The Case of the Sin City Sister

by Lynne Hinton

  He glowered at her. “You know what I mean. It was just something I ate or just the stuff we were going through, those files. It’s nothing. It was a silly dream, and I thought it was real but it wasn’t.”

  “Just tell me about the dream,” she repeated.

  He blew out a breath. “She was little, ten or eleven, had those pigtails she always wore. And she was stuck in some cave, a well, or probably a mine, since that’s what I’ve been thinking about. And I heard her calling and I couldn’t get to her, couldn’t find her.”

  “Who was she calling?” Eve wanted to know, though not sure why it mattered.

  “For me,” he answered, glancing down at the phone. “She was calling for me, calling out ‘Daddy,’ which she hasn’t called me since she was about that age.”

  “And then you heard the phone ring?”

  “And then, apparently, I heard Michael’s truck horn.”

  “Whatever,” Eve responded. “But then you heard the noise and then she said for you to get me?”

  He nodded. “Then I answered the phone and she said, ‘Daddy, let me speak to Eve.’ ”

  “And then you got out of bed and jumped to the door and called for me?”

  “Yes, Detective Divine, that’s exactly how it went down.”

  Trooper raised her head and then lowered it back to the floor.

  “Don’t call me that,” Eve said. “And don’t be so grouchy. I’m just trying to understand what happened.”

  “There’s nothing to understand,” he explained. “I had a dream. I got carried away in my dream and confused my subconscious ramblings with reality. It’s not that complicated.”

  “Why do you do that?” Eve asked.

  He seemed confused. “Do what?”

  “That,” she replied. “That way you have of blowing off anything other than what you can prove. Why couldn’t this have been a call from Dorisanne? Why couldn’t this have been some way of her trying to reach out to you, to get your attention? Why does everything have to be so scientific and factual with you? What happened to believing in hunches and intuition?”

  “I believe in hunches and intuition. I don’t believe in people contacting me through dreams.”

  “Well, I do,” Eve noted. “I believe that people are connected to each other on many levels and in many ways, and sometimes those connections are not the ones we expect. Sometimes we are connected in our spirits or in our thoughts.”

  “You’re a nun. You’re supposed to believe that stuff.”

  “Well, you’re a parent. You’re supposed to believe that stuff too.”

  “That was your mother’s role in the family.”

  “See there, you do believe it then, don’t you?”

  “I believe your mother had those kinds of connections with the two of you. She always seemed to know when you were bothered or upset, always seemed to know when something was wrong.”

  “So maybe now it’s you that has the connections.” She looked over at her father.

  He glanced up.

  Eve smiled. “I mean, I know it seems like a real stretch that you could have that kind of a relational gift with your daughters and all, but who’s to say?” She shrugged. “Who’s to say Dorisanne isn’t in trouble? Who’s to say she didn’t send every bit of psychic energy available to her in your direction to ask for help or that Mama didn’t send some message from heaven to advocate for her daughter? Who’s to say they weren’t both moving heaven and earth to get your attention so that they could get your help?”

  He shook his head.

  “What?” Eve asked, unsure of whether he was disagreeing or there was something more.

  “It just seems odd is all.”

  “Yeah, well, anything that can’t be proven with science or facts is odd to you.” She picked up her glass and took it over to the sink. When she turned back around, he was still shaking his head. “What?” she asked again. “I get it. You have a hard time believing this spiritual stuff.”

  “It isn’t that,” he explained. “If she wanted my attention, why did she wake me up to ask for you?”

  FIFTEEN

  Caleb Alford was at the detective agency office on Firehouse Lane first thing the following morning waiting for the Captain and Eve. The sun was up, the sky a perfect blue, and there were songbirds singing, perched high in the branches of the cottonwood tree to the east of the long, rambling row of shops and offices next to the fire station.

  Their client, dressed in a pair of khaki pants, a light jacket, and hiking boots, was sitting on the small wooden bench beside the front door, his back leaned against the wall. He was eating a pastry—a doughnut maybe or one of Twila’s famous cinnamon buns—and a cup, probably holding coffee, Eve thought, was situated near his feet. She saw right away that the man’s breakfast came from the Java Junction, and it made her wonder how long he had been in town. She glanced down at the clock on the dashboard of the truck and saw that it read ten minutes before eight. Mr. Alford was about six hours early for his scheduled appointment. She was a bit disappointed because she wanted to continue her conversation with the Captain about the events of the previous night. He had not wanted to talk about them over breakfast earlier.

  “Good morning, Mr. and Ms. Divine,” he called out as Eve and Jackson exited their vehicle. He stood up with his greeting.

  “Div-een,” the two of them replied at the same time.

  “Right, sorry.”

  “Good morning, Mr. Alford,” the Captain said. He had already slid his legs out of the truck, so he righted himself, stood up, and shut the door. “You’re out bright and early.”

  Eve smiled and waved as she shut the driver’s door and headed toward the office. She was wearing jeans and boots, and when she got to the door, she glanced down, noticing the scratches in the dirt around the front of the building. She thought about Daisy and hoped the cat was okay, safely inside, and that she had not run into trouble with some wild animal during the night.

  “Yeah, I just couldn’t sleep last night. I found out the skeleton isn’t Caleb.” He put down his pastry, wiped his hands on the front of his pants, and held out one to Eve.

  “That didn’t take long,” Eve noted. She quickly shook his hand, stuck the key into the door lock, and hurried inside.

  “You sure you want to come in here?” Jackson asked the client.

  He seemed surprised by the question. “Oh, the cat,” he said. “No worries, I took a pill,” he noted.

  “Oh good,” Eve commented, not as a part of the conversation of the men just outside the door but because Daisy was waiting for her when she walked into the office. The cat was fine and Eve heaved a sigh of relief. She bent down and gave the cat a good scratch under her chin.

  “They were able to tell that my DNA and the mitochondrial DNA extracted from the skeleton bones weren’t a match,” she heard the voice behind her say.

  The two men walked in behind Eve as she picked up Daisy and moved farther into the office. She put the cat back down by her small desk, turned on the light, and then headed straight for the coffeepot that was on the table near the window. She took the empty pot into the back bathroom, rinsed it out, and filled it with water, then walked back to where the men were standing. She poured the water into the machine, put a filter in the basket, and measured out the coffee. She slid the pot back into its place and turned on the maker.

  Caleb waited until Jackson made his way around his desk. The detective removed his hat, hung it on the rack beside the file cabinets, and sat down. He motioned for his client to take a seat in front of him, and Alford did. He was holding his cup, having already discarded the small pastry bag.

  “I still want to find out what happened to him,” Caleb said. “I’m going to hang around a while.”

  Eve made her way to her desk. She was choosing to let the Captain be in charge of this conversation.

  “You don’t have to,” Jackson replied. “I can call you back in Virginia if I hear anything.”

  Caleb shi
fted in his seat. “Actually, I’ve met someone.”

  Eve glanced up.

  “Oh?” the Captain responded.

  “She’s an officer,” Caleb added. “Rochelle Kent.” He crossed his legs, appeared a bit more comfortable. “We met when I first got into town.”

  Jackson nodded. “I know Officer Kent,” he responded. “She’s a fine police officer, a nice person.”

  There was an awkward pause.

  “I’m sure it seems odd that I’ve met someone since I’ve been on this trip. I wasn’t expecting anything like that. I wasn’t looking for this kind of thing.” He took a sip of his coffee.

  “Nothing’s odd about meeting someone,” Jackson replied. He looked over at Eve. “That coffee ready yet?” he asked gruffly.

  “Not yet,” she replied.

  “I know it seems weird that I want to find out what happened to a family member from more than a hundred years ago, but I just feel connected to him, and I want to find out what happened. I feel like I’ve been called to this search. Do you think that’s possible?”

  Jackson didn’t respond right away. “Sure it’s possible. Look, I don’t believe in that hokeypokey stuff, but she does. You need to be talking to her,” he finally commented and raised his chin in Eve’s direction. “She’s your gal when it comes to feeling called to something.”

  Eve rolled her eyes. “It’s hocus-pocus, not hokeypokey.”

  Caleb turned around in his chair to get a better look at Eve. “So, you think it’s possible?” he asked. “Do you think we can find out what happened to my great-grandfather?”

  “I think lots of things are possible,” she responded. She got up and walked over to the coffeepot. She waited a few seconds until it had finished brewing and then poured two cups. She handed one to the Captain. “You want a refill?” she asked their client.

  He shook his head and repeated, “You think we can find out what happened to Caleb?”

  Eve returned to her seat. “I don’t know, Mr. Alford. Probably not,” she said.

  Jackson smiled and nodded his approval.

  “But there’s no harm in doing a thorough investigation,” she added.

  The smile faded from Jackson’s face. Clearly, this was not a case he was interested in pursuing.

  “I was actually planning to leave town this weekend because it seemed I had done everything I could do here. I figured you could just call me if you found anything. But then I met Rochelle, Officer Kent. It just seems like a sign that I’m supposed to stay. Does that make any sense?” He looked first at Jackson and then turned so that he could face Eve. “Does it?”

  Eve looked at the client and then at her father. “It makes perfect sense. You have to read the signs.”

  “Then maybe you’ll take me out to the mine?” he asked.

  The Captain looked puzzled. “Why do you want to go out there? The skeleton wasn’t your family member.”

  Caleb shrugged. “I’d just like to see the place, and you both know your way around out there; maybe you could drive me out?”

  Eve shook her head. “That request you’ll have to take up with him because actually I’m leaving town this afternoon,” she said.

  Jackson looked up. “And just where are you going?”

  “Oh, you should know the answer to that one, Captain. I’ve read the signs. I’m going to Vegas.”

  SIXTEEN

  “I don’t know, Eve.” Daniel had stopped by the office with some more police files for Jackson from the late 1800s. He had secured another year’s worth from the station in Santa Fe. “Vegas?” He dropped the box onto Jackson’s desk and glanced over at the Captain. He looked around. “I thought your client was here.”

  “He’s gone down to Golden to get some gas. He wants me to drive him over to the mine where they found that body.”

  “That was way out past Cerrillos, wasn’t it?” Daniel knew some of the details of the recent find but had not been on the team to locate the remains or manage the scene.

  “Out on the Martinez property,” Jackson replied.

  Daniel nodded. He knew as much about the territory around Madrid as his former partner did. The two of them had spent a lot of time hiking and exploring the hills together when they were younger. He turned back to Eve. “Vegas?”

  “Yes, Vegas,” she answered. “How did you find out so fast?”

  He tapped his forehead. “I’m just smart that way,” he said.

  Eve smiled. “He told you when you called to say you were stopping by.”

  Daniel sat on the edge of the Captain’s desk. “Well, that too. You needing to blow off some steam?” He grinned.

  “No, I don’t need to blow off steam. I told you yesterday I’m worried about Dorisanne. I can’t get any information from the people she works with. She doesn’t answer her phone, and I don’t know how to contact her landlord.”

  “Which isn’t out of the ordinary,” Jackson piped up.

  “Which isn’t out of the ordinary, that’s true,” Eve agreed. “But I just feel like I need to see things with my own eyes.”

  “If you want, I can get the police to send someone over to the apartment. I know one of the detectives out there.” He looked at Jackson. “Beefy guy who used to work with us and moved over to Nevada about ten years ago.”

  Jackson seemed to be thinking.

  “James Drennan,” Daniel noted.

  “Drennan,” Jackson repeated. He shook his head. “I don’t remember him.”

  Daniel turned to Eve. “He’s a good guy. You want me to call over there and ask a favor?”

  “No, I feel like I just want to go there myself.”

  Daniel nodded as if he understood. “You got your ticket yet?”

  “Ticket?” She sounded surprised.

  “Airline ticket. You do realize this is Las Vegas, Nevada, and not Las Vegas, New Mexico?” Daniel crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Of course I realize that. But I still thought I could take the bike. What is it, eight or nine hours?”

  “It’s about six hundred miles,” Jackson answered.

  “Then I was right, it’s about eight or nine hours,” she responded.

  Daniel and Jackson exchanged a glance.

  “Are you going to tell her or am I?” Daniel wanted to know.

  “You tell her,” Jackson replied. “She doesn’t listen to me.”

  “Tell her what?” Eve asked.

  “That you are not driving that bike all the way to Vegas,” Daniel answered. He stood up. “It’s an hour flight from Albuquerque.”

  “I don’t want to fly,” she explained. “I want to drive.”

  “You’re not driving that bike to Vegas,” he repeated.

  “Then I’ll take the truck,” she said in compromise.

  Daniel shook his head. “I got some vacation days stored up, and since we’re slow, I’ll just take off the rest of the week.”

  “I don’t need a driver,” she exclaimed.

  “No, you need a babysitter,” the Captain noted. “You shouldn’t be in Vegas by yourself. You’re a nun for heaven’s sake.”

  “Exactly,” Eve responded. “That makes it even safer for me.”

  “Where do you plan on staying?” Jackson asked.

  “There’s a shelter there run by the Catholic diocese of the city. Some of the monks told me about it. I’ll stay there.”

  “In a homeless shelter?” Daniel was the one asking.

  Eve nodded.

  “In Vegas?”

  “Yes, in Vegas,” she replied, incensed by their questions and their assumptions that she couldn’t manage this trip alone.

  “Yeah, see, that ain’t happening,” Daniel replied. “I’ll make the hotel arrangements and I’ll pick you up first thing tomorrow. Pack for three or four days.”

  Eve threw up her hands and slumped back into her seat.

  Daniel turned to face Jackson. He patted the top of the box he had brought in. “So, here’s everything from the 1890s. There’s ev
en some stuff from 1900 in there. I thought I’d give you an extra year. I didn’t look in them so I don’t know exactly what’s there. You think it’s still the same lawman?”

  Jackson reached up, pulling the box of records toward him. “Sheriff Lawson Carson is the man of the times, and it appears as if he liked to write reports.”

  “Yeah, what’s he reporting?”

  “Who stole a horse, who shot a miner, who started a fight in the bar.”

  “Sounds about the same as your reports.” Daniel grinned.

  “You’re still a funny guy.” Jackson opened the box and pulled out some of the files.

  “Are you not giving me any choice about going with me to Vegas?” Eve was still in shock that decisions were being made without her input.

  Daniel turned around to answer her. “You can pick where we stop for lunch.” He turned back to the Captain. “So the man is coming back and you’re driving him out to the Martinez place?”

  “What’s it been? A couple of weeks since they found the skeleton?” Jackson asked.

  Daniel nodded. “It’s probably fine. But if you want, I can go over there and check it out first.”

  “It’s all right. I’ll just drive out and see. If we can’t get to the scene at least I’ll have shown this guy the area around the old mine. He seems determined to check the place out.”

  “Okay then,” Daniel said, “I’m heading back to Santa Fe and try to do some police business.” He knocked on the Captain’s desk, a gesture of farewell, and then walked over to Eve.

  “Don’t worry, little sister. I’ll not get in the way of your drinking or gambling. See you in the morning.” He winked and before she could respond, Daniel was out the door.

  SEVENTEEN

  “That’s all you’re taking?” Daniel took the small duffel bag from Eve’s hand and placed it in the open trunk of his car.

  “Why? Should I have packed more?” She walked around to the trunk and immediately noticed Daniel’s large suitcase inside. “How long do you think we’re going to stay?” she asked.