Eagle Warrior

Morgan felt suddenly unsure about entering her own kitchen. Officer Wetselline had accompanied her from the Herons’ home back here. And she knew her attacker was gone. But still her heart hammered as she stood poised to cross that threshold.

Flashes of the attack exploded like fireworks in her mind. Lisa’s scream. Her own voice. Run! The man growling as he yanked her backward against his fleshy body. Where is it?

“Ma’am?” asked the young patrolman behind her.

She glanced back at him, enfolding herself in a hug and rubbing at the gooseflesh that lifted on her arm.

“Getting cold,” she said, making excuses for her chattering teeth.

“Would you like me to walk you in?” he asked.

She smiled and was about to tell him that was unnecessary, but her stomach tightened and she felt dizzy at just the thought of walking down that hallway.

“I’m fine,” she lied. “Thank you.”

His skeptical look told her she hadn’t fooled him.

She glanced about the empty interior. Her daughter’s checked nylon lunch bag sat on the counter with the sack of milk and groceries. The red-and-white soup can had rolled halfway across the dull surface. Otherwise everything looked normal. She stepped gingerly inside and felt the terror close in as she realized how close her daughter had been to the intruder. Her shoulders gave an involuntary shudder. She swallowed and then called out to Detective Bear Den.

“I’m back.”

Morgan glanced out the door, past the officer to the lights of her neighbor’s kitchen. She knew that Lisa was safe with Trish and Guy Heron. Her neighbors had naturally been concerned about the break-in, but she assured them that the guy had been caught and that she just needed to clean the place up before retrieving her daughter. They had been wonderful, as always. The Herons’ daughter, Ami, was Lisa’s best friend and the two of them had disappeared into Ami’s room moments after their arrival.

Where is it?

The chill climbed up Morgan’s neck.

Where was what? she wondered.

Ray Strong was nowhere in sight, but Detective Bear Den stepped out from the hallway and paused in the eat-in kitchen beside the oval table. His tread was light for such a big man. She had known him since elementary school when he had begun growing early and fast. Lord, he was big. She also remembered his brother, Carter, because his twin did not look a thing like Jack. None of the younger Bear Den boys had Jack’s build or looks either. It had caused Jack trouble all his life.

She vaguely remembered that Ray Strong had been connected with something bad.

“How is Lisa?” asked the detective.

“Scared. But all right. What was he looking for?” she asked. Where is it? Was that voice going to haunt her dreams?

“What makes you think he was looking for something?”

“He broke in. Tossed things around in my father’s room. I thought...” She stopped talking. Should she tell Bear Den what her attacker had asked?

“Have there been any repercussions from your father’s involvement with Ovidio Sanchez?”

What a polite way to ask if her father assassinating the prime suspect in a mass slaying had affected them.

“Lisa has been having a hard time at school. Kids can be mean.”

“And you?”

“I had to switch to days because Dad isn’t here at night anymore.” And her daughter had lost the only father she’d ever known and Morgan didn’t understand why her father had done such a thing. It was like standing on the shore of a river only to discover that the water had undercut the bank. She and her daughter had tumbled and were still falling toward an uncertain future. Morgan knew that soon she would have to petition the tribe for assistance and the prospect shamed her. She didn’t say any of that aloud, however, and only just managed to mutter that it had been hard.

Bear Den’s brows dropped lower over his pale eyes. “I am asking if you have received any threats.”

She shook her head. “No. Nothing like that.”

“Did you know what your father was planning?”

“The police at Darabee already asked me that. I was interviewed over there.”

“By Jefferson Rowe?”

“Who?”

“Police Chief Rowe?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. A detective. I don’t remember his name. He asked me if I knew beforehand, too. I didn’t.” And she felt stupid that she had noticed nothing unusual...and sad that her father had not confided in her and angry at what he had done. She glanced toward the door. “Have you seen a gray cat?”

“No.”

She tried calling Cookie from the back door but with the strangers about and the flashing lights, she didn’t expect to see the cat until things calmed down.

Her interruption did not distract the detective from his line of questioning.

“Did your father leave you anything? Instructions. A letter.”

“Like a suicide note?” Morgan was still hugging herself. The April air turned cold at night in the mountains so she moved to close the kitchen door. Ray Strong anticipated her actions and got there first. Her hand brushed his before she could draw back. The contact was quick so she could not understand why her insides tightened and her breath caught. The door clicked and she met Ray’s dark compelling eyes. One of his brows quirked.

Bear Den cleared his throat, snapping Morgan’s attention back to the detective’s question. Did she have foreknowledge of her father’s plan to commit murder?

“He didn’t say anything. The morning before the shooting he took his truck. He’s not supposed to drive anymore. I was sleeping when he left. I get home from work about eight a.m. and Dad usually gets Lisa up and I get her ready for school. Then I usually sleep from nine to about three. He wasn’t here when Lisa got off the bus but he was here before my shift. He wouldn’t tell me where he had gone. The next day he...” She hesitated, tugging at her ear. This topic still made her feel nauseous and baffled all at once. “He left and afterward they arrested him in Darabee. I was waiting for Lisa’s bus when tribal police and the FBI got here. They searched the house. They took some things. Maybe they found something like that.”

“They didn’t. Usually when someone is planning such a thing, they make preparations. Say goodbye.”

She thought back to the evening before when she saw him last. “He asked me to pick up a chocolate cake.”

Bear Den scowled. “Cake.”

“He wanted cake. Gave me the money.”

“What money?”

Now she scowled. “For the cake. I don’t buy that junk and he shouldn’t have it either. But I bought the cake and we had that after dinner on Thursday night for no reason.” She stared at the detective. “Was that it? The cake? Like some kind of going away party?”

Jack Bear Den shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Morgan stared at her kitchen tiles and tried to keep from crying.

“Ms. Hooke, my friend Ray spoke to the guy who broke into your house. The man indicated he was searching for money. He said your father cashed a bank check for two hundred thousand dollars in Darabee.”