Chilling Effect (An Aroostine Higgins Novel Book 2)

by Melissa F. Miller

  “Not ordinarily,” Carole explained. “But sometimes.”

  Aroostine decided no response was her best response to that, so she nodded mutely.

  Carole waved a hand at the officer on door duty, and people began to stream out of the building. They formed a large circle on the lawn and sat down, legs crossed, shoulder to shoulder. The closest spots to the picnic table were reserved for the members of the tribe most impacted by Buckmount’s actions. Ruby, a tense-looking Lily, and a mournful woman whom Aroostine took to be Cathy Palmer, filed in. Boom sat next to the bereaved mother and waved Joe into the spot next to him.

  Aroostine scanned the circle. She saw some familiar faces—including the fishermen from earlier in the day—but the assembled group was primarily strangers. Chief Johnson walked through the door, and the officer closed it behind him.

  “Is this everyone?” Carole asked, making eye contact with the chief.

  “Everyone who didn’t have to work and was able to get here. Mae-Ann and Wren are watching the little ones inside,” Chief Johnson said.

  Aroostine scanned the crowd. With the exception of Lily, everyone appeared to be about thirteen or older. Lily, meanwhile, had crawled into her mother’s lap and was staring at Lee Buckmount wide-eyed. Aroostine resisted the urge to pick up Lily and run, to spare her from hearing what happened to her mother.

  Carole nodded and raised her hands, palms up.

  “Friends, let us begin with the invocation.”

  Aroostine side-eyed Gordon, who shrugged. “I only know the refrain,” he whispered.

  The judge began to incant, “We call upon the earth, our planet home, with its beautiful depths and soaring heights, its vitality and abundance of life and together we ask that it . . .”

  The circle joined in, “Teach us and show us the Way.” Gordon mumbled along.

  Carole nodded and continued, her voice gaining strength, “We call upon the mountains of the Cascades and the Olympics, the high green valleys and meadows filled with wildflowers, the snows that never melt, the summits of intense silence, and together we ask that it . . .”

  This time Aroostine was ready. “Teach us and show us the Way.”

  The judge went on to call upon the water, the land, the forests, animals, and the Chinook ancestors in her clear voice. Each time, the circle chanted the refrain. Finally, she said, “And we call upon all that we hold most sacred, the presence and power of the Great Spirit of love and truth, which flows through all Nature to be with us and . . .”

  “Teach us and show us the Way,” Aroostine recited with the others.

  A collective quiet settled over the circle. Carole looked around, searching the faces looking back at her. Apparently satisfied by what she saw, she nodded. “We convene this sentencing circle to heal the breaks in our community caused by Lee Buckmount. This circle will include three outsiders. Attorneys Gordon Lane and Aroostine Higgins, and Aroostine’s husband, Joe. This court sua sponte orders the pro hac vice admissions of Mr. Lane and Ms. Higgins, permitting them to appear before the White Springs Tribal Court for this matter. The decision of this circle will constitute a binding order of this court, appealable under the Appellate Rules of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.”

  Aroostine could only imagine how much the Ninth Circuit enjoyed handling appeals from Native American rituals.

  The judge held up a large, smooth stone. It was translucent and banded with ribbons of red and brown.

  “What’s that?” Aroostine stage-whispered to Gordon.

  “The speaking piece. You have to be holding it to talk. Well, not you and me or the judge—everyone else.”

  Aroostine didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or start screaming, “Are you freaking kidding me?” She considered making a snide comment to Gordon, but he seemed to be rolling with the special stone, so she held her tongue.

  The judge said, “Lee has been accused of several crimes. He has agreed to take responsibility for two of them.” She handed the stone to Buckmount, who took it with visible reluctance.

  His eyes darted around the circle and then returned to the judge. “I accept responsibility for my actions and the harm they caused. Specifically, I am responsible for the death of Isaac Palmer.”

  Cathy Palmer inhaled sharply. Boom placed a steady hand on her back.

  Buckmount looked directly at the woman. “I’m sorry for the pain I caused you, Cathy. Isaac was a good man and a hard worker.”

  The judge spoke in a soft voice. “Cathy, do you want to speak?”

  Isaac’s mother shook her head no, unable or unwilling to speak.

  Ruby cleared her throat.

  “You have something to say, Ruby?”

  “Yes, judge.”

  Buckmount passed her the stone. Ruby’s voice wavered as she said, “Isaac Palmer was my neighbor and friend. He was smart and kind, and he was an inspiration to my daughter to strive to improve herself. His absence leaves a hole in my life—and Lily’s.”

  She stroked the stone absently. Suddenly, Lily took it from her hands.

  “I miss Isaac,” she said.

  The pain of loss in her innocent voice was like a knife. The image of her own grandfather dying in his bed flashed in Aroostine’s mind.

  Not now.

  No one spoke for a long moment. Joe caught Aroostine’s eye and gave her a look that said, “this is heavy.”

  The judge crouched in front of Lily, murmured something to the girl, and took the stone from her hand and pressed it back in Buckmount’s hands.

  “I also take responsibility for frightening Ruby and threatening her with a gun.”

  “Ruby?” the judge prompted.

  Ruby shook her head.

  “Lily?”

  “Yes, please,” the girl said.

  Carole retrieved the stone from Buckmount and handed it to Lily.

  The girl took a shaky breath. “I was really scared when my mom called Mr. Cowslip and said Mr. Buckmount tried to hurt her. I was in the car with Mr. Cowslip. He said we had to help my mom, but he was driving really slow. I was so scared we wouldn’t get there in time—” She let the stone drop to the ground and covered her face with her hands, then turned and pressed herself into her mother’s chest. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed. Ruby stroked the girl’s hair and whispered something to soothe her.

  Aroostine bent and picked up the stone. It was cool and smooth in her hands. She passed it to the judge.

  Carole addressed the circle. “Usually, you know, I would ask you to propose the sentence, and I would merely approve it or suggest alternatives. But Lee’s crimes are very serious. I will propose his sentence and ask you to approve it or suggest alternatives. He used the white man’s weapon against one of his own. He needs to be removed from the community for our safety and security. Lee, I recommend a sentence of five years in federal prison—the facility to be determined by the Office of Tribal Affairs. It will be a facility that will recognize the Chinook culture and will work with you to restore your spirit, so that some day you may be ready to return to us.”

  “I accept my sentence,” Lee said.

  “Brothers and sisters, do you approve?”

  A murmur of assent rose from the circle. No one opposed it. Aroostine was beginning to feel altogether superfluous.

  “Mr. Lane and Ms. Higgins, do you both agree with the sentence?”

  “Yes,” Gordon said.

  Aroostine hesitated. The sentence was light and not in keeping with the typical sentencing guidelines. But this was not a typical proceeding. And Lee Buckmount was not a young man. “Yes.”

  A wave of chatter spread throughout the circle.

  Carole raised a hand. “We are not finished. There are two additional crimes for which Lee does not take responsibility. However, they may be connected to the death of Isaac Palmer and the attack on Ruby Smith. The attorneys will explain. Aroostine, you may speak first.”

  Aroostine cleared her throat and smoothed her skirt over her hips, then clasped her hands in
front of her.

  “I’m an attorney with the Department of Justice. I came to Oregon on a vacation with my husband.” She paused and pointed at Joe, who waved to the circle. “My boss called and asked me to stop by and visit Isaac because Isaac had information that showed someone was embezzling a lot of money from your casino. When I arrived at Isaac’s house, he was dead. But he had the foresight to make a copy of the documents that showed the embezzlement. He hid the documents on a computer drive in his car.”

  She stopped and dug out a copy of the files.

  “I can pass them around if you like, but they show that each week forty thousand dollars was transferred from the casino’s coffers to an account in the Cayman Islands. The entry had a code number that didn’t match any of the categories the casino used for accounts payable—for example, employee salaries, payments to vendors, insurance carriers, or utility suppliers. Isaac was able to trace the creation of that category code to Lee Buckmount’s employee ID.”

  She waved the spreadsheets in the air and let her gaze travel around the circle for a beat before she went on.

  “Mr. Buckmount denies that he stole this money—which totals nearly a million dollars. Over the course of the year, more than two million dollars would have gone missing. Money that should be staying in your community, funding programs.”

  She waited until heads began to bob in silent agreement with the injustice of the theft.

  “But ask yourselves why would he kill Isaac if not to silence him and perpetuate his crimes? And why else would he threaten Ruby, demanding to know what Isaac told her?”

  She looked around the circle again. Anger clouded some faces, sadness others.

  “Before Lee responds to the charge, I’d like his attorney to address the documents,” Carole said.

  Gordon nodded. “Ms. Higgins makes a serious accusation against my client. And the documents are complicated financial spreadsheets that she found on a disk that Mr. Palmer used as a keychain. The law requires that evidence, documents, used against a person be found to be reliable. We can’t test the reliability of these spreadsheets. The only person who could explain them is, unfortunately, dead. So I ask the circle not to consider the spreadsheets.”

  A man sitting to the left of Joe raised his hand. The judge gave him the stone.

  “Eli Nicholas,” he said, identifying himself mainly for Aroostine and Gordon’s benefit. “I don’t think it’s fair to say we can’t take these documents into account because Isaac isn’t here to explain them. The reason he isn’t here is because Lee killed him. And he probably killed him for this very reason, so he couldn’t tell anyone about those documents.” The man stopped abruptly. His face darkened. “And if it is the federal law that people who kill to prevent their bad deeds coming to light are rewarded, then I for one am glad we have the Tribal Court and not such a backward, savage system.”

  Aroostine found herself nodding along with Eli’s logic.

  “I agree,” Carole said. “The documents tell the story that Lee tried to silence. Lee, what do you want to say?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Lee does not accept responsibility. Does the circle wish to question him?”

  Eli, still gripping the stone, asked, “Does the bank account in the Cayman Islands belong to you?”

  Aroostine watched Buckmount’s eyes as he calculated his options. He knew that within days, the Department of Justice would receive a subpoena response that would prove he owned the account. Finally, he nodded reluctantly. “Yes, it does.”

  “Well, that’s easy. He should return that money to the tribe,” Eli said.

  A chorus of agreement sounded.

  The judge raised her hand. “Please, take the stone if you wish to speak.”

  One of the fishermen raised his hand, and Eli passed him the stone.

  “Ethan Chessman. I’ve been on the waiting list for the computer career training program for over a year. All that money could clear the backlog of people waiting for vocational training with plenty left over.”

  Carole said, “I agree. I reviewed the cultural board’s budget with Matthew Cowslip. Those funds would fill many gaps in the programs and support the expansion that the cultural board and the Tribal Board have proposed. Does anyone disagree with restitution?”

  No one spoke. Finally, Lee raised his hand. The stone made its way around the circle to him. He closed his fist around it and said petulantly, “That’s my money. I’m entitled to it for all the work I’ve done. I created a viable casino. I provide jobs through my security company. I secured the testing facility contract. I’ve earned that money.”

  A few people hissed. Gordon shut his eyes for a moment as if to block out his client’s behavior.

  Aroostine reflected that there was a reason most criminal defense attorneys encouraged their clients to exercise their Fifth Amendment rights.

  Carole shook her head. “The Court approves the circle’s sentence of full restitution.”

  Buckmount squeezed the stone but didn’t speak. Gordon spread his hands and gave his client the old “told ya” look.

  “That leaves just one more charge—the theft of US military equipment,” the judge said.

  Aroostine had earlier agreed with Ruby not to proceed regarding the break-in at her home because there was no real evidence to support it. Ruby assured her that, as long as Buckmount went to prison for the murder and the kidnapping, she did not feel the need to prosecute the break-in. Now she was about to advance a charge that had even less support than the break-in.

  She looked around the circle again. “As you probably heard, I found two unmanned aerial weapons, or drones, in a cave. They had been taken from the testing facility. Isaac Palmer believed that Mr. Buckmount arranged for their theft.” She paused and took a deep breath then exhaled slowly. “Sadly, he died before he was able to amass conclusive proof. But ask yourself, if not Lee Buckmount—who owns the company providing security services to the testing facility and who has stolen over a million dollars—then who among you would steal those drones? I don’t know you very well, but I’m fairly certain the answer is no one. Only Mr. Buckmount had the means, the funds, and the motive to commit this serious federal crime.”

  Buckmount was shaking his head furiously.

  Gordon spoke. “I have advised Mr. Buckmount not to respond to this charge. He’s accused of a national security offense. Respectfully, it is not this circle’s place to judge him for that.”

  Privately, Aroostine thought Gordon’s assessment was dead on. But, she wasn’t the judge.

  Boom raised his hand, and the stone was rolled along the circle, hand to hand, until it reached him.

  “I have to disagree. Lee brought the contract to test military drones to our people. Think about that—he brought the military onto our reservation, our land. And for what? Greed. Simple, deadly greed. And with the drones came danger. Danger to our lives, to our autonomy, to our peace. It is our place to judge him. And I do judge him for his avarice and the effect it’s had on our people, especially our young people.”

  Officer Hunt raised his hand and received the speaking piece.

  “I disagree. I mean, I agree with the sentiment but we cannot sentence people on such weak evidence. Imagine if it were you.”

  Aroostine barely managed to stifle her gasp. A police officer with empathy for an admitted murderer. It was so unusual as to be unheard of.

  “Recommendation, please. Shall we vote?” Carole asked. “Does the circle wish to impute guilt for the theft of the drones to Lee? If yes, raise your hand.”

  Most of the hands—not all, but a solid majority—shot upward. But several did not. Aroostine saw Officer Hunt, one of the fishermen, Cathy, and Eli all sitting on their hands.

  The judge made a sad little ooh sound. “The circle wishes to sentence Mr. Buckmount. However, the Court finds insufficient evidence tying him to the drone thefts. He will not stand for this charge.”

  Aroostine groaned inwardly, disappointed but unsurpris
ed. It didn’t really matter in the end. Someone—the Defense Department, most likely—would bring charges in federal court. The government wouldn’t let the theft of military weapons go unpunished.

  Carole raised her arms. “This circle is closed. We ask the Great Spirit to mend our break and make our circle stronger. We ask the Great Spirit to mend the break that exists inside Lee Buckmount and make him whole again. Brothers and sisters, let’s break bread together to strengthen our community.”

  People stood and began to walk around.

  “That’s it?” Aroostine asked Gordon.

  “Appears so. It was a pleasure to meet you, Aroostine.”

  “You as well. Aren’t you staying for the meal?”

  Gordon’s eyes drooped. “No, I’m afraid not. There’s a federal marshal parked out front. I’ve arranged for him to escort us to the federal prison in Salmon Run. There’s a decent-sized Chinook population there, and the prison will house him at least temporarily while he’s processed.”

  “Escort us? You’re going, too?”

  He smiled tiredly. “He’s my client. He needs me. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I really do want to get him settled so I can get back before . . . you know, it gets dark.”

  Aroostine shook his hand. “I wish you the best, Gordon.”

  “Thank you. The same to you.”

  He trudged over to Buckmount to collect his reluctant client.

  Joe walked over and swooped her up in a hug.

  “Well done!”

  “I don’t know about that. I didn’t do much.”

  “Buckmount’s going to prison. A million dollars is coming back to the reservation. I think you did a fair amount, Roo.”

  She smiled. Joe had never taken much interest in the outcomes of her cases. But then he’d never been so personally involved, either. Joe lifted his eyes from hers and looked over her shoulder. She turned to see Boom standing nearby, just far enough to give them their privacy.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t have better evidence about the drones, Boom. He must have been very careful,” she called to him.

  Boom walked over, shaking his head. “Nonsense. Don’t apologize. You’ve done us a great service. Your grandfather would have been proud.”