Shadows 04 Canyon Shadows

by K C West

  “Come on,” she said, guiding me by the elbow. “Let’s take a walk.”

  *

  Twenty minutes later, I’d calmed down enough to speak. Gina had matched me stride for stride as I headed away from the house.

  “This is one of our most favorite places on the whole ranch,” I said.

  We gazed along the ridge at the distant mountains. The sun shone brightly, warming our arms and faces. A cool breeze gently lifted wisps of hair from our foreheads. “I’m sorry I lost it back there. I even slept fairly well last night, so I can’t use exhaustion as an excuse. Anyway, thanks for putting up with my tirade.”

  She acknowledged my apology with a faint shrug and a ready smile.

  By unspoken agreement, we turned back toward the ranch house.

  “You’re entitled to a tirade or two. I know it’s hard, but try to stay patient. This is a frustrating case. We’re working all the angles, and sooner or later, we’ll catch a break or they’ll slip up.”

  “But will it be in time?”

  Gina’s silence did little to comfort me.

  “At least you’re not sugarcoating any of this for me.”

  “You strike me as someone who wants the truth, even when it’s painful. You also seem used to getting what you want.”

  “I guess that’s true. I’m trying to be less of a bitch about it, though.”

  She gave a faint chuckle. “A cooperative attitude is always appreciated.”

  We walked in silence for a while. As the rear of the house came into view, I tried to see the situation from her perspective.

  “I know you’re trying, and I appreciate how honest you’ve been with me. I’m not so sure your partner has his heart in the effort.”

  “Mark may not always show it, but he’s a solid investigator. He’s not slacking off one bit on this case, although I know he’s been a bit abrasive at times.”

  “You could say that again.”

  “He’s got some personal problems right now, but he won’t let it affect his job.”

  “If you’re sure he’s doing everything he can, that’s all that matters. I’m not looking for a friend. He can keep his attitude once this is over.”

  She started to reply, but Pup’s barking attracted our attention. He pawed and snuffled at something on the ground near the rear of the house. We could see him pick up an object, hobble toward the deck, and drop it.

  “Pup!” I called.

  He turned with the object in his mouth and hastened toward us. Although his gait was still awkward due to his injury, it didn’t slow him down.

  “What’s he got?” Gina asked.

  “Don’t get excited. It’s probably a dead bird or a piece of old machinery that the former owner buried. He’s always finding stuff out by the barn. If it’s small enough to carry, he’ll bring it all the way to the back deck.”

  “Holy shit!” Gina’s unflappable composure slipped when Pup drew closer.

  I crouched down to examine his discovery, pushing him away before he could lick my face. “No, Pup. Stay.” He obeyed, but his body shifted restlessly. “Let me see your bone, fella. That’s quite a big one.” I brushed some of the dirt from it and looked up at Gina.

  “It looks human,” she said. “Doesn’t it?”

  My heart was pounding. “That’d be my first impression. Human.”

  Gina went into the house for an evidence bag, put the bone in it, and drove away. When I was sure she was gone, I went to the spot where Pup had made his find. He loped along beside me with his head held high and his eyes bright.

  “Aren’t you the proud one,” I told him, giving his ears a scratch. His protective collar was gone now and his hip was mending nicely. He shook his head and sniffed the ground in a widening circle before approaching the back deck.

  “If you’re looking for the bone, it’s not there,” I called. “Gina took it away.”

  He ignored my voice and bent low to scrape a portion of the deck surface with one paw.

  “Pup? What are you doing?” I hastened to see why he kept worrying that same board. “Hey, guy. You’ll get a splinter, if you’re not careful.”

  Sunlight glinted off of something caught between two of the boards. I kneeled down and saw something metal. With a lot of tugging I managed to pull it loose. It was a medallion just like mine. My heart raced. Kim’s medallion.

  What do I do with it? Should I give it to the police? After Pup and I both messed with it, could they still find anything useful in the way of prints or other evidence? It had been outside in the elements for days, so that was unlikely.

  “I’m the one who needs this most.”

  Pup gave a low woof. I took that as indication of his agreement. The chain was gone. I opened the ring and added the medallion to the chain holding mine, slipping it back around my neck. Instantly, both medallions warmed my chest and my heart soared.

  “Surely, that’s a good sign. She’s alive. It has to mean she’s alive.”

  I gave Pup a tearful hug. “Thank you, Pup. You found two treasures today.”

  Chapter 17

  I went to bed that night the same way I had every night since Kim had been taken. Dressed in her old scrub suit top, now freshly laundered and lacking Kim’s familiar scent, I sat on our bed, hugged her pillow to my chest, and recited the day’s events as best I could remember them.

  The first of my rituals was to rub my medallion, then hers. Once I felt them warm to my touch, I launched into my report.

  “Honey, it’s me. I hope you’re still holding on, still battling.”

  A strong storm had blown through the night before and I worried about her. “Did you hear it or feel it?” I asked her. “Were you out in it someplace? God, I hope not.” The urgent need for tissues interrupted me.

  “We had some excitement around here yesterday. Pup found a bone, a human one. Gina sent it to the lab for testing.” I shuddered. “It wasn’t recently buried. I did, for a brief moment, panic when I saw it, but when I thought it through, I knew it couldn’t have had anything to do with your disappearance. It must’ve been underground several years at least. Gina had the forensics team scour the area for more, but so far, nothing’s turned up. We’ll get a more detailed report in a day or two.”

  I reached for the mug of Earl Grey on the bedside table. “Kimmy, you’d have laughed to see Little Bird’s face when she heard that Gina and I had handled the bone. Seems it’s a Navajo taboo to touch a human one. She said something about the bad spirits, or chindi, getting after us. As if we haven’t had enough bad spirits already. ‘Course, neither Gina nor I are Navajo, but it still bothered Little Bird.”

  I drank some more tea and shifted back against our carved oak headboard. “She and I had an interesting discussion about Navajo taboos, the concept of harmony, and how easily it goes out of whack for them. You’d have been fascinated by all the various ceremonies they perform to restore harmony. Hozho, I think she called it.

  You’ve known her longer than I have, so maybe you’re familiar with some of the rituals. What do you think? Maybe we could learn something from them. She and Jasper spent last weekend on the reservation visiting her clan folk. Bless them. They’re so worried for us.” Fresh tears flowed, requiring more tissues. “Sorry. All this sympathy is getting to me.”

  “Anyway, she came back with a gift. Ghost beads, made from dried juniper berries and seed heads. I’m supposed to sleep with the beads under my pillow to keep nightmares at bay. I suppose it acts on the same principle as a dream catcher, but it’ll take more than that to rid me of the nightmares that plague me now. I need all the help I can get, though, so I’ll hang on to my ghost beads, Greek worry beads, and my Amazon medallion. I’m wearing yours as well now. I wish you had it with you, but it’s a comfort to me. Do you think any of these trinkets will help? I pray a lot for both of us. I send my prayers to every power I can think of, in the present day and in the ancient past, but so far nothing’s happened.”

  I cleared my throat. “If yo
u and I were just Dine - The People - as the Navajo call themselves, we’d have a built-in support group to keep us in balance. Of course, I happen to think that if people would leave us alone for a year or two, we’d have no trouble finding our own balance.” I sniffed and gave in to a mild bout of self pity. “Have I told you lately how much I love you? This being apart is the pits. And physically, well, don’t get me started. Cripes. How do the monks and nuns go without it all their lives? Let me tell you, after just one night, I was aching for you, honey. I’m sitting here right now, wearing your scrub shirt because it’s the closest thing I have to the real you.”

  I closed my eyes. “How I wish I could have you back with me. I miss your hands on me. And your lips, your tongue…” I stopped and took a deep breath to relieve the tightness that had gripped my chest. My eyes flew open. “Shit. I can’t talk about this now.”

  I don’t dare think about how you look all fresh from a shower, how you feel all firm and supple, how your skin tastes, so spicy and sweet. Damn it! I rubbed my face briskly, buried my head in the pillow, and fought to change the subject.

  “That creep Nelson was his usually irritating self today. He and Dad went over all the reports of sightings. Nothing was of use to us. Remember how I told you he was when Dad put up the reward? He said that one hundred grand would bring out all the nutcases and make their job harder. Much as I hate to admit it, he seems to have been right. Someone thought they saw something the morning after you were taken. Apparently, a guy was shoving a plate of what appeared to be ham and eggs into the back of a pickup truck. It had a camper shell with dirty windows so the witness couldn’t see inside, couldn’t tell if it was a person or a dog in there. He described the guy as wearing dark clothing and speaking harshly to whomever or whatever was in the truck. Detective Nelson didn’t get much in the way of a description of the vehicle or the guy, so the lead went nowhere. Since then, the tips have been just as weird. Not that the detective would even waste his precious time telling me about them. I might as well be a piece of dog doo-doo for all he cares.” I snorted into Kim’s pillow.

  “Gina’s a different story. She’s been so open and honest with me. I think you’d really like her. She’s married to a professor at the community college in Espaniola. He teaches criminal justice courses. She’s a sergeant with the Criminal Investigation Division of the State Police. Nelson’s a detective with the Santa Fe Sheriffs Department. They’ve worked together before on homi… Urn, you know, that sort of thing. From what I gather, whenever there’s a serious enough crime in the area, the State Police coordinate efforts in a supervisory capacity. Gina is his boss, and she gets to run him all over the state.”

  I couldn’t resist a chuckle. “Okay, it sounds petty, but you’re not here to see the disgust in his eyes when he looks at me sometimes. Maybe his attitude is because a woman from another jurisdiction is telling him what to do, but most of it’s because he’s a homophobic asshole.”

  I stifled a yawn.

  “That’s about it for tonight, sweetheart. I’m scheduled to go to Chaco Canyon for that meeting next week. We looked forward to going there together, didn’t we? There’s something so spiritual and mystical about that place. I don’t want to go without you, and I’ll begrudge any time away from the search, but it has to be done. I’m the one with the plans and the check. It’s just for one night, anyway, and we’ll probably have you back by then.” I wiped my eyes.

  “I’d better try and get some sleep now. You try, too, okay? I imagine I can expect another restless night of dreams.”

  I gave her pillow a final squeeze. “I’m sorry I’m focusing so much on my needs. Wherever you are, I’m sure you’re having it much rougher than I am. If I dwell too much on that, though, I’ll never get through this. I keep telling myself that you’re a true Amazon. You and I have friends in ancient times. I think of them often, but I guess they’re just too far away to keep on top of things.

  Besides, you don’t have your medallion and access to its powers, but we have plenty of friends and family in the present day who are working to help bring us together again. So, my dearest, my beloved, my long, tall, body beautiful, keep up your courage. I’m thinking of you.”

  I turned off the light and drew the sheet over me. “Pup and the girls send their love, and you know you have mine. Goodnight, honey. Be strong.”

  *

  I inhaled a faint whiff of cedar from the ghost beads under my pillow. Soon, some sage mixed with the woodsy scent. It was burning over a small fire in a windowless hut where I was sleeping on a blanket. Smoke from the fire drifted upward to escape through a hole in the center of the roof. I was dressed in my skimpy Amazon outfit. My body felt drained of energy and my throat was parched. Outside, I could hear drums pounding, softly, persistently, like the beating of my heart. Chants in a foreign but familiar language were punctuated by several violent shakes of a rattle.

  What the hell was going on?

  A man and a woman padded into the hut. The man was middle-aged and looked like some of the Navajo weavers I’d seen on a recent trip to Taos. The woman was old, like the shaman of the Amazon village in ancient Greece. As an archaeologist, I was aware that ancient cultures seemed more closely akin to each other than those of modern times. The nearer we get to the source, I thought, the more alike we are. The old woman reminded me of Little Bird, but Sue’s voice came out of her mouth when she spoke. The man and woman glanced at each other and nodded. “Come, Yazzie,” the woman said to me, her voice almost singing the words.

  I took her hand and swayed. “Where am I?” When I tried to stand, I felt light-headed. The man put his arm around my waist so I wouldn’t fall.

  “She needs to drink,” he said. “The sweat hut has purified her body, but dried it out.”

  The woman left and returned with a cup of cool water. I drank it and asked for more.

  “The sun is sinking. It is almost dark. We must finish the ceremony.” The man hugged me closer, propelling me toward the open doorway.

  “Wait. I have no shoes. How far do we have to go?” My mind was fuzzy and I still felt weak. “Who are you? Where am I? What the hell is going on?”

  The woman returned with more water and a large piece of bread. It was what we Anglos call fry bread. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I started chewing.

  “We must keep walking,” the man said. “The sand must be scattered before the sun leaves us this day.”

  “What sand? Okay, okay, stop pushing me. I’m moving.”

  We walked outside toward a short ridge. I continued to eat the bread and was happy that it calmed my queasy stomach. Silhouettes of men and women framed the top of the ridge. The chanting, drum-beating, and rattle shaking continued at our backs, growing fainter as we climbed the hill. A man who looked like Jasper took a rolled up blanket from a basket. He passed the blanket to my companions, who unfurled it and shook it in four different directions. The man then spoke in English as the sky behind him swallowed up the sun and painted itself in purples, reds, and mauves. Most of his words mentioned beauty and how it should be all around us in every direction.

  When he completed the incantation, he gave me the empty basket. Someone led me back to the hut and encouraged me to lie back on the blanket they had used. It felt gritty against my back. In the dim firelight, I detected red, yellow, white, blue, and black residues. The woman bid me drink some strong herbal tea and sleep again. Through heavy, half-closed eyelids, I saw the man take a feather from a pouch on his belt and touch it to a patch of sandy color on the blanket. He then brushed the feather against my forehead and murmured a few words I didn’t understand. He took a small piece of leather and pressed it to another part of the blanket, lifting another color off to transfer to my lips. By this time I was too tired to focus, but I felt his warm hand trace a circle above my breasts, and a cold pressure, like the weight of a stone, push against my belly.

  “Sleep, Yazzie. May the Yei of our ancestors and your Amazon sisters send a healer to
your heart. Your Hozho is lost and you no longer walk in beauty. May you find your way tonight.”

  My way? Hozho? Holy shit. I was in the middle of some kind of Dine ceremony. Didn’t they know I wasn’t Navajo and didn’t understand them? He’d mentioned Amazons, and I’m dressed in my Amazon next-to-nothings. Maybe they were mixed up in all of this. I’d sort it all out. As soon as I woke up.

  *

  “Kimmy?” I was aware of a woman leaning over me, her hands moving from my chest to my abdomen. With rough fingers she scratched circles and triangles on my bare skin. The touch was familiar. I had felt it in ancient Greece. The shaman was administering to my body and communing with my spirit. It wasn’t Kim, but maybe it was the next best thing.

  She kissed my cheek. “Child, I felt the agony of your thoughts, your spirit keening for your mate, and I came.”

  “Thank the goddess,” I said through my tears. “What took you so long?”

  She laughed, despite the gravity of the situation. “Be silent, now. There is much work to be done. Let me do my work.” She touched my forehead with a small leather pouch.

  I gripped her hand and was aware that tears were streaming down my face.

  “If you must speak, call me Grandmother. I have been in consultation with the Navajo healers of your present life. They have shown me their magic and I will use it to make you whole again. It is all part of a ceremony to restore your balance.”

  I squinted at her in the soft light. She was the same ancient woman I remembered, but her dark eyes had changed. They had become smoldering black coals, radiating the energy and wisdom of the ages. Whatever she had planned terrified and excited me at the same time, but I was willing to try anything that would help me find Kim and bring her home again.

  “My child, you will want to know what is happening, and I will try to tell you as I go along. Dry your tears, now. Amazons do not cry.”

  “Wait a minute. A while back you said crying was okay. Now you say it’s not? I’m in enough trouble here without you contradicting yourself.”