ONE
 
 
Josephine Buck walked in beauty. She attended school two nights a week at San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico, and held a part-time job at The Outpost, a trading post adjacent to the Navajo Nation. At age twenty-six, she was also the youngest apprentice to one of the tribe’s most revered hataaliis, medicine men. Though it would take years, someday she hoped to become a Navajo medicine woman—a rare profession for women of her tribe.
Her schedule was impossibly demanding, but through the traditions of the Diné, the Navajo People, she’d found the strength to honor all her commitments. She started each morning by offering her Prayers to Dawn, a ritual as old as the sacred mountains.
Standing on the sage-covered hillside behind her home on the Navajo Reservation, she waited for the first rays of light to peer over the horizon. The moment Sun greeted her, Jo began to chant. “Dawn, beautiful dawn.” Her voice rose, each line reverberating with the power of conviction. The prayer was as much a part of her as the beating of her heart.
At long last, she finished. “Hozhone nas clee, now all is well,” she said, then took a pinch of pollen from her deerskin medicine bag and threw it into the air. The tiny particles danced like yellow glitter in the early morning light, catching in a gentle breeze and dispersing before drifting down to Mother Earth.
Filled with energy, Jo hurried back downhill. She was going to work early to meet with Tom Stuart, the trading post’s Anglo owner. For the past two months, something had been bothering him, but the store was a busy place—she worked thirty-five hours a week there now—and they hadn’t had time to talk about anything except business. Then he’d asked her to stop by his house before work this morning to discuss an important matter. His tone was so grim, he’d scared her a bit. She’d spent a long sleepless night speculating on the reason, each new scenario worse than the last.
Tom was more than her boss; he was the father she wished she’d had, and her friend. When her own father became sick, the former marine turned storekeeper had been there for her. He’d allowed her to keep flexible hours and done everything in his power to help her through that difficult time.
As a good Navajo, Jo believed that balance was the way to harmony. Tom had helped her, and now she’d do the same for him. Jo hurried to her truck and set out, wondering what lay ahead for them today. As she steered into the long curve around the south end of the Hogback formation, the ridge that ran north and south along the Navajo Nation’s eastern boundary, she could see the trading post off in the distance, just off the Rez.
A white van, probably a delivery vehicle, pulled out onto the highway from the turnoff and headed east toward Farmington. The van reminded her of the vehicles used by bank and business couriers, or those extra rental vans used by FedEx around the holidays, except this one had no markings. The odd thing, though, was that it was awfully early for a shipment or food delivery to come in.
Tom’s trading post was a private operation, not affiliated with the tribe. It was modeled after early nineteenth-century businesses, the kind most Navajos had often used to trade or purchase supplies. Painted in a light turquoise blue color, the building contrasted with the surrounding coal-rich countryside that supplied fuel to two major power plants.
Jo drove straight to the big metal gate that led to Tom’s home behind the trading post. His white Chevy pickup stood just inside, parked in its usual spot. Jo pulled up next to the enclosure and walked to the gate. Tom had given her a key to the padlock months ago, but she didn’t have to use it this morning. The chain and lock were nowhere to be seen.
Tom was a man of settled habits, and this change in routine surprised her. Jo strode quickly up the flagstone walk and knocked hard on his front door. Tom was an early riser. A widower, he’d turned what was once his wife’s sewing room into a gym, and worked out every morning. She figured that he’d probably be there now.
Her knock went unanswered. Maybe he’d finished and stepped into the shower. She went to the front window, open about eight inches, and listened for the sound of running water.
“Morning, Tom. It’s me, Jo,” she called out. She expected to catch a whiff of the eye-opening pitch black brew Tom called coffee, but an entirely different scent came wafting out to meet her.
It wasn’t strong, but it was distinctive. For a moment, she struggled to identify it. Then memories of family gatherings and freshly butchered sheep came rushing back. Blood—that was the scent. Maybe he’d been butchering a side of beef someone gave him last night, or possibly a freezer had broken down. If meat had spoiled, he would have arranged to get an early delivery from a butcher shop.
She shivered, not from the cold, but from the thought that niggled at the back of her mind. Something felt … off.
Jo brushed away the big blowflies that had gathered on the window screen, but they came right back. Uneasy, she circled around to the front door. As she reached into her shoulder bag for the emergency key he’d given her, she noticed that the door wasn’t completely shut. She pushed it with the tip of her boot and it swung open without a sound.
“It’s me. I’m coming in,” Jo called, her skin prickling.
There had been a time people around here didn’t bother to lock their doors, but modern life had ushered in many changes. With thieves and drug crimes more prevalent now, caution had become a fact of life. Yet she’d seen no signs of a break-in, just a door that shouldn’t be open and a missing lock and chain. And there was that white delivery van.…
Though she hated the thought of intruding on anyone’s privacy, Jo forced herself to go inside. As she stepped into the living room, the scent of blood grew stronger.
Her entire body began to tremble as she took the room in at a glance. The shelf on the wall that had held antique salt and pepper shakers had been rearranged. The pair of brightly colored parrots she’d often admired were no longer there. Everything else appeared to be in order. But that scent … Maybe he’d fallen and bumped his head, or cut himself while slicing meat or chicken.
Jo poked her head around the corner into the kitchen. Nobody was there, and the place was immaculate, as usual. No coffee was brewing either. Strange.
“Where are you?” Her mouth was dry and her heart pounded in her ears as she crossed the living room and went down the hall.
A sudden heart attack wouldn’t explain the heavy scent of blood. She took another whiff, trying to pinpoint its location. Maybe he’d slipped in the shower, or cut himself shaving … badly.
Seeing the light was on in Tom’s study, Jo hurried toward it and looked inside. Her body turned to ice and for a moment horror kept her frozen to the spot. Tom was slumped across his desk, his forehead resting in a pool of dark blood. All that was left of his temple was a mass of red, gray, and black tissue. His face was turned toward the door, toward her, and his open eyes, opaque and totally lifeless, stared into eternity. With a...