she said, with dog slobber.
He held his smile as his arm dropped to his side. Was he disappointed?
“I live just up that way,” he said, motioning the way he had come. “For now anyway. Until we move back to Piňon Flats.”
She knew that. Likely knew more about him than his own family.
Since the dam collapsed upriver of this reservation, most of the residents of the community of Piňon Flats had been relocated here to high ground in Turquoise Canyon while the temporary rubble dam was reinforced by FEMA. Their permanent houses were still intact, but the dam had already been destroyed in an act of eco-extremism. Neither the tribe elders nor FEMA wanted to put anyone else at risk.
“I heard that will be any day,” she said.
He nodded and grinned.
“How is it I have never seen you before?” he asked and switched to Tonto. “I know that I would remember you.”
That smile made her insides roll and her stomach flutter. It was like swimming against a strong current. Those teeth, that jawline, that elegant nose. Oh, boy, was she in over her head. She hoped he wasn’t guilty because...what? He was handsome? She was smitten? She needed to get a grip.
It wasn’t her job to hope he was guilty or innocent. It was her job to find Louisa. If he had her or was responsible for her disappearance, then that was that.
Ava, you need to lock this down.
“I didn’t get your name,” said Kee.
“I’m Ava Hood.” She didn’t use her legal name, her father’s name. Never had, though her surname, Yokota, did crop up on things like her diplomas and legal documents.
“You didn’t grow up on the rez, Ava. I’d have noticed you.” His smile was so dazzling she needed sunglasses. Suddenly his charm and charisma seemed a threat. It made it easier to resist.
“I am Snake born of Spider,” she said in perfect Tonto Apache in the traditional form of greeting. One always began with the tribe, moved to clans and then relations. Only after these important ties were given, did one mention their own name. “My parents are Eldon and Lydia Hood from Saguaro Flats reservation.” Though her father was Eldon Yokota, she had given the correct first name.
“You speak very well,” he said in English.
The compliment seemed an insult. Besides, she had little choice as her grandmother had no other language but Tonto and she had lived with her until she was eight.
“I know that rez. Small, right?”
“Very.”
“What brings you up here?”
“Visiting my sister. She married a man up here.”
“What’s his name?”
“Diamond Tah.”
Kee’s smile slipped. “Oh.” He nodded and then met her gaze, his smile gone and his eyes serious. “I knew him very well. I used to listen to him play the flute at gatherings. So your sister is—”
“Sara Tah.”
Ava’s sister was newly widowed. Her husband had died one night on his way to the bathroom from a brain aneurysm. He’d been forty-two. That should have been enough tragedy for one year, but it turned out to be only the start.
His gaze flicked away again. Was that guilt? Or did he know that her sister was in far worse shape since her husband’s death than Ava had imagined. The drinking had gotten worse and there had been calls to protective services. It was reason enough for Ava to visit.
Ava waited for him to speak. What would a man who she suspected had a hand in the kidnappings say at this moment?
“I’m very sorry,” he said.
Appropriate, she thought.
“For what?”
He looked surprised, as if this was obvious, but she wanted to hear him say it. “Sara lost her husband recently and now...well, Louisa is missing. I know she’s been...struggling. It’s a terrible tragedy.”
He did not do or say anything that might reveal that he could be the reason for Louisa’s disappearance.
“We are still hopeful.”
“Of course.” He shifted uncomfortably. “How is Sara doing?”
Did he know about her sister’s drinking?
She went on the defensive. It was her fallback position, and protecting her sister came naturally as breathing. The truth was that her sister had lost weight, and didn’t eat. The entire situation made Ava’s chest hurt. “It’s a hard time.”
He nodded. “And the girls?”
She wanted to press a finger into his broad chest and tell him that he didn’t have the right to ask about them. Not ever.
“They’re frightened, mostly. The twins are afraid to leave for school or take the bus. So I’m driving them, for now.”
Margarita and Alexandra were five, and Olivia, only three. These were the children Sara had with Diamond. She’d brought Louisa to the marriage after her first marriage had failed.
Redhorse had treated each one of her sister’s kids. Most damning, he’d treated Louisa on September 30, on her last visit to the tribe’s clinic, just two days before her disappearance.
“I understand that,” he said. “Good of you to be with her at this time. Are you her younger sister?”
“Why do you ask?”
He cast her a shy smile. “You look young.”
“I am the younger sister but not by much. I’m twenty-eight.”
He looked shocked. She got that a lot but not looking her age had advantages. People often underestimated her.
She watched him. He didn’t shift or rub his neck. His gaze did not cut away as if he were anxious to put her behind him. He only held the appropriate look of sadness and concern.
He smiled. “Nice folks.”
“They sure are. I’d do anything for my sister and her kids.” She waited through the awkward pause. Still, he radiated nothing but concern.
“Is that why you bumped into me? You wanted to ask me about them?”
He was smart. She’d give him that but that only made him more dangerous if he was guilty.
“Is there something you’d like to get off your chest?” she asked.
“Off my...me? No,” he said and looked puzzled.
She waited as he cocked
