Earthcrack: A Lin Hanna Mystery (6 page)

“They will find out what happened,” her
son told her, “you don’t have to worry about it.
 
You’ll have more information soon I feel
sure.”
  
Lin agreed, but her
curiosity was not yet satisfied.
 
She had always been one to ask questions.
 
She had dealt with too many situations
in school and knew that things were not always what they seemed to be on the
surface.

“I know,” she said, “I just, think there
are some interesting circumstances here.”

“Maybe,” Ben, Jr. responded, “but the
simplest answer is usually the right one in these cases.
 
Let me know what you find out.”

“I will, give my love to the family.” Lin
added as she ended the call.
 
Her
conversation with Lucy followed a similar line.
 
She smiled to herself as she drove back
to the housing area.
 
They were good
kids and they knew their Mom well.
 
She had a hard time leaving things alone, especially when there were
unanswered questions.
 
Her
experience as a school principal had taught her not to always accept things as
they first appeared on the surface.
 
She was always asking questions and looking more deeply into things—finding
out what made student’s “tick”—asking questions and not just accepting
things at face value.
 
Lin supposed
that her curiosity could get her into trouble in certain circumstances but when
obvious questions seemed unanswered, she felt the need to dig deeper.

By the time she got back to her apartment
she was feeling really tired again.
 
She opened her bedroom window to let in the cool night air and,
snuggling under the soft down comforter she had brought with her, she was soon
asleep; her troubled thoughts left behind.

The morning light drifting in her open
window wakened Lin earlier than she expected given how tired she was when she
went to bed.
 
As she wasn’t on the
schedule to work at the visitor center until the afternoon, she decided this
might be a good day to go into town and do some shopping.
 
First she intended to get in a good
walk.
 
She had been neglecting her
exercise routine the past few days.
 
She dressed in jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt, with an eye to the cool
morning air, and was soon off.
 
The
visitor center was not open yet and no one seemed to be about.
 

Lin enjoyed a quiet, personal tour
through the beautiful Wupatki ruin and then descended into the wash
behind.
  
She had read that
when the ruin was occupied there was a spring on the far side of the wash that
was used as a water supply by the occupants of the pueblo.
 
The spring dried up long ago but
apparently one could still find shards from broken pots in abundance around the
site.

She crossed the wash and scrambled up the
slope toward the place where the spring had been.
 
Sure enough, the path was strewn with
shards of black on white and red pottery.
 
She examined some of these, taking care not to move them.
 
It was strictly forbidden to remove any
pottery pieces from the park.
 
Looking back toward the ruin she found herself wondering what life could
have been like for these people.
 
This was a long way to walk carrying heavy pots full of water.
 
She also knew that these people had
garden fields scattered throughout the area meaning they often had to leave
home to tend their crops of beans, corn, and squash.
 
Apparently the park and much of the
surrounding lands contained evidence of small “field “ houses that had served
as shelters for these farmers when they worked away from the village.
 
It was a clever system.
 
Summer rainfall that came during the
monsoon season was often widely scattered.
 
Having fields in various places helped to ensure that at least some of
the crops would get water.
 
Lin
realized that these had really been sophisticated folks who understood their
world and knew how to wrest a living from it.
 
Even today, she had been told, the Hopi,
who claimed descendancy from these people, were well known for their “dry
farming” techniques.

Leaving the spring site, Lin crossed the
wash again and reentered the area around Wupatki ruin at the lower end near the
ball court and community room areas.
 
She was growing warmer by the time she regained the walkway near the
visitor center.
 
Checking the time, she
realized that she needed to step on it if she was going to have time for her
trip into town.
 
She returned to her
apartment and hurried to shower and dress.

Shortly afterward she was in her car
heading down the park loop road toward Sunset Crater.
 
The terrain changed rapidly as the
pinion-juniper area with its scrubby vegetation and open skies gave way to the
ponderosa forest that surrounded Sunset Crater.
 
Large open lava fields—treeless
areas of jumbled black rocks—punctuated the area, the result of earlier
volcanic eruptions.
 
These fields of
basalt could be quite dangerous if one left the marked trails.
 
A fall there would surely result in
unwelcomed cuts from the sharp lava rocks.
 
Lin made a mental note to explore this area one day soon.
 
That was the beauty of her volunteer
status.
 
She had interesting work to
do but her assigned hours were limited so she had ample time to explore and
learn more about the area.

A couple of hours later she had finished
her errands in Flagstaff having made her purchases of some needed cleaning
supplies and a few non-perishable grocery items.
 
It was still morning and she was not due
back at work for almost three hours. She decided to take the time to go
downtown and explore some of the shops and galleries that Danielle and Toby had
told her about.
 
This was her first
real chance to spend some time in Flag.
 
Her only previous trip had been an evening venture to the Safeway market
at the edge of town shortly after her arrival and then she had stocked up with
perishable groceries and needed to hurry back.
 
This was a good time to explore the town
more.

She parked downtown near the park across
from the public library and decided to go in and register for a card.
 
The library was a beautiful building
with displays of local arts and crafts.
 
She spent a few minutes enjoying these and then checked the shelves for
some reading material.
 
Soon she had
located a couple of mystery books by favorite authors.
 
She took these to the desk, registered
for a card, and then checked them out. She was happy to learn that the library’s
Bookmobile would be stopping at Wupatki regularly so she could both return and
check out books there if she didn’t have time to come into town.
 
Pocketing her new card she felt like a
true resident of Coconino County as she dropped her books in the car and headed
for the business district.

For the next half hour she browsed
windows of various shops and galleries.
 
There were several which seemed to specialize in native arts and crafts
while others displayed paintings, jewelry, and other items.
 
Beautiful stuff she would enjoy, she
felt sure, but maybe a bit too pricey for her limited budget!

Turning the corner to San Francisco
Street she found herself in front of another gallery that had displays of
native artwork, both traditional and modern, in the windows.
 
She was looking at these when she noticed
someone inside, a tall man talking to another man behind the counter.
 
There were no other customers in the
shop it seemed.
 
The tall man turned
and she was surprised to see that it was Neal Smith.
  
She hesitated wondering whether
she should enter the shop.
 
After
all, Dr. Smith had seemed very friendly and interested in her.
 
He was a very attractive person and Lin,
while not really seeking any serious relationship, was not opposed to making
new friends—maybe even going out for dinner sometime.
 
She had hesitated yesterday but now she
thought that it might be interesting to get to know Neal Smith a bit better.
She decided to enter the shop and did so quickly—before she changed her
mind.

 
A bell that signaled her entry broke the
quiet and both men looked her way.

“Dr. Smith,” she said, “what a surprise
to see you again so soon.”

Smith quickly stepped forward, “ Nice to
see you Ms. Hanna.
 
Allow me to
introduce John Sessions.
 
He owns
this beautiful gallery.” Turning to the gallery proprietor he explained that
Lin was a volunteer at Wupatki for the summer. “Unfortunately, she was with us
when the remains I told you about were discovered, yesterday.
 
Quite a shock—to say the least!”

Sessions was busy removing some papers
that had been on the counter, shoving them into a drawer.
 
He quickly stepped forward, extending
his hand.
 

“Nice to meet you,” he smiled, “are you
looking for something in particular I could help you with?
 
We have lots of beautiful handmade
jewelry and our prices are quite reasonable you will find.”

Realizing that she needed some reason to
have come in rather than just seeing Dr Smith, Lin asked him to show her some
earrings.
  
She was surprised
to discover that the prices were indeed reasonable so she chose a pair as a
gift for her daughter and another for herself.
 
While Sessions put the items in boxes
for her, she moved to the back of the gallery where Dr. Smith seemed occupied
studying some large pottery items.

“I would guess that these cost far more
than that jewelry I just purchased,” she spoke, “they look quite old.”

“They are,” Smith smiled, “John has a lot
of less expensive items for tourists and for the rest of us who like nice
things at a reasonable price, but he also deals in antiquities and other
collectibles.”
 

“I see, these are quite lovely, I wish I
knew more about them but I am learning more everyday out at Wupatki.”

Smith turned toward her, his smiling
confident self that she saw when he first arrived at the park the day before, “This
must be your day off, would you care to join me for a bite of lunch?”

 
“I have to work this afternoon,” she replied, “but I still have an hour
to spend here in town so if there is someplace quick…”

“ I know just the place,” he responded, “if
you like Mexican.
 
It is just around
the corner.”

Sessions joined them, her package in
hand.
 
“Wish I could join you two
but my assistant is not due in just yet.
 
Neal, I appreciate your coming in.
 
I’ll give you a call later and we can continue our discussion.”
 

Smith nodded to Sessions, “ I’ll wait to
hear from you.”
 
He turned to Lin
and held the door for her as they exited the gallery.

Soon they were seated in the small
Mexican restaurant and warm, steaming burritos were placed in front of
them.
 
They were delicious and Lin
realized once again that she was hungry.
 
She had only taken time to grab an apple for breakfast as she left this
morning.
  
For a few minutes
they ate quietly with little conversation, then Smith asked her about her work
at the park, where she was from, how long she would be there—making small
talk, but not a single mention of the rather traumatic morning they had shared
the previous day!
 
It seemed as if
he had already put it out of his mind, or else, perhaps he wanted to avoid the
topic.

Pushing aside the remains of her burrito,
Lin decided to be bold.
 
She still
had a lot of lingering questions about the previous day’s incident,
 
“ I’m still feeling shocked by what
happened yesterday and I am sure you must be also,” she ventured, “how about
your students, were they ok?”

Smith stared at his food for a moment, “
It was a shock certainly,” he responded, “I talked to the students on the ride
back and assured them that everything would be ok.
 
The authorities will handle the
case.
 
It looks as if that person
might have been a backcountry hiker who got into trouble.
 
It was a good opportunity to caution the
students about the dangers of the backcountry around here.”

“ Of course, I am sorry about what
happened but accidents do occur and it seemed this was another unfortunate
incident,” he concluded, “probably a hiker who failed to register his presence
in the park.
 
Folks do not realize
how important it is that someone know where they are in case they get into
trouble.”

Lin continued the conversation, “ I’m not
sure that this person was a hiker.
 
I noticed that no water bottle or backpack was found, that seems strange
to me.”

Smith shifted in his seat; did he seem
nervous with this conversation?
 
He
seemed uneasy since the talk had turned to the incident of the previous
day.
  
Lin was not ready to
drop the subject “ Well, Danielle and Toby think they may have identified the
person.
 
You may remember that
Danielle thought his belt buckle looked familiar. “
   

Smith shifted in his seat, “ Really? I’m
afraid I must not have heard that.”

“Yes,” Lin went on. “ Toby White, our
seasonal ranger, remembered seeing a buckle like Danielle described and thought
it belonged to one of the Hopi men who collect eagle feathers in the park.
 
Thought his name was Cullen but he hadn’t
seen him for a long time.
 
Danielle
called headquarters later and they confirmed that a Cullen Honeyestewa was one of
those men.
 
They also had not seen
nor heard from him in a long while.
 
It looks like he may be the person whose remains were found.”

“ Well, even so,” Smith said, “he must
have ventured out unprepared and without letting anyone know where he was
going.
 
Too bad, to have such an
unfortunate accident.”

Lin observed that Smith was clearly
uncomfortable talking about this.
 
He had shifted his gaze away from her when Cullen’s name was mentioned
so she could not catch his expression.
 
Now he seemed ready to leave, signaling the waitress for their check.