Polacca was quiet for a long moment, and when she spoke, her voice was thick with emotion."Because three years ago, my younger brother was killed.He was found dead at a sacred site near Canyon de Chelly.The investigators said it was an accident—that he'd been drinking, wandered off in the dark, fell and hit his head.Case closed."
Kari felt a chill.Canyon de Chelly.Her mother's investigation.The seventeen unsolved cases.
"My brother didn't drink," Polacca continued."Not ever.He was training to be a traditional healer, took his spiritual obligations seriously.But the investigators didn't want to hear that.They had their story—drunk Native kid has an accident—and they weren't interested in alternatives."Her hands clenched into fists."I tried to push for more investigation, but I was just a patrol officer then.Nobody listened."
"I'm sorry," Kari said quietly."That's—"
"When I heard about your mother's investigation," Polacca interrupted, "about how she'd been looking into deaths at sacred sites, trying to find patterns that others dismissed...I wondered if my brother's case was one of the ones she was investigating.If she'd seen what I saw—that it wasn't an accident."
Kari was silent, unsure what to say to this.
"So when the chief said he needed someone to work with you," Polacca said, "I volunteered immediately.I figured that if we can prove these murders are part of a pattern—that someone is systematically staging deaths at sacred sites—then maybe the department will take another look at my brother's case.Maybe they'll see it wasn't just a drunk Native kid having an accident.Maybe they'll see the pattern."
They were both silent for several moments.
"I appreciate you sharing that," Kari said.
"And I'm sorry for how I treated you before," Polacca continued."I was just… angry.Angry that it took an outside detective for anyone to take these patterns seriously.Angry that my own people wouldn't listen when I said my brother's death wasn't an accident.Angry that I had to work with someone from another tribe to maybe—maybe—get answers about what happened to him."
"You needed me here," Kari said quietly, "but you hated that you needed me."
Polacca let out a breath."Yeah.That's exactly it.It shouldn't have taken an outsider.But it did, and I'm grateful you came, and I'm angry that I have to be grateful."She shook her head."It's complicated."
"It is," Kari agreed.
Polacca turned, finally meeting Kari's eyes."I had my doubts about you initially, but the way you've handled this investigation, the way you've listened to our community while still pushing for answers… you've made it clear you're not just here to check a box.You actually give a damn.And that matters."
Before Kari could respond, her phone buzzed with an alert.She glanced down—a message from one of the search teams.Movement spotted at Site 4.Sending coordinates.
She showed it to Polacca.
"That's the old burial ground near—" Polacca started, but Kari was already moving toward her Jeep, pulling up coordinates on her phone's map.
They drove fast, their headlights cutting through the darkness on narrow dirt roads.Site 4 was about fifteen minutes away, and Kari felt her heart hammering as they closed the distance.This could be it.This could be where they'd find Jake.
Alive or dead.
The coordinates led them to a turnoff barely wide enough for a vehicle.They parked and continued on foot, flashlights in hand, moving as quietly as they could manage.The sacred site was ahead, marked by a cluster of large boulders and the remains of ancient stone structures.
And then Kari saw him.
A figure in dark clothing, illuminated by moonlight, dragging something—the body of Jake Honanie, more than likely—across the open ground between the boulders.
"Police!Stop!"Kari shouted, breaking into a run.
The figure's head snapped up.For a split second, Kari saw a face turned toward her—features obscured by distance and shadow, but the body language screamed panic.Then the figure dropped what they were carrying and sprinted toward the far side of the clearing where, Kari now saw, a dark SUV was parked.
Kari ran harder, her boots pounding against the uneven ground.Behind her, she heard Polacca yelling, "I've got Jake!Go!"
Kari didn't answer, but instead, realizing she wouldn't reach the suspect before he reached that vehicle, she turned and sprinted back toward her vehicle.Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the suspect reach the SUV and yank the driver's door open.The engine roared to life just as Kari reached her own Jeep, parked fifty yards back down the access road.She jumped in, started the engine, and tore after the fleeing vehicle.
The SUV's taillights were visible ahead, bouncing and weaving as it navigated the rough dirt track.Kari followed, her hands tight on the wheel, her Jeep rattling over ruts and rocks.The road—if it could be called that—was barely maintained, more a suggestion of a path than an actual route.
The suspect seemed to know the terrain, to anticipate each twist and turn.Kari, on the other hand, didn't know the area, so she had to watch him like a hawk so that she didn't lose him.Her headlights swept across juniper trees and rock formations, everything rushing past in a blur.
Still, somehow, she managed to start gaining on the suspect.The SUV was ahead by maybe thirty yards, but Kari's Jeep was built for this kind of terrain, and she was closing the gap.Another minute and she'd be close enough to get a plate number, maybe even force him to stop.
Then the SUV took a sharp right turn onto what looked like nothing—just empty desert.
