EPILOGUE
Three weeks after the events at Shadow Cave, Kari sat beside Ruth on the porch of her grandmother's house, watching the sunset paint the distant mesas in shades of amber and gold.The evening air carried the scent of sage and piñon, a gentle breeze stirring the wind chimes Ruth had hung from the eaves.
The physical reminders of their ordeal had mostly faded.The bruise on Ruth's cheek had disappeared, and Kari's blood work showed no lingering traces of Silver's yellow powder.But some changes remained—a new openness between them, conversations that ventured into territories previously marked by careful silence.
"You've been patient," Ruth said, her weathered hands methodically separating dried cedar leaves from their stems."Waiting for me to be ready to talk."
Kari nodded, sipping the cedar tea Ruth had prepared for them."Some things can't be rushed."
Ruth's hands stilled, her gaze fixed on the horizon."Fifty years," she said softly."I've carried this for fifty years."
Kari remained silent, allowing Ruth the space to continue at her own pace.
"I knew Remy Silver," Ruth said finally."Not just as Joseph's partner, but before that.He came to the reservation seeking knowledge about traditional practices.Always asking questions, watching ceremonies when allowed, studying our ways with an outsider's intensity."
"He was learning about the boundaries," Kari said."The thresholds between worlds."
"Yes."Ruth nodded."But I didn't understand that then.I thought his interest was academic, respectful.I was the one who introduced him to Anna Yellowhair."
The admission hung in the air between them, heavy with unspoken grief.
"She was teaching at the community college," Ruth continued."Documenting traditional healing practices for future generations.I thought they could help each other—she with her cultural knowledge, he with his access to academic resources."
"You couldn't have known what he was planning," Kari said gently.
"I should have seen the signs."Ruth's voice hardened with remembered guilt."The strange questions about threshold sites.The way he collected certain herbs but showed no interest in their healing properties.When people started dying—researchers at sacred locations—I began to suspect.But I didn't want to believe Joseph's partner could be responsible."
"Did you tell Grandfather your suspicions?"
"Eventually.Too late."Ruth's hands trembled."After the third death, I finally told Joseph about my concerns.He admitted he'd had his own suspicions for weeks—he'd been watching Remy's movements, checking his alibis discreetly.But we had no proof, nothing concrete enough to accuse an FBI-trained detective."
"And then Anna Yellowhair was killed," Kari said.
Ruth's face creased with old pain."I was supposed to meet her that day, at the old Chee hogan.Family business, preparing for a ceremony.But I was delayed helping a neighbor with a sick child.When I finally arrived, I saw—" She broke off, the memory still raw despite the decades.
"You saw Remy," Kari said quietly.
"From a distance.Leaving the hogan.I hid, afraid he'd seen me.When he was gone, I went inside and found Anna."Ruth closed her eyes."The herbs in her mouth.The ceremonial arrangement.I knew then, without doubt."
"You witnessed the Shadow Walker," Kari said, understanding dawning on her."That's why Silver targeted you next—because you'd seen him."
"Yes.But Joseph wouldn't leave my side after that.He knew what Anna's death meant—a warning, a substitution.From that day until Remy Silver left the reservation, your grandfather was my constant protector."
"Why didn't you come forward?Tell the tribal council, the FBI?"
Ruth's expression grew distant."Fear.Not just for myself, but for what might follow.Joseph believed Remy had connected with something dangerous through his ceremonies—something that existed between worlds.We feared that formal accusations, public trials would only spread knowledge of practices best left forgotten."
Kari absorbed this, thinking of her grandfather's separate notes, his careful documentation of suspicions he couldn't openly voice."So you both carried this secret."
"It hollowed Joseph from within," Ruth said."Knowing his partner was responsible but unable to bring him to justice.Protecting me while wondering if the danger had truly passed or only paused."She looked directly at Kari."When he died, I thought the burden was mine alone to carry.I never imagined Remy's son would try to complete what his father began."
"David Silver believed his father had achieved partial manifestation of some entity," Kari said cautiously."The Shadow Walker."
"What walks between worlds has many names," Ruth replied, her tone shifting to that of the medicine woman—the keeper of knowledge both practical and spiritual."The ancient ones knew of such things.They marked certain places with warnings, established practices to maintain boundaries that shouldn't be crossed."
"Was it real?"Kari asked."This entity Silver believed in?"
Ruth considered the question seriously."Something changed in that cave, didn't it?You felt it—the heaviness in the air, the sense of presence beyond ordinary perception."
