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 his head to study her, brow wrinkling.
“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Ava. May I call you Ava?”
She nodded.
“And please call me Kee.”
She preferred to call him prime suspect.
“What do you do down there on your rez, Ava?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I’m not sure. You have a certain directness to you.”
The pause seemed especially long. He stared at her and she noted the golden flecks in his deep brown eyes.
“So what do you do down there on the flats?” he asked again.
“I used to work for the casino. Dealer. High rollers, mostly. But I’m taking a break.” Actually that was her sister’s bio but she wasn’t going to tell him she was ROTC, had done four years of active duty in Germany and had just finished her four additional years on reserve while completing police training, and recently earned her gold shield. Given how her sister had completely withdrawn from society after her husband’s death and buried herself in a bottle, she doubted that Sara would have the opportunity to blow her cover.
The small talk continued. He told her what she already knew, that their clinic had only seven employees. Two physicians. One administrator, Betty Mills, and five nurses, one of whom—Lori Mott Redhorse—was well on her way to becoming a midwife. Lori was also Kee’s sister-in-law and the one who’d first made the connection between the clinic and the six missing women from his tribe.
Ava had already spoken with Lori and believed she was one of the good guys. The woman seemed interested in finding the missing teenagers and willing to do all she could to help the investigation. Not the actions of someone guilty of a crime.
“I thought there were three physicians,” Ava said when she caught an inaccuracy in Redhorse’s story.
“Oh, yes. That’s right. Dr. Day is on loan from FEMA. That’s my roommate, temporarily, until we get the all-clear to move back home.” Since Ava had searched the trailer, she was aware of the roommate situation. But Dr. Day hadn’t been around long enough to be a suspect, so she’d focused entirely on Dr. Kee Redhorse.
“I didn’t know that FEMA provided doctors.”
“Oh, yeah. And they have emergency medical response teams. Our clinic is currently set up in two of their mobile medical units. Crowded, but we are getting the job done. It’s been good to have another set of hands during the crisis. We’ve been super busy but we’ll lose Day soon.”
She quirked a brow. “That so?”
He casually slipped a hand into his back pocket. She watched his hands, wondering if he had a weapon. Kee kept talking.
“Once we get back to the clinic in Piňon Flats and out of those trailers, I’m sure they’ll recall him. Too bad, he’s a nice guy.”
There was something implied in his tone. She took a guess. “But not a good doctor?”
The side of his mouth quirked. His tell, she decided, that little gesture that said she had made the right guess. “He’s adequate.”
“But not Native.”
Kee made a sound that might have been a laugh. “Oh, I don’t mind that. But he is from Minnesota. So he thinks it’s too