Love's Dream Song (25 page)

“Don’t worry. I care, and believe me, I have my own stubborn streak.”

Meg chuckled. “Good. You’ll need a sense of humor, too.” She gestured for Autumn to follow. “Come on. You’ll love this bath. There’s a tub that has those jets for water massage—just what you need.”

Autumn tossed aside the covers and struggled to stand. “Sounds heavenly,” she admitted. “My body feels like it was hit by a two-ton truck.”

“You’ve been through a lot, no denying that.” Meg’s voice sounded above the rush of running water. Scented steam filtered in to the bedroom. Autumn limped into the bathroom and had to pause and admire the decor.

The room was large, and cornered on the far wall as if it were octagonal. Floor-to-ceiling windows surrounded the white marble tub set in a Spanish tile platform. An enclosed garden gave it the appearance of being outdoors.

Inside, a marble sink and counter were lined with crystal jars and bottles. Autumn knew from the shapes of the bottles that the perfumes were expensive brands. Jean Barron definitely had taste.

“Here you go,” Meg said as she brought out towels from a walk-in linen closet. “Take your time. The men will be gone the rest of the afternoon.” She deposited the towels on the counter and then brushed past Autumn toward the door. She paused.

“Anything you need, just holler.”

“You’ve been a big help.”
And in more ways than one
, Autumn thought.

“I’ll be here if you need to talk.”

Autumn nodded. Meg was offering to be a friend and ally. She might need one to confide in if she ran into further difficulties with Jess. One thing was certain. She was not going to let him quietly drop out of their relationship this time.

.

CHAPTER 16

The Barron house was indeed an example of the sprawling western ranch-style homes built in the fifties. But that was the only characteristic that Jean Barron’s bedroom shared with the rest of the building. Designed for utilitarian purposes, the rest of the house smacked of male occupancy. Autumn glanced around the spacious living room. True, there were beautiful art pieces decorating the room. Paintings of the Southwest blended in with the solid oak furniture. Flagstone floors were covered with woven Navajo rugs. Large picture windows brought in the beauty of the rugged terrain. Expense hadn’t been spared on design.

However, the room was not a showcase. Boots sat beside a recliner. Chairs, business papers, manuals, and work gloves were strewn across the tables. A beautiful brass lamp had been shoved aside on a round drum table to make room for a computer. Boxes of paper were stacked under the table. One was open and feeding into a printer that had been set on top of a table pulled beside the round one. Autumn was sure it was an expensive original and she’d bet, after seeing Jean Barron’s room, that the woman would have had a fit if she’d seen it used like this.

Autumn pushed up the raglan sleeves of the cotton blouse Meg had loaned her. Its loose fit on Meg had made it possible for Autumn to wear. Since Meg was so much shorter than Autumn, she hadn’t fit into any of her pants. Meg had come up with a pair of jeans that had belonged to one of the hands. A little snug around the hips, they’d suffice until she could get to her own clothes.

Autumn glanced out the largest window northeast, to Coyote Springs. How would she leave with her car parked at the trailhead to the canyon miles from here? Where was Jess? She longed to be with him. She’d never been very good at waiting.

A million questions plagued her mind. What was the professor doing? Who was involved with the drug dealers? Restless and anxious, Autumn paced the large room.

She thought about returning to the large kitchen and talking with Jess’s cook and housekeeper again, but she didn’t feel like it. Maybe she’d find peace in the courtyard. The glass doors slid open and the sweet scent of flowers assailed her. She easily found the swimming pool and Jacuzzi, surrounded by shrubs and benches and beautiful clay art. She didn’t find peace.

The sights and smells brought back the times she’d been here with Jess. They had swum in the pool in the mornings. They’d relaxed in the Jacuzzi at night and talked. She wished now she could remember the conversation. She’d been too enthralled with being near him.

Even though she now knew that Jess had suspected she was involved with the drug operations, she still couldn’t understand how he could so easily have broken off what they had shared. At the time, she’d sensed he cared, and after last night, she knew his feelings for her ran deep.

There had to be more pieces to the puzzle yet to find. Jess could have confronted her with his suspicions. He could have continued with their relationship at the physical level, if nothing else.

Meg’s explanation about his conflict with the two cultures explained some of it. The ways of The People were opposite those of Anglos. That was a fact she was learning more about each day. Real Tall Man had tried to explain the differences. Communal property and harmony with the land weren’t that difficult to understand, but values were a different matter.

Absently, she sat on a bench as she thought about Real Tall Man trying to explain to her the incredible differences. She still remembered his concept of a poker game. To a Navajo, the point was not to win but to trick your opponent. It was a sign of cleverness to do so without being caught. The People found that great sport, while an Anglo would call it cheating.

No wonder it was a strain for Jess to be part of two conflicting worlds. It became difficult to understand who you were.

The sound of a helicopter broke the silence and Autumn welcomed the interruption. She sighted the craft heading toward the ranch and quickly went to the landing pad.

At last, Sam was coming. He must have news, and Autumn had plans of her own. She wasn’t going to hang around here any longer doing nothing.

Sam did have news. “I just took Frank Riker to the hospital,” he said.

Autumn felt momentary remorse as she listened to Sam’s quick explanation. She personally disliked the ranger, but she didn’t wish him harm.

Frank’s injury reminded her of the danger Jess was in. Sitting around at the ranch bred frustration and a sense of helplessness. She would be more useful back at Coyote Springs.

She waited while Sam advised Jess’s hands that he’d be airlifting the professor and his party to the ranch. “The sheriff’s got a posse looking for the killers. He asked me to use my bird for the evacuation.”

After plans were made, Autumn had a chance to talk to Sam. “Can you take me back out there?”

“It’s dangerous. I think you’d better stay here,” he told her.

“Which is exactly why I need to return.

“It’s too risky,” Sam apologized, “I don’t want anyone else shot around here.”

Autumn refused to listen. While the pilot was refueling, she talked nonstop. When he was ready to leave, Autumn made one last try. “Someone in that group is in on this.”

“You sure?” Sam’s scrutiny penetrated Autumn’s stoic expression.

“I’m positive,” she told him. “I need to go to Coyote Springs. There are questions to be asked, and I want to see people’s faces when they answer.”

He finally conceded with a resigned shrug. “As long as you’re coming with me, let’s buzz up and down a few of these washes and see if we can catch sight of anyone.”

“Good idea, but I doubt our two murderers will be that foolish. They’re holed up somewhere around here, and you can bet it’s a place we won’t see from the air.”

“You’re probably right.” Sam moved the jacket and binoculars off the passenger seat to the floor in the back of the helicopter to make room for her. “But these two might not be that familiar with this country. They might make mistakes.”

Autumn shrugged. She doubted they were that green. They hadn’t left any tracks when she and Jess had followed them, and they’d known about the cave—something Jess hadn’t been aware of. These men were pros.

They flew down the sixty miles of the main gulch and managed several side canyons, as well. Jagged pillars of stone jutted from the steep canyon walls. Piles of boulders that had washed down the gulch in storms provided too many places to hide.

“This is like finding a needle in a haystack,” Autumn admitted. “There are too many caves in these cliffs. It’s why the Anasazi liked it here so well. There were plenty of places to make homes.”

“Wait a minute,” Sam interrupted with a shout to the pilot. “Can you fly down there? I saw something move.”

The chopper’s sudden descent left Autumn’s stomach with a hollow feeling. The canyon walls closed in, bouncing the engine’s noise back into the helicopter with deafening loudness. The pilot’s voice could barely be heard. “I can’t get much closer. The canyon’s too narrow.”

When they cleared the rock walls the noise lessened. Sam explained, “It was just some deer. They scattered from the racket.”

I missed them
, Autumn thought. She was more distraught than she’d imagined. She vowed not to let anything else slip by her as she focused her attention back to the rugged desert below.

“We’re almost there,” Sam told her.

“Keep as low as you can toward Coyote Springs,” Autumn suggested. “I want to take a close look at that spot where they holed up before the explosion.”

“No problem,” the pilot assured her. “It’s wider in that part of the canyon. I won’t get any tricky updrafts.”

The chopper banked as it came around the last bend in the canyon before arriving at Coyote Springs. The tilt gave Autumn a perfect view of the rocky wash, which was littered with brush and limbs caught in the twisted trunks of now-dead saltbush.

The trail she’d hiked down was visible as it skirted the shrubbery framing the spit of sand. But from the air, she caught sight of a shiny object she’d missed from the ground.

“Look, Sam.” She tugged on his arm and pointed to a rocky ledge a few feet from the floor of the canyon. “Do you see that”

“A portable microwave dish,” he exclaimed.

“It must be how they contacted camp.”

“The only one with a transmitter is Connie Turner.”

They both cast meaningful glances. Connie could be the inside link to the hoodlums.

“We’d better keep a close eye on her,” Sam advised after hearing Autumn’s conjecture. “We’ll need proof to connect her with the others.”

“How are we going to do that?” Autumn asked after the helicopter landed in a cloud of churned-up dust.

“We’ll notify the sheriff. He’ll assign someone to keep an eye on her.”

The spit of sand where the helicopter landed wasn’t too far from the campground. Autumn knew they had only a few minutes before the group would gather around for news.

“There are more suspects than Connie Turner,” she told him hurriedly. “Wayne Carson could be working with Connie, or on his own. There’s also Frank.”

“Riker?” Sam looked surprised. “You’ve got to be kidding. I doubt he could organize something this complex.”

“That’s what I thought, too, Sam. But he’s turned up everywhere he shouldn’t be.”

“I sent him out when I didn’t hear from you. Besides, they shot him,” Sam informed her.

“My bet is that they had a disagreement,” Autumn argued. “What about Frank’s presence at that campsite? How did he find it unless he knew where to look?”

“I see your point,” Sam conceded. “We’ll have to take precautions. Maybe I should take you back.”

“No. You need me to keep an eye on them while you’re operating this shuttle service.” She could see he was reluctant to agree, but Autumn pressed her point.

Sam finally conceded. “It’ll be easier to keep tabs on everyone when we get more manpower. Until then, you be careful.”

“You can count on that,” Autumn promised as she prepared for their landing.

The approach of the crowd brought their conversation to an abrupt close. A rumble of voices reached them before the group came into view. She peered at the curtain of saltbush that lined the clearing and looked for signs of the approaching men and women. She spotted Dr. Davidson first. He had on his usual baggy pants and loose-fitting shirt, and was leading the scientists and newsmen. Wayne flanked him, while Connie practically ran to keep up with the lead. The others followed in a scattered group.

It took an hour to explain the facts and another to convince the party they had to pack up and evacuate to Eagle Heights Ranch. They were indignant, but with one man murdered and another shot, Sam refused to take chances. The area would be sealed off until the criminals were found.

The canyon echoed with the sounds of clanging tent poles, the clank of trunks being loaded, and the snort of mules. Autumn helped the professor with his packing. He was extremely nervous, but it seemed a normal reaction to the situation. As it turned out, most of her attention was focused on Wayne. He appeared unusually subdued, and he had avoided her and the professor since her arrival. She’d remember to tell Jess.

It wasn’t until the last group waited to be lifted out of the canyon that Autumn finally sat back and caught her breath. A couple of Jess’s hands had returned on the last flight. They had taken the mules and some of the gear. The chopper was flying out the scientists, the reporters, and all of their boxes of personal items. They only had one more trip to make.

Autumn glanced across the plateau. Except for the professor’s tent, which was still standing, it looked like it had before they’d arrived. Dr. Davidson and Wayne were taking one last look at the kiva. Sam was instructing the two deputies assigned to stay and guard the ruins. She closed her eyes until she heard footsteps approach.
Dr. Davidson
.

She patted the sand beside her for the professor to join her. “They were all upset about leaving.”

“I don’t blame them. In the course of a few hours, they’ve had history uncovered, destroyed—and now this.” Bitterness sounded in his voice as he sat beside her.

Autumn glanced from the nearby kiva to him. “You still have the kiva to map. There are paintings on the wall.”

“The artifacts were stolen.”

“We don’t know that for sure. Jess will find them,” she assured him, knowing there was very little chance he actually would. The professor needed a boost, even if it was temporary. “You also have photographs of the stone tablets. Won’t they be proof enough to establish your theory?”

“I hope so.” The professor rubbed his stubble of beard. “The dates weren’t authenticated, but all of those experts can testify to having seen them.”

“So you see, not all is lost. When everything settles down to normal, you will have your position paper to present to the archaeological world.”

“If they don’t accept it, my tenure goes down the drain.” Again, bitterness echoed in his voice.

“Think positive,” Autumn encouraged him. “Don’t allow those negative thoughts to take control.”

“But I have lost control. Who could plan on murder and theft?”

The strange words and vehemence in his tone startled Autumn. She shook her head. The man had been through a lot. He was entitled to his confusion, as long as he didn’t let it take complete control of his reason.