the articles written by archeologists,” Lin replied. “I guess people are still looking for these things. I know Professor Smith and his students are looking for signs but they can’t actually excavate.”
“Not everyone waits for permission,” Sarah spoke thoughtfully. “Sometimes I hear folks talk about looking for pots to sell and make money. It is wrong, against the law, but that does not stop some people.” She spoke with sadness in her voice.
“I guess there are always greedy people about.” Lin did not know what else to say to this.
Sarah did not want to leave this subject, it seemed. “My nephew Jimmy was here to visit last week. He told me he knew a fellow who was asking around about pottery in the park—hiding places and such. Seems he knew about some very old things but they were apparently lost and he was trying to find them. Jimmy did not know him but he knew he was looking and looking here in the park, too. The fellow told him about coming out here at night to hunt.”
“Really,” Lin was surprised ; she knew this was not allowed. “I’ll tell Danielle about this. Maybe she can find the time for some extra patrols. Do you know where he was supposedly looking?” Lin asked
“Somewhere up around that box canyon near the Lomaki ruin,” Sarah offered
Lin’s ears perked up. This was the same area that Dr. Smith was focusing on with his students—and the area where Cullen Honeyestewa’s remains were found. Now there was talk of someone else searching this area for old pots. Was there some connection? The park was a big place and it seemed strange for so much attention to be focused on one area.
Lin sat quietly, not sure what to say at this point. She was full of curiosity and had lots of questions but Sarah seemed in a talkative mood and she did not want to interfere with what she might want to say. She was surprised by what came next.
“There was another fellow last year came by here talking about old pots and stuff. I guess he was looking around too. Real nice fellow—Hopi—one of those ‘eagle’ fellows. Had permission to collect feathers and eaglets somewhere in the northwest part of the park close to Lomaki, I think, but they never tell exactly where. Actually, I had known him when he was a youngster. His Dad used to come visit my Dad. They were good people, a good family. Jimmy told me something happened to him. He disappeared sometime after I saw him last year.”
Lin’s mind was reeling with questions but she spoke slowly, “ Was his name Cullen Honeyestewa by chance?” she asked.
“Yes, that was it.” Sarah responded.
“Sarah, I’m afraid something happened to him after you saw him. He did disappear and just last week some remains that were found near Lomaki were identified as his.” Lin hesitated but did not want to voice her own suspicions, “The police looked into it and think he had an accident. Apparently he fell and hit his head. They think he might have had too much to drink and maybe stumbled and fell into a crack in the earth.”
Sarah looked sad and serious. It was several moments before she spoke. “That is sad,” she said. “Too many young native men do drink too much—Hopi and Navajo—it is too bad but it is true.” She paused, “Still, I am surprised you say that about this man. From what Jimmy said he was a responsible fellow and I know for a fact that the Hopi clans do not entrust their sacred duties to irresponsible people. He would not have been one of the ‘eagle’ fellows if he had a reputation for drunkenness and irresponsible behavior. I am surprised by this news. Of course, one does not always know…”
Lin felt agitated and a bit restless all of a sudden. This information about the dead man brought her own questions back to mind. She knew in her heart there was more to this story that had yet been uncovered. Composing herself, she responded to Sarah.
“It is true that sometimes we do not know everything about someone, but I also had some questions about the remains and where they were found. There was nothing found with the remains to give a clue as to what he was doing there—no water bottle as if he were walking far and no evidence of drinking either.” She felt she could voice her own concerns with this wise, older woman. “Of course, any of us can have an unfortunate accident, even if we are careful and are in a familiar place.”
“That is true,” Sarah nodded, “but it is also true that the authorities do not always look for the whole story when a native has died. Sometimes they are too quick to form an opinion, I’m afraid. There are so many such deaths. Too many, maybe they assume what the answers will be so they do not always ask all the questions.”
Lin could only nod in agreement. She was sorry to see this wise woman so saddened. She felt perhaps she had said too much. Changing the subject, she brought the focus back to the upcoming celebration. Soon Sarah was chatting happily about the upcoming party.
“Come up to get me early that afternoon,” she offered. “Maybe I can help you get ready. I would like that.”
Promising that she, or someone, would arrive early in the afternoon of the celebration, Lin thanked Sarah for the refreshments and the good visit and said that she would come to visit again.
“I would like that. This place can get lonesome sometimes, with just me and these goats,” she laughed.
Soon Lin was winding her way down the rough track toward the park road. This visit had provided more information than she expected. She was now more concerned than before that the investigation had not gone far enough to determine the cause of death for this young Hopi man. She had more questions than ever before.
I am not going to drop this, she thought. This man and his family deserve more answers. They deserve more than to have everyone think he died as a drunk. As she got on the park road and approached the visitor center, Lin knew where she had to start to find her answers. She needed to see that police report Deputy Taylor brought out to Danielle. She was determined to find a way to read it for herself.
Chapter 8
The afternoon was pretty much routine. Visitors came and went. Lin did a couple of walks around the ruin and stationed herself on the back walkway for an hour. Here she could answer questions and talk to visitors a bit about the very first ranger in the park. The young man and his wife had actually lived in a couple of rooms in the ruin that had been basically rebuilt for their use. That would have been quite the adventure in those days when even a trip into Flagstaff would have taken about half a day!
Although the young man was actually the ranger, his wife had done much work also and later went on to become a park ranger in her own right—one of the first women to do so. She had written letters about her Wupatki experience that were later put together into a book by a graduate student studying the history of the park. Lin had already noted that sales of this book increased when she or one of the other staff members had been talking to visitors about these experiences. It was a very interesting story and made good reading.
Working outside on the ruin trail kept Lin focused on the visitors and their experience but the death of Cullen Honeyestewa remained just below the surface of her thinking. She was still considering how she could get more information; specifically, how could she get hold of the police report to read for herself? She knew that the death had been ruled accidental and the case was considered closed by the authorities; but she also expected that there was other information in the report that had perhaps not been followed up on. She wanted to know just what the authorities had actually found and how they had decided on the accidental death ruling.
Lin was still thinking about this as she left the ruin to return to the visitor center shortly before closing time. Toby was manning the desk this afternoon. Danielle was out of her office having gone into Flagstaff for a meeting at headquarters. Lin had hoped she would return early. She wanted to tell her what Sarah Chee had said about reports someone was looking for pottery in the park after hours.
Lin had just sat down at her desk in t
he staff office when she heard the phone ring. Toby was still at the desk ringing up the last of the bookshop sales so Lin picked up the receiver. It was Danielle.
“ Oh, it’s you, I was expecting Toby to be on the desk,” Danielle was surprised at Lin’s greeting.
“He is, I just came in from the ruin, but he has a line of last minute customers out there so I picked up,” Lin responded.
“That’s fine. I just need one of you to do something for me before you leave for the day. I realized I was not going to be back before closing and I have another meeting tomorrow morning and need to get some information together tonight. If you could get some papers from my office and leave them inside the back screen door at my house it would save me having to go over tonight and get them.”
“Sure, I’ll take care of it,” Lin replied, “just let me get something to write with so I can make a list of what you need but first I need to tell you something.” Lin briefly told Danielle about Sarah’s nephew reporting someone talking about looking for pottery in the park after hours. Danielle was concerned but without more help was not sure what could be done about it at this point.
“Maybe later, when we have the SCAs on board, Toby and I could find more time to patrol,” she sighed, “but it is not likely we can cover the area very well—we’ll have to see what we can do—but not right now.”
Lin got some paper so she could make a list of what Danielle wanted.
Earthcrack: A Lin Hanna Mystery Page 10
