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Saturday morning after feeding Mugshot and Jethro, Dela called her mom while eating a bowl of cereal.
“Hello, Dela. I heard from Grandfather Thunder that you aren’t working.”
“That’s what I’m calling about.” Grandfather Thunder. Dela had an idea. “Mom, why don’t you and Grandfather Thunder come over for lunch today? You can meet Jethro and visit a neighbor with me.”
“That sounds lovely. Anything you need me to bring?”
Dela thought, everything, but said instead, “No, with this time off, I’ve been to the store.”
“We’ll see you at noon?” her mom asked.
“Yes. Noon.” Dela ended the call, placed her empty bowl and coffee mug in the sink, and hurried down the hall to get dressed and go to the store. If Mom came over and saw the poor state of her refrigerator, she would know her daughter had lied to her.
Driving to the grocery store, Dela liked her idea even more. Not only could she ask Grandfather Thunder about Mrs. Swan’s family, but his presence when they visited would also put the woman at ease.
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
Dela returned home, unloaded six bags of groceries, and was mixing up tuna salad when there was a knock on her door.
“Come in!” she called out and continued working in the kitchen. The sound of footsteps had her glancing at the opening to the kitchen and dining room. Her hand stopped stirring as she peered into Quinn’s face. “What are you doing here?”
“You’re looking domestic. Is this for Heath?” Quinn walked into the room.
She felt his jealousy like a cloud heavy with rain.
“My mom and Grandfather Thunder are coming for lunch. I’d ask you to stay but, I didn’t make enough for four.” She tasted the mixture and added a few more chopped pickles, ignoring the man watching her.
“I had a phone call from Ina Winter. She wanted to tell me that she had called and asked you to take the donkey and that she had told you that Paul wouldn’t be there. She had been told he hadn’t been around for weeks and had been worried about the donkey.” His monotone telling of the conversation pulled Dela’s gaze to his face.
“You didn’t have to come over here to tell me this.” She swallowed the lump that crept up her throat as he continued to stare at her.
“I asked her why she hadn’t told me this when I’d met with her.”
Dela hoped the woman hadn’t mentioned the money or the visit. “And what did she say?”
“That she’d heard we thought you killed her husband.” He leaned against the doorframe. “It’s funny, I did tell her you were a suspect when I was there two days ago. Why would she just now decide to call me?”
Shrugging, Dela put three plates on the table along with corresponding silverware. “How should I know?”
“Word is, you and Marty have been doing a lot together lately. He’s on vacation and told people at the casino he was going skiing.”
“Dela, we’re here!” Her mom’s voice filled the house.
Walking out of the kitchen and into the living room, Dela greeted her mother and Grandfather Thunder.
“Who’s SUV is out front?” Mom asked.
“Mine, Mrs. Belden,” Quinn said, from behind Dela.
Her mom’s face lit up. “Are you joining us for lunch?”
Dela said, “No,” as Quinn said, “Yes.”
Her mom’s gaze drifted back and forth between them.
“Splendid,” Grandfather Thunder said, shuffling into the dining room. He winked at Dela as he passed.
She wondered what he had planned.
“It smells like you are baking something,” her mom said, taking a seat at the table.
Grumbling, Dela added another place setting to the table. “I bought a frozen berry pie. It should be done baking by the time we finish eating.”
The way people had sat at her small wood table, she ended up sitting directly across from Quinn. She poured iced tea into everyone’s glasses, and they started passing around the bread, cheese, tuna salad, and celery sticks.
Once everyone had a sandwich made, Grandfather Thunder touched Quinn’s arm. “Moses Arnett said he saw a strange light bobbing across the field next to his place last week and again last night. Are you Feds doing night maneuvers on our land?”
Dela grabbed her napkin and hid a smile behind the folded paper. She had a feeling Quinn was in for some interesting meal conversation.
Grandfather Thunder asked Quinn three more similar questions. When the Special Agent finished eating, he excused himself.
Dela, her mom, and Grandfather Thunder had a good laugh after the door closed behind the infuriating man.
“Thank you, for getting him to leave. He was never invited. He came over to question me about a conversation he’d had with Ina Winter.” The timer went off and Dela rose to take the pie out of the oven.
“Oh, dear, Quinn didn’t get any pie,” Mom said, sounding sad for the man.
“He doesn’t deserve any. He thinks I killed Paul Winter.” Dela couldn’t get over the betrayal she felt that the man believed she would kill a human being in any situation other than war.
She cut and plated the pie, setting a piece in front of the two people at the table. Dela sat at her place and asked Grandfather Thunder, “What do you know about Sadie Swan and her family?”
He put his fork down and studied her. “They are a troubled family. The children, Levi and Lora, came to live with their grandmother, Sadie, when their father died and their mother, Sadie’s daughter, killed herself.”
“Oh, how unfortunate for the family,” Mom gasped.
“When was this?” Dela asked.
“Not quite twenty years ago, I think.” Grandfather Thunder raised a bite of pie to his mouth and hummed as he chewed then swallowed. “You make good pie,” he said.
Dela laughed and said, “All I did was bake it. You’ll have to send a letter to Mrs. Callender.”
The man nodded and scooped up another bite.
Studying her mom, she asked, “Did you teach Levi or Lora?”
Mom shook her head. “I think they went to school in Pendleton.”
“Yes,” Grandfather Thunder said. “Sadie drove them to town to school. I think to keep them from being asked about their parents by the students and parents. People here are interested in tribal families.”
“Do you know what happened to the father? How he died?” Dela asked. It made sense that Levi was counseling families and couples.
“He died in a car crash. After he and his wife had an argument.” Grandfather Thunder shoved his empty plate to the middle of the table and picked up his iced tea.
“Do you think the argument caused the crash?” Dela asked.
“Ruth said her sister believed she’d caused the accident because she’d argued with her husband. That youngest daughter had always been afraid of everything. How she produced the strong children she did has always interested me.” Grandfather Thunder shook his head. “She didn’t have strength. A month after her husband’s death, she took pills to kill herself. She couldn’t see that her children needed her.”
“Were either of them addicts?” Dela asked.
“Neither. That’s why it was so hard for the family to understand her using pills.” Tears glistened in Grandfather Thunder’s eyes.
Dela wondered if he was remembering his own son who had killed himself with an overdose.
“Let me help you clean up and we’ll get out of your hair,” Mom said.
“About that,” Dela glanced at the two people who had been a constant her whole life. “I’d like you to go with me to have a talk with Sadie Swan. She is the witness who says I killed Paul Winter. I just want to see how well she comprehends time. She had to have waited at least twenty minutes to a half-hour before she went over and checked on Paul after I left. She told it to the police as if she’d walked over as soon as I’d walked away.”
“Do you think she’ll talk to you? After all, she thinks you killed her neighbor.” Mom put a hand on top of Dela’s. “Why don’t you let Grandfather Thunder and I go talk to her?”
As much as Dela loved both of them, she didn’t want to get them in trouble and she doubted they would ask the right questions. “I think I should go. I know what to ask.”
Grandfather Thunder cleared his throat. “You know what to ask to worry her. We can ask roundabout questions.”
She could see the two weren’t going to budge on this and she really wanted to know more about the woman. “Okay, but don’t leave there until you’ve talked about what happened to see if she really stood at the window the whole time.”
They both nodded.
“I’ll just be here cleaning up lunch.” Dela fell to the task as the two left. After the kitchen was cleaned up, she grabbed her coat and laptop and pulled a chair outside to sit in the sun and enjoy Mugshot’s company. She’d put Jethro out in the pasture this morning. From what she could see over the bottom half of the Dutch gate, he was enjoying the grass.
She found the archives for the CUJ, Confederated Umatilla Journal, the Confederated Tribes’s newspaper. She tried to look at online copies from twenty years ago but discovered the online copies only went back seven years. She’d have to go to the Governance building and work her way forward.
She put in the name Lora Murdoch. An obituary appeared. The young woman had died nearly a year ago. Nothing in the obituary told the manner of death. Dela decided after her mom and Grandfather Thunder returned and told her what they knew she’d ask Grandfather Thunder how she died and if he didn’t know, she’d go find the aunt at the travel center.
