Chapter Seven
The Skull
Deshavi leafed through the summer dresses in the store in town. Trent would be back from the East today in the late afternoon and she wanted to look nice for him.
She turned a corner to see a man standing there. She’d never liked him and so she started to back away, before she realized that there was a man behind her and to the side of her too. She was more or less trapped unless she made a commotion of it in the store. Armed with that option of last resort she stood with her arms tightly folded, “What is it that you want Running Bear?”
He smiled nastily, his stained and broken teeth giving evidence to the bad breath that was now assailing her, as he stepped closer. “Heard you’re getting married. To a white man no less! To think the granddaughter of a chief would cheapen her bloodline so!
Deshavi snorted derisively, “You’re one to talk blue eyes! Are you sure you shouldn’t be having this conversation with your own mother? At least I’m going to marry the man of my affections, unlike your mother.”
For a moment it looked like he was about to hit her, but he regained his composure. “What you do is no business of ours, but it is, who you have picked that we find unacceptable!”
Deshavi’s face turned all knowing, “You mean that you don’t approve of me marrying the grandson of the man whose discovery is likely to take away your booze money don’t you?”
Running Bear wasn’t to be put off though. “We will only approve of the union if you first do something for us. It is well known that before your current saintly attitude that you were a thief. Steel the skull from the grandfather and see that it is destroyed and we will permit you to marry as planned.”
Deshavi’s temper exploded. “Why you little dirt bag weasel to come to me and threaten my right to marry whomever I will!”
Her hand found part of a clothes rack, which was leaning up against the wall, with which she proceeded to wail away at Running Bear and his two companions. They made an attempt to grab her, but retreated away from her and out of the store in the face of her wrathful whacking of them. Deshavi stormed out of the store after them, but the cowards that they were, they had already disappeared.
Her people were an honorable people, but some members of the tribe should have been thrown to the wolves long ago.
It was one week from the wedding. Tomorrow I would head back to the east with Deshavi and Trent. Ted was coming along to. I pulled Windstalker to a halt at Ted’s cabin and got down. I wanted to make sure that he was ready to go in the morning. I stepped up to the door and started to knock, but stopped as I realized the door was already slightly ajar. An ominous feeling swept through me.
My hand slipped down to my waist and slipped free a six-inch hunting knife that I was rarely without. Quietly I slipped into the dark cabin keeping care to stay low and not backdrop myself against an outside window. I had thought it odd not to see any lights on as I had ridden up.
Grimly I knelt down and reached a hand out to the darker shadow laying on the floor. The feeling of death was heavy in the atmosphere of the room. Ted was dead. From the feel of it his skull had been cracked wide open. I canvassed the rest of the cabin slowly, but I was alone. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the number.
The line was instantly active, “Yes, I need to report a murder.” I gave them the particulars and agreed to wait until someone arrived.
I called Trent and told him. He took it quietly, as I knew you would. He and Deshavi had been out on a date. I didn’t turn any lights on, but I could tell the place had been rifled through, as if it had been a robbery gone wrong. I doubted that however, because the skull was gone. That was what was behind all of this I was more than willing to bet.
I had expected the fall back from Ted’s discovery to be bad, but not like this. One of my people had likely killed Ted or someone on the outside had killed him and stolen the skull to shift probable blame onto my people and make us look bad. I didn’t know which it was, but either way I was going to make them pay for this!
I stood along the sidelines as uniformed officers made their way about the scene, as photographs were taken and fingerprints were dusted for. Deshavi stood near me looking very pale. Trent was being questioned by an officer, “I know about your grandfather’s recent discovery, but do you have any idea as to who would do this?”
Trent shrugged shaking his head no, “No one in particular that I know of.”
Deshavi’s voice quivered, as it broke into the conversation, “I think I might know of who could have done it.”
All eyes turned to her. The officer walked up to her and Deshavi told him of being accosted by the three men in the store and them wanting her to steal the skull. It was the first that I had heard of the incident and glancing at Trent I could see it was for him to.
His demeanor up till now had been one of masterful control, but now the muscles of his jaw were bunching and ticking in barely leashed fury. He spoke up roughly, “Why didn’t you tell me? Tell anyone, someone about the incident?”
Her eyes were pain itself, “I didn’t want to mess anything up.” She said softly in a small voice.
Trent looked like he desperately wanted to say something, but he walked out instead into the night. Tears fell down Deshavi’s face as she glanced at me. I didn’t want to bury the spear point any deeper than it already was, but the reality of it was what it was.
“You should’ve told me Deshavi.”
She nodded as more tears came cascading down her face.
Despite my anger with her I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close as she cried. If she’d only told me or Trent, one of us could’ve stayed with Ted, until the skull was safely out of his immediate possession. It had been a costly mistake.
The coming week the investigation dragged out and then finally culminated, as I led a group of sheriffs in the tracked down capture of the three suspects on reservation land, who admitted their guilt in search of a plea bargain. The skull wasn’t found. The three men claimed to have pulverized it and thrown the pieces of it into the river. I was inclined to believe that was the truth.
The worst part of the week was the ill fruit that came out of one bad choice. Trent called the wedding off and after the suspects were in custody he had simply left town without saying anything to anyone. In my opinion he was making, as big a mistake, as Deshavi had. She may have been late, but at least she had come forward with the truth, when it would have been easier not to say anything and just let the killers get away.
I could partly understand that he had felt hurt and betrayed by someone he’d exposed so much of his heart to and thus the need to get away and let the wound heal, but what he had done was wrong. In a time like this communication was everything, with forgiveness being a close partner to it. He had acted selfishly, as had Deshavi before him, and as a result they were both now paying the penalty.
Deshavi hadn’t left her room once in the three days since Trent had left. I lay awake at night listening to her cry, until I had been on the verge of hopping on a plane and stalking down Trent myself. Tie the two of them together and let them fight and work this thing out together. That would’ve been bloody no doubt, but far more preferable to this hopeless dirge that Deshavi was going through with full emotion.
The morning of the fourth day Deshavi emerged from her room. She looked like hell and she was carrying her suitcase. Her other suitcases rested packed on the floor behind her. I immediately started shaking my head no, as I stood up and move toward her.
I hugged her to me, “I don’t want you going anywhere, not just yet.”
“I have to grandpa! It’s living torment to be here! I need to get away and figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.”
I started to say something I had been dreading, but her hand closed over my lips as her eyes met mine earnestly. “I’m not going to live wild and start stealing stuff again grandpa I promise! If this whole ordeal has taught me anything it is that I want to at least have more self-respect for myself than I did before this summer. I also want your respect for me. I’m going back to the city. I’m going to sell my stuff and try to find a position of some kind somewhere and start being a contributing member of society, instead of a self spoiled brat. I need to do this and it will help to be busy so I don’t think so much over what could have been.”
It was the most mature statement of grown-up intent I had ever heard from her before. I hugged her again and whispered into her ear, “Please just one more day for my sake. Spend one more day with me.”
“Okay.” She responded squeezing me back in response to my plea.