Alibis and Amethysts (9 page)

Chapter 11

After interviewing four applicants for the part-time position in her shop, Jaye was
almost ready to give up. Two were high school seniors who kept checking their smartphones
while she was talking to them. One of the girls actually started texting a reply to
someone, at which point Jaye stopped the interview and asked her to leave. Then there
was the charming elderly gentleman who seemed like a great candidate for the job until
Jaye began showing him around. Unsteady on his feet, he promptly banged into one of
the display cases and sent the shelves and their contents crashing to the floor. While
he was apologizing and trying to help her collect the crystals that were still intact
from the ones that were now just shards, he backed into another case, causing even
more destruction. The last of the applicants was punctual, didn’t have a cell phone
in her hand and appeared to be agile enough not to destroy the shop, but her English
was limited to “no problem” and “thank you.” Unfortunately, Jaye needed someone who
could handle the customers on her own right out of the gate.

“I’ve been seriously thinking of stealing Ruth from you,” she said to Sierra when
they talked after work that day.

“She’s addicted to my cookies, so you don’t stand a chance,” Sierra replied, “but
thanks for the heads-up.”

“Does she have a twin?”

“No, but she does have a niece by the name of Bryn who waitresses at Finnegan’s.”

“Hey, if she works nights there, maybe I can talk her into a part-time gig with me
during the day.”

“It couldn’t hurt to ask. If Ruth is any example of the family gene pool, the girl
could be a keeper.”

Two days after her interview, Bryn Albright showed up for her first shift. Jaye had
decided not to tell her about Raffles. To account for any strange noises Bryn might
hear from upstairs, she said that she had a clumsy old cat.

Within days it was clear that Bryn was going to be a resounding success. She loved
the shop and was fascinated by the large array of crystals and gems. Whenever she
saw Jaye, she had a dozen new questions about the different stones and seemed able
to commit all the answers to memory. Sweet and soft-spoken, she was a big hit with
the customers too. She even came up with new ideas for incorporating the stones into
jewelry. The one she called “the Heart and Soul charm bracelet” quickly became a local
and tourist favorite. Customers purchased one of the sterling silver link bracelets,
then selected small crystals and gemstones to add on as charms. Since each stone was
attributed with specific spiritual and healing properties, customers would base their
choices on which ones best suited their individual needs. The hours Jaye had invested
in studying those properties, as a supplement to her more traditional education, were
proving to be time well spent.

Jaye worked alongside the younger woman until she felt Bryn was ready to run the store
solo. When that time came, Jaye found it harder than she’d anticipated to leave her
shop in Bryn’s hands, regardless of how bright and capable she’d proven to be. Bryn
finally had to take charge and shoo Jaye out the door.

In an effort not to lose customers who came to Crystal Clear specifically because
they’d heard about Jaye’s expertise, she left Bryn with a calendar listing the days
and times she would be there. Unfortunately, Jaye’s absences were still bound to leave
some tourists disgruntled, but if she had to serve time for a murder conviction, they’d
be inconvenienced for considerably longer.

***

To date, Jaye’s impromptu conversations with shopkeepers hadn’t yielded a single decent
suspect. Of course, she hadn’t dropped Adam Grayson from her list. Being the ex-lover
could point to motive, but from the little she already knew, it would have been more
likely for Peggy to have killed Adam than the other way around. Brock and Anastos
were no doubt having an easier time with their investigation, since credentials and
guns were helpful tools to have at one’s disposal when asking nosy questions. But
since this wasn’t a competition to see who could solve the case first, Jaye was rooting
for their success as well as her own. Until they found the real killer, she and Sierra
were likely to remain at the top of their leaderboard.

After the detectives’ surprise visit, she’d talked Sierra into going to an attorney
with her.

“Won’t it make us look guilty if we consult an attorney before we’ve been charged
with anything?” Sierra had asked.

“I’m hoping it won’t ever come to that, but I think we need to be prepared. They’re
clearly trying to pit us against each other.”

“But they haven’t tried to use that routine on me.”

“Maybe they want to keep us off balance, keep us guessing until one of us can’t take
the pressure anymore.”

Sierra had smiled like the cat who ate the canary and found it quite delectable. “They
don’t know us very well, do they?”

Since the only attorney either of them knew was the one who’d handled their real estate
transactions, they made an appointment to see him.

“It’s a scare tactic. One of the oldest in the book,” Ron Lasko told them. He was
well into his middle years, with a jolly, round face and a belly that jiggled when
he laughed. If he ever grew tired of practicing the law, Jaye imagined, he could sign
on as Santa’s younger brother.

Lasko reached across his desk to the three apothecary jars he kept there. They were
filled with jelly beans, candy corn and malted milk balls, respectively. He plucked
the top off the one with the jelly beans and offered them to his clients. After Jaye
and Sierra declined, he shoved his pudgy fingers into the jar and helped himself to
a handful, which he popped into his mouth between sentences.

“Just don’t let them get to you,” he said. His tone was solemn, but the chewing made
his cheeks appear to plump up with unspent laughter. He was probably not the best
man to defend them in a murder case. “I know, that’s easy for me to say,” he went
on, “but it happens to be the truth.” He pitched a few more jelly beans into his mouth.
“If it ever reaches the point where they charge you, I’ll hook you up with my law
school buddy. He practices up in Flagstaff. The best criminal defense attorney you’ll
find anywhere.”

“Well, I don’t feel any better after talking to him,” Sierra said as they walked out
to the parking lot five minutes later. “How about you?”

“The only thing I feel better about is the fact that he didn’t charge us much for
that sparkling advice,” Jaye said wryly. “I wonder what his candy of choice is when
he has to appear in court.”

***

Since Mondays were generally slower at both Premier Navajo Tours and Crystal Clear,
Daniel invited Jaye to join him on a trip up to see his mother in Tuba City. It meant
Bryn would have to work the whole day and close up before heading over to Finnegan’s,
but she assured Jaye she could handle it. Sierra offered to be on standby in case
there were any problems. She always took Mondays off to inventory her supplies and
restock anything she’d forgotten to order for the coming week. She also used the day
to catch up on other errands, as well as to indulge in her new favorite activity—hiking
the red rocks with Frosty, who’d proven to be quite the athlete. When Jaye started
to have second thoughts about the trip to the Navajo reservation, Sierra refused to
let her back out.

“You’re not all that indispensible around here, you know.” They were having tea in
Jaye’s kitchen the night before the scheduled trip. Frosty was tucked under Sierra’s
chair, Raffles under Jaye’s, as they continued to size each other up. Although the
women had been concerned about a possible skirmish when the animals met, so far things
had been cool but civilized.

“The timing is so bad,” Jaye said. “We can’t afford to lose even one day making the
rounds and talking to people. Someone killed Peggy, and sooner or later we’re going
to stumble over the right person, even if it’s by sheer accident.”

“First of all, I think it’s about time
I
took part in
our
investigation. Besides, why should you have all the fun?” Sierra added brightly,
as if she were talking about going to a party, not trying to find a killer. “Who knows,
maybe I’ll get lucky and have the case all tied up in bows by the time you get back.”

“I’d settle for you not getting yourself killed by the time I get back,” Jaye replied.
“And what’s the second reason I have to go?”

“Raffles, of course. Daniel’s driving up to Tuba to see what he can find out about
your new pet. The least you could do is go with him.”

***

Jaye was waiting in the parking lot when Daniel pulled in. She climbed into his Jeep,
grateful that it wasn’t one of the open-air vehicles from his business. Mornings that
time of the year were still downright chilly. Daniel had stopped for coffee on his
way there. Two steaming cups filled the double holder in the console between them.
“There’s sugar and phony sugar packets in the glove box,” he said. “I didn’t know
if you like cream or not, so I compromised by putting in a little.”

Jaye plucked her cup out of the holder and wrapped her hands around it for the warmth.
“As long as it’s hot, it’s perfect. Thank you.” She was relieved to see that Daniel
was wearing jeans. She’d had a hard time deciding what would be appropriate for the
trip. She’d never visited a “rez,” as Daniel referred to it. Sierra, who had, said
jeans would be fine. Still, Jaye wasn’t sure. This was Daniel’s hometown. It was the
place where his family lived, where he’d grown up. Maybe chinos would look more respectful
for meeting his mother. Then again, she didn’t want to appear overdressed and snobby
either. After several wardrobe changes, she’d finally given up and gone with the jeans.
Raffles had watched the little fashion show from the comfort of the bed, trilling
occasionally as if to express her opinion.

“Oh, no,” Jaye said as they merged onto the highway. She’d been so worried about dressing
properly that she’d forgotten something more important. “I can’t visit your mother
for the first time without bringing her a gift. Can we stop before we get there?”

Daniel grinned. “Relax. I already took care of it. There’s a box in the backseat with
two pounds of her favorite chocolate fudge.”

“Wow,” she said, “you think of everything, don’t you?”

“I aim to please.”

“Well, your aim’s awfully good.”

“In the interest of full disclosure,” he said, “whenever I go up there I bring stuff
they need.”

Jaye laughed. “I already like your mom. Anyone who
needs
fudge is my kind of woman. So there aren’t any candy shops in Tuba City?”

“The word city isn’t very accurate. Tuba might be the biggest town on the rez, but
it’s still real small.”

“It’s a strange name for a town, unless it’s a hotbed of tuba manufacturing.”

“It was named for the Hopi chief who first settled there. The Navajo name for the
town was too hard for Anglos to pronounce. It means ‘tangled waters,’ probably because
of the underground springs there.”

“Does your whole family live there?” They’d never really talked about family before,
although she had mentioned that Sierra was all she had.

“What’s left of it. My dad was never around much even when I was a kid. He was an
alcoholic. He’d show up when he needed money.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to be nosy.”

“Hey, we’re friends.—you ought to know more about me. And my whole sordid background,”
he added with a grin. “My mom and most of my family still live in Tuba. My cousin
George and I are the only ones who moved away. Some of them left the rez to finish
school, but they all went back there to work—two teachers, a nurse, an electrician
and a plumber.”

“Do you get any flak for leaving?”

“Sure. They ride us plenty about it—mostly in a good-natured way. But as much as I
love them all, I’m still awfully glad to leave by the end of the day.”

“It seems to be like that with families,” Jaye said, basing the observation on books
and movies, since she had no frame of reference from her own life. Whenever she tried
to imagine herself interacting with her mom and dad as an adult, the screen in her
mind faded to black. She could think of them only in the way she’d related to them
at the age of seven. There was simply no way for her to extrapolate from there. She
was glad when Daniel changed the subject.

“I hear you’ve been moonlighting as a PI, making the rounds, trying to figure out
who killed Peggy,” he said as they raced northward on the nearly empty highway.

“So I’ve been outed. Who told you?”

“A few of the locals. You’re headlining the gossip circuit this week.”

Jaye sighed. “Well, I knew it was just a matter of time, but I was hoping to get some
more unscripted reactions before the walls went up.”

“Hard to do that. But I’ll tell you what—I’ll keep an ear out for anything that might
help you. I can even ask some questions myself. Real low-key and all.”

Jaye welcomed him aboard. They could use all the help they could get. And just like
that her little team of investigators numbered three.

Chapter 12

Jaye’s first impression of Tuba City was of a dry and dusty stretch of blocks that
more closely resembled a ghost town than any kind of city. They passed several schools,
a gas station, a church, a supermarket, a MacDonald’s and a Taco Bell. There were
a few government buildings, a plumbing supply store and a couple of motels, along
with a branch of Diné College, a trading post, a small Navajo museum and a medical
center. But in spite of all these businesses, the town had a forlorn and neglected
look. Jaye realized it wasn’t just the lack of greenery or charming architecture that
made the area seem depressed, although those things certainly didn’t help, it was
the houses on Main Street with all their windows boarded up. When she asked about
them, Daniel explained that the residents had moved out years ago due to asbestos
concerns. Unfortunately, the government didn’t have the money to fix the problem,
and the houses couldn’t be torn down, because they’d been designated historical buildings.

“Seeing them like that used to bother me,” Daniel said, “but I hardly notice them
anymore. That’s how it is. You live with something ugly or broken and at first it’s
all you can see, but then your mind throws a cloak of sorts over it and you don’t
even realize it’s there anymore.”

Jaye knew exactly what he meant. She’d felt like the ugly, broken thing in her first
foster home. She’d been so sad, unable to eat, crying every day. For the first few
months, her foster family had tried to make her feel welcome and happy, but when she’d
gone right on stuck in her misery, they’d eventually given up and stopped seeing her
unhappiness. “When the economy turns around, I’m sure the houses will be refurbished,”
she said, determined not to wallow in bad memories.

“I’d like to think so,” Daniel said as he turned off Main Street, but his tone lacked
any real conviction. They drove away from the center of town, passing narrow streets
dotted with small houses and mobile homes long past being mobile. Most of the residents
had satellite dishes on their roofs and old pickups parked outside. When Daniel passed
the last block of houses, Jaye began to wonder exactly where his mother lived.

“Just up ahead,” he said, as if he were reading her mind. “My grandmother Doli Joe
doesn’t like crowds, and my mother doesn’t want to leave her alone now that she’s
getting on in years.”

Crowds? Jaye thought. If his grandmother thought Tuba City was crowded, how would
she react to a place like New York or Chicago? But she refrained from saying anything,
since Daniel must have known how strange that sounded.

About half a mile beyond the last block they’d passed, in what seemed like the middle
of nowhere, Daniel finally pulled to a stop in front of a small one-story house with
an old green Explorer parked in front. The house had probably started life a hopeful,
sparkling white, but over time had adopted the sandy hue of its surroundings. Aside
from the color, the house appeared to be in good repair, courtesy of Daniel’s attentions
no doubt. Behind the house, and partially obscured by it, Jaye could see an eight-sided
log cabin with what looked like a tar paper roof.

“Is that a hogan?” she asked when she and Daniel got out of the car.

“Yeah, it’s my grandmother’s. She insists on living there even though it doesn’t have
electricity or running water. It took years just to convince her to replace the dirt
roof.” He handed Jaye the box of fudge he’d retrieved from the Jeep’s backseat.

As they approached the front door of his mother’s house, Jaye could hear women’s voices
inside raised in argument. One of them seemed to be speaking English, the other a
language Jaye couldn’t identify. Given where they were, she assumed it was Navajo.
But with the house as a buffer, even the English was hard to discern. She stole a
glance at Daniel, expecting to see a worried or chagrined expression on his face,
but he was actually smiling and shaking his head.

“It’s nothing,” he said wryly. “Just my mother and grandmother having one of their
debates.”

Jaye wondered if they were deaf. The decibels coming through the walls were impressive.
“So it’s just a normal mother/daughter squabble?”

“Well, ‘normal’ might be a bit of an understatement,” he said, reaching for the doorknob.

Jaye put her hand on his arm. “Wait. Maybe we shouldn’t walk in on them. I don’t want
them to be embarrassed.”

“Maybe they should be,” he said turning the knob. The door opened without benefit
of a key. So much for security. Jaye wondered if everyone on the reservation left
their homes unlocked. But there was a far more pressing issue to deal with at the
moment. She wasn’t convinced she should go traipsing into someone’s house for the
first time when they were embroiled in what sounded like a highly-charged argument.

Apparently harboring no such concerns, Daniel had already stepped inside. With the
door open, the English was easier to understand. “Of course I’m taking you seriously,”
Jaye heard one of the women thunder. “But that doesn’t mean you’re right.”

When Jaye didn’t immediately follow Daniel inside, he turned back to her. “Aren’t
you coming?”

“Why don’t you go tell them we’re here?” she suggested, feeling more uncomfortable
than ever.

Before he had time to answer her, the shouting stopped, and a moment later Daniel
was grabbed up in a fierce hug by a woman who barely reached his neck. She was wearing
dark jeans, a long-sleeved chambray shirt and boots. Her black hair was pulled back
in a single thick plait, her dark eyes underscored by the sharp flare of her cheekbones.
Daniel was a considerably larger male version of his mother.

After releasing her son, she took his face between the palms of her hands and studied
him. Apparently satisfied with her analysis, she smiled up at him. “You look well,
my son.” She turned to Jaye. “Please, come in. I’m Kyah.” Her speech had the same
exotic cadence as Daniel’s.

Jaye stepped inside, grateful that the situation had resolved itself, at least for
the present. After telling Kyah how happy she was to meet her, Jaye presented her
with the fudge.

“Thank you,” Kyah said with an embarrassed little laugh. “I see my son has told you
about my terrible weakness for these sweets.”

“Well, I’m afraid it’s a weakness I share with you,” Jaye said.

“I’m so glad you were able to come. I don’t often get to meet my son’s friends,” Kyah
said pointedly. Daniel winced at the remark, but didn’t try to defend himself. Jaye
wondered if he would have kept his silence if he’d been alone.

She glanced around the living room where the decor was an easy blend of Anglo and
Navajo cultures. A worn leather couch and chair were arranged opposite a large flat-screen
TV while the walls were adorned with intricately woven Navajo rugs, each one as beautiful
as a painting. At a right angle to the living room was a smaller area that was probably
meant to be a dining room but that was presently occupied by an old sewing machine
and a folding table where bolts of fabric lay beside other tailoring miscellany.

An elderly woman stood in the doorway between the dining room and the kitchen. Daniel’s
grandmother, no doubt. She was dressed in a long, purple velveteen skirt, with a blouse
of a similar hue and a wide conch belt at her waist. Her feet were clad in high-top
moccasins, and her gray hair was drawn into a tidy knot at the nape of her neck. There
was no joy in her expression. Her face was as clenched as a fist, either with leftover
anger from the argument with her daughter or because she wasn’t pleased that her grandson
had brought company. When Jaye’s eyes met hers, she felt the full weight of the older
woman’s scrutiny.

“Come meet Doli Joe,” Daniel said brightly, as if he hadn’t noticed that Doli Joe
didn’t appear to be in a meet and greet kind of mood. When Jaye hesitated, he took
her hand and led her over to his grandmother like a parent leading a reluctant child
to the first day of school. Doli Joe opened her arms as Daniel approached. Letting
go of Jaye’s hand, he stepped into his grandmother’s embrace, at which point a smile
softened the stern line of her mouth and rose to twinkle in her eyes.

Daniel spoke to her in Navajo, and when Jaye heard him say her name she figured it
was the right time to step forward. “It’s so nice to meet you,” she said, not sure
if she should offer to shake the older woman’s hand. Undecided, she dipped her head
in a little bow. Where had that come from? Doli Joe was Navajo, not Japanese. And
why hadn’t she asked Daniel about the proper etiquette for meeting the family matriarch?
For that matter, she wasn’t even sure if his grandmother understood English. But since
Jaye didn’t speak Navajo, there wasn’t much she could do about that.

“It’s good of you to make the trip here with my grandson,” Doli Joe replied. Okay—no
problem with her English, but her tone made it clear that she was reserving final
judgment on this stranger who’d come into their midst. It occurred to Jaye that if
Daniel never brought friends home to meet his family, his mom and grandmother might
be thinking she were more than just a friend. The odds were Daniel hadn’t even considered
that possibility. From what Jaye knew of men, they could be woefully blind when it
came to the emotional intricacies of a woman’s mind.

“Jaye, Daniel, come sit down in the kitchen,” Kyah said, walking around her mother,
who seemed rooted to the spot. “I made some iced tea. Or would you like coffee?”

“The iced tea sounds great,” Jaye said, excusing herself to Doli Joe as Daniel took
her hand and led her into the kitchen. The room was galley-like, barely wide enough
for a single cook. It would have been claustrophobic if not for the window beyond
the workspace and the open area beneath it that was large enough to accommodate a
table and four mismatched folding chairs. But in spite of the scarred wooden cabinets,
chipped green Formica countertops and out-of-date appliances, the kitchen managed
to be warm and homey. White and green café curtains, smelling freshly of lemon and
soap, fluttered at the partially open window, and a glass bowl of avocados, bananas
and oranges made a colorful centerpiece for the table.

Daniel and Jaye took the seats closest to the window. After pouring two glasses of
iced tea for them, Kyah sat down as well. When Doli Joe appeared in the doorway a
minute later, Kyah asked her to please join them. Her tone was deferential, but not
apologetic. Without a word, the older woman came to the table and lowered herself
slowly onto the last chair, between her daughter and grandson. Whatever had ignited
the fiery argument between mother and daughter seemed to have been set aside by mutual,
if unspoken, agreement.

“The arthritis acting up?” Daniel asked his grandmother.

“What can you do?” she replied in English. “The first hundred years are always the
hardest. Your mother said you had something you wanted to show me.”

“Jaye and I came across a strange animal neither of us ever saw before. We couldn’t
even find anything like it on the Internet. We were hoping you might have heard talk
of it among our people over the years.”

Jaye dug in her purse for her smartphone, brought up the photos of Raffles and gave
the phone to Doli Joe. After the older woman looked at the first picture, Daniel showed
her how to scroll through the rest. A frown lowered over her eyes as she studied them.

“You’ve seen this creature before?” Daniel asked.

Doli Joe shook her head and held the phone out for Kyah to see. Jaye thought she caught
a look pass between the two women, a look that was hard to characterize. Opponents
reunited by a mutual interest? Or was her imagination weaving intrigue out of nothing?
If Daniel had noticed anything, he’d obviously chosen not to call them on it. And
given the circumstances, Jaye felt she had no choice but to follow his lead. By the
time they said their good-byes and climbed back into the Jeep, she was nearly bursting
with the need to ask him about it.

“Did you see—?”

“Yeah, I know,” Daniel said before she could finish the question, “but believe me,
there’s no point in trying to get Doli Joe to say any more than she wants to. We stand
a better chance with my mother. I’ll give her a call tomorrow, and if my grandmother’s
not around, I might be able to wangle something out of her.”