The Nora Abbott Mystery series Box Set

by Shannon Baker

  Abigail inhaled and looked at the pickup. “You think he’s trying to scare you away from finding the film?”

  “Or something worse.” “Why would he do that?”

  Did Abigail not pay attention to anything? “Maybe to keep Canyonlands’ borders from expanding. Maybe because he’s old school Mormon and hates that Rachel married Lisa.”

  Abigail huffed. “You’re being ridiculous.” Nora pushed the gearshift into first and rolled forward. “Where are we going?”

  Nora gunned the Jeep and popped out on the highway heading south into Moab. “To try to find some answers.”

  Nora threaded her way through heavy traffic. Banners and signs celebrated the bike race and Moab buzzed with activity. She found a shady spot in the packed parking lot behind the Read Rock.

  “Why are we here?” Abigail asked.

  Nora opened her window for Abbey and scratched his ear. He loved napping in the Jeep and with a slight breeze and the shade, it didn’t feel too warm. “Marlene knows more than she’s telling me.”

  They climbed from the Jeep and walked through the alley. “About what?” her mother wondered.

  “Not sure.”

  The bell above the door jingled as they walked in. Marlene stood at the display of local books with an elderly couple. Her gaze acknowledged them but she kept talking to her customers: “This is the best map for day hikes. Some of them are challenging, but there are some nice ones on level ground.”

  The man flipped through the guidebook Marlene handed him. “We liked the rim trail at the Grand Canyon. Is there something like that in Canyonlands?” Marlene pulled another book off the shelf and handed it to the woman as they continued discussing the best hiking options.

  Nora and Abigail browsed the shelves, waiting for Marlene. Nora settled herself by the paperback mysteries located close to the back room. Whispers and a nervous giggle filtered through the curtain. Someone was in the back of the store.

  The floor creaked as Marlene led the couple to the cash register with three books. “How long will you be in Moab?”

  Marlene was busy with the customers and ringing up the sale. With only a moment of hesitation and a deep inhale to control her nerves, Nora slipped behind the curtain and into the back room.

  She waited several seconds for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Shelves and boxes cluttered the small space, which was little more than a wide corridor leading to a door that must open out into the parking lot. A secretary desk heaped with invoices, catalogues, and books was shoved against a wall.

  A gasp brought her attention to the corner next to an open doorway. It must be a bathroom because a sink was visible. Two figures stood in the doorway.

  Abigail practically shouted from the bookstore. “I’m not sure where she went. Maybe to the coffee shop down the street.”

  The curtain was whisked back and light flooded the back room.

  Two teen-aged girls in ill-fitting pastel dresses huddled together. “What are you doing back here?” Marlene lunged toward Nora, her big hand clamping on Nora’s arm. Marlene yanked her into the store and stood guard in front of the curtain.

  Abigail pushed in front of Nora. “She had to use the restroom so I suggested she look back there.”

  Temper pushed around the edges of Marlene’s eyes. “You said she went for coffee. I think she got nosy and went snooping where she doesn’t belong.”

  Nora tried to put it together. “Are those girls hiding?”

  Marlene lowered her eyebrows. “Not very well.” She whirled around and disappeared behind the curtain. Her muffled voice sounded stern. “I told you to stay quiet and keep this door locked. What if it had been the church people?”

  The girls whispered. Marlene lowered her voice. A door closed and seconds later, Marlene appeared. “Sit down.” She indicated the reading nook in the corner.

  When they’d settled, Abigail started in. “What girls?”

  Marlene considered them a moment. “Those are runaways.

  They’re from Colorado City.”

  Abigail gasped and put a hand to her mouth. “Polygamists. I saw this on 60 Minutes. They lock these girls away in their compounds, don’t let them go to school past the sixth grade, and keep them brain- washed. When they turn fourteen or so, they marry them off to middle-aged men as second and third wives and they start having babies every year.”

  Nora’s stomach turned. “Those girls?”

  Marlene nodded. “It’s criminal, but the local cops around there are all part of the church.”

  Abigail’s face burned. “Why would a man want so many wives and children?”

  Marlene’s eyes hardened. “The mainstream LDS church has some strange ideas and one of them involves descendants and what happens when men die.”

  Nora and Abigail waited for Marlene to continue.

  “Basically, if a man is righteous, when he dies he’ll get his own planet. That planet will be populated with his wives and children and all their children. So the more he has here on Earth, the bigger planet and more powerful he’ll be in the afterlife.”

  “That’s nuts,” Abigail said.

  “That’s bad enough, but there are pockets of the Mormon Church—cults—that have their own notions. The LDS church doesn’t condone polygamists, but other Mormons practice it. And even among polygamists, there are decent families and then there are the Taliban types that make women slaves, like the Colorado City bunch.”

  Frustration and helplessness pooled in Nora. Marlene sighed. “So we help when we can.” “We?” Nora asked.

  Marlene frowned. “Look. This is dangerous for these girls and for us. Secrecy is vital. I can’t tell you who else is involved. The girls are here today, and tonight they’ll be gone. We’ll move them to someplace safe and give them what help we can.”

  Nora couldn’t imagine the terror of being so young and running from everything you’ve ever known. “What happens if they’re found by the church?”

  Marlene’s hands clenched on the table. “They’ll go back and be under so much control they’ll never be able to break out again.”

  Abigail placed a hand on Marlene’s. “What a brave and admirable thing you’re doing.”

  Tears threatened in Marlene’s eyes. “I have to help. I can’t let them to go through what I did.”

  Nora braced herself. “You were raised in that?”

  Marlene closed her eyes. “I ran when I was sixteen and pregnant. It was ugly and I won’t talk about how I survived. When my baby was born, I gave it up. I don’t even know if was a boy or a girl, but I do know it has a better life than I could have given it, either on the compound or away.”

  Abigail patted Marlene’s hand. At least she had comforting words—Nora couldn’t make her mouth work. “You did the right thing. And now you’re helping those girls.”

  They sat quietly for a few minutes. Finally, Nora thought she ought to speak. “Lisa helped, too.”

  Marlene nodded.

  That explained all the articles on Lisa’s desk about women in the Mormon Church. Maybe Lisa’s last message dealt with the underground railroad and not Canyonlands. “That’s what she meant when she said the Tokpela Ranch. Is that one of the places you take the girls?”

  Marlene’s eyes opened wide. “When did Lisa say anything about that place?”

  “Right before she died.”

  “It’s got nothing to do with helping these girls.”

  Maybe, but it upset Marlene. “Why would she mention it?”

  Marlene stood up and walked toward the center of the room. “I wouldn’t know. But whatever it is, you need to leave it alone.”

  Nora followed Marlene. “The Tokpela Ranch? Why?”

  Abigail made a beeline for the back room, but Marlene intercepted her. “Don’t go back there.”

  “I only wanted to give them a hug.”

  Marlene stood firm. “No.”

  Abigail looked like she might argue, and instead, reached inside her purse. She brought out her
wallet and pulled out several bills, handing them to Marlene. “Then give them this. And if you won’t do that, buy them some clothes or a nice dinner.”

  Marlene took the money. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Abigail nodded and strode toward Nora. She threaded her arm through Nora’s and they walked out the door, leaving the bell tinkling behind them.

  26

  After giving Abbey a chance to stretch, water a tire, and get a drink, they settled back into the Jeep.

  Abigail clicked her seat belt. “Those poor girls. I’m glad Marlene is helping them.”

  Nora vowed to get involved when she got back to Boulder. Right now she had to figure out what had spooked Lisa and if it was related to the reason someone tampered with her brakes, if all of it led to Lisa’s death and why.

  Nora squinted out the windshield.

  Abigail scrutinized her. “What are you thinking?”

  She started the Jeep and backed out of the parking place. “Want to take a drive?”

  “No.”

  Nora grinned. “Okay.” “Where are we going?”

  Nora pulled onto the street, working her way west out of town. “We’re going to the Tokpela Ranch.”

  Abigail shook her head. “Marlene said to leave it alone.” Nora nodded. “That’s a good enough reason to go.” Abigail’s voice was tight. “Bad idea.”

  “We’ll just look around, see if we find any reason it would have concerned Lisa.” Her heart picked up its pace.

  Abigail sounded tense. “What could you possibly find?” Nora shrugged. “Won’t know if we don’t try.”

  Abigail put a hand on the wheel in protest. “Turn this around. We are not going snooping at someone’s ranch. Especially if you suspect it might be dangerous.”

  “We’ll pretend we’re tourists that got lost. What’s the harm in looking around?”

  “Do you even know where it is?” “Actually, I do.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Abigail pursed her lips and folded her arms.

  They rode in silence for a while, nothing but Abbey’s panting and the knocking rhythm of the wheels on the highway to keep them company.

  Finally Abigail spoke. “I’m sorry I never told you about Warren. It was a long time ago. I never liked him and he’s still creepy.”

  Nora needed to tread gently, but to say she was curious would be to call Mount Everest a bunny hill. “What was he like in school?”

  Abigail’s shoulders crept toward her ears with tension. “We actually met him here. He took a real liking to Dan.”

  Nora held her breath and waited. Abigail didn’t continue. “Did a lot of people like Dan?” She corrected, “My father.”

  Abigail considered the question. “Not really. You have to remember in those days, being a Native American wasn’t like it is now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Abigail considered. “That was the seventies. A time of transition and we were living in Boulder, the epicenter of change.”

  For Abigail, wherever she existed was the epicenter. But Boulder was probably an interesting place to experience that decade.

  “The hippies and ‘enlightened’ people embraced the Indians and thought everything they did was superior to white people. The others, the older people and establishment types, thought of Indians as inferior and lazy. They believed the stereotypes of all Indians being drunks or on welfare.”

  Nora tried to study Abigail out of the corner of her eye. She couldn’t imagine her mother in bell bottoms with a bandana tied around her head, John Lennon sunglasses perched on her nose. She always pictured Abigail wearing a pink empire-waist mini dress with a white sash, carrying a white patent leather purse with matching go-go boots. Her hair would be teased in a That Girl flip.

  But Abigail had fallen for Dan, a Native American. They’d backpacked and, even though it seemed more like science fiction than truth, probably slept together before marriage. Reconciling her life-long image of young Abigail with the facts might be more than Nora could assimilate in a few days.

  Nora tiptoed. “Which camp did Warren fall into?”

  Abigail’s mouth twisted with distaste. “Warren honed his persuasive skills early. He didn’t seem to belong to either category. He showed up on campus right after we’d met him in Moab. He acted like he accidently bumped into us and then sort of weaseled his way into being Dan’s friend.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Abigail paused as if remembering. “Dan kept to himself a lot. He didn’t trust many people and he was serious about his classes.”

  Nora interrupted. “What was he studying?”

  A smile of pride crept onto Abigail’s face. “Physics. He wanted to go into the space program.”

  This bit of new information shifted her mental image of her father. That was one thing she didn’t share with him. Nora’s science aptitude ranked even lower than her interest in the subject. And where she inherited her accounting acumen was anyone’s guess because Abigail couldn’t even balance her checkbook.

  Abigail readjusted herself. “Warren wanted to hang out with us and hike and drink coffee, you know, just young people things.”

  “So what changed?”

  Nora could almost see the ice form along Abigail’s spine. “He wasn’t a friend to Dan. Or to me.”

  “What happened?”

  Abigail snapped her head toward Nora. “Can we drop it, please? It doesn’t matter. Warren is and was an opportunist and takes what doesn’t belong to him.”

  “He stole from Dan?”

  Abigail’s eyes shot a ray of anger mixed with a hint of something else. Revulsion? “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Nora turned off the highway. According to directions she’d looked up, getting to Tokpela Ranch meant driving south about twenty miles along questionable roads. The route outside of Moab twisted around what looked like industrial sites, complete with large Dumpsters overflowing with debris, broken blacktop parking lots, and giant Quonset garages with their gaping doors open and all manner of equipment and trash visible inside. Electrical wires with bright red balls crisscrossed the skyline as far as Nora could see. Despite its earth-loving, outdoors-enthusiast reputation, the area around Moab hosted pockets of environmental neglect.

  The road turned south and after a few miles, the pavement gave way to gravel that pinged against the underside of the Jeep.

  Abigail’s voice sounded pinched. “We should not be going there.” Nora didn’t answer. She was more and more convinced Lee had something to do with Lisa’s death and maybe she’d find some proof at

  Tokpela Ranch.

  The road wound along a creek in a narrow valley with oaks and elms and cottonwood trees shading sandy clearings and entrances to slot canyons. A monsoon rain could make the canyons deadly. A big storm upstream might send water flash flooding downstream where the weather was clear. With no way to climb the slick sides to safety and water roaring through them, the canyons could claim people caught unaware.

  The road deteriorated even further. Washboards nearly rattled their teeth loose and grass grew thicker down here. They rumbled across a cattle guard and a wide valley spread before them. In dry weather, the valley would be a lush pasture. But in this unusually wet spring, a small lake had puddled in the low ground with tall reeds forming a circle, giving way to spongy ground.

  Across the valley, a collection of buildings marked the headquarters of Tokpela Ranch. The narrow dirt road wound around the edge of the meadow, leading directly to headquarters. Nora followed the bumpy trail, closing in on the buildings. The traditionally shaped barn sat like a sentinel at the side of the road. The enormous wooden structure looked like it had been built over a hundred years ago and hadn’t been painted since. It blocked the view of the rest of the compound. A pit of anxiety formed in Nora’s stomach. What would they find at the Tokpela Ranch?

  Nora’s foot was light on the gas pedal as they crawled past the barn. Weathered wood corrals opened off the barn and a gra
y work- horse stood dozing in the sun. He didn’t stir as they idled past. Another corral held a large, bony cow. Its white and black markings copied onto a rambunctious calf that kicked and sprinted across the enclosure. A fat, spotted pig lay on its side in the dirt of another corral.

  An acre of fresh plowed ground showed evidence of soft green plants breaking through the rich, dark soil in neat rows, along with rows of bushy greens. A garden this size would feed a small village and take that many to tend it. The road curved into the center of the ranch compound, its area about a quarter of the size of a football field and the packed dirt spotted with patches of worn prairie grass. A giant structure faced the aging barn across the center yard.

  Only two small windows graced the ground floor of the plain two-story building. A smattering of tiny windows lined the second story, evenly spaced, making it look like a barracks.

  Off to the side of the barn, a cozy-looking stone house filled the gap between the barn and the looming building. It must have been the original homestead. A front porch faced the east and the sunrise. The chinking appeared to be falling out between the colored stones and the roof sagged with age. A lean-to jutted off to the south and a cellar door took up space to the north of the house, with a small building, no doubt an outhouse, off to the back. A kitchen garden added a bright spot of green to the front yard and a hitching post marked the transition from the rugged grass to the dirt.

  Nora pulled the Jeep in front of the hitching post and shut it off. Two young blonde girls and a dark-haired girl with a purple ribbon around her ponytail squatted in the grass of the front yard. The blondes each held a small tennis shoe and were banging them on the ground to watch them light up. The blondes’ pale eyes widened in their faces when they saw Nora and Abigail climb from the Jeep. “Hello!”

  Nora turned to the greeting from a woman coming from the barn. “Are you lost?” The solidly built blonde woman wore jeans and a faded blue T-shirt, smeared with dirt or mud or maybe something even earthier. Her round, flat face gave off a friendliness mixed with a good dose of wariness. She looked sturdy enough to dispatch Nora and Abigail with one solid swat. Nora’s chest tightened.