by Aimée Thurlo
Peter shrugged. “I couldn’t say. Ted never really confided in me. He told me things from time to time, but it wasn’t a friendship, you know. He didn’t feel close to anyone. All I was to him was someone to push around.”
“Think back. When they were tearing down the old gym to build the new one, Ted was a student at the high school, wasn’t he? Do you think he might have stolen some of the explosives the contractor was using?” Joshua pressed.
“We’re not asking you to swear to it, Pete,” Nydia said when he hesitated. “We just want your opinion, that’s all. It would help to get your perspective on this.”
Peter met her gaze and nodded. “Ted was always bragging and pushing his weight around. One time, he told me that he had a stash of explosives that he’d stolen from the construction crew’s trailer, the one they’d parked at school. He threatened to use them to blow up this diner. But at the time, I thought it was mostly talk, him trying to scare me, you know? He was like that.”
“After the mayor’s son died, did you tell my brother what he’d said about the explosives?” Joshua asked.
“I meant to, I really did,” Peter answered, staring at the floor with a frown. “But after getting shot, everything was crazy and I just forgot. I only thought about it again after the explosion at the sheriff’s house. But I was too scared to bring it up. I figured people might think I had something to do with it. And it wasn’t like I was sure it had anything to do with Ted anyway. Though it was possible someone had found Ted’s stash, that bomb may have had nothing to do with him, either.”
“Okay, thanks,” Joshua said.
As they came out of the kitchen, Gabriel was coming into the diner. He glanced at them, his eyes narrowing in speculation. “What’s going on?”
As they finished their lunch, Joshua filled him in on what they’d learned. “According to the list I saw, there are still some materials to be accounted for.”
“Good detective work, Tree. If you ever decide to go into another line of business, I can make a suggestion.” He glanced at Joshua and Nydia. “Where are you two off to now?”
Nydia looked at Joshua and shrugged. At the moment, she had no ideas to offer.
“I think we’ll go speak to Ralph. They’re leaning on him pretty heavily,” he said, telling his brother what they’d overheard at the feed store.
“There’s also the matter of those anonymous phone calls that I think we should discuss with him….” Nydia added.
“You think he’s covering for someone?” Gabriel asked.
“I don’t know, but I’d like to sound him out a bit more.”
As they walked to the newspaper office, Nydia noticed that the few people on the sidewalk stepped aside as they went by. Yet even in the face of their unfair judgments, it was hard for her to blame them. Though misguided, they were, in the final analysis, trying to avenge the murder of their former sheriff, Joshua’s father.
She cast Joshua a sideways glance. He masked his thoughts well, but his expression was too controlled to pass as natural. Frustration slammed into her, biting and corrosive like acid. Nydia forced herself to meet some of the gazes, silently challenging, but people quickly looked away. Although she didn’t feel hatred for them, she did feel contempt
When they finally entered the newspaper office, they heard Alex and Ralph arguing. Hearing the door shut behind Nydia, the men stopped their discussion abruptly.
Ralph waved them to a chair. “What can I do for you?”
Joshua waited until Alex left the room. “Can we talk freely here, or would you prefer to do that elsewhere?”
Ralph stood, went down to the hall and closed the door leading to the back rooms. “He can’t hear us now, not with the presses going,” Ralph said. “What’s on your mind?”
“We know about the meetings in Wilson’s barn, and the pressure being placed on you.”
“Then you must have also heard that I won’t be a party to that type of journalism. There’s a vigilante feel to this that makes my skin crawl.”
“You might be able to help the Blackhorse family by playing along a bit more,” Nydia said.
“How so?”
“It’s possible you could find out who has been making the anonymous phone calls if you go to those meetings.”
“If that’s what you want, I’ll try, but no promises.”
“Alex probably knows far more than he’s saying. Any chance he’ll answer our questions?” Nydia asked.
Ralph shook his head. “What he wants is a confrontation.”
“Then maybe it’s time he got one,” Nydia said. “Can you ask him to come in here?”
“I’ll get him,” Ralph said.
Ralph returned a moment later, Alex by his side. Alex gave them a suspicious look as he sat down. “You wanted to talk to me?”
“Yes,” Nydia said. “We know that you’ve been very outspoken against Joshua. You’ve also been lobbying hard to get Ralph to let you do a write-up about this case. Why are you so determined to stir up trouble?”
“I’m not, but I do have a right to voice my opinion and have it heard.”
“By phoning in news tips anonymously?” Nydia challenged.
“Don’t look at me. A newspaper gets those kinds of phone calls all the time.” He glared accusingly at Ralph. “But most editors-in-chief go after the story.”
“Most go to even greater lengths to identify the source. That’s what I did,” Ralph said, his gaze resting on Alex unwaveringly.
Alex turned crimson. “If you don’t need me anymore, I’ve got the next edition of the Last Word to run,” he said, standing up.
Joshua stared at the closed door after Alex had left. “He definitely knows something about the source of the calls. My gut tells me he’s the one phoning you with the tips, but I’m curious as to who is behind the information he’s passing to you. He strikes me as the messenger, nothing more.”
Ralph nodded slowly. “That’s been my feeling, too. I haven’t said anything because I can’t prove one whit of this. To be honest, I think Alex is the one calling me, but I’m far more interested in his source.”
“Is there any way for you to monitor his phone calls?” Nydia asked. “Maybe we can uncover his source that way.”
“No. To listen in to his calls, I’d have to stand behind him all day. There’s no way I can do that.”
“Maybe my brother can help us with this,” Joshua said. “He might be able to put a bug in the phone-that is, if you’ll consent,” he added, looking at Ralph.
“No problem. This is my business, and I intend to make sure this newspaper doesn’t become someone’s pawn,” he said, placing the phone before Joshua. “You can call him right now, if you’d like.”
Joshua picked up the receiver and dialed his brother. The arrangements didn’t take long.
Joshua left with Nydia through the front door, knowing Alex was watching them. As they moved down the street, they ducked into the alley and hurried down to Gabriel’s. “We’ll be able to monitor his phone calls from my brother’s office. He assured me he has the equipment. Let’s go see.”
Nydia felt his tension as sharply as she did her own. Soon they would have answers, but there was no guarantee that they’d be the ones they so desperately needed.
THEY SAT by a tape recorder and some sophisticated equipment that Joshua had never suspected would be available in Four Winds.
“Listen but don’t touch anything,” Gabriel said.
“How did you get all this stuff?” Joshua asked.
“It came out of a deal I cut with the sheriff in the next county a while back. All it takes is one phone call to our town’s switchboard, and we’re all set. Even the mayor doesn’t know I have all this. It’s good to keep a few secrets from the politicians.”
“Why are you concerned about what the mayor knows or doesn’t know?”
“The mayor is attending these supposedly secret meetings held in Darren Wilson’s barn, but as of yet, he’s never passed any useful inf
ormation from them on to me. That worries me a bit, but there’s another danger. I make confidential daily reports to him on the status of the case. If he confides in anyone there, he could undermine what I’m trying to do. The bottom line is that Burns is a politician, and his priorities are different from mine.”
The first several calls Alex received and made were routine. Then the call they’d been hoping for came. They heard a man’s cautious, whisper-soft voice, obviously disguised.
“It’s me,” he said.
Gabriel picked up another phone and started the trace.
“What have you got?” Alex asked.
“There was an attack launched against the singer and the woman with him. It failed, but the woman is now a target, too. There will be more attempts aimed at her.”
“Anything else?”
“Not for now, but I’m not sure I should bother to call you anymore. You haven’t been doing your part. I give you the news, but you don’t print it.”
“I don’t determine what the paper prints. I just work here.”
The phone rang in Gabriel’s office. He picked it up.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
Joshua looked at his brother. “Did you recognize the voice?”
He shook his head. “But that call is originating from Miss Alma’s shop, though it has been locked up for months. I’m going over there. Will you two monitor the conversation? If the equipment fails, I’m going to need witnesses.”
“You’ve got it.” Nydia replied.
Hearing Joshua’s name being mentioned, they quickly turned their attention back to the conversation taking place over the wires. Then they heard a knock, and someone came into the outer office.
Gabriel cursed. “I’ll be right there,” he said, then listened a moment longer.
“What if I could set up Joshua Blackhorse so that you catch him with his hands dirty?” the voice asked.
“I want no part of a frame. I work for an honest newspaper.”
“Now you’re getting self-righteous on me?” He laughed.
“I’m just telling you the way it is,” Alex snapped.
Joshua glanced at his brother as Gabriel stepped out into the outer office and spoke to the woman who had just come in. He recognized Mrs. Stephens’s voice, and she seemed very upset about something. His brother would lose precious time now, and neither of them could afford that.
Silently, Joshua slipped out of the office through the back door and made his way to Miss Alma’s antique shop.
JOSHUA WALKED AROUND to the rear of the building, making sure no one at Rosa’s grocery store next door spotted him. Seeing the side door to the antique shop open a crack, he moved forward. Suddenly, a figure emerged from the building, and Joshua ducked back to avoid being seen. The shadows in the alley obscured the caller’s face.
Joshua hurried forward to follow, but as if sensing his presence, his quarry ducked into an adjoining side street that led back to Main.
Opting for a shortcut, Joshua went through the feed store’s warehouse. He had almost reached the Main Street entrance when he heard an engine start outside, and a sudden, loud backfire.
Just ahead, a crowd was gathering in the middle of the street. Citizens huddled around something on the ground, but Joshua couldn’t make out what. As he drew near, he felt an overwhelming sense of danger piercing him like a cold blade. His gut wrenched as he stepped around the shopkeepers and saw the woman he loved lying still on the ground.
Chapter Seventeen
Joshua pushed through the crowd to Nydia and crouched by her side. The wound at the tip of her shoulder oozed a little blood, but there seemed to be no other injuries.
She sat up. “Oh, cripes, my arm hurts!”
He hurried to tear open her sleeve and was relieved to see that a bullet had only grazed her flesh. “You’ll be all right,” he assured gently, wondering what had brought her out into the line of fire.
Taking some herbs from his medicine bundle, Joshua placed them carefully over the wound, then lifted her up into his arms.
“Should he be doing that?” he heard a woman whisper.
“They’re two of a kind—let him,” came a male voice in answer.
As Joshua carried her out of the street, people stepped aside, allowing him to pass. He’d just reached the sidewalk when Gabriel came running up.
“I couldn’t get away fast enough. I had to make sure it was just one of Mrs. Stephens’s crazy sightings and that she wasn’t in danger. When I looked up, I realized both of you were gone.”
Joshua glanced down at Nydia. “Why did you come?”
“The conversation we were taping ended abruptly. I wasn’t sure if the caller knew we were on to him or not, but I figured I should warn you.”
“I ran after the person you were chasing, Tree,” Gabriel said, “but he gave me the slip before I could get a look at him. Whoever it is knows this town like the back of his hand.”
“Put me down,” Nydia said, squirming. “I’m okay.” As Joshua set her down, Nydia pressed the herb to her shoulder. “Let’s not just stand here. Let’s go turn over a few rocks and see what crawls out. Whoever that was shot me, and I have something to say about this!”
Joshua shook his head. “One step at a time. You need to have Shadow look at your shoulder, clean out the wound and bandage it.”
“These herbs will do,” she said, giving him a hesitant smile.
Gabriel’s glance took in the crowd, still milling around in the street. “They’re not dispersing. Take my suggestion. Go to Shadow’s and wait for me there. I’ll meet you as soon as I can.”
As Gabriel strode off, Joshua walked to his truck with Nydia, staying protectively at her side.
They were halfway through a darkened alley when he stopped and gently turned her to face him. “Is it the old ways and my herbs you’re now willing to trust, or is it me? If your trust is in my skills as a hataalii, then I should tell you that your faith is misplaced. When I saw you lying out on the street, all I felt was the need to pay back in kind what was done to you. Emotions like those make me useless as a singer. But that anger has its own satisfaction. I want to hang on to it, at least until I even the score.”
She placed her hand on his chest, and with that simple gesture broke away the hardness that armored his heart. “Then I will help you find yourself again,” she said softly. “Do a sing for me, hataalii. Help us both find what we’ve lost.”
He couldn’t believe her words. He would have never refused her anything, but of all the things she might have asked, this was the most difficult. When he’d seen her hurt, all he’d felt was hatred, but now as he gazed at her, all he could feel was love. “We’ll go to Shadow’s, and there, I’ll do what you’ve asked of me.”
As they drove to Shadow’s clinic, his senses stayed attuned to danger. He would not allow another assault on them.
“This latest attack means that we’re getting close to catching the killer,” she said, interrupting his thoughts. “It’s good news for us.”
“Nothing that harms you is good news.”
Nydia reached out for him, placing her hand on his thigh. He almost groaned under the pressure building inside him. “I wonder if I’ll ever have the ability to stay focused no matter what, like the legendary hataaliis of our tribe.”
“You have that now, when you need it.” She closed her eyes and rested her head against the back of the seat.
He looked at her, and saw her wince as she shifted in her seat. Seeing her pain brought his thoughts quickly into focus. “Maybe I do, sawe, but I need you by me to point it out to me,” he whispered.
“What?” she asked drowsily.
“Nothing. Sleep for now. You’ve been through enough.”
THEY WERE PARKED in front of Shadow’s hogan, behind his clinic, twenty minutes later when Joshua wakened her. She opened her eyes as he lifted her into his arms to carry her inside.
“My brother isn’t here now, so we’ll wait in the hogan instead of
the clinic. There, I’ll be able to do the sing as I promised you.”
He carried her effortlessly, and despite the ache in her shoulder, she found herself shamelessly enjoying being held by him. Guided by the yearnings of her heart, she pressed a kiss to his chest.
He groaned. “No, don’t do that, not if you want me to keep my word and do a sing over you.”
“Do I distract you so much?”
“You don’t realize half of what you do to me.”
His words made her heart soar, but mingled with that was a sorrow that remained like a shadow over her heart. What separated them still remained, and the song he’d do for her was part of that chasm that kept them in different worlds. To her, it would simply be a connection to a past they both shared as part of the dineh. To him, it was the foundation of all he was and had worked to become-all that set him apart from her.
Joshua lowered her gently onto the sheepskin rug, but remained close to her. “For you, I’ll do a hozonji, a song of blessing. It’s a special one that can’t be used too often because it loses its power, so only a few even know it. But it’s one that I choose to share with you.”
She listened as his song rose into the air, filling the small hogan. The chant was like a voice crying in denial of anything that created suffering. It was a statement of hope to a distant vision, and a quest for whose success anything was worth enduring.
It filled her with joy and with the expectation of promises to come. Peace settled over her. As his song ended, a stillness descended. It was as if the earth itself held its breath.
“Do you feel its power?” he asked, looking down at her. “That’s the essence of the strength of the dineh and what gives our tribe the courage to face the future.”
“And it is also a very dear part of you that you’ve chosen to reveal to me.”
“That it is.”
Love, stronger than any she had ever known, filled her. She allowed him to clean and tend her wound once more, aware of everything about him, the concentration he devoted to the simple task and his dedication to the powers he’d pledged his life to.
