Slickrock Paradox

by Stephen Legault

  Silas was sitting on the tailgate of a Park Service pick-up truck, drinking a bottle of water.

  “Dr. Pearson,” she said when she saw him.

  “Dr. Rain.”

  “What have we got?”

  Taylor appeared from between two FBI vehicles, Special Agent Nielsen at his side.

  “Dr. Rain, this way please,” said Taylor.

  “Did Dr. Pearson find the body?”

  “He did,” said Taylor.

  “I need him along, then,” she said.

  Taylor looked at Silas. “Let’s go.”

  Silas stood and the four of them walked across the parking lot. Flagging tape ran along a roughly marked trail that cut across the slickrock to the juniper where Silas had made his discovery. Nobody spoke. The afternoon sun was merciless and they were all soaked with sweat by the time they arrived at the tree.

  A broad white tent had been set up around the site. Half a dozen FBI agents looked busy, and Chief Ranger Stan Baton, along with Sheriff Dexter Willis and Kiel Vaughn, the San Juan County sheriff, were there too. Derek Penshaw was on the scene once again to represent the Medical Examiner.

  “What have we got?” asked Rain, stepping into the tent and taking off her bag.

  It was Penshaw who spoke. “Intact skeletal remains; human.”

  “Condition?” asked Rain.

  “Looks pretty much complete. Some fragments of clothing, though not much. No skin, but some hair fibers. Not much else. No identification.”

  “Dr. Pearson,” said Rain. “Did you move the body?”

  “No. I moved about two dozen stones from on top of it, however. Some shifting may have occurred when I did that.”

  “Okay,” said Rain. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.” She looked at Huston, who pulled back the shroud that had been protecting the corpse. The skeleton was laid out carefully between rows of red sandstone boulders. Silas hadn’t seen it since he found it that morning, and then he had only moved enough stones to discover a foot. The bones all lay flat against the earth, but they had held their shape.

  “Okay,” said Rain again. “We’ve got some of the smaller bones in the hands and feet missing. Not surprising. Rodents could get between these stones pretty easily. And this area is very open to the elements: snow, rain, and sun. Surprising, actually, that there is so little missing.” She slipped on a pair of rubber gloves. “Has Janet done everything she needs to do with her camera?” she asked and received a nod. “Okay, let’s see what we can determine. Silas, I guess you’ll be interested to know that we are dealing with a male.”

  Rain pointed to the pelvis. “No room for babies. And it looks like we’re dealing with a young man,” she said, pointing to the skull. She gingerly moved it to point to the fusion points on the back of the cranium. “I’d say, twenty-five.” She put the skull back down and examined the length of the body. “A little residual hair on the skullcap, and some clothing fragments, but not much else. Bones still intact but no muscle tissue. I’d guess—and I’ll confirm this when we get the body back to Salt Lake—that this body has been here around two years. Maybe a little more.”

  “That’s the same time as the Wisechild woman,” said Agent Taylor. “Cause of death?”

  “I would suggest, at the moment, blunt force trauma, but I haven’t done a proper examination.” She carefully picked up the skull again and pointed to a concave indentation on the right side of the head. “I don’t see any other evidence of trauma. No bones broken. The hyoid is intact. No nicks or scrapes to suggest a bullet or a knife. I’ll look more carefully once we get clear of the crime scene.”

  “Different MO,” said Taylor.

  “Opportunity knocks,” said Nielsen.

  “Come again, Agent Nielsen?” said Taylor.

  “The Wisechild girl was strangled. Our friend here was likely hit in the head. Both about the same time, and the MO of leaving the body in a natural place fits. We could still be dealing with related crimes and the same perp. This person—let’s call it a man, because I don’t know of too many strangulations and bludgeonings committed by women—this man could be simply taking advantage of whatever situation arises.”

  “Somebody was paying attention on their last incarceration at Quantico,” said Rain, continuing her examination of the body.

  “The Wisechild woman was found buried in the sand, and this body has been neatly laid out as if some kind of ceremony was performed,” said Willis.

  “Remember,” said Taylor, looking at Silas. “Dr. Pearson found the girl after the site had been disturbed by the flood. Everything, including the body, had been moved around. Isn’t that right, Doctor?”

  “Wait a minute,” said Rain, and everybody fell silent. “What have we here?” she said, reaching down and moving the pelvis bone to pick something up from the ground. She held it up.

  “It’s a goddamned arrow point,” said Agent Taylor.

  “You think this guy was shot with an arrow?” asked Huston.

  “Get out of the bloody office more often, John,” said Nielsen. “It’s a thousand years old. Maybe older. It’s stone, chert, to be exact. You can see where the stone has been chipped away. The Anasazi would have used a tool made from deer antler to work the arrow point. Something as well preserved as that is worth money to the right collector. Most arrow heads from these parts have been stolen by pot hunters.”

  “Two points for Agent Nielsen today,” said Taylor.

  “Doesn’t explain what it was doing there, under the guy’s ass,” said Huston.

  “It was in his pocket.” Everybody turned to look at Silas.

  “Makes sense,” said Rain. “That’s about where the pocket of his jeans, or whatever he had on, would have been.”

  “And what was it doing in his pocket?” Huston asked again as he straightened up and looked at Silas.

  “Do tell?” said Taylor, crossing his arms.

  “He was a pot hunter,” said Silas. “You do your dental work, Dr. Rain, but I am willing to bet we are looking at Kelly Williams right there.”

  “Just how the hell do you know that?” said Taylor.

  THEY HAD A lot to talk about. They split up, with the Evidence Recovery Team and Penshaw working with Doctor Rain to prepare the body for transportation to the Medical Examiner’s office. The two sheriffs, Chief Ranger Stan Baton, and agents Taylor and Nielsen sat with Silas in the parking lot at the Green River Overlook. There was no time to appreciate the view that afternoon.

  He told them about his conversation with Kayah Wisechild’s family and with Peter Anton, and told them that another hunch had drawn him to the edge of Island in the Sky and the discovery of a second corpse. He didn’t tell them about his dreams, about Penelope’s journal, or his entombment in the kiva. And he held back on revealing Hayduke’s involvement in all of this. Hayduke was his ace in the hole to finding Penelope, and he didn’t want to spook the young man.

  “How did you know where to look? There must be two hundred square miles of tableland out here,” said Taylor.

  “Passages from Desert Solitaire,” said Silas.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Nielsen. “Goddamned media will be calling these the Ed Abbey murders.”

  Silas shrugged.

  “Okay,” said Taylor. “Let’s just suppose for a minute that we were to take your word about all this. Then what?”

  “Go and talk with Peter Anton again. If this is in fact Williams, Anton worked with him as well. He and Wisechild and Williams worked on the mapping of the ruins in Hatch Wash. Talk with Jared Strom and Jacob Isaiah. They worked with all three of these people on the development proposed for Hatch Wash and the Canyon Rims region. I’ve been led to believe that Williams and Wisechild knew about plans to push Isaiah’s development and maybe someone, you know—”

  “Bumped them off?” Taylor raised an eyebrow. “Come on, Dr. Pearson. What do you think this is? A banana republic? This is the United States. Lots of people get killed here, but not because someone w
ants to build a golf course.”

  “Really?” Silas continued, “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “Eugene,” said Taylor, looking at the FBI man. “You know the local politics better than I do. What do you think of that as a motive?”

  Nielsen shook his head. “Isaiah is a pretty motivated fella, but I’ve never heard of him taking things that personally before. I don’t see it as a motive.”

  “You think that I had one? I’ve never heard of these people before in my life.”

  “Did your wife?” asked Taylor.

  Silas’s face grew red. “Not that I know of.”

  “We’d like to search your home and your store,” Taylor said.

  “You’ll need a warrant.”

  “We can get one. It will be easier without it. You just found two bodies inside of two weeks, Dr. Pearson. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that before. Have you, Agent Nielsen? What about you, gentlemen?” He looked at the sheriffs of Grand and San Juan Counties and at the park ranger. Everybody shook their heads. “So if making our investigation easier right now isn’t your principal concern, what the hell is?”

  Silas smiled for the first time that day. “Finding out how these two bodies are connected to the disappearance of my wife, of course.”

  HE WAS RELEASED on his own recognizance to run the gauntlet of reporters and get in his car and drive out of Canyonlands National Park. He would have loved to be able to have a few minutes alone with Katie Rain, but she would accompany the remains back to Moab, and he didn’t see her again that day. He was certain that a reporter from the scrum at Green River Overlook was following him, so he drove into Moab before heading back to Castle Valley. He stopped to visit Ken and Trish Hollyoak.

  When he got out of his car a man stopped and jumped out of a red SUV and asked if he could talk about his discovery. Silas kept on walking and when he rang the bell on Ken’s door, the reporter was right behind him, still asking questions.

  “You don’t live here?” asked the reporter. Ken answered the door, naked except a pair of flowery shorts.

  “Silas,” he said, and then he saw the other man. “Who the fuck is this?”

  “Reporter,” said Silas, irritation showing on his face.

  “Hold on, I’m going to get a gun.” Ken turned and walked toward his den.

  Silas turned. “He’s serious.” Something on his face told the man that he was.

  “YOU CAN STAY here until all this blows over,” said Trish. They were sitting behind the adobe house under the pergola.

  “I need to get home,” said Silas. “My maps, my gear, it’s all there.”

  “Stay here tonight. We’ll go together to the sheriff’s office in the morning. I’ll be with you when they serve you with the search warrant.”

  “Can you hold onto this?” Silas reached into his backpack and pulled out the notebook. He handed it to Ken.

  “What is it?” he asked. Silas told them the entire story of his entrapment and escape, and about finding Josh Charleston, AKA Hayduke.

  “No wonder you’re looking so handsome,” said Ken. Trish got up and looked at his cuts. “You know, a few of these could have used stitches.”

  “I didn’t want to spend any more time or money at Moab Regional.”

  “We’ll hold it. If push comes to shove you can say you gave it to your lawyer for safekeeping. Now tell me more about this Hayduke character.”

  “That’s what he is. He’s like a caricature of himself. It’s almost as if every night he reads The Monkey Wrench Gang to find out what he’s supposed to say next.”

  Ken laughed. “I don’t like the idea of you getting too close to him. This boy sounds like a loose cannon.”

  “I need him, Ken. He worked with Penny. He’s the only person I’ve met so far who had any real knowledge of what she was up to.”

  “Do you believe what he’s saying about Jacob Isaiah? Do you think that he had a reason to want Kayah Wisechild dead?”

  “I don’t know what to believe right now. To me, it seems that Peter Anton had the best reason for wanting Kaya Wisechild dead—to keep her quiet about their relationship. He adamantly denies having been involved with her, but I think he doth protest too much, you know what I mean?

  “And I don’t think Anton knew Penny, at least not personally. Unless his involvement in Jacob Isaiah’s land development scheme was deeper than I understand it to be, I just don’t see a motive for his involvement in Penny’s disappearance.”

  “Wisechild and Williams were killed two years ago, you said, Silas. Penny has been gone for over three and a half years, so why the big gap?” asked Ken.

  “She could still be out there, Ken.”

  “I know, amigo. I know.”

  IN THE MORNING Ken drove Silas to the Sheriff’s Office, which had once again been taken over by the FBI. The San Juan Sheriff’s Office and the Park Service had both waived jurisdiction, but insisted on remaining present for the investigation, so members of all four policing bodies were present when Silas and Ken walked into the office.

  Taylor looked up. “Who are you?”

  “Dr. Pearson’s attorney. Kenneth James Hollyoak. I understand you are to execute a search warrant on my client’s home today. We will insist on being present.”

  Taylor looked from Ken to Silas and back. “We’re just heading out there now.”

  An hour later there were six vehicles parked in Silas’s driveway in the Castle Valley. The search team consisted of eight FBI agents, including Nielsen and Janet Unger and John Huston from the Evidence Recovery Team. Katie Rain was there too. She smiled at Silas when she stepped out of the black SUV.

  “Didn’t expect to see you this morning.” Silas sounded disappointed.

  “Taylor wanted me along.”

  “Why is that?”

  “In case we find anything.”

  “Dr. Pearson, would you unlock the door?” asked Taylor.

  Silas did as he was asked, and the agents stepped inside. It was hot and musty but otherwise looked exactly as Silas had left it. Ken Hollyoak followed the agents around with his iPhone, videoing them as they went about their work. Two agents walked around the backyard with a ground-penetrating radar unit. Silas watched them from the pergola. Next to his annual visit to his doctor for his physical, having his home searched by the FBI was the most violating experience of his life.

  Half an hour passed before he heard his name being called from inside the house. He went in through the laundry room and found Taylor and Nielsen in the living room, along with Sheriff Willis and Ken Hollyoak. Silas looked at his friend.

  “They found nothing. I made sure they put everything back where they found it.”

  Silas felt his anger rise as relief washed over him. “Of course they found nothing! There’s nothing to find!”

  “I’ll say that again,” said a voice from beyond the room. Katie Rain walked out of the kitchen. “Jesus, Silas, just beer and frozen dinners in the fridge?” He stared at her a moment and then laughed and shook his head.

  “The agents want to ask you a few questions. I told them I wanted to be present. We agreed to do it here rather than back in Moab. Maybe we can sit outside where we might be more comfortable.” Ken pointed to the two wooden chairs at the table in the middle of the living room.

  They assembled under the pergola. Ken and Silas sat with Katie Rain on one side, and Taylor and Nielsen and the sheriff on the other.

  “We’re prepared to share some information with you this morning, Dr. Pearson. We hope that you might do the same,” said Taylor. Silas just stared at him.

  Rain began. “We have a positive ID on the remains found at Grand View Point yesterday. The dental records were in Moab, so it was simple. It was Kelly Williams, as you indicated. Mr. Williams was working on and off for the same firm as Ms. Wisechild. He was with Dead Horse for about two years. He worked with Dr. Anton and with Jared Strom. According to Mr. Strom, the last project Williams worked on was out on the Navajo Reservati
on. According to their records, he didn’t work on the Hatch Wash project.”

  “That’s a lie,” interrupted Silas. “Peter Anton told me that he, Williams, and Wisechild spent two weeks together at Hatch.”

  “We’ll talk with Dr. Anton again,” said Nielsen.

  “What I was hoping you might be able to help us with, Dr. Pearson, is connecting these two murders. You seem to have . . . a special relationship with this set of crimes that, frankly, I don’t really understand.”

  Silas looked at Ken, who said, “As Dr. Pearson has nothing to hide, he can talk about this with you. But if you somehow think you’re going to get a confession here, you’re fucking crazy.”

  Taylor remained implacable. “Dr. Pearson, I know you don’t like me. Maybe you don’t appreciate how much work the Bureau has done in the past to try and locate your wife. Maybe it’s just personal. Right now, you seem to believe that these two bodies are somehow linked to your wife’s disappearance. We’re your best bet to find out what that link is. You’ve got to tell us what you know.”

  “I don’t know. You’re going to think I’m crazy,” Silas responded. His eyes caught Katie Rain’s and she watched him with empathy.

  “Dr. Pearson, whether I think you’re nuts or not has nothing to do with this.” Taylor continued, “We’re banging our heads against the wall. We need to know what you do.”

  “You were warned.” He took a deep breath and told them about his dreams. He told them how a dream had led him to Courthouse Wash, and how that led him to Darla Wisechild on the Hopi Reservation, and then about his descent into Hatch Wash after his visit to Peter Anton. The agents listened in silence.

  When he was done, Taylor asked, “How about those cuts on your face, and the one on your head?” Silas told them about his twenty-four hours in the kiva.

  “We’re going to need GPS coordinates. We’re going to have to send a team in there,” said Taylor. “Would you be willing to submit to a polygraph test?”

  Silas looked at Ken then back at Taylor. “Are you saying you don’t believe me?”