Page 19 of Blood and Bone
“The worst,” Ari concurred. Memories of the crap he’d seen and been forced to do in the military haunted him to this day. Families devastated; homes destroyed. Innocents always paid the price.
“Anyway, this place doesn’t seem so poor,” Ari said as they drove through town.”
“No, but you never know what you’ll find when you get a chance to see how they actually live. The chief said Riversong’s brother was taking care of her and the kids after Vandross went to prison but I guess we’ll never know until we see the place.”
“You’re right but it makes me wonder,” Ari said.
Eoghan shot him a quick glance as they made a turn onto a rural, dirt road. The trees were thick on either side of the single lane road. “Wonder about what?”
“It sounds like ever since Vandross went away, she was doing better. This has to be a kidnapping, right?”
“Agreed. That’s why the brother called us. The last time his sister ended up on a vampire reservation. Who’s to say she wouldn’t end up back there again because the last time Vandrosswanderedonto their lands,” Eoghan said. “He was an idiot, escaping the law, clearly not the brightest tool in the shed.”
“And yet he put his woman, a newborn, and two other children in horrible danger by running. It sounds like he did that on purpose so that their tribe wouldn’t dare follow,” Ari said.
“I never thought about it that way.” He tapped his chin with a finger. “There might be something there.”
“What did you ask her when you rescued her and the kids?”
“Like I told the chief…we never talked to her. We put her and the kids in the back of a police van and put him in a different vehicle and called the tribal police. They showed up after a couple of hours and took them off to detain them on the reservation as far as I knew.”
“Okay, and you said he went to Folsom and she was incarcerated in the reservation jail for the duration of her six-month sentence,” Ari said.
Eoghan nodded. “That’s right.”
“Okay, then.” He pointed out the windshield as he watched the Blazer turn into the driveway of a small, white tract home. The neighborhood appeared middle class, neither rich nor poor with a combination of one-and two-story older homes with attached two car garages. The front yard of Riversong’s house was neatly mowed and the flower garden, although slightly overgrown with weeds, appeared to be watered on some sort of timer since the empty driveway was wet and the flowerbeds looked dark. They parked in front of the house and got out of the car, walking up to meet the two police officers who waited for them on the drive. Ari noted two tricycles parked next to the front gate as they followed them to the front door.
There was no police tape across the doorway, and he was surprised to see Two Trees produce a housekey before unlocking the door.
“The brother’s not meeting us here?” Eoghan asked, sounding as surprised as he was.
Two Trees turned to look at them. “No, he’s at work and to be honest, I wanted to come out here without him. He’s been very upset ever since he reported Riversong and the kids’ disappearance yesterday morning. He blamed us for not arresting Vandross before he grabbed his wife and kids to flee thelasttime. And he swears he’ll have my job if I don’t find herthistime around even though I wasn’t even chief of police back then.” He pushed the door open, and they all entered. “I didn’t want to field any more of his phone calls. He wasreallypissed when he heard I’d brought the I.S.R. in on his sister’s disappearance.”
“But he knows the I.S.R were the ones who captured Vandross which allowed the tribal police to bring her and the kids back the last time, right?”
“Yeah, he knows but it doesn’t make him any less of an asshole,” the chief said gruffly.
Ari snorted and exchanged a glance with Eoghan who shrugged. “Doesn’t he work with you on the tribal council?”
“We don’t exactly work with him. We tolerate him more like it. The guy’s overbearing and ever since Riversong went missing, he’s been a pain in the ass. He wanted me to have everyone in my office stop all other police business to go looking for her. I’m sympathetic to him…I really am, but when I told him I called you guys because you’d helped locate them the last time, you’d have thought I’d drowned his cat.”
“He sounds like a total idiot,” Eoghan said. “If I had a sister who went missing, I’d turn over every rock in Tahoe and beyond to find her and I wouldn’t care who was looking as long as she was found safe and sound.”
“Exactly,” Two Trees said. He held out his hands. “Well, here we are. Look all you like. We already looked at everything and collected as much evidence of her life as we could. Nothing stood out. According to her credit report, there’re no weird collections, no late payments, and according to her boss down at the library in town, she’s a great employee. We’re stumped.”
“Did you find any evidence of a kidnapping or anything that looked remotely suspicious of a forced abduction at all? Any signs of foul play?” Eoghan asked.
“Nothing. That’s why we called you.”
“Okay, we’ll look around.”
Ari was already circling the living room, looking at every piece of furniture, every knickknack, every child’s toy in sight. He bent to look at a family portrait which included the photo of a younger Jack Vandross, Riversong Wilkins, an infant strapped to the front of her body with a Native American patterned wrap, and two small children, holding their father’s hands. Riversong was smiling widely at the camera lookinggenuinely happy. Vandross was looking down at a little dark-haired child with the most loving expression on his face. Ari glanced up at Eoghan.
“Do you have gloves?”
“Sure.” Eoghan reached into the backpack he carried, pulling out two pairs and handing one to Ari before donning his own.
Ari pulled them on before turning over the photo, noting the stamp etched into the frame. He flipped it back over and stared at it. Small, painted hearts were carved into the frame too. He held it out to Eoghan, who took it as the two tribal officers came over.