Stargazer's Woman

“Your history, your part in everything that’s happened is…unclear,” she said slowly. “If I were you, I’d work on keeping my answers short and generic. You’re holding back information, Max, and any good officer will be able to pick up on that.”

“Secrets are part of any operation—and of life, too,” he answered, his voice somber.

Kris didn’t respond. Like violence, secrets had been a part of the world she’d hoped to leave behind. Yet Max’s world was obviously defined by secrets and seemed as essential as his own heartbeat.

When she glanced over at him she saw he’d trained his expression into one of total neutrality. Clearly, he hadn’t liked the way she’d been able to read him, so he was making it much harder for her now.

The success of that effort told her something else about Max. Trouble and danger were sitting right next to her.

KRIS WATCHED DETECTIVE Lassiter of the Sheriff’s Department stride around the small room, his face red and his lips tight. From his questions, it was clear the middle-aged, slightly pudgy detective believed that Max and she were part of a group of thieves who’d had a recent and deadly falling out.

Kris tapped her fingers on the table to the beat of a popular song playing only in her own mind, purposely throwing off his rhythm. He’d seriously ticked her off with his ridiculous allegations, and, trained to resist interrogations of all kinds, she was now making his life far more difficult.

“So,” he demanded, “Any idea why these men would want to abduct you and Natoni? Had it been just you, I could have come up with a dozen reasons right off the bat. An attractive woman alone—plenty of motives there. But with Natoni involved, the picture shifts, especially with his recent history.” He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “Make it easy on yourself. Come clean. This was a business deal gone wrong, wasn’t it?”

“Some men jumped out of a van, and Mr. Natoni got tasered,” she said in a cold voice. “They did a sloppy job so Mr. Natoni was able to help me fight back. They pulled guns on us, too, so I wasn’t as concerned about their reasons as I was about mounting a good defense. I suppose it could have been an attempted carjacking or robbery since I’m the one who takes the receipts from my business to the bank. Either way, I’m a marine, and we make lousy victims.”

“So you gave chase.”

It hadn’t been a question. “At the time it was a logical thing to do. Once we had them on the run, I figured we’d continue to monitor their location until your deputies could show up and take over. Our calls are on record, right?”

He didn’t answer and began pacing around the room again. “Just back from the war zone, and looking for a little action to get the blood pumping again, eh?”

She struggled to keep her temper in check. “I saw enough conflict overseas, Detective. I came home hoping to find a pleasant routine I could settle into. But that’s not the way it went down today, so I adapted.”

He held her gaze. Then, at long last ostensibly satisfied with what he saw there, Lassiter nodded. “You and your sister were planning to run the nursery together?”

She shook her head. “Tina invested in the nursery, but she wasn’t interested in actually growing and selling plants.”

He took a seat and looked at his notes. “And you claim that this incident had nothing to do with your sister’s murder?”

“I don’t claim anything of the sort. You’re the detective. I have no idea why those men came after us. All I can give you are the facts,” she said, aware that he’d yet to mention anything about the platinum. “I’ve answered all your questions to the best of my ability, Detective Lassiter. Now I want some answers from you. Why was my sister killed? The police still haven’t clarified that for me and I’ve got a right to know.”

When he didn’t answer her right away, she took another tack. “From your questions, it’s clear that you think I’m somehow involved in what happened to Tina. So what harm is there in telling me the current theories floating around the Sheriff’s Office?”

He leaned back in his chair, stared at some indeterminate spot across the room, then looked directly at her. “I’ve already helped you. I’m also a marine, a reservist. That’s why I haven’t come down even harder on you, Ms. Reynolds. A courtesy, if you will, so take it as a win.”

She studied his expression. Lassiter’s brow was furrowed, his lips tight. He seemed to be at odds with himself. “And you also don’t believe I’m guilty of anything,” she said, taking a stab at it.

“Personal opinions don’t count for much around here unless they’re backed up with hard evidence,” he answered. “But you’re right, I can’t see it. First, I knew your sister and I’m one-hundred-percent certain she handled herself with honor till the end.”

“I appreciate your faith in Tina,” she answered with heartfelt gratitude.

He met her gaze and held it. “Now I’m going to tell you the same thing I once told Tina. You’ve chosen real bad company. The Navajo man you’re with left law enforcement a year or so ago, and, since then, his activities are a complete blank. He says he’s working for the tribe, but nobody I’ve spoken to seems to know exactly what that means. Something’s not right there.” He paused as if intending to say more, but then just shook his head.

“What are you trying to tell me?” Kris inquired.

“Do you think he had something to do with what happened to Tina?”

The detective hesitated. “Maybe he’s a righteous guy, maybe not. But, one marine to another, check your six.”

Kris recognized the jargon—watch your back. She nodded. “Count on it.”

Lassiter stood, then walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. In the stillness that followed she could hear Max being questioned in the next room. Scarcely breathing, she made it a point to listen.

Chapter Three

“Come on, Natoni,” Lassiter snapped. “Spill it. You figured to make a small fortune in platinum, but Harris double-crossed you and your partner. Though you walked out of the hospital, she ended up dead. Harris is also dead now, maybe run off the road by his remaining partner or partners, but what happened today suggests none of them managed to end up with the platinum. That’s why the other members of the gang are coming after you. They think you know where it is. Tell me I’m not on the mark.”

“John Harris is dead? You guys are sure of that?”

The detective gave Max an incredulous look. “The guy’s toast. What’s left of him is sitting in some cardboard box at the morgue. But here’s the thing. Unless you come clean, you’re likely to end up as dead as your partner. If I were you I’d spill my guts rather than have someone else do the job for me. Prison trumps death.”

“Finding the reason those idiots tried to grab us is your job, Lassiter, not mine.”

“You were a police officer once. What happened to you? Your word’s sure not worth much these days.”

Their gazes locked and the tension in the room escalated. He knew Lassiter was pushing his buttons. No one had ever believed how he’d solved his last case. Despite the life he’d managed to save his credibility had been compromised. But he had few regrets. That one incident had drawn him back to the Rez and made him who and what he was today. The “who” he could live with, but the “what” part of that equation still gave him more of a problem.

“You don’t really expect me to believe that you have no idea who the men were?” Lassiter pressed.

Max paused for a fraction of a second, remembering the voice. He could have sworn it had been Harris’s. Yet the police were convinced Harris had burned to death, trapped in his vehicle after running off a mountain road.

He’d heard a dead man…for all the sense that made.

“They were wearing masks and didn’t exactly stop and introduce themselves,” Max answered at last.

“What if I tell you that the woman’s account of today’s events doesn’t match yours?”

“Then I’d say that you’re either lying to me, or you need to take a closer look at your source. She just came back from overseas—deployed for over a year in a combat zone. That means she probably brought home a boatload of emotional baggage. No telling how many casualties she saw along those roads. Then just a few weeks after she gets stateside, her sister gets shot to death not fifty miles from home. You expect a calm, completely accurate story from her?”

“So you’re saying that what happened at the nursery was the result of some penny-ante crooks looking to jack a car, not something connected to you two and the missing platinum?” Lassiter glared at him. “Coincidences are for fools, Natoni, and neither of us fits the mold. You’re neck deep in whatever’s going on. Come clean and save us both some time. Otherwise, we’re going to be in here for a long, long time.”

“Knock yourself out. I’ve told you all I know. Meanwhile, the bad guys are another mile down the road.”

SHE’D LISTENED CAREFULLY and knew that there was a lot Max hadn’t told the detective. For example, he’d never mentioned her gun. He hadn’t lied, not from what she’d been able to tell. He just hadn’t volunteered information, even when pushed.

The man was a pro—but at what? She needed more information. The problem was she had no way of getting it…except directly from him.

“Tina, what did you get me into?” she whispered in the silence.

A second later Detective Lassiter came back into the room. “Your attorney is here, and we’re releasing you.”

“My…what?”

“Tribal attorney Emily Largo is here.”

“But—”