“I volunteer my chopper to look for missing persons, keeping an eye on things from the sky. I like to go up as often as possible.”
“You enjoy flying?”
“From the first time I rode in a chopper, I loved it—swooping through the skies, leaving gravity behind and soaring free.” The tension in his face relaxed as he looked heavenward and grinned. “It’s the freedom. No restraints. No regrets.”
“And no responsibilities,” she said.
“That, too.”
Aiden had been forced to take on a lot after his father died. He’d had to leave college and take care of the ranch. No wonder he wanted Misty to have a wider scope of opportunity. “I’ve never been in a helicopter.”
“A virgin,” he said.
In more ways than one, but he didn’t have to know about that part of her life. “You make it sound exciting.”
“It’s a different perspective,” he said. “I know a lot about this territory. And that’s one of the reasons I wanted to walk along with you. We might run into something along this path.”
“Something?”
“Somebody,” he said.
She heard a rustling in the brush beside the river and turned to look. “What is it?”
“You’ll see.”
A skinny man with a wild gray beard crept out from behind a tree. Over his shoulders, he wore a buffalo robe. He held a ski pole in each hand, using them as walking sticks.
“Visitors,” he shouted. “Welcome, pretty lady.”
Tab stood and stared. Her jaw dropped, and she felt her eyes pop wide like a cartoon version of herself. What the hell?
Chapter Four
Aiden relished the look of shock on Tab’s face. It wasn’t easy to ruffle her feathers, but he’d succeeded. She recovered her poise quickly. Her gaping mouth snapped shut, and her full lips smoothed into a slightly upturned line that wasn’t exactly a smile. Under her breath, she muttered, “Good thing you warned me about this little something. I might have shot him.”
No fear. Her first thought was to grab her rifle and stand ready to protect herself. He liked that attitude. This lady wasn’t about to scream or take off running, not her. Not Tab.
Thinking of her as Tab instead of Tabitha was becoming easier. The longer name—Tabitha—rolled off his tongue with an almost musical resonance. Tab was one crisp, practical syllable. It suited her. The way he figured, a woman named Tab could stand up for herself while a Tabitha would be the type to flutter her eyelashes and swoon.
“Who is he?” she asked.
“His name is Wally, but everybody calls him Buffalo Man.”
“Certainly not because of his size,” she said. “He couldn’t weigh more than one twenty-five including the fur cape and ski poles. What’s he doing here?”
“He camps along the river. I spotted his tent when I did my visual sweep in the chopper.”
Feet together, the scrawny gray-haired man hopped toward them, mimicking the technique of a downhill skier. Gradually, he was coming closer.
“He could be the shooter,” Tab said.
“I don’t reckon so. His campsite is another mile or so downriver. He was there when I flew over.” Besides, Aiden had become fairly well acquainted with the old man. “He’s not a murderer. A thief? Maybe. But not a killer.”
Wally claimed to be part Crow, but nobody on the rez claimed him back. A drifter, he’d been in this area for three or four years. When he occasionally showed up at the Gabriel ranch looking for work, Aiden would find him something to do with the stipulation that Buffalo Man take a long soak in a hot tub and shave his whiskers. In a lucid moment, Wally had confided that he’d lost his job, his wife and his house, but he wasn’t sad or self-pitying. He’d chosen to go back to nature.
Usually, he wasn’t so talkative, and today he said nothing as he approached. When he was about five feet from them, Aiden caught the whiff of a powerful stench—the smell of old campfires and dirt. He held up a hand. “That’s close enough, Wally.”
Buffalo Man bared his yellow teeth in a grin. “That’s a pretty horse.”
“Thank you,” Tab said. “Do you live out here?”
“It’s my right. I’m Indian, like you.” He cocked his head to one side. “You’re Maria Spotted Bear’s granddaughter.”
“How do you know that?”
“I know things. Lots of things.”
“You’d better not be spying on my grandma,” she said. “I wouldn’t like that.”
He dug the tips of his ski poles into the earth and planted his fists on his skinny hips. “I am not a Peeping Tom. I have my dignity. You can ask Aiden. Go on, ask him.”
“Wally does work for me at the ranch. He’s a good handyman.”
“Handy Wally, that’s my moniker.”
Aiden watched Tab’s expression as her suspicion faded. It was her nature to be friendly. Her tribe had a tradition of welcoming strangers and sharing whatever they had. She took a step toward Wally and held out her hand as she offered a Crow greeting. “Ka-hay. My name is Tab Willows.”
He vigorously shook her hand. “Pleased to meet you, Tab.”
“It must get lonely out here. If you’re hungry or want company, come to my grandma’s house.”
“I don’t take charity.”
“I wasn’t offering,” Tab said. “We’ll make a trade. My grandma can use the skills of a handyman.”
His yellow smile split his wizened face. Peering through his tangled mop of hair, his eyes were alert and intelligent. “I would be honored to visit the home of Maria Spotted Bear.”
Though Wally had never shared his prior occupation, Aiden believed he was an educated man. His use of language was usually correct, he had a decent vocabulary and he was smart enough to know how to survive in the wild. His antisocial weirdness came from a lack of interaction with other people. He chose to be a hermit. But that didn’t mean he was nuts.
“I have a couple of questions for you,” Aiden said. “No doubt you noticed the commotion this afternoon.”
“Gunfire. I heard it. And I saw Tab riding across the hills, coming from the east. And the chopper.” He looked up at the fading light of the afternoon. “I saw your chopper. You must have seen me, too. I waved.”
Aiden nodded. “What about people? Did you see or hear any people on the ground?”
Abruptly, Wally hunkered down on the ground. His voice lowered to a whisper. “After the gunfire, I thought I should take a look and see if anybody needed my help. Voices carry a long way out here.”
“Could you hear what anyone was saying?”
Wally pointed to Tab. “You. I heard you talking.”
“What about earlier than that. Before Tab, did you hear voices?”
He shook his head. “I was too far away. When I got close, I heard your baby sister.”
“Misty,” said both Aiden and Tab.
“She laughs a lot.” Wally gave a creaky chuckle of his own. “A pretty sound. Her laughter sounds like splashing water. Not like the other girls who come out here with their boyfriends.