“Come with me and I will explain.”
He waited until they were in his truck to tell her that he’d spoken to Bear Heart and had learned that there was some connection—probably personal—between Harold Walks Tall and Marisala Saldana.
“First Harold dies, then Marisala loses her mind,” Tiernan said. “Obviously the murderer got to them both, though why the difference in what happened to them?”
“What if the villain doesn’t like to dirty his own hands with murder?” Ella suggested. “Remember, he used the tribe to do his work there. Harold’s fall might have been an accident during an argument. Or at least it could have been unexpected. But destroying Marisala’s mind was a deliberate act.”
“So that she would forget something the murderer didn’t want her to remember?” Tiernan mused.
“Something she learned from Harold?” Ella thought about it for a moment. “You know, considering she and Harold were an item, she didn’t seem too broken up over his death. Not only that, she wanted me to make a love potion for her, so Harold was barely cold and she was into another man. She said she was desperate to get power over him.”
“The murderer?” Tiernan suggested.
“It seems so,” she agreed. “And if that’s true, then Marisala can tell us who he is.”
“Do you think she will talk?”
“I doubt she can at the moment,” Ella said with a sigh. If only she’d been able to get his name from the woman when Marisala had come to her. “I don’t think she can remember anything of significance. You didn’t see her this morning. She was like a shell, Tiernan. Empty. He did something to her mind.”
“How do we reach her, then? There must be a way.”
Ella fell silent. “There might be a way…if there was a shaman on the rez.”
“You mean, use magic.”
“Something like that.”
They drove in silence for a bit, but Ella could feel Tiernan’s unspoken questions.
Finally, he asked, “Do you know how to get the information from her?”
She shook her head. “I can’t do it.”
“Cannot or will not?”
“What does it matter?”
“I think you know the answer to that.”
Ella clenched her jaw. If someone could bring Marisala back, and if they could get the name of the man who took her mind, they would know who to fight. But she couldn’t manage it even if she wanted to, Ella thought, remembering how she’d failed at doing something as simple as trying to talk to Father. So she just might as well forget it.
“There’s no guarantee even if she regains her mind that Marisala will tell us who did this to her,” Ella said. “Right now, I doubt she knows who she is. But maybe there’s another way to find out. If we’re lucky, her trailer will tell us.”
Tiernan started the truck and they were on their way back to the rez in minutes. Ella tried to contain her nerves. No one would know what they were doing. Marisala’s trailer was off the beaten path.
It looked exactly as she had left it. Even the smudged spot in the dirt where she’d eradicated the raven’s track.
“Nice little place,” Tiernan said. When they went inside, he added, “Looks like someone has been here before us.”
A quick glance around and Ella said, “Nope, it was a mess before. I don’t know if she always lives like this or if she simply couldn’t deal with straightening up considering how flaked out she was.”
“So where do we start?”
“How about I take the living area,” she said, “and you take the bedrooms and bath.”
Ella started near the couch where one short wall was lined with shelves, half of which were stocked with books. Now that surprised her. She hadn’t taken Marisala for a reader. There were some mysteries and thrillers and many more romances—making Ella wonder if that’s where the young woman got the love potion idea. One shelf held books on South Dakota and the Black Hills—everything from tourist books to topography—and on Native American culture and history.
Including the one she’d written for her students.
Is that why Marisala had come to her? Ella wondered.
There were no framed photographs sitting around, so she looked for a photo album but didn’t find one. Not that the murderer would necessarily have wanted his photo taken.
“Find anything?” Tiernan called.
“Books. Nothing significant that I can tell. What about you?”
“Sexy lingerie. Perfumes. Oils. Marisala certainly indulged her senses.”
Or the senses of a man, Ella thought, wondering what it would be like to indulge herself with Tiernan.
Flushing, she tried to put the thought out of mind. He’d apologized for kissing her, for heaven’s sake. Even so, she had to remember that Tiernan McKenna was too much like her father. He might not be a shaman, but he relied on his sixth sense the way Father had—and he’d been pushing her to use the powers she had buried for all these years. Like her father, Tiernan would probably face down an angry crowd rather than take the safe way out. She didn’t need that kind of risk taker in her life, Ella told herself, thinking of her mother. The poor woman had never been the same since her father had been taken. And the thought of something happening to Tiernan the way it had to her father filled her with foreboding.
Finding nothing of note in the living room, Ella started on the dining room. Not much here to look at—a small cabinet with dishes and a shelf collecting rocks of different shapes, sizes and colors. Ella picked up a small piece with a metallic luster that appeared to be gold. Iron pyrite or fool’s gold was often mistaken for the real thing. That was Marisala’s MO. Fooling herself into believing she had something that didn’t exist.
Like a man Marisala thought she would be able to wrap around her little finger…one who’d destroyed her instead.
“Found something.”
Tiernan reentered the room, waving something in his hand at her. She set the fool’s gold back in place and met him halfway. He opened his hand to reveal a beaded necklace with a gold buffalo.
Gasping, she asked, “Where did you find that?”
“On the floor next to the bed.”
Even before she picked it up and took a closer look, she knew what he had found. “That’s Nathan’s totem.” She swallowed her disappointment. “Nathan was wearing this when I saw him on the rez and on the set, so he was obviously here with Marisala since then.” As difficult as it was to put it into words, she said, “Nathan must be the guilty one.”
WITH THE DISCOVERY of the totem, their work was done, so they left Marisala’s trailer and headed back for the refuge. As she climbed into the truck, Ella remained distressed and silent, her fingers picking at the fullness of her skirt. She didn’t have to speak for Tiernan to know what she was feeling. Nathan was family, and as such, she didn’t want to believe he was capable of turning a woman’s mind. Or of murder, especially not of her da’s murder.
“I thought I recognized the buffalo head,” Tiernan said, starting the engine and moving off immediately. “Nathan was wearing it the day I met him. There was something about him…” He remembered being unable to read Nathan. He’d done his best, but Nathan had been able to stop him cold. “But I didn’t think—”
“Neither did I. I questioned his motives and picked apart what he said and did, but I never really believed he could be so evil.”
Tiernan noticed Ella rubbing the inside of her left arm as she spoke and wondered what had happened to it. She always wore long sleeves, and that one time he’d touched it, the skin beneath had felt unnatural.
“So what do we do about the totem?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. We don’t have real proof that Nathan did anything, just that he was at Marisala’s place in the last day or two.”
Tiernan gripped the steering wheel hard. “Not any evidence that law enforcement could use to make an arrest.” This time the eye witness was out of her mind.
“I can’t see him working with Jimmy
Iron Horse at all,” Ella admitted. “Even if he’s not the guilty one. Not that anyone in the County Sheriff’s Office would believe someone could have the ability to take another person’s mind. Marisala might have been self-centered and overly ambitious, but considering she grew up in poverty, who could blame her. She wasn’t evil. She didn’t deserve to be destroyed.”
Tiernan reached out and covered Ella’s hand with his. “Perhaps we can find a way to get it back for her. Undo what was done to her.”
“I hope so.”
Ella’s emotions rushed through him and Tiernan knew she wouldn’t rest until she found a way. She was angry and terrified and determined. And, he hoped, ready to accept her destiny—the powers handed down to her by her shaman father—because until she did so, Ella would never be truly whole.
“Until we can figure out what to do with the totem,” he said, “I will ask Kate if she has someplace safe we can lock it up.”
“Fine with me. In the meantime, I’m going to go back to the set, see what’s going on,” Ella said. “Hopefully they’ve found a replacement for Marisala.”
Even if he was not psychic, Tiernan would be able to read Ella’s true intent. Whether a new Little Fawn had been picked was of little interest to her and wouldn’t cause the rapid beat in her throat.
“You will be looking for Nathan.”
“I didn’t say that.”
Her tone confirmed his suspicion. “I will go with you, then, as soon as the totem is locked up.”
“No,” Ella said softly, her voice stiff, “I need to do this myself.”
Though he wanted to argue that it might not be safe, Tiernan held his tongue. Arguing would only upset Ella further, so he would give her a head start, then he would follow to make certain she was all right. He wouldn’t—couldn’t—let anything happen to her. Even if he couldn’t have her, his instinct was to protect her with everything he had.
When they arrived at headquarters, Tiernan walked Ella to her SUV.
“Let me come with you.”
“No, Tiernan. I can take care of myself.”
He slid his arms around her, murmuring, “I wish it to be so.” Even as he wished for other things.
Ella clung to him for a moment and he thought to kiss her, but she suddenly freed herself with a flurry of discomfort. She couldn’t look at him as she said, “I need to go.”
And he needed to follow as quickly as possible, no matter what she said. He waved her off, then hurried inside to find Kate, who was making supper under the watchful eyes of Maggie, ensconced in the playpen where she was cooing to herself.
“Kate, I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Is there someplace safe to keep this?”
When he held out the totem, her eyes went wide. “That belongs to—”
“Nathan Lantero,” he finished for her, telling Kate how he and Ella had found the necklace and the conclusions they had come to.
“I can’t believe Nathan would hurt anyone. As for murder…” Kate shook her head. “I don’t believe it. This must be a mistake.”
“I hope it is, for Ella’s sake. She went to find him. She would not let me come with her, but she cannot stop me from following.”
Kate sighed and gave him a look filled with pity. “You’re in love with her.”
“I care for her welfare.” Stubbornly Tiernan wouldn’t admit to more.
“Love is what makes us who we are, Tiernan.”
“Love is too dangerous for a McKenna.”
“I’m a McKenna,” she reminded him. “My brothers and cousins and I have our own legacy of love and danger left to us by our grandmother Moira. None of us found that love easily, Tiernan. We all had to face down danger and come out on the other side before we found our happiness.”
Tiernan shook his head. “’Tis still different.”
“Semantics,” Kate said. “There’s nothing in that prophecy that says you’ll condemn the woman to die.”
“Putting her in mortal danger is enough.”
“But you can face the danger with her, Tiernan. If a thing is worth having, it’s worth fighting for. You have to decide if Ella is that woman. Is she worth fighting for?”
“I’ve never met a woman I wanted more.”
“Then tell her. Protect her if you must, but don’t let her go, not if she’s the one.”
Tiernan thought about what Kate said as he left Nathan’s totem with her and headed for his truck.
He would protect Ella with his life—no question about that—but he didn’t know if he had the courage to tell her that he loved her.
Chapter Fourteen
Ella could hardly breathe when she arrived at the set and went in search of Nathan.
What would she say to him?
Having rehearsed her approach several different ways in her mind, she still hadn’t figured a way to deal with her cousin that seemed quite right. If she accused him of crimes that he didn’t commit, he might never forgive her.
And if he denied it, how would she know whether or not he was lying?
Would the abilities she had inherited from her father allow her to recognize truth, or could someone with developed powers obfuscate it?
The more she thought about it, the more Ella was convinced the key lay with Marisala. She could start by asking Nathan about his relationship with the young woman and see where that took her. She would do the best she could—whatever the result, whatever the danger she put herself in, she couldn’t leave it alone. She had to know.
And if she learned the horrible truth, then what?
Who would she tell?
Who would believe her?
The sheriff’s office would need hard evidence or a confession to pursue Harold Walks Tall’s murderer. As to what had happened to her father or to Marisala—Ella was certain there was nothing she could actually do about those things, not unless Jimmy Iron Horse was willing to make a case to the tribal council. Fat chance, there, she thought.
Leaving the SUV in the parking lot, Ella went in search of Nathan. The area was more sparsely populated than usual, but plenty of people still milled about. Crew members busily checked over equipment and actors huddled in small groups, talking or running lines. She couldn’t find Nathan, not with the horses or in the tack shed.
Spotting Bear Heart seated in the shade under a nearby tree, looking as if he was happily communing with nature, Ella walked over to him.
“Bear Heart, have you by any chance seen Nathan this afternoon?”
“Nope. He was around for a while but took off, said there was something important he had to see to.”
Important? “Like what?”
“Didn’t say.”
“When did he leave?” Ella asked.
“Haven’t seen Nathan since early this morning after he took care of the horses.”
Which meant what? Ella wondered. That he’d been with Marisala that very morning before Ella had gotten to her? She swallowed hard.
“Thanks.”
A sick feeling in her stomach again, Ella made for her SUV and the rez. If she didn’t find Nathan there, then what?
She’d only made it halfway back to the parking lot when she heard shouts, and a handful of people rushed by her, a few running.
“What’s happening?” she called, whirling to see where they were going—and was shocked to see a cloud of black smoke a short distance from where she stood.
“Fire!” someone yelled.
Ella changed directions to go with the crowd straight to the town set and found that the saloon was on fire.
Seeing Jane Grant off to one side of the burning building, Ella raced to the producer’s side. “What happened?”
“It’s that crazy woman—someone said she went inside and started the fire.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Little Fawn. Marisala.”
Ella looked around but didn’t see her. Several crew members were gathered around the building, discarded fi
re extinguishers at their feet.
“Where is she?”
“Inside,” Jane said. “And she won’t come out. The crew tried to put out the fire out but it spread too fast. We’re waiting for the fire department to get here.”
“That’ll take twenty minutes, maybe more.” Wondering how the disturbed woman had been let out of the clinic so quickly—not to mention how she’d gotten herself here—Ella rushed toward the building, screaming, “Marisala!”
The young woman suddenly appeared in an open window. She was crying and looking around wildly.
“Climb out the window!” one of several crew members standing in the crowd below yelled. “We’ll catch you!”
Marisala shook her head. “No…no…no…” She didn’t make a move. She stood frozen in the window opening, smoke billowing out around her, flames shooting up behind her.
“Marisala, listen to him!” Ella urged. “Come on, climb out of the window and jump. You’ll be okay.”
If Marisala were herself, she would have done it, Ella was certain. But she stood there looking more confused and scared by the minute. Little mewling noises now escaped her.
Being this close to a fire made Ella want to mewl in fright herself. She closed her eyes and saw Father burning again and wanted to run away as far and as fast as she could.
“Someone went for a truck with a crane that should reach her,” Max Borland said. Pacing, he looked all wound up. “But I’m afraid by the time it gets here, it’ll be too late to save her.”
Not wanting to see another person she knew burn to death, Ella moved away from the men and closed her eyes against the sight.
You can save her.
No, I can’t, Father.
You have it in you to call on the power. It is time.
Swallowing hard, Ella knew it was now or never. She’d purposely avoided this…certainly didn’t want to do it in front of witnesses. She hadn’t forgotten how her father had been repaid. But if she did nothing, she would never forgive herself. She ignored her accelerating heartbeat and the inability to breathe and chose to try.
Focused on becoming one with the elements—Earth, Air, Water, Fire—the way her father had once taught her, she at first felt nothing. It had been too long. She was too afraid. The power simply wasn’t there for her anymore.
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