Lea was cowering when Kino got into the SUV. He spun so that his shoulders filled the gap between the seats.
“Was that him?” he asked.
Lea shook her head. “Not him.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
She couldn’t put her finger on it, but the way the man had looked at her, with a sort of triumph, had washed her entire body cold. Her mouth had gone dry and her head was still pounding.
Clay slipped into the front passenger seat. “He’s dirty. You know a guy living in BIA housing can’t afford toys like that. Hell, it took me a year to save up for my boat, and I’m working overtime five days a week.”
“Which is why you don’t have a girlfriend,” said Kino without looking at him. His eyes were still on Lea, sweeping her face, his concern showing in the slight downward tug at the corners of his mouth.
“I prefer my boat,” said Clay. “Jason said he’d call us when they run the VINs on those vehicles.”
Kino shifted back into the driver’s seat and put them in Drive. “Who?”
“The tribal officer we met in the outbuilding. Jason Beach was his name.”
Lea listened to their exchange, trying to get her heart rate to return from frantic to terrified. What would happen now?
Kino was talking. “...can’t go back to her place. He might have figured out his mistake by now.”
“If she doesn’t show for work they’ll list her as a missing person. Everyone will be looking for her.”
Kino glanced at her in the rearview—the problem they needed to solve. “We’ve got to report in. Lea, I want to see your director. DeClay. I’m going with you to rule him out.” He glanced at Clay. “Then we can report in.”
“But he knows Ernesta,” said Lea. “Surely he can tell us apart.”
“At night? From the back?”
From the back? Had that coward shot Ernesta in the back? Lea’s shoulders slumped as she sagged in the seat, the belt holding her upright. Ernesta was a wonderful, committed person who’d done all she could to make the world a better place. This was all so very wrong.
“You going to leave her without protection?” Clay sounded astonished.
“No. I’m riding with her.”
They’d reached Oasis headquarters in Pima when Clay got a call. He wrote something down and then thanked the caller before disconnecting.
“That was Beach. He said the vehicles are all registered to the same person.”
“Who?”
“Rosa Keene.”
“That’s the same name we got for that old truck. The one he was driving.”
“Yup.”
“So who is she?” asked Kino.
“I don’t know, but Beach says Moody is denying knowledge. Says he was just holding them for a friend who likes to take them out in the desert.”
“That’s bull.”
“Yeah, but Coco didn’t find any drug evidence on his property. Beach says that the only place they got a clear signal was in the vehicles and Moody doesn’t own them.”
“He’s going to walk.”
“Seems like it.”
“Call Gabe. Get him to send someone to Rosa Keene’s address. Find out anything he can about her and ask him to call us back.”
“He’s going to see the state police up there today.”
Kino grimaced. The brothers exchanged a look in silence and Clay looked away. He gave a long-suffering sigh and made the call.
Kino left Clay in the running SUV and opened her door. He offered his hand and she walked with him into the offices of Oasis on rubbery legs. She was still wobbly when Margie got up and enveloped her in a warm hug.
Lea breathed in the scent of baby powder and coffee.
“You poor thing. You come and sit here. I heard about Ernesta. Anthony has already contacted her folks. He said you didn’t answer your phone. He’s pretty worried.”
“I shut it off.” She hadn’t but Kino didn’t want her answering.
“Geez, he was gonna call the police today and report you missing.”
Just as Clay had predicted.
“Don’t worry about the truck. Anthony picked it up this morning. I’m so sorry I gave you those keys. I had no idea.” Margie started to cry.
Kino pulled a tissue off her desk and handed it over with a request to see Anthony DeClay. Margie took them out back where the man in charge of this arm of Oasis stood on a truck bed filling a 200-gallon tank with water. Her tread slowed and Margie got farther ahead of them. Kino gripped her arm.
“Is that him?”
“I can’t tell yet.” But it looked like the man who had aimed that rifle at her. Same tall, lean frame. Same short brown hair. He wore jeans, construction boots and a long-sleeved, worn denim shirt that was open over his Oasis T-shirt.
Kino released the safety on his gun and returned it to its holster as they moved within ten feet.
Margie was out in front of them, pausing at the truck gate. She called a greeting and the man straightened and flicked off the water nozzle. Lea froze. Kino stopped just ahead of her, not blocking her view, but shielding her.
She stared at those glasses, black frames, blue-mirrored lenses and she couldn’t help the intake of breath. But then she looked at his face as he pulled down the shades. He had crow’s-feet flanking blue eyes. His jaw was square and he had dimples on each side of his mouth. His ears were small and tucked back.
Lea sagged. Kino slid his hand off his gun.
“This here is Lea Altaha,” said Margie.
Anthony DeClay hopped down from the truck, his eyes flicking from Kino to her before he took her hand.
“I’m sorry about Ernesta,” he said.
Lea’s eyes burned as she nodded.
“And about the truck mix-up. I got ours back.” He motioned to the battered blue truck devoid of windshield glass or side mirror. “Hell of a thing.”
“Did you get your map back?” asked Kino.
DeClay released Lea. “Oh, yes. It was in the truck. This whole thing could have been avoided, if Lea had checked in with me.”
“You hadn’t arrived yet and Margie gave me the keys,” said Lea.
Margie, flustered now, turned a bright red as she stammered. “I h-hope you don’t think I was responsible for what happened to you yesterday. I’m just sick about it.”
But she didn’t look sick. She looked scared. Her gaze kept sliding from Lea to Anthony and then to Kino. She looked cornered and on the verge of tears.
“We haven’t met,” said DeClay to Kino. “I’m Anthony DeClay. I’m the director.”
The men shook hands, eyes locked, smiles frozen.
“Officer Cosen,” said Kino. “I’m the one who shot out your windshield.”
They released their grips and regarded each other.
“Who repairs your trucks?” asked Kino.
“A local shop. We try to use local businesses when possible.”
“Any chance I could get a copy of the map Lea was using?”
“Oh.” He hesitated, hand going to his neck. “That’s just the stations we are taking out. Perhaps you heard—the tribal council voted to have us remove the stations on their land.”
“Yes, but the Shadow Wolves have permission to hunt and track on O’odham land and the station on your map was a drop spot.”
“That’s not connected to us. We’re a humanitarian organization. We save lives.”
Why did he sound defensive? Lea wondered. DeClay looked positively hostile with arms folded over his broad chest.
“The map is part of our investigation. So I’ll need a copy.”
“I’ll make you one and have my people bring it to Cardon Station.”
“You can’t make a copy now?”
“Printer is down.”
Lea glanced at Margie, whose face was the color of a boiled beet.
“Lea is taking a few days off,” said Kino.
She was?
“Of course,” said Anthony. “Understandable. But we are short-staffed. We only have three crews. So I’m out in the fields today, too. If there is nothing else, Officer Cosen, we’ve got work. Important work. They found another body last night. A young woman. She’d sustained an injury. Broken ankle, I’m told. She made it to one of our stations, but, well, it was empty.” His gaze went to Lea, as if it was her fault.
Had that been one of the stations she was supposed to have filled? She felt as if someone had kicked her in the stomach.
“I have to get back to work,” she said to Kino.
“You have no partner.”
“You could help after your shift,” the director suggested to Kino.
DeClay regarded Kino, waiting for his decision.
“All right,” said Kino.
“Wonderful. Margie will get you the papers you need to sign and we can set you two up.”
“Great,” said Kino.
“Nice to meet you, Officer Cosen. Welcome on board.”
The tension in Kino’s body made his usually graceful stride an angry staccato as he followed Margie back into the building. Twenty minutes later Kino was an official aid worker and he and Lea were back in the SUV.
“Why did you do that?” she asked.
“You were going out there again, right?”
“Yes. I have to. People are out there in the desert. They need that water.”
“I don’t want you out there alone or with any partner but me.”
Kino tucked the papers he carried in the visor.
“Margie made me a copy of the rules and regs.” His gaze fixed on hers. She knew what he meant. The copier wasn’t broken. DeClay had lied.
“I don’t know why he did that,” Lea said.
“Love to see that map.” He started the SUV.
They drove out of Pima and into the desert. The route looked all too familiar.
“Where are we heading?” she asked.
“Back to the scene. I want another look at the scene.”