by Aimée Thurlo
Chapter Eleven
After searching the house for Gabriel, Lanie walked out the front door and glanced at the parking area. His police vehicle was nowhere to be seen.
Lanie went back inside and saw Mike Madison leafing through the pages of the small county directory.
Madison spoke quickly into the phone, then hung up. “I spoke to the sheriff, and he has assured me that I will get my wallet back. I’m prepared to finalize the deal I started to make you. Though 1 can’t offer you an immediate ten percent, I can have the full amount electronically transferred first thing tomorrow morning.”
Lanie wondered what he would have done had he known that Gabriel was the sheriff. Shaking her head, she responded, “No, Mr. Madison. Your offer is very tempting, but on second thought, I just don’t think I can sell it. The bowl was a gift, but for all I know, it could belong to the Navajo people. I need to gather more information before I make up my mind.”
“My offer may not be as high a week from now, I warn you. The peddler may have other bowls like it, and I do intend to find him.”
She nodded. “That’s a risk I have to take.”
She bid Madison goodbye and watched as he drove off in a late-model luxury car. His willingness to offer such a large sum of money, for an item that hadn’t been authenticated, raised many questions in her mind.
Lanie had the distinct feeling that he knew far more about her bowl than he’d admitted. But what? She still knew precious little about it herself, except that from the moment she’d touched the bowl, it had called out to her.
Gabriel drove up a moment later. Lanie was waiting for him as he strode into the living room.
“Okay, I want to know what that nonsense was all about,” she demanded.
“What nonsense?”
“Don’t insult my intelligence.” She kept her voice low, wanting to keep their conversation private. “You picked that man’s pocket. Why?”
“To protect you,” he answered. “First of all, I didn’t think you should sell the bowl. Although I admit that I don’t want you to leave town for personal reasons, there’s another consideration here. If the legend is true, it may be dangerous for you to part with the bowl. Remember Lucas said it’s supposed to be linked to you, its owner. Until we can establish exactly how, for you to sell it could be dangerous.”
Though his claim of doing it for her own good had struck a nerve, she decided to let it pass. She’d seen evidence of the link between herself and the bowl. She was still upset with Gabriel, but there was no denying that his reasons were sound.
“A man who is any kind of man protects those he cares about,” he murmured. His gaze was tender and infinitely patient. “Love frightens you,” he observed, lifting her hand and pressing a kiss to the center of her palm. “But my love asks nothing from you in return.”
“Neither of us is a child. We have pasts and lessons we’ve learned there.”
“I understand better than you realize. Relationships mean sharing what’s inside, in our hearts and in our minds, but what’s hidden there usually does little to show us in a favorable light.”
“So we remain alone, protecting all the demons we harbor inside ourselves,” Lanie finished for him. She gazed into Gabriel’s eyes and saw a mirror of herself, her fears, her needs. “We’re kindred spirits in that way.”
“Yes, I believe we are,” he answered.
He walked to the window and stared outside for a long time. When he finally turned around, his expression was hooded. “Would you like me to tell you where Mr. Madison went after he left here?” he said, shifting back to business.
“You followed him?”
He nodded. “He went directly to the mayor’s house. He and Bob Burns obviously know each other. I managed to get close enough to the house to see them arguing, but I couldn’t make out their words, because the window was closed.”
“Madison told me he was acting on behalf of a client. I suppose that client could be the mayor.”
“I intend to check it out.” He reached for her hand and held it in his. “I know you’re worried. Many things are happening all at once. But you have to trust me, if not as a man who cares for you, then as the sheriff. I will stand between you and whatever danger you’ll have to face because of the bowl.”
She didn’t resist when he pulled her into his arms; indeed, she leaned toward him. Lanie wasn’t sure what compelled her to initiate the kiss. Maybe she needed to let him know that she was strong and quite capable of taking care of herself, that her strength matched his.
She had intended to keep the kiss soft, but the dark, deep taste of him muddled up her thinking. As she pressed herself into him, she felt his arms tighten around her. She heard the throaty sound that came from the depths of his being as he drank in her taste until it became part of him.
Lanie shivered, then feeling the fires rising, gathered the shredded remnants of her willpower and stepped back. “If we keep straying too close to the fire, sooner or later we’ll get burned,” she managed to say breathlessly.
“Some things are worth the risk,” he answered quietly, then tearing his gaze from hers, walked out the door. Lanie watched Gabriel as he went to his vehicle. The stakes were higher than she’d ever dreamed. There was no doubt in her mind, that her path and Gabriel’s were woven together somehow. Their destination, however, remained as uncertain as ever.
GABRIEL DROVE to his brother’s first-aid station at the edge of town. Lucas had called him on the cellular and asked him to come. His trip back to the rez had been only partially successful, but he refused to give Gabriel any details over the phone. Sometimes Lucas could be a pain in the neck, or lower.
Gabriel parked at the rear of the building and went up to the kitchen door. Lucas stood by the fridge, soda in hand.
“What’s up?” Gabriel greeted. “You’re back a heck of a lot sooner than I expected.”
“Searching the rez for Dad and Josh is a lost cause. I asked around at the trading post, trying to get a lead as to where they were. I even did some hiking back into some of the areas, but you know as well as I do that unless you know where to look, an elephant—an apt comparison to Josh, by the way—could lose itself on the rez.”
“Okay, so you failed. What’s the good news?”
“I didn’t fail—I just haven’t succeeded yet,” Lucas said. “As you know, I can’t stay away from Four Winds for long—I’m needed here. So I’ve sent some of our cousins out looking for them. They’ll contact us via telephone if they make any progress. In the meantime, I’ve found our uncle. He’s visiting friends less than forty miles from here. They live in the mountains, but since the snows haven’t started, you should be able to get to him without any problems.”
“Uncle has always prided himself on his knowledge of our ancestors. Let’s hope he remembers all the details.”
“He won’t know as much as Dad, I’ll bet, but he’s our only shot right now. Take the bowl and go talk to him.
tonight. Tomorrow he’s flying to Washington to talk to the congressman about the gaming issues facing the tribe.”
“I’ll go see if Lanie can get away. She’ll have to come along to handle the bowl.”
Lucas looked at his brother, a shrewd expression on his face. “What’s holding you back with this woman? Your feelings for her run deep—I can see that.”
“There are…complications. She’s not exactly eager to get involved with me. When I look into her eyes, I see protective barriers there. Something bad happened to her.”
“I could say the same thing about you, brother. Only you don’t often look within.”
“I already know what’s there, that’s why.”
“You two will have to learn to trust each other,” Lucas said. “There’s more at stake here than your own personal wishes.”
“It’s that knowledge that scares me the most. I want to protect her, but I’m not sure that, in the long run, my efforts will be enough.”
LANIE GLANCED at the wall clock,
then back at Gabriel. He stood before her, his face as expressive as that of a stone monolith.
“You want me to take my bowl to heaven knows where this late at night? You realize that so far it has created havoc each and every time I’ve had it with me. I can’t prove that those instances were all connected, but I do know the bowl is like a magnet for crooks. They come out of the woodwork for the chance to get their hands on it.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
“But you still want to go now?”
“It’s tonight or not at all. My uncle won’t be around tomorrow.”
“You’ve been to this place before?”
“No, and from what I can tell, it’s going to be rough going. I won’t be surprised if we have to hike the last few hundred yards.”
“At night, through a forest, carrying the bowl,” she reiterated.
“If I could take it myself without endangering you, I would, but I can’t even touch it.”
“Why not?”
He took a deep breath and admitted how it had burned his hand the one time he had tried. “I had it analyzed and I got the report late this afternoon. There’s nothing corrosive in its composition.”
She felt the blood drain from her face. “Why didn’t you tell me about the burn before?”
“I thought it could have been an allergy or something like that. But there’s no logical way to explain the burn or the pain I felt. I nearly dropped it,” he admitted.
She remembered the pleasant warmth that had radiated through her in the well. It hadn’t been threatening—in fact, just the opposite.
“What about the rest? Is it authentic and was it made with ashes?”
“There was so much carbon in its composition, they were able to use a radioactive dating technique. It’s estimated to be anywhere from fifty to two hundred years old. The technique isn’t that precise. They can’t confirm the carbon came from ashes, either, but it could have.”
“We’ll go talk to your uncle. I think you’re right. If he knows anything that can shed some light on what’s been going on around here, it’s high time we found out.”
THEY REACHED the steep dirt track heading into the ponderosa pine forest at half past ten. “We’re in the right place. It fits Lucas’s description,” Gabriel said.
She drew her tote bag closer to her, holding it as if trying to protect the bowl from an unseen enemy. The gesture had been done unconsciously, but as she followed Gabriel’s gaze, she became aware of it.
“I just want to make sure it’s safe,” she said. “I can’t let it end up in pieces, not until I’m sure the legend won’t call for me to share its fate.”
“I have a particular talent that I’ve developed as a cop. I can sense danger miles away. Right now, my gut tells me we’re safe, so don’t worry.”
He gestured ahead, pursing his lips, Navajo style.
“Here’s the biggest problem we’re facing now. That road looks iffy at best from recent rains. It should be passable with a four-wheel-drive vehicle, but I can’t guarantee anything in the dark like this. We could lose a tire on the rocks. The safer course is not to risk a flat and to hike in. But it’s going to be rough going, and it’s at least three miles from here.”
“Have you got a spare tire?”
“One.”
She took a deep breath, then let it out again. “Let’s drive until we have a flat tire. If that happens, we’ll walk the rest of the way.”
“Good compromise.”
They drove slowly, the thick cloud layer making the bumpy track ahead appear and disappear as the Jeep was tossed from side to side, hiding the path from their headlights. About halfway in, they punctured a tire.
Lanie stood behind Gabriel, holding a flashlight as he worked to change the flat. As she bent down to retrieve a bolt, she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye.
“I think we’re in trouble,” she said, edging closer to him.
He reached inside his jacket, his hand stopping to rest on the butt of his gun. “What did you see?”
“There.” She aimed the flashlight at an area thick with scrub oak. “There’s something in there.”
“Something or someone?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wait here.” He took the flashlight and crept forward, hardly making a sound. Suddenly a creature came out of the shadows. The coyote was old, and looked as if it had seen lean times.
“Don’t shoot it,” she said, moving closer to Gabriel.
“I wasn’t going to. Coyote is the trickster in our legends. When he appears, it is said that nothing will be as you expect”
The animal stared at them for a moment, its eyes glowing in the glare of the flashlight, then moved off. “Poor thing, it looked like it needed a good brushing, not to mention a few meals.”
“There’s game around. He’ll be all right,” Gabriel assured her.
As they returned to the car, she insinuated her hand inside her tote, lightly brushing her fingertips against the surface of the bowl. It felt pleasantly warm. “Do you consider the coyote’s appearance an omen?”
“Let’s say I’d rather see him as just another creature who hunts at night.”
Despite their earlier agreement not to risk another flat now that their spare had been used, they opted to drive on. The rocky ground had given way to a wide meadow ahead.
Lanie peered through the darkness. “There’s a light just across the meadow between those trees. I can’t see it now, but when we turned with the curve of the road, I caught a flicker.”
He shifted in his seat. “I see it.”
They arrived three minutes later in front of a small, rectangular log cabin. Lanie started to get out, but Gabriel reached over and stopped her. “We wait here until they invite us inside. It’s customary.”
She sat back and waited. Minutes seemed to tick by. “Can’t you honk the horn or something?”
“They know we’re here. You can hear this Jeep coming miles away. Be patient.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than an elderly man came to the door and waved an invitation.
“Finally!” Lanie said, relieved. “I didn’t want to just sit out here in the cold and dark.”
“Some women wouldn’t have considered that a hardship as long as I was there with them,” he said, grinning.
“You must have been more entertaining then,” she teased.
“Remind me to show you my better side sometime,” he murmured, his voice deep and velvety smooth.
A delicious shiver traveled over her, leaving her tingling. “I’ll be sure and take you up on that someday.”
He cocked an eyebrow and gave her a half smile that made her pulse race. She vowed to learn to keep her mouth shut one of these days.
“When you meet my uncle, don’t offer to shake his hand. Navajos, the old ones in particular, keep close to our customs, and those include the dislike of touching strangers,” Gabriel warned.
Lanie approached the door and got her first clear view of Gabriel’s uncle. His face was scored with deep lines, yet the overall impression she got was of strength rather than age. Maybe it was his eyes, and the way they shone with a fire one didn’t expect from someone of such an advanced age. Or perhaps it was his confident bearing. One thing was for certain: this wasn’t a man anyone would ever dismiss easily.
“Uncle,” Gabriel greeted. “Do you know why we’re here?”
He nodded and waved for them to come inside. There were three hand-carved wooden chairs set in front of the fireplace. “Word reached me.” He looked at Lanie with undisguised interest. “Will you show me the bowl?”
Lanie brought it out and started to hand it to him, but the man jumped to his feet and stepped back abruptly.
“No. No one must handle it except you. Just hold it out for me.” He studied it for several long minutes. Finally, after a tense silence, he glanced up at them. “Do you feel it?”
Gabriel’s eyebrows knitted together. “Feel what
, Uncle?” Uneasy, his hand went to the medicine pouch that hung from his belt.
The elderly man looked at Lanie and smiled slowly. “You feel it,” he observed.
“The bowl’s usually warm to the touch, but here it’s cold, almost like a piece of ice.”
He nodded. “It doesn’t like my presence.”
“Do you recognize the bowl?” Lanie asked.
He leaned back against the wall as if suddenly weary. “That bowl has an evil past. It was created by an enemy of our clan and the Navajo people, many years ago.”
His gaze shifted to Gabriel. “Flinthawk, our ancestor, was the medicine man who was called upon to do battle against the bowl’s maker, the most powerful witch our people have ever known. And it is the flint-hawk fetish you carry in your medicine pouch, a gift handed down through the generations, that will protect you against that evil now. It is the strongest medicine your ancestor could leave for the future guardians of Four Winds.”
“Family tradition makes me the bearer of the medicine bundle, that’s true, but so far it hasn’t brought me any answers. I need to know what, if anything, can or should be done now,” Gabriel said.
“The medicine bundle won’t provide you with answers. Its function is to strengthen you when you need it. Make no mistake about this. Your courage will be tested, and your lives will be at risk. Many will want the bowl and will try to take it from you. But it is said that for the bowl to accept a new owner, the current one must die.” He met Lanie’s gaze. “You will be in danger not only from those who believe in the magic, but from those who value the historical artifact and want to consider themselves the owner of such an object.”
“The peddler passed it on to me. Does that means he’s dead?” Lanie asked.
“No. The peddler was only a kind of messenger. He carried the bowl until the bowl chose its destined owner. But mark my words. That bowl was created for evil and will corrupt all it touches. It’s up to you to end its legacy. My brother, or perhaps his youngest son, or the hataalii teaching him, will be able to tell you how to do that, according to our ways. I can do no more for you. But you have been warned. The longer you keep it, the more the danger will encompass you. I feel this as clearly as the cold wind that blows through the cracks in the door.”
