Earthcrack: A Lin Hanna Mystery

by Sharon Canipe

  “Sounds like you are suspicious of Dr. Smith,” Toby offered, “are you playing amateur detective?”

  “No, no,” Lin replied, “I’m just curious as to why he reacted as he did today at lunch. He clearly became ill at ease when I brought up the incident.”

  “Maybe the whole thing just spooked him a bit,” Toby said. “It was a bit unnerving to say the least.”

  “That’s certainly true. Maybe it just bothered him more than I realized—perhaps because of his students and his concern for the impact of this incident on them. He did seem to accept the fact that this was probably an accidental death—but I still see a lot of unanswered questions.”

  “Well, I think Deputy Taylor is definitely leaning toward the accident theory,” Toby said. “ They will wait on the ME report but with not much evidence it looks to me like the ruling will be an accidental death.”

  “Well, I for one have questions that I wish could be answered. Whatever happened, this person was important to others and I feel sure he is missed. They deserve good answers as to what happened to him and I hope they get them.”

  They arrived at Lomaki and picked up the signs. The area would be opened again to visitors tomorrow just as if nothing had happened here. Lin could not forget that this man, whatever had happened to him, was someone’s son, brother, husband. He had important responsibilities to his clan and community and he was certain to have been missed by someone. She could not forget this. She could only hope that some good answers would be found and the family could have closure.

  The sun was beginning to set as Lin and Toby arrived back at the housing area. Toby dropped Lin off in front of the apartments and then drove the park vehicle back around to its parking spot. He then headed back toward the visitor center to put away the keys.

  Lin suddenly felt tired, even though she’d had a pretty routine afternoon. She couldn’t forget the way Neal Smith looked and behaved when she brought up the subject of the remains that had been found. She knew there was more to this story and she hoped the authorities would pursue some of these questions before completing their report. She did enjoy the lunch today, though. She would certainly not mind if Neal Smith wanted to get together again.

  Returning to her apartment, she opened up the windows to catch the cooler evening breezes and changed into more comfortable clothes. She grabbed one of the new mysteries she had checked out from the library and settled on the sofa to read. Try as she might though, she couldn’t completely forget the questions that troubled her about this incident. Realizing that there could be no real answers until the authorities made their report, she tried to put her thoughts about the case aside and get into the fictional case in her book. Soon she was absorbed in the story and she continued reading until well past her usual bedtime, pausing only to prepare some soup and a sandwich when hunger finally caught up with her. Her questions would have to wait.

  ***

  After taking leave of Lin, Neal Smith quickly headed back to the gallery. He was concerned about the information Lin had shared concerning the possible identification of the remains discovered the previous day. He too had recognized the carved eagle belt buckle as Cullen’s. He had always worn it and it was quite distinctive. Smith had been concerned that Danielle thought she recognized it and now it seemed quite likely that a positive identification would be confirmed. What if his connection with Cullen became known? He could not afford to have any questions raised about his association with him. He needed to share this with Sessions.

  Smith had come to the gallery earlier to tell Sessions about the discovery. John had seemed to think that making connections would be unlikely. He had even shown him his correspondence with the Santa Fe dealer he had contacted about Cullen’s find. There was no mention of this proposed deal—nothing in writing to connect anyone to the situation. Still, Neal was scared of discovery. This Lin person had a very active imagination it seemed and she was obviously interested in this entire situation. That fact made Smith nervous, indeed.

  He reentered the gallery to find that Sessions had a customer, so he wandered to the back where the assistant was working at packing up some recent items for shipment to purchasers. This was a relatively new employee, hired a few months ago to replace Darren Steele. Steele had disappeared the night that the earlier deal was to have been transacted and had not been heard from since. Smith knew that Sessions had tried to locate him and to gain information about his whereabouts from contacts on the reservation, but after some time with no success, he had apparently decided to put that behind and hire someone new to work. Sessions suspected Steele might have stolen the pottery and tried to sell it himself; however, he had heard nothing reported of such a sale among dealers in the antiquities community. He had agreed that they would pursue Plan B with Smith having his students search for signs while on field trips and doing field work in the park. Perhaps they would locate the pottery after all.

  “Looks like you’re busy this afternoon,” Smith smiled at the assistant, trying to appear casual and relaxed.

  “Yes,” the young man responded, “We have sold quite a few items recently via the new internet catalog Mr. Sessions started, lots of packing and shipping.”

  Smith made small talk with the assistant for a few moments and then, noticing that the customers were no longer in the shop, he left the young man to his work and went back to the front area.

  Sessions looked up from his work somewhat impatiently; he was once again going through some correspondence it appeared. “ What do you need now,” he sounded preoccupied, “I am pretty busy. I thought I told you I would call you later?”

  “I need to tell you about my conversation with Lin at lunch,” Smith pled, “ I’m sure now that the remains will be identified as Cullen Honeyestewa, it’s just a matter of confirming the information. It will be known for sure in a matter of days.” He wiped his hands nervously against his jeans. “ I’m afraid someone will connect him to me and I may be questioned. I don’t know what I’ll do.”

  Sessions turned to face him with impatience, “ If you are smart you will do nothing. You said no evidence was found that indicated anything other than an accidental death. Has that changed?”

  “ No, Lin did not mention anything else found, just the likely identification.”

  “Then, regardless of the identity of these remains, this is likely to be ruled an accident and there will probably be no real investigation. No one pays much attention to such deaths on or near the reservation. Too many drunks disappear and turn up dead later. Anyway, there is certainly no proof of the plans we had earlier. No one can tie this to either of us, unless one of us talks too much,” He fixed Smith with a pointed gaze, “stay calm and keep your mouth shut.”

  “ I think that Lin Hanna is suspicious of this incident,” Smith pushed on, “ she seems to have questions and she certainly wants to talk about it all the time. What if she tries to get the authorities to take a closer look? I wouldn’t put it past her, not with the way she pushed the subject with me at lunch.”

  Sessions turned and paused in what he was doing, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, if it ever comes up. I don’t think the authorities will pay any attention to the questions of a volunteer who really does not know much of anything. Anyway, I’m not worried and you shouldn’t be either. Now go home and take a break. Get yourself calmed down so your own behavior does not raise questions. Besides, that Lin Hanna person is a rather attractive lady and she looks like she might be interested in you. Why don’t you get to know her better?” He urged Smith out the door and closed it behind him, returning to his desk and his paperwork.

  The young assistant had not looked up from his work in the back room at any time during this conversation, but he couldn’t help but overhear a part of what was said. He wondered what the two were discussing—sounded mysterious to him. Probably nothing important and he would certainly not say anything or ask anyone about the conversation. He needed this job and didn’t want his boss to think he was
questioning anything. He carefully placed the boxes he had packed on the shelf for pick up when the UPS truck came tomorrow and went back to reviewing the next stack of internet orders to be filled.

  Chapter 4

  The next few days at the park were busy ones. There were several school groups of various ages scheduled and Lin was asked to give talks and tours to some of them. She enjoyed the kids and the opportunity to get back into her previous role as an educator for a short while. She was kept busy reading up on information about the park and preparing for these occasions. She was learning as much as the students about this fascinating place and its interesting history. In addition to the groups, there seemed to be an increasingly steady stream of the usual visitors, including a couple of tour groups of mostly retirees. It was late on Saturday afternoon just before closing time for the visitor center before things seemed to slow a bit.

  “We’ve had a busy week,” Lin said to Danielle, as the two of them began to tidy up the shelves in the visitor center’s small shop area in preparation for closing and being ready for the next day. It seems a long time since Monday when the remains were discovered,” she had not forgotten and was still curious as to how this incident would be resolved.

  “It has been busy,” Danielle responded. “The school field trips are almost over but soon the tourists—both groups and individuals—will be coming in. It’ll be pretty steady through Labor Day. I’ll be glad when we get some extra help in a few weeks.”

  Lin saw an opportunity, “I realize now how hard it is to keep everything covered with such a limited staff. I was looking at the schedule next week and wondered if you would like for me to plan to meet with Dr. Smith and his graduate students when they come in. I saw that on the schedule. I’m already down to work that day but only for four hours. I wouldn’t mind coming in earlier to handle that and I feel comfortable doing so. I’m feeling that I know the rules well now and I think Dr. Smith would feel comfortable with me. After all, I was with his class earlier this week out at Lomaki and I ‘ve even had lunch with him when I was in Flagstaff the other day.”

  Danielle raised an inquiring brow, “ Really, I didn’t realize you were on such familiar terms with him. Certainly, you could handle this meeting and thanks for offering. I have several things on my calendar that day.”

  Lin felt a bit embarrassed, perhaps she had sounded too eager? “I didn’t mean to imply that I knew him well,” she explained, “it was really just a chance encounter,” she added quickly, “but we are, at least, acquainted and I’m happy to work with him and his students.”

  “ Very well then,” Danielle’s smile put Lin more at ease, “ that can be one of your summer duties. Someone has to keep track of these grad students and make sure that they stick to authorized areas and activities.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Lin responded. She hoped that Danielle didn’t simply think she wanted to spend time with Neal Smith for social reasons. Her reference to having lunch with him was certainly subject to misinterpretation. After all, Dr. Smith was an attractive man and he appeared to be about her age. Lin had observed that he didn’t wear a wedding ring and he had, after all, tried to flirt with her a bit when they first met.

  Lin wondered to herself why she shouldn’t pursue social contact with Smith; he was nice looking, intelligent, and he certainly seemed interested in her. There was something there that made her hesitate though. She still wondered about his reaction to the incident on Monday. He did seem nervous and he did not want to talk about it. Lin would’ve loved to explore her own questions with him. It was hard to explain, but she sensed something in his reaction to the incident. Still, he was responsible for all those students and it was a pretty shocking thing to have happen on a class field trip.

  Lin hastened to finish up her duties. It was Saturday and she had agreed to go into town with Toby. He was meeting some friends for dinner and a movie and had invited Lin to go along. Lin looked forward to an evening with these younger folks. It would be fun and relaxing after this long, busy week. Finishing up at the center, she hurried back to her apartment to get ready for the evening.

  ***

  Lin was not scheduled to work in the visitor center on Sunday so she took advantage of her day off to sleep in a bit. It had been fairly late when she had returned from the previous evening’s activities. It had been fun to be with Toby and his friends—reminded her of time spent with her own “young adult” children. She did not see them nearly as much as she would have liked—although they both lived in North Carolina, they were some distance away from her home and very busy with their own jobs and families.

  It was nice to have a “lazy” Sunday morning—at least for a while! As midmorning approached she decided to take a short hike so she drove over to Sunset Crater to walk some of the visitor trails there. She found the lava fields very interesting with cave-like tubes running here and there and interesting formations everywhere. It was easy to imagine what it must have been like when these barren black rocks were bubbling masses of molten lava oozing and flowing about. From the middle of the lava field it was easy to imagine that one was out alone in a wilderness area. The road and the facilities at the trailhead were not visible. This would be rather spooky in the dark, Lin imagined—not to mention the fact that the sharp lava rocks would likely cut you to pieces if you got off the trail.

  After her walk, she returned home and fixed some lunch. She took her sandwich and soda outside to the folding table the apartment residents used for picnics and gatherings and sat down to eat and read. She had pretty much lost herself in the pages of this mystery when she was surprised by Danielle, dropping down in the opposite chair. She was damp with sweat and her hair curled in damp ringlets on her neck.

  “You look hot,” Lin greeted her, “ let me get you something to drink.”

  “Water would be great, thanks.” Danielle wiped her face and neck with a towel, “I’ve been running in Deadman’s Wash. It’s warmer than I thought today.”

  Lin went into her apartment and grabbed a bottle of water. She opened it and took it back out to Danielle, “ I didn’t realize you were off today.”

  “I wasn’t really. I opened this morning and worked almost a full half day,” Danielle responded. “ Then Toby called and offered to finish out the afternoon. We don’t have school groups on Sunday’s, of course, and the number of visitors seemed fairly light earlier so I took him up on his offer. The maintenance guy is here working on some things so Toby could call on him if need be. Besides, there are few phone calls to deal with on Sundays so…I decided to get in a run and relax awhile.”

  “Good idea, especially since this coming week seems to be heavily scheduled already.”

  “Yeah, and in addition to everything else I have a meeting with Deputy Taylor tomorrow morning. He is bringing out the official report on our incident last week,” Danielle offered.

  “Really,” Lin tried not to sound too interested, “has he mentioned what the findings are?”

  “Not really, but he implied it was going to be ruled an accidental death. I think he also has some confirming information about the identity of the remains.”

  Lin felt a moment of concern regarding the pending report. She hoped that everything would be open and available to be read. She was still very curious about this incident but she didn’t want to overstep so she didn’t say anything more.

  Lin changed the subject, “By the way, I would like to do a bit more reading about archeology in the park before I meet with Dr. Smith and his students on Tuesday. Are there any papers on hand you might recommend?”

  “Yes, there is a good bit of information. I’ll be going over to the center this evening after closing to catch up on some paperwork. I can’t seem to get anything like that done when there are visitors coming and going. If you get the chance, drop by and I’ll pull some things for you. I should be over there about six and I’ll be there for awhile—I have a lot to catch up on.” Danielle rose, “ and thanks for the water.”

&
nbsp; “Anytime,” Lin smiled, “ Maybe I’ll see you later.”

  Danielle returned to her home and Lin settled back to read once more. Shortly, she began to feel herself nodding off.

  “I wouldn’t recommend sleeping in that plastic chair—hard on the back!” Lin awoke with a start to find Neal Smith standing beside her, grinning.

  “ Dr. Smith…. er, Neal,” Lin stammered, dropping her book as she rose from the chair, “ I certainly wasn’t expecting a visitor!”

  “Keep your seat, I didn’t mean to startle you. It was just too good to pass up when I saw you were sleeping,” he smiled as he pulled up a chair for himself, “ I would’ve called first but I know that cell phone service is terrible here so I decided to just drive out and take a chance you wouldn’t be busy this afternoon. I thought you might like to ride up to the Canyon for a couple of hours—if you don’t have plans that is. It’s still early. We could walk the rim trail and maybe catch an early supper.”

  “That sounds like fun,” Lin smiled. “ Just give me a minute to change and I’d love to join you.”

  “Great!” Neal replied, “I’m going to run over to the visitor center to check the schedule and sign up for some more times for my grad students and me to come out during the next few weeks. I’ll meet you in the parking lot in about ten minutes, if that’s ok?”

  “I’ll be there,” Lin called as she turned to enter her apartment.

  Soon they were pulling out of the visitor center lot and heading out of the park toward the canyon. It was a beautiful spring afternoon and Lin felt relaxed and excited about another visit to this natural wonder she had not seen in many years. As they headed north on Hwy 89 she found herself enjoying fully this day—and the company of Neal Smith.