"Yeah.He was."Danny was quiet for a moment."She was murdered, wasn't she?That woman.Someone did that to her."
Kari weighed her response.Danny deserved honesty, but he was also a minor, a witness, someone who would have to live with whatever she told him.
"I don't know yet," she said finally."But I'm going to find out."
CHAPTER NINE
Paul Daniels had made the drive from Window Rock to Flagstaff more times than he could count over the past thirty years, but the route never felt routine.The landscape shifted as the elevation climbed—desert scrub giving way to pine forests, red rock fading into volcanic soil—and with each change, Paul felt himself shedding one identity and assuming another.
FBI agent.Former partner.Reluctant messenger.
Today, he was all three.
James Blackhorse's office at Canyon State University occupied a corner of the anthropology building, a cramped space overflowing with books and papers and the accumulated detritus of an academic career.Paul had been here a dozen times over the years, usually for conversations that straddled the line between professional consultation and personal catch-up.James had a mind that Paul respected, even if their approaches to problems had always been fundamentally different.
James analyzed.Paul acted.In their years working together at the Bureau, that dynamic had solved cases and nearly ended their partnership in equal measure.
He found James at his desk, surrounded by stacks of student papers and archaeological journals.James looked up as Paul entered, his eyes narrowing in wary appraisal.
"Paul," he said slowly, as if realizing this wasn't just a social call.He gestured to the chair across from his desk."This about what happened to Ben Tsosie?"
"Word travels fast."
"In certain circles."James leaned back, studying Paul with the same analytical gaze he'd once applied to crime scenes and suspect interviews."How is he?"
"Recovering.Physically, at least.The rest..."Paul shrugged."He's tough.He'll manage."
"And Kari?"
The question hung in the air between them.Paul took his time settling into the chair, giving himself a moment to consider his approach.James's and Kari's relationship was a minefield he'd been navigating for years—ever since Anna had returned to the reservation and James had stayed behind, ever since the divorce had drawn a line that neither father nor daughter had fully learned to cross.He wanted to be honest, but he didn't want to put himself in the middle of things.
"She's doing what she always does," Paul said."Working the case, pushing forward, refusing to let the bastards win.But she's running out of road, James.We both are."
"Which is why you're here."
"Which is why I'm here."
Paul pulled a folder from his bag and set it on the desk between them.He'd spent the drive organizing his thoughts, figuring out how to present the information without overwhelming James or triggering the skepticism that had always been his former partner's default setting.
"I'm going to give you the short version," Paul said."Stop me if you have questions, but save the detailed analysis for after.You'll want the full picture before you start picking it apart."
James nodded, his expression settling into the focused neutrality that Paul remembered from their years working cases together.Whatever personal complications existed between them, James had always been able to set them aside when the work demanded it.
Paul walked him through everything: Evan Naalnish's remains and the suspicious three-day investigation that had ruled his death inconclusive.Ben's unauthorized entry onto Devco property, his discovery of mining equipment and test holes, his capture and interrogation by men who operated like professionals.The shell corporations that obscured ownership of the land, the pattern of suspicious deaths that Anna had documented, the mounting evidence that someone with significant resources was systematically eliminating threats to their operation.
James listened without interrupting, his eyes moving occasionally to the documents Paul spread across his desk—photographs, corporate records, Anna's handwritten notes.When Paul had finished, the office was silent except for the distant sounds of students passing in the hallway outside.
"You're describing a conspiracy," James said finally."A coordinated effort involving corporate interests, potentially corrupt law enforcement, and multiple homicides spanning decades."
"I know how it sounds."
"It sounds like the kind of theory that gets people labeled as paranoid."James picked up one of Anna's notes, studying her familiar handwriting."It also sounds like exactly what Anna was trying to prove before she died."
"That's not a coincidence."
"No.It wouldn't be."James set down the note and rubbed his eyes."I looked at this material months ago, when Kari first brought it to me.I told her there were patterns, connections worth investigating.Then I handed her a thumb drive and sent her on her way."
"She mentioned that."
