next day Cord had left the reservation. Hadn’t even waited for her burial. Even now, years later, he couldn’t figure out why and the thought still got to him. There was nothing in his useless life he’d regretted more than missing her funeral. Not even the fact that he hadn’t finished high school and hadn’t gotten his GED until he was twenty-two. And only then because he’d been badgered into it by Madeleine Sweeney. But he’d owed the woman. Big-time. Owed her his life, probably.
After three harsh years in L.A., she’d been the first person to really give a damn about him. Sure, he’d tackled the guy who tried ripping off her purse at the sidewalk bistro where she’d been lunching and Cord had been busing tables. But she’d had megabucks and an important producer husband, and she could’ve just as easily given Cord her thanks instead of the introduction that led to his lucrative job as a stuntman.
Sadly, he had attended her funeral last year. The emotional ceremony and church full of mourners had brought up a whole mess of shit he didn’t want to think about. He rolled over onto his stomach, a sudden image of his grandmother’s brown face wreathed in a smile so vivid his breath caught.
He opened his eyes, blinked and then squeezed them shut again, burying his face deeper into the soft comforter.
That had been happening a lot lately. Fleeting memories of her that unsettled him. Last month he’d even foolishly thought he’d caught a glimpse of her standing near a street vendor’s cart on Olvera Street. Madeleine’s untimely death had obviously kicked up a lot of guilt no matter how much he reasoned with himself that he hadn’t actually abandoned Masi. She’d been dead. Gone. Before he’d ever set foot off the reservation.
If anything, she’d abandoned him.
The crazy thought came out of nowhere. She hadn’t chosen to leave him. If she’d had it in her power to stay, she would’ve protected him from the hate and bigotry he encountered after he’d left the Dine. If she hadn’t died, he may never have left at all.
Funny, as a rebellious teen he’d ridiculed the language and customs of the Dine, but even today he thought of them in terms of the Navajo word they called themselves. Dine. The People. It came as naturally to him as breathing. Without resentment. Without judgment.
Besides, he’d never had any quarrel with the Dine. He had some fond memories of days spent swimming in the river and fishing with Bobby Blackhawk, sleeping outside under the stars and sitting around a campfire repeating old Navajo legends they’d heard from the elders.
But he didn’t kid himself that he would’ve been content to stay on the reservation even if his grandmother had lived longer. At fourteen, he’d started getting restless, curious about life outside of his sheltered existence. But at fifteen, he’d been ill-prepared to face adult realities.
On cold lonely nights, his only comfort had been the secret fantasy that he’d once again meet Masi. That maybe she’d traveled to California ahead of him and had been busy setting up a home for them.
He smiled at the memory, reached for one of the pillows propped up against the headboard. By her own belief, the Navajo belief, a spirit never truly died but went on to another life in another place. Naturally he thought that was a bunch of crap—when your time was up, everything went black. No more second chances. Dirt to dirt pretty much summed it up.
He flopped onto his back again and slipped the pillow under his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the duffel bag. Damn it, he had to make up his mind about the Winslow business. Deadwood was a hell of a long way to go for nothing.
CORD OPENED HIS EYES and jackknifed off the bed, his heart hammering his chest. The room was almost black, except for the light from the pool’s reflection intermittently swirling in through the slanted blinds. He stared at the window, still open several inches, and listened. There was only silence now. And his own ragged breathing.
It was a dream. Just a crazy dream.
His pulse slowed as his eyes grew more accustomed to the darkness. How long had he slept? His gaze went to the alarm clock on the nightstand. The glowing red numbers told him it was just after midnight. He swung his feet to the floor, feeling shaky from the events of the dream. Not that he remembered much, only fractured bits of recollection filtered past the fog of sleep. No mistake, the dream had been about Masi.
Normally when he dreamt of his grandmother, he felt comforted. Not tonight. The edginess that crawled over his nerve endings wouldn’t cease. He closed his eyes again, trying desperately to recall more of the dream. He stretched his neck from side to side, trying to ease the tension, as if he could shake loose a memory.
They’d been sitting at their cook fire on the reservation, that much he remembered. Except they were outside and the sun was beginning to set. His age was fuzzy, and Masi looked like she always had—slightly stooped, leathery skin, old before her time. An eagle soared overhead and she’d pointed skyward…and then…
Cord exhaled sharply, and opened his eyes. That’s all he could remember. Frustrated, he pushed up from the bed. The wavering light from the pool caught on the outline of a dark lump sitting between the armoire and the closet. He strained to make out what it was. The black leather duffel.
That’s all it took. Memories of the dream washed over him. The eagle turning into a plane, golden sunlight gilding by the distant hills, the Black Hills, just like in the travel agency brochures. He knew suddenly, deep down in his gut. Masi had plainly told him to go to Deadwood.
TOO BAD, CORD THOUGHT as he stopped the car in front of the Deadwood property. The house was huge, two and a half, maybe three stories, with a big porch facing the west where you could sit and watch the sun go down. The main door was off center, a peculiarity he kind of liked. He wondered which part of the house they were tearing down.
The new owner, who was a developer, had had it with both freelance detectives and reporters, according to his secretary. She’d stopped short of giving Cord a key but she made sure he understood the place was currently deserted and, with a flashing dimple, subtly let him know that the kitchen door was likely to be unlocked. He’d promised the cute little blonde a quiet dinner.
Why not? How much time would it take to find out this case was a dead end? After waiting in crowded airports and then enduring two choppy flights, the whimsy of last night’s dream had worn thin. So had his patience. The blonde would prove a nice distraction tonight. What was her name…? Sue—slightly younger and shorter than he liked them, but she was eager.
He probed his aching shoulder and took a deep breath against the cramping pain. Flying coach was a bitch for someone as tall and broad as he was, but he had to make the cash Leslie had given him last as long as possible. He had every intention of paying her back the amount he’d siphoned off for rent, and whatever he spent on dinner tonight, but the rest was gonna be on her nickel for sending him on this fool’s errand.
After following the side of the house, he spied the kitchen through a bare bay window. With the toe of his black snakeskin boots, he carefully picked his way through some debris to the stoop.
Just like Sue had said, the door was unlocked. Good, they couldn’t get him on breaking, only entering. He smiled wryly, and unnecessarily touched the butt of his gun through his sport jacket. He didn’t need the piece. Transporting it had been more trouble than it was worth. But who knew? Maybe he could finish his business here and still pick up Mad Dog’s trail. General consensus was that the guy had left L.A. and headed east. Cord only needed to swing south to cross his path.
As soon as Cord stepped over the threshold, a cloud of particle-board
