"Detective, we've got a report of a body found out near the Yazzie sheep trail, off 191.Caller is a teenage boy, Danny Begay—he's at the Conoco station waiting for someone to take his statement.Says he found a woman lying in the desert, not breathing.He's pretty shaken up."
Kari sat up straighter, her conversation with Paul instantly pushed to the back of her mind."Any other details?"
"He said she was wearing running clothes.That's all we got before he started losing it.Patrol is twenty minutes out, but Captain Yazzie thought you'd want to handle this one personally given your caseload."
"Tell the kid to stay put.I'm fifteen minutes away."Kari slid out of the booth."And make sure nobody else goes out to the scene until I get there."
"Copy that, Detective."
She ended the call and met Paul's eyes.He had straightened in his seat, watching her intently.
"Never stops, does it?"he asked.
"Not when you want it to."She paused at the edge of the booth."I'll think about what you said.About my father.But right now, I've got a body to process."
He said nothing.She headed for the door, leaving Paul alone with his coffee and the ghost of Johnny Cash still drifting from the jukebox.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Conoco station sat at the junction of 191 and a county road that led nowhere in particular, a squat building with faded pumps and a hand-lettered sign advertising live bait that Kari suspected hadn't been updated in years.She spotted the kid immediately—sitting on the curb near the air pump, his bicycle lying in the gravel beside him, his whole body radiating the particular stillness of someone trying very hard not to fall apart.
Kari felt a pang at the sight of him.The sight of death always came as a shock, never mind when you were just a kid.
Kari parked and took a moment to observe him before getting out.Seventeen, maybe eighteen.Thin, with the wiry build of someone who hadn't quite finished growing into his frame.He wore faded jeans and a t-shirt, and his hands were clenched together between his knees, knuckles pale against brown skin.His eyes were fixed on the pavement in front of him, seeing something that wasn't there.
She'd seen that look before.The thousand-yard stare of someone who had stumbled into a reality they weren't prepared for.
Kari approached slowly, giving him time to register her presence before she spoke."Danny Begay?"
He looked up, and she saw the fear flash across his face before he could hide it—the instinctive wariness of a kid who expected authority figures to bring trouble.Then he noticed her badge, and he relaxed.
"Yeah.That's me."His voice was steadier than she'd expected, but she could hear the strain beneath it."Are you the detective?"
"Kari Blackhorse, Navajo Nation Police."She lowered herself to the curb beside him, close enough to talk quietly but not so close that he'd feel crowded."Dispatch told me you found something out by the Yazzie sheep trail."
"Not something.Someone."Danny's hands tightened between his knees."A woman.She's dead.I know she's dead, even though she looks like—" He stopped, swallowed hard."She looks like she's just sleeping.But she's not."
"Okay.I'm going to need you to show me where you found her.But first, I want to make sure you're all right."Kari kept her voice calm, unhurried."Finding something like that—it's not easy.It stays with you."
Danny let out a breath that was almost a laugh."Yeah.I figured that out."
"Is there someone I can call for you?Your parents, a relative?"
"My mom's at work.She doesn't—" He shook his head."I don't want to worry her.Not yet.Not until I have to."
Kari nodded.She understood that impulse, the desire to protect family from things that couldn't be undone."All right.But I'm going to need to talk to her eventually, and it would be better if she heard about this from you first."
"I know."Danny finally met her eyes, and she saw something there beyond the shock—a stubborn resilience, the determination to hold himself together through sheer force of will."Can we just...can we go out there first?Get it over with?I keep seeing that woman's face every time I close my eyes, and I think maybe if I go back, if I see you do your job and take care of her, it'll be easier to—I don't know, to tell myself I did all I could, I guess."
She studied him for a moment, weighing the request.Standard procedure would be to take his statement here, send him home, and process the scene without a civilian present.But Danny wasn't a suspect—he was a witness, a kid who had stumbled into something terrible and was trying to find his footing.Sometimes being present while the professionals took over was exactly what a person needed.
"All right," she said."You can ride with me.But once we get there, you stay back.You don't touch anything, you don't go near the body.Understood?"
Danny nodded quickly, relief washing over his features."Understood."
They loaded his bicycle into the back of her Jeep and headed out, Danny directing her to a turnoff she would have missed on her own—a dirt track that wound between rock formations and scrub brush, barely visible unless you knew where to look.He'd been coming out here to meet a girl, he admitted, his voice carrying a mixture of embarrassment and grief that told Kari the romantic rendezvous had been completely overshadowed by what he'd found instead.
She didn't press for details.That part of the story didn't matter right now.
