Chilling Effect (An Aroostine Higgins Novel Book 2)

by Melissa F. Miller

  “Missing weapons, a dead guy, and a child in danger should move the needle.”

  “Probably, eventually—but it’s going to take time.”

  “Who’s going to take care of this kid until all the right butts get kissed?”

  His answer was both what she expected and what she dreaded.

  “You are.”

  Joe drummed his fingers on the side table and smiled blankly at Ruby. She clearly wasn’t in the mood for small talk, but they couldn’t just sit there and stare at each other while Aroostine conducted her whispered conversation with Sid in the back room.

  He cleared his throat. “So tell me about Lily.”

  Ruby looked up from examining her chipped nail polish. “Why?”

  “Because she must be a special kid. After Aroostine met her, she insisted we needed to help bring Isaac’s killer to justice. She made an impression on my wife, so I’m curious about her.”

  The hint of a reluctant smile crossed Ruby’s face.

  “She is a special kid. Always has been. I got pregnant with her when I was a senior in high school. Her dad took off, just vanished from the reservation one day. Even his folks couldn’t find him. Anyway, I finished up school. She was supposed to be born in August, but Lily had a different plan. She came in June—six weeks early.”

  Ruby paused and shook her head at a private memory then continued, “Man, was she a fighter, though. They sent us home even though she wasn’t even five pounds. Tiny but fierce, the doctors said. And that’s the way she’s always been. She’s a tough kid and smart as the dickens. Creative, independent. She deserves better than this dump, that’s for sure. That’s one reason I liked her being around Isaac, you know? Show her there’s more to the world.”

  She fell silent again. He could tell she was thinking about the threat that had been left on her kitchen counter. He couldn’t blame her. He tried to imagine being a parent and knowing his child was in danger. Just the thought of it chilled his blood. Part of him wondered why Ruby stayed on the reservation at all if she found it so depressing. But that was a thought for another time. They had to focus on protecting her daughter now.

  “We won’t let anything happen to her.”

  Her dark eyes narrowed, and she pinned him with a shrewd, searching look. “Is that a promise you can keep? Who are you guys, anyway?”

  “I’m a carpenter.”

  She blinked. “Like, with wood?”

  “Yeah, like that.” He was technically a master woodworker, but he doubted Ruby would be impressed by the distinction.

  “Um . . .”

  “Aroostine’s a lawyer with the Department of Justice,” he rushed to assure her.

  “Yeah, that’s what she said. But I mean, who are you? You’re white, obviously. She’s native, right? I mean, she looks like it, but she sure doesn’t act like she grew up on a res. I figure with a name like Aroostine, though . . .” Ruby trailed off, whether from embarrassment at her stereotyping or just because she really couldn’t place Aroostine, he couldn’t tell.

  “She’s a member of the Lenape Nation. But she was adopted by a white family when she was about Lily’s age.” As he said the sentence, something clicked into place in his brain. Aroostine had been about Lily’s age when her grandfather had died and she’d been whisked away from her heritage. Her fierce need to help the girl was starting to make more sense—to him, at least. He wondered if Aroostine had pieced it together.

  “Oh.” Ruby fell silent again, processing the information.

  He resumed his drumming on the side table. They sat like that until Aroostine emerged from the bedroom.

  “Well?” he asked.

  “Sid’s working on getting protection for Lily and Ruby.”

  Ruby’s head snapped up. “What kind of protection?”

  “It’ll depend. How would you feel about a vacation, somewhere back East? Could you get off work?”

  “Probably. I’d have to pull Lily out of school, but, shoot, she’d learn more on a trip off the reservation than she will sitting at a desk for the next fifty years.” At the notion of getting away for a while, Ruby’s face softened and her shoulders relaxed.

  Aroostine nodded her agreement at the sentiment.

  “Okay, it’ll take a few days to arrange. In the meantime, we’ll stick around and help keep an eye on Lily while you’re at work.”

  Joe felt his eyebrows shoot up his forehead. They would? There went their getaway.

  Aroostine painted him with a look like she knew exactly what he was thinking and thought he needed to get over it.

  He twisted his mouth into a knot and gave her a look right back. They weren’t qualified to act as bodyguards for the girl.

  Her black eyes flashed. Later, not in front of Ruby. The message came across so clearly it was as if she’d spoken the words aloud.

  He nodded; there was no point in trying to argue now. Aroostine on a mission was an unstoppable force.

  “Sure, right. So now what?” he asked.

  She rewarded him with a warm smile and turned back to Ruby. “What time does Lily get home from school?”

  “Um, the bus drops her off at quarter to four. I have to leave for work at six tonight.”

  “Great. You catch a nap. Joe and I are going to get our stuff and check out of our hotel. We have a few errands to run, too, but we should be back well before Lily gets home. Just in case, though, we’ll stop by Boom’s and ask him to keep an eye out, too. Is that okay?”

  Ruby nodded slowly. “Yeah. Boom’s an odd duck—stuck in the past. But most folks respect him. I don’t think anyone will mess with us if it’s clear he’s got our back.”

  “Perfect.” Aroostine crossed the room and took the woman’s hands in hers. “We aren’t going to let anything happen to you and your daughter. You have my word.”

  For his part, Joe sincerely hoped that was a promise they could keep.

  CHAPTER TEN

  They walked Ruby home and confirmed that her house was empty. She locked herself in with a promise to rest. She sure looked as if she needed it—her eyes and skin were dull and tired and she was pale with worry. But if she showed up for her shift looking so much like the anxious mother she was, she’d never get any tips. The heaviness of Ruby’s responsibilities was weighing on Aroostine. She had to wonder how the woman—younger than she was by a few years—was coping so well.

  She walked in silence toward Boom’s house, lost in her thoughts. Beside her, Joe kicked up dust with his feet. He cleared his throat once, and then a second time. Belatedly, she realized he was trying to get her attention.

  “Sorry. Do you want to say something?” she asked.

  He stopped in the middle of the path. His blue eyes flashed with a rare glint of steel. Uh-oh. She held her breath and waited.

  “For the record, I’m not going to try to talk you out of this.”

  She exhaled.

  “Duly noted, for the record.” She smiled at him, but he wasn’t mollified.

  “The reason I’m not going to argue about this is I know it’d be a waste of my breath. That doesn’t mean I think this little scheme is a good idea. It isn’t. It’s a terrible idea.”

  She regarded him for a moment. Then she nodded. “Yeah, it is. As far as ideas go, this one sucks. Unfortunately, Joe, I don’t see a better alternative. Do you? If you do, spit it out and we can go back to the previously scheduled program of five-star meals, overstuffed beds, and soaks in the private hot tub on the balcony outside our room.”

  He huffed and then reluctantly said, “No. I don’t.”

  She nodded. “Then let’s get on with it, okay?”

  A half smile sprung to life on his lips, and he leaned in to kiss her by her ear. “Yes, ma’am.”

  They lapsed back into silence, but she reached over and interlocked her fingers with his as they continued along the path.

  Her shoulders felt lighter somehow.

  They reached the front of Boom’s worn but tidy home, and she hesitated. He
seemed to sense the reason.

  “How much are you going to tell him?”

  “I don’t know. As much as we have to.”

  Ruby thought it was okay to trust the old man. And Aroostine’s gut wasn’t telling her otherwise, but she didn’t know Boom from Adam.

  “He seems okay,” Joe offered.

  She shrugged. “It’s not like we really have any choices. We need to get our stuff, and I want to stop by a library. Someone’s got to keep an eye on Ruby and Lily for us.”

  “A library? You looking for some light reading?”

  “I want to look at articles about the drone facility. And, yes, I realize I can search them from my phone—or laptop. But I don’t want anyone to be able to trace it, and I think we both know—”

  “Nothing’s private in the electronic age.”

  They’d learned that one the hard way. But it wasn’t a lesson either of them would forget any time soon: you never knew who might be monitoring your every move from some remote location.

  “Yeah.”

  Joe looked at her for a full thirty seconds, his face serious. “Okay. You talk to Boom. I’ll call the hotel and just let them know we’re coming. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it short and sweet.” He stepped a few feet away from the house and pulled out his cell phone.

  She stepped up to the door and gave it a solid rap with her knuckles. While she waited, she took note of the feathered dream catcher hanging in the front window. She wondered if Boom really cared about the old Ojibwe custom or if the decoration was for the benefit of tourists. Her grandfather used to shake his head at old ladies hawking dream catchers at flea markets and roadside stands. He said they were as bad as the yuppies who bought them, if not worse. Selling off our heritage one trinket at a time, until there’s nothing left. At the time, she hadn’t understood. Couldn’t they always make more dream catchers? Now, of course, she realized he was objecting to his people participating in their own cultural appropriation—a subject that she didn’t truly understand, having left the traditional ways behind.

  The childhood memory was interrupted when Boom’s front door swung open. He stood on the other side, completely unsurprised to see her.

  “Aroostine. Good morning, daughter.” He beamed at her.

  The term of endearment tripped her up, coming on the heels of her memory of her grandfather. Her grandfather may not have ever hung a woven, feathered web in his front window to filter out his bad dreams, but Boom shared his quiet gravitas. It unsettled her. “Uh, good morning.”

  “I trust you were able to rest after I left?”

  After the vision.

  “I did; I really didn’t think I’d go back to sleep, but that tea must have held some magic.” She was just making small talk, but he nodded gravely as if to say, yes, there was magic in the tea.

  Get a hold of yourself, Higgins, she ordered internally in her best Sid impression.

  “Would you like to come in?” He stepped aside to give her a path.

  “Thank you, but no. Joe and I have to run some errands, but I’m here to ask you a favor.”

  His hooded eyes sparked with interest, and a small smile played across his lined face.

  “Yes.”

  “Yes what?”

  “Yes, I will help you.”

  “Don’t you want to know what I need?”

  “No. It doesn’t matter, daughter. You are helping our people, so I shall help you.”

  She blinked at that and glanced behind her. Joe was ending his call and putting his phone back in his pocket.

  “Oh, okay. That’s great. What I need is for you to keep an eye on Ruby and Lily Smith, just until I get back.”

  It was his turn to blink.

  “Ruby? You don’t—surely, she’s not involved in this mess?”

  “No, nothing like that. She was friendly with Isaac. It seems someone believes she knows something, and they’re trying to convince her to keep it to herself.”

  His face clouded. “Ruby’s been threatened?”

  “And her daughter.”

  “Your spirit guide was trying to warn you.”

  “Maybe.” She didn’t want to think about the vision. “Right now, though, we need to worry about whoever wrote the note, and not an imaginary beaver.”

  “Buckmount,” he spat, storms gathering in his black eyes.

  She took a half step back. “Maybe. He does seem to have spread the story about Isaac being mixed up with white drug dealers. But don’t assume it’s him. That would be dangerous. It could be anyone.”

  “It could be, but it isn’t. Yes, I will do what I can to keep Ruby Smith and her daughter safe. But I cannot protect Ruby while she’s at work. Sadly, Lee and his armed security guards will have complete access to her at the casino.”

  She swallowed around the lump in her throat. “I know. We’ll try to be back before her shift starts. Joe can go to the gaming floor and play the role of drunk white man while he watches out for her.”

  Joe approached as she explained her idea. Even though she’d just come up with it on the fly, he nodded like it was a well-considered plan.

  “Yup.”

  Boom nodded as well. “That could work. Lily should be safe as long as she’s at school. But to be sure, I’ll stop by. I teach a session on our traditional ways each semester. My presence there won’t draw any interest or surprise.”

  “Does your seminar include dream catchers?” Aroostine asked the question before she could stop herself. It was rude, but the dream catcher seemed so out of place, she really wanted to know.

  His eyes shifted to the feathered decoration hanging in his window. “Eh, that. It’s nothing—you know, before you were born, that was a symbol of pan-Indian unity, Aroostine. A way for the tribes to reach across our differences. But now? It’s just tourist crap. Hanging it there was Lee’s bright idea. He treats me like some curiosity to display to his investors, but he also funds my cultural board generously, so I choose my battles.”

  “Oh.” She felt a sudden wave of sympathy for the old man. She waited a beat and then continued, “Speaking of the cultural board, is it okay if we stay in the cottage for a few more nights? We’d be happy to make a donation to the board,” she asked.

  “Nonsense. You’ll stay as long as you like, as our guests.”

  “Thank you.”

  Behind her, Joe shuffled his feet in the dust. “We should get going, Roo, if you want to be back before six.”

  Joe was right. They had a good distance to cover.

  “Thank you, Boom.” She turned to leave.

  “No, thank you, daughter. And Aroostine—?”

  “Yes?”

  She turned back, and he pierced her with a meaningful look. “Be open to your spirit guide. You may get another message. Trust it.”

  She nodded, trying to shake the feeling that Boom was himself trying to give her a message, and fell into step next to Joe. They headed toward the Jeep. She glanced over her shoulder. Boom stood watching them from his doorway.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Joe unlocked the passenger door for her and held it open. Then, as he did every time they’d gotten in a car since college, he leaned over and kissed her. It was part of their routine, as natural as breathing after all these years. She smiled, her lips parting against his warm mouth, and leaned in close to him.

  Then she sniffed the air twice and pulled back.

  “Jeez. I’ll grab a shower at the hotel,” he said in mock indignation.

  She shook her head. “No. Do you smell that?”

  He turned his nose toward the front of the car and inhaled. “What?”

  “Cleaning supplies.” She wrinkled her nose. “Or maybe pool chemicals?”

  He took another deep sniff.

  “Nope, sorry. It’s probably just rental car detailing.” He dismissed it with a shrug.

  “I guess.”

  She slid into the passenger seat, but unease had lodged itself in the pit of her stomach. Joe walked around the front of t
he Jeep. The sunlight glinted off his blond hair turning it gold.

  He settled into the seat beside her and put the key in the ignition. She sniffed again. The smell seemed even stronger. Her eyes were watering.

  “Wait—you really don’t smell that?”

  He gave her a careful look. “I really don’t. What are you thinking?”

  Her mind flashed to Lee Buckmount standing beside the vehicle when they’d walked back from their stargazing in the meadow.

  “What if somebody tampered with the car?”

  His blue eyes darkened. He removed the key from the ignition without another word and popped the hood release.

  He stepped out of the car and she followed. He lifted the hood and stared down at the engine and at—whatever the other parts were. As a nondriver, she wasn’t sure what they were looking for, but she trusted Joe would notice if anything seemed out of the ordinary. He stuck his head into the engine compartment and poked around with both hands for a few seconds. He straightened to standing and slammed the lid shut with a solid thunk.

  “Everything seems fine, babe.”

  She forced a smile.

  “That’s good. I guess I’m just spooked.”

  “Understandably.” He gave her shoulders a quick squeeze and then returned to the Jeep. He started the ignition and let it idle, waiting for her to join him. Apparently, the door-holding/kissing ritual applied once per trip. She grinned at that notion and started back to the passenger seat.

  As she reopened the door, the smell of chlorine wafted over her, unmistakable this time.

  “Wait,” she shouted into the front compartment of the Jeep.

  She squatted beside the vehicle and twisted her neck to examine the undercarriage. It was oily and streaked with black dirt. She grabbed hold of the side with some reluctance. Her hands were going to be filthy. But she pulled herself underneath and scanned the length of the vehicle.

  There it was. Right under the gas tank, a filmy white plastic soda bottle was affixed to the underside of the Jeep with electrical tape. She reached for it, unthinkingly, and then stopped herself. Her hands began to shake uncontrollably, while her brain processed what her eyes saw.