Earthcrack: A Lin Hanna Mystery

by Sharon Canipe

  “Of course,” Lin responded, “and this area is going to be closed for awhile anyway.”

  “Yes, we may have to cancel next week’s visit and after that we give exams. I could come back with my summer interns, if the area is opened, but I don’t think I will bring my class again. This trip was very stressful for them.” Smith seemed to have regained his composure, “ If you come into Flagstaff though give me a call. My number is at the visitor center. Maybe we can grab a cup of coffee,” he smiled again.

  Again, not wanting to encourage his apparent interest in her but still wanting to be polite, Lin nodded and smiled but said nothing. She turned and headed for the park vehicle where Danielle was waiting for her.

  Danielle seemed quiet and thoughtful during the ride park through the park. She appeared to be trying to remember something. Finally, Lin spoke, “ You said something was familiar about that person they found?”

  “ Yes,” Danielle spoke slowly and thoughtfully, “ The clothes not so much. Everyone around here wears jeans and shirts like that and the boots didn’t seem unusual, but there was something familiar about that belt buckle. It was a fancy design with an eagle’s head carved in it and I know I’ve seen it before. I’m just not sure when or who it was. I think it was maybe one of the native people who sometimes come to the park but they don’t always come to the center. Sometimes I don’t see them for months and it is hard to remember. I am going to ask the other employees though; maybe they can jog my memory. I just can’t attach it to a face or name right now.”

  By this time they had arrived at the visitor center. It was mid-afternoon, well past time for Lin’s shift to be over, and she felt hot dirty and tired. She spent a few minutes checking on some visitor numbers and receipts. Remembering that they were going to have to close Lomaki ruin, she located some area closure signs in the equipment room and took them to the front desk. Stopping by her office, Lin saw that Danielle was talking to Toby White, one of the seasonal rangers. Lin stuck her head in.

  “Do you want me to drive back out to Lomaki and set up these signs before I leave today?” She asked.

  “No, No,” Danielle responded, “You’ve already worked overtime and I know you must be shaken up by all of this, we all are,” she added.

  Toby spoke up, “I’m still on for a couple of hours and things are pretty quiet around here, I’ll take them out, you go on home. Would you like to join me for some burgers on the grill later on?”

  “Sure,” Lin replied, “I have some baked beans. I’ll bring them over.”

  “Great,” Toby smiled, “maybe Danielle can come too,” He looked her way.

  “Maybe,” Danielle answered, “If I can, I’ll bring some of that leftover cake from the birthday party last week.”

  Lin gave a nod, “Hope you can make it.” She left the office and proceeded to the closet to pick up her jacket and then left the visitor center. It was a close-knit community here in the park residences. There were two houses—one, the original, historic park ranger’s home, was occupied by Danielle as the head law enforcement ranger. The other was currently assigned to one of the park archeologists, Steve Barton, who was overseeing some work at some of the more remote ruins. Lin had met him but he was not around much. He worked late in the field, usually, and rarely joined others when they gathered. Lin did recall that he had said that his wife and son would be joining him for the summer after school was out. He had a home in Flagstaff and had some affiliation with the university—part-time teaching she thought—but this spring he was full-time with the park service doing this work so he was staying in the park during the week. Since his wife and son were coming soon and the larger home was available, Danielle had assigned it to him. The other park workers—seasonal rangers and volunteers—lived in the small apartments that were attached in a row between the two larger homes.

  Currently only Lin and Toby were there. In a few weeks two Student Conservation Association (SCA) interns would join them for the summer. That would fill the remaining apartments. Lin looked forward to meeting the students when they came.

  Wupatki, like many of the parks, was usually understaffed. Danielle was the only full time ranger. Toby was seasonal and would only work through the fall, and the archeologist was not directly involved in running the park. That left Lin and the soon to arrive SCA students as the only other regular park service personnel. There was a maintenance guy named Jacob who cleaned and maintained the visitor center facilities but right now he was shared with Sunset Crater that was on the same loop road. He had housing there and was on call for emergencies but they generally only saw him for a few hours a day. They often had to do small jobs themselves.

  It is nice to have neighbors though, Lin thought. I enjoy Toby and I’m sure that the students will be good additions to our little community. She unlocked her apartment door and went in, flipping the switch for the swamp cooler as she entered. It was noisy but it did help to cool the small space that could be quite warm after being closed up through the hottest part of the day. Later, when the sun was waning, it would be cooler and she could turn it off and enjoy the evening air through the open windows. Spring weather could be tricky. It was quite chilly in the early morning and at night but it could really heat up during the day and, thus far, this had been an unusually warm spring for northern Arizona.

  Lin decided to take another shower. She felt hot and dusty from being out in the box canyon so long and she was still a bit shaken by what had transpired. It was disturbing to think that someone had fallen into that earth crack and been injured with no one around to hear them or come to their aid.

  She let the cool water run over her back—it felt so good. Her thoughts returned to the events of the day. She recalled that nothing was brought up out of the earth crack except the remains and the rock which might have had traces of blood—no water bottle, backpack—nothing that a hiker would be expected to have! She hadn’t thought about this until now. Of course, not everyone who decided to take a hike prepared himself or herself properly but folks around here generally respected the arid environment and carried water if nothing else. It made her wonder. Whoever that person was certainly had not expected to be in the area very long; they should have had a vehicle parked somewhere nearby. No one had mentioned anything about an abandoned vehicle having been found somewhere nearby in the past; this was another mystery! Lin thought that the whole incident raised more questions than had been previously mentioned—at least to this point.

  Leaving the shower feeling refreshed and more energetic, Lin dressed comfortably in jeans and a tee shirt and slipped her feet into her sandals. The apartment seemed cooler now so she flipped off the noisy swamp cooler and opened the windows to the evening air. It was almost sunset . Arizona did not switch to daylight saving time so evening came earlier here than in her North Carolina home. The air felt good now but it was still spring and by nightfall it would be chilly. She would probably need a sweatshirt later, but for now she felt refreshed and comfortable.

  Lin moved into her small kitchen and opened a couple of cans of baked beans. She found some bacon bits she had left in the refrigerator and sprinkled them on top. She put the whole thing into the small oven and turned it on just to warm—it was still some time until dinner. Grabbing a soda from the refrigerator, Lin went outside and sat down on one of the plastic lawn chairs arranged in front of the apartments. There was really not much shade there but the sun was low in the sky and the evening was pleasant. She noticed that Toby had already started the charcoal in the grill that they all shared—and she could hear him moving about in his apartment as he prepared for dinner.

  Lin liked Toby—he reminded her of her own son a bit and he was about the same age. He was really dedicated to his work in the park and wanted nothing more than to be a full-time ranger here or somewhere. The fact was that it was hard to get a permanent park position. Almost all of the rangers began as seasonals; they were never sure from year to year if their positions would be funded and sometimes moved be
tween parks until something opened up. Toby always scanned the online postings for full time positions that he might be qualified for. This was his third summer here at Wupatki and this year Danielle had received funding for a couple of extra months so he had come on board earlier than usual. He would be employed through September, a full six months. This was his longest assignment yet. The rest of the year he supported himself with whatever work he could find in Phoenix, his hometown. Fortunately, he was a skilled handy man and he generally found plenty of small jobs helping folks with various projects, so he managed until his next seasonal position came around. His handy man skills were very useful in the park also as he could sometimes fix things the maintenance man didn’t have time to tackle during his shared visits. Danielle especially appreciated Toby’s versatility and his willing spirit. He was a good employee and she would love to have him full time but no such position was funded currently.

  Toby came out carrying a folding table and Lin helped him to set it up in the shade of the only tree in the housing area. Together they moved the chairs to the table area.

  “The beans are in the oven,” Lin offered, “should be ready soon.”

  Toby returned to his apartment to get the burgers and Lin followed. His quarters were identical to hers, just arranged in opposite fashion. She helped him carry the remaining items for the meal out to the table and soon the burgers were sizzling on the hot grill giving off a wonderful aroma. Lin began to realize how hungry she was. She had had only a sandwich for lunch—all she had packed for the field trip. She looked forward to this evening meal.

  “Quite a day we had,” Toby offered. “I’ll bet you didn’t expect anything like this to happen on your first volunteer job!”

  “Indeed,” Lin offered, “I do wonder what happened to that person. There are a lot of questions.”

  “Yeah,” Toby responded. “Danielle and I talked. I think I remember that one of the Hopi men who collects eagle feathers for ceremonies had a belt buckle like that. I only saw him a couple of times, and that was more than a year ago, but that is a pretty unusual buckle. I didn’t know him really, just saw him once. The natives have permission to collect in certain areas of the park. They take young eaglets and also feathers, only for ceremonial purposes, but they generally come and go as they please. I guess headquarters knows when they are collecting—it is seasonal—but they don’t always come to the visitor center. I think they are probably supposed to check in but it is out of the way for them so I believe they generally just call headquarters and they let Danielle know when they will be in the park. There are only two or three of them who do the collecting. Danielle doesn’t remember seeing this guy last year but I do, I think his name was Cullen something—I can’t really remember and I never saw him again after that.”

  Lin noticed that the burgers were ready to flip over so she went to get the beans. When she returned Danielle had arrived with the cake. Soon they were all digging in—more than ready for dinner! They ate in silence for a while—everyone was hungry.

  Finally Danielle spoke, “ Toby, I called headquarters to check on that man you remembered from last summer. They said his name was Cullen Honeyestewa and he was registered with them to collect here for the ceremonies. They have not heard anything from him in over a year. He might be our guy. The park superintendent said he would call the sheriff’s office and give them that information. That should help with the ID. Actually, I also learned that the box canyon is not that far from the area where he generally collected. He may have decided to go in that way and had an accident. They mentioned that he had not called them in quite a long time but sometimes they thought that he, and the others having permission to collect, didn’t always call. They are supposed to but it is hard to keep track of that so he could have come anytime, I guess.”

  Toby reflected on this information, “I never really knew him, just remember seeing him sometimes. It is really sad to think that someone could die like that all alone with no help. Guess that’s a good reason to make sure someone knows where you’re going and when you should return around here.”

  Lin asked why Danielle had called the Coconino County Sheriff’s office to investigate the remains that had been found. “I thought the FBI handled all such cases in the national parks.”

  “That depends on the circumstances and the jurisdiction in the particular park,” Danielle explained. “We practice concurrent jurisdiction here. Our local authorities are the primary responders but they work closely with the feds and, if it seems necessary, they will turn their findings over in criminal cases. Actually, the FBI in this region is stretched pretty thin so the sheriff handles most of our cases.” She added, “Billy would turn this over if he found it necessary I feel sure.”

  “That makes sense to me,” Lin said. “I was thinking it strange that the authorities apparently did not find any water bottle or backpack with the remains. This is such a dry area you would think anyone going into the backcountry for any reason would carry water. Also, I didn’t hear anyone mention any reports of vehicles abandoned in the area anytime—have there been any?”

  “Not in the park, at least not since I have been here, and that has been two plus years,” Danielle responded, “but there are lots of back roads and tracks around just outside the area and I wouldn’t necessarily know about them. In some places around here it’s hard to know if you are in the park, the national forest, or on private land.”

  “Still seems odd,” Lin replied, “why park far away outside the park when there is a paved parking lot and road nearby?”

  “Well, we should hear from the sheriff’s department when they get the ME report. It does look like an accident though.” Danielle concluded, as she sliced pieces of cake for the three of them.

  Lin continued to think about the incident as she ate her dessert. Toby had made some coffee and they sat in the cool of the twilight and enjoyed watching the stars pop out in the darkening evening skies. The dry atmosphere here and distance from any city lights made for brilliant night skies. Lin had been amazed to discover just how many stars you could see when conditions were right. Back home the humidity and light from urban areas made stargazing difficult. She found herself growing increasingly sleepy as they sat and relaxed from their busy day. Soon she excused herself and went back to her apartment.

  The act of getting up and taking stuff inside woke her up a bit so she decided to drive up to the picnic area and make a phone call. There was strong cell signal at that point.

  By the time she arrived at the picnic area parking lot the moon was up and there was pretty good light in the area. She called her son and then her daughter, reporting on the day’s events and the questions raised in her own thinking about them. Her kids were sympathetic and expressed concern about the fate of the person whose remains had been found but both of them warned her to let the authorities handle everything.

  “They will find out what happened,” her son told her, “you don’t have to worry about it. You’ll have more information soon I feel sure.” Lin agreed, but her curiosity was not yet satisfied. She had always been one to ask questions. She had dealt with too many situations in school and knew that things were not always what they seemed to be on the surface.

  “I know,” she said, “I just, think there are some interesting circumstances here.”

  “Maybe,” Ben, Jr. responded, “but the simplest answer is usually the right one in these cases. Let me know what you find out.”

  “I will, give my love to the family.” Lin added as she ended the call. Her conversation with Lucy followed a similar line. She smiled to herself as she drove back to the housing area. They were good kids and they knew their Mom well. She had a hard time leaving things alone, especially when there were unanswered questions. Her experience as a school principal had taught her not to always accept things as they first appeared on the surface. She was always asking questions and looking more deeply into things—finding out what made student’s “tick”—asking questions and not just
accepting things at face value. Lin supposed that her curiosity could get her into trouble in certain circumstances but when obvious questions seemed unanswered, she felt the need to dig deeper.

  By the time she got back to her apartment she was feeling really tired again. She opened her bedroom window to let in the cool night air and, snuggling under the soft down comforter she had brought with her, she was soon asleep; her troubled thoughts left behind.

  Chapter 3

  The morning light drifting in her open window wakened Lin earlier than she expected given how tired she was when she went to bed. As she wasn’t on the schedule to work at the visitor center until the afternoon, she decided this might be a good day to go into town and do some shopping. First she intended to get in a good walk. She had been neglecting her exercise routine the past few days. She dressed in jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt, with an eye to the cool morning air, and was soon off. The visitor center was not open yet and no one seemed to be about.

  Lin enjoyed a quiet, personal tour through the beautiful Wupatki ruin and then descended into the wash behind. She had read that when the ruin was occupied there was a spring on the far side of the wash that was used as a water supply by the occupants of the pueblo. The spring dried up long ago but apparently one could still find shards from broken pots in abundance around the site.

  She crossed the wash and scrambled up the slope toward the place where the spring had been. Sure enough, the path was strewn with shards of black on white and red pottery. She examined some of these, taking care not to move them. It was strictly forbidden to remove any pottery pieces from the park. Looking back toward the ruin she found herself wondering what life could have been like for these people. This was a long way to walk carrying heavy pots full of water. She also knew that these people had garden fields scattered throughout the area meaning they often had to leave home to tend their crops of beans, corn, and squash. Apparently the park and much of the surrounding lands contained evidence of small “field “ houses that had served as shelters for these farmers when they worked away from the village. It was a clever system. Summer rainfall that came during the monsoon season was often widely scattered. Having fields in various places helped to ensure that at least some of the crops would get water. Lin realized that these had really been sophisticated folks who understood their world and knew how to wrest a living from it. Even today, she had been told, the Hopi, who claimed descendancy from these people, were well known for their “dry farming” techniques.