by Jenna Kernan
Today was the last day at the police station. They drove through empty streets and unnatural calm. Piñon Forks was abandoned except for emergency personnel and construction teams, and the police force was also moving to trailers in Turquoise Ridge.
Jake pulled them to the spot reserved for handicapped parking because of proximity to the entrance and put his vehicle in Park.
“Walter Cooke will take care of the questioning,” Jake said to Lori. “When he’s finished, we’ll take Fortune to temporary housing.”
“Where?” she asked.
“Working on that.” He switched off the motor.
He clasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger. He hesitated, casting a quick glance about, and then stared down into her eyes. The heat that flared inside her from that look caught her off guard.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” he whispered.
Her heart went from resting to jackhammer as he leaned down and pressed a firm, solid kiss on her lips. Then he straightened, turned and left her.
Her mouth tingled as she watched him climb out of the vehicle. What the heck was happening between them?
Chapter Eight
Tinnin spoke to Jake in his office inside the empty police station. They’d finished with Burl and sent him off. Lori waited with Walter Cooke in the outer office beside Fortune, now perched in her carrier on the wide windowsill.
All the desks, computers and office equipment had been loaded and were on their way to Turquoise Ridge. Only Tinnin’s battered wooden desk remained in his office, minus the chair. Tinnin leaned against the surface, facing Jake so he had a view of Walter and Lori.
“Burl didn’t see much more of the suspects than we did,” said Tinnin, sounding disappointed.
“Any progress on finding the mother?” asked Jake.
“We are looking at local hospitals for women who appear to have recently given birth. Nothing so far.” Tinnin’s voice echoed on the barren walls. “I agree with your assessment that the clinic appears unsafe, and with the move, it would be better if the infant were elsewhere. I’ve talked to Dr. Hauser, and he’s agreed.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“It means he doesn’t want his clinic treated like a shooting gallery. So Baby Doe is getting an alternate placement.”
“Lori and I call her Fortune.”
Tinnin’s wiry brows lifted. “Do you?”
“Because she was fortunate I found her.”
“See, that’s not luck. That mother saw you coming.”
Jake nodded. “I had the same suspicion.”
“I’ve had Cooke canvassing your neighborhood, asking every family near you if they have any ideas.”
The chief referred to Officer Walter Cooke, who had five years on the force and ambitions to earn his detective’s shield.
“Any leads?”
“He’s working some angles. Meanwhile, I need someone to guard that baby.” His gaze rested heavily on Jake.
Jake shifted, growing increasingly uncomfortable under Tinnin’s hawkish stare. He rubbed his neck.
“I’ve never looked after an infant.”
“Yet the mother picked you. Left her in your truck.”
“Before today, I’d never held a newborn.” Except his own, he thought, absorbing the pain that lanced through his heart.
Tinnin offered a rare smile. “Don’t worry, Redhorse. Lori will mind the infant. Your job is to keep them both safe while we figure out who’s after that baby girl.”
A suspicion rose in Jake’s mind, and he frowned. His tough, tired chief of police had a reputation for matchmaking. He’d been the one who assigned Bear Den to work with Sophia Rivas. And he’d been the one to suggest to their shaman that Ray Strong would be the man to watch over Morgan Hooke, whose name had recently changed to Morgan Strong.
Jake was sure that Tinnin knew all about his past with Lori. It would be arrogant to think that Tinnin had done this just to get Lori to speak to him again. But Jake noted a trickling stream of hope moving inside him.
He was still sweating, but now he was sweating like a man who had been given a second chance and didn’t want to screw it up.
Five years after the miscarriage, he and Lori were bringing a newborn home from the tribe’s health care clinic. It was an eventuality he could not have foreseen.
“For how long?”
“Long as it takes to sort this out.”
“What about the move and my other duties?”
“This is the only duty you have to handle until I say otherwise.”
Jake nodded, shouldering the responsibility and feeling the weight of two lives settle there.
Tinnin placed a hand on Jake’s shoulder. “I’ve been watching you, son, and I have spoken to our shaman about you. We both want to offer you membership in the Turquoise Guardians.”
That was the elite medicine society of their tribe. His brother Ty used to speak about it all the time before their father’s arrest. Ty had once set his sights on becoming a member. Jake realized that accepting Tinnin’s offer would drive the wedge deeper between him and Ty. He debated his options. To refuse would be an insult.
Like all medicine societies, the Turquoise Guardians’ purpose was to strengthen and protect the tribe.
“To protect Lori?”
“Lori’s already a member.” Tinnin grinned, showing bottom teeth stained with coffee.
That news shocked Jake to speechlessness. Lori had been chosen. That made no sense. How could Lori have been offered membership before him?
“If you accept, you will be welcome at our gatherings, take part in planning meetings and, if you do well, will one day be included as a member of Tribal Thunder.”
Tribal Thunder was the warrior sect of the medicine society, and in addition to making detective, it was a lifelong ambition of Jake’s.
“What do you say, Redhorse?”
“I’m honored to accept.”
“We’ll plan a ceremony for the next meeting. Meanwhile, we’ve arranged for you to take over Wetselline’s home on Turquoise Ridge for the time being. He’ll take yours. Daniel’s place is isolated and has a good view of the valley and approach road. No one is sneaking up on you there.”
Except his brother Colt. He could sneak up on anyone. “Colt is up in Turquoise Ridge somewhere.”
“Yes.” Tinnin looked sad. “I heard. He’s not doing too well, is he?”
“No. Ty’s the only one who has seen him. He just runs away from the rest of us.”
“Still up in that old cabin, the one that Mattson used for hunting the ridge?”
“Yes, sir. He doesn’t like to be around people.”
“You ask me, you should send Kee up there with a bottle of tranquilizers. He needs some help.”
“Kee’s tried that. Colt just disappears.”
Tinnin popped a piece of nicotine gum into his mouth and started chewing. “Sad state.”
A silence dropped between them. Jake shifted, wondering if he should mention his conversation with Ty.
“Sir, my brother Ty has a dog.”
The chief lifted his brows and chewed, waiting for Jake to circle around to the point of the subject shift.
“His dog is a very good tracker. He uses her for hunting, but she can track anything that moves, including men.”
“Or a woman?” asked Tinnin, zeroing in on Jake’s intention.
Jake waited. “I asked him to search my place.”
“You already asked him?”
Jake nodded.
Tinnin stopped chewing. Jake knew the chief wouldn’t ask Jake’s older brother for any favors. Everyone on the force knew Ty had been a member of the Wolf Posse and possibly still was.
“Well, we sure haven’t found anything.” Tinnin deliberated, then seemed to make up his min
d and aimed a finger at Jake. “But as a favor to you. Understand? Not official business. No way.”
Tinnin left the rest unsaid. He didn’t want to owe a debt to a man with gang ties.
“Yes, sir.”
“Doubt he’ll find anything. None of your neighbors know of any pregnant white girls running loose. My opinion, the mother drove up here from some suburb and saw your police car, then dropped the baby and took off back out there.”
“Out there” was what they all called anywhere off the rez. Folks not from their tribe were also from “out there.”
“Maybe,” said Jake.
Tinnin blew a long blast of air. “Let’s get you and Lori situated. I’d like to be home tonight for supper.”
They started for the door, Jake waiting for Tinnin to get his crutches under him before turning the knob.
“Does Lori know she’s staying with me at Wetselline’s?” he asked, his voice now low and laced with a trepidation he could not name.
Tinnin gave a slow incline of his chin. “Walter was instructed to tell her.”
“How’d she take it?” Jake was now looking at Lori, who stared back at him with an expression he could not gauge.
“Guess we’ll find out,” said Tinnin.
* * *
JAKE FOLLOWED AS the chief thumped along on his crutches toward Walter and Lori.
When he reached them, Tinnin explained to Lori the danger of what she was undertaking.
“We’re looking for the suspects, but we are also moving this station to Turquoise Ridge, overseeing the safety of the workers at the river and monitoring the water levels.”
In other words, Jake thought, his force of seven was strained past the breaking point. They were all operating on little sleep and caffeine. Tinnin glanced at him.
“You up for this assignment, Redhorse?”
“Whatever you need, sir.”
“Let’s go, then.”
Detective Bear Den arrived, pausing to glance around at the empty space, giving a low whistle. Behind him came Jake’s eldest brother, Kee.
Jake’s stomach pitched. His brother was here for questioning, and from the relaxed expression on his face, Kee did not know what was coming. Jake believed that his brother could not be tied up in the girls’ disappearances. But if the clinic was the common thread, then the list of suspects was very small and included his brother and Lori.
Bear Den motioned Kee in and then turned to wait during Tinnin’s labored approach. He came to a stop and gave a long sigh.
“How’s the ankle?” he asked.
“Hurts like blue blazes.”
“He needs a cast,” said Kee. “And he’s coming to see me later on to get one. We only agreed to the boot when he said he would go slowly.”
“When I made that promise, I didn’t know I’d be caught in gunfire.”
“Let my brother do the running from now on,” said Kee.
“See, good advice,” said Tinnin.
Bear Den spoke to Tinnin. “I finished with Burl and sent him back to the clinic to help in the move and ran into Dr. Redhorse. Thought you might like to be there when I ask a few questions.”
Tinnin nodded and adjusted his crutches, then reversed course back toward his office but was passed by two of the movers, who lifted Tinnin’s desk and carried it by them.
“I think the bench is still there,” said Tinnin, motioning with his head toward the hallway.
“Nope,” said one of the movers as they jostled the desk through the outer door. “Just loaded it.”
Tinnin swore.
“Bench out front?” offered Bear Den.
“I need to get back to help at the clinic,” Kee said to Tinnin.
“Won’t be long,” said the chief, and he headed out after the movers.
Kee lingered, smiling at Lori. Jake didn’t like the look of that.
“This way, Ms. Mott,” said Cooke.
“I’ll walk you out,” Jake said, but Cooke waved him off.
“I’m to stay with her until Tinnin finishes up. Chief’s orders. You’ve got orders, too, right?”
Jake nodded. Tinnin had told him that.
“You switching cars, right?” asked Cooke.
“Yeah.”
Lori gathered Fortune, holding her in her carrier over her crooked arm like an Easter basket. Bear Den held the door.
Kee and Jake trailed behind them, leaving the empty station and heading down the sidewalk to the lot. Jake stayed close to Kee. His oldest brother was no longer unsteady on his feet, but old habits and all.
“Listen, Kee...” What should he say? What was he allowed to say?
Lori lifted the carrier into the back seat of Tinnin’s police car. Cooke remained beside the vehicle, scanning for trouble. Jake worried that Cooke would need backup.
Tinnin reached the bench and eased to a seat, jockeying his crutches against his thigh. Bear Den continued on to help Cooke and Lori.
Kee paused, watching Bear Den and Cooke get Fortune strapped in.
“So you’re assigned to protect Lori?” asked Kee.
Jake nodded. He was anxious to get the baby and Fortune away from here and the river that was once more a threat. But he felt the tug of responsibility to stay and defend Kee.
“You looking forward to some alone time with Lori?” asked Kee.
“It’s an assignment.”
“You’re an interesting choice, don’t you think?”
Jake grimaced. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t get it, do you?” asked Kee.
“Get what?”
“She is not ‘that Mott girl’ anymore,” Kee said in a fair imitation of their mother. “Lori is an educated woman. She’s the catch. Get it?”
“But...” His arguments stalled.
Jake closed his mouth.
“At first I thought she was working so hard to prove you wrong or the tribe wrong. Now I wonder... She’s not her mother or her sisters. She’s like you and me, bad father or no father, and still somehow she’s making a good life for herself and everyone around her. That excludes men too stupid to say they’re sorry.”
“Sorry? Me? For what?”
“Maybe I skipped a class in human genetics, but I believe I still understand conception. Takes two, Jakey. Just like the tango.”
“You don’t know what happened.”
“I think I do,” said Kee, his smile broadening.
“You don’t.”
“Did she force you?”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“I won’t, if you won’t.”
“I asked her to marry me, didn’t I?”
Kee made a sound in his throat. “You did what was expected, like always.”
Jake didn’t like Kee’s tone. It reminded him of Lori calling him her hero with a sarcastic edge that he didn’t appreciate.
“What was I supposed to do?”
“Don’t know. I do know that you cutting and running made it clear to everyone that you had asked out of obligation. No one blamed you. You came out clean as a new penny. From what I hear, Lori did not fare so well.”
They had Fortune situated, and Lori climbed into the rear seat beside the carrier. Cooke and Bear Den glanced back at them, and Bear Den’s gaze narrowed.
Jake felt a weight pressing on him. “You think maybe you need a lawyer?”
Kee’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “A lawyer? You serious?”
He didn’t know about the missing girls all being seen at the clinic, and Jake realized he could not warn him.
He turned to Kee. “Listen, if you feel uncomfortable at any time, you tell them you aren’t answering any questions. You’re allowed to say that. At any time.”
Kee’s brows lifted. “You make it sound like I’m under suspicio
n of a crime. I didn’t shoot up the nursery.”
Jake pressed a hand to his brother’s shoulder. Tinnin had already refused his request to be there with Kee when they asked him about the missing girls.
“Be careful and remember what I said—‘I’m not answering any more questions.’ Got it?”
Kee tried for a laugh, but there was real concern in his eyes now.
“Should I be worried, brother?”
Jake nodded.
“Is this about the shooting?”
This time he shook his head. Bear Den was on his way back to them now. He had returned to the bench but remained standing, eyes on Kee.
“Ready, Doc?” Bear Den asked.
Kee hesitated, then headed for the two men.
Jake followed them with his eyes. Kee cast a worried gaze back at Jake before sitting beside Tinnin. Bear Den closed in, blocking his view. Jake swallowed, but the lump in his throat remained as he prayed that Kee had nothing to do with the disappearances.
Chapter Nine
Jake followed Tinnin’s directions, leaving his police unit at the station and switching to one of the cars that his brother Colt had left behind at their parents’ place. Bear Den, Tinnin and he all agreed—a yellow truck was very possibly a truck belonging to the Wolf Posse. The attack did not seem like a couple of confused, would-be parents, but rather a targeted hit on the clinic to grab one specific baby. Gang involvement upped the ante considerably.
Jake had asked Ty to help find Baby Fortune’s mother and he knew that Ty and Faras Pike, the gang’s leader, were tight. Gang involvement worried him because he feared it was possible that Ty might have alerted Faras to Fortune’s location and then Faras might have sent his goons. Why they might want this baby was another question.
There were a few yellow trucks on the rez, and it would take some work to run them all down. Bear Den and Cooke would handle that.
Jake knew the owner of one yellow truck. It had belonged to Trey Fields, a known gang member who was currently awaiting trial for the attacks on FBI field agent Sophia Rivas. So who was driving that truck now?
Jake stopped at his place to pack a few things, then headed to Koun’nde and pulled into his mother’s driveway.
Duffy Rope spotted him right away, of course, and met him before he reached the front step. Duffy was affable and very good to his mother. But he could talk the ears off an elephant.