CHAPTER NINETEEN
They stared at one another, neither speaking.
"How long have you used an inhaler?"Kari asked.
"Since I was a kid.I told you, I have a weak constitution."He smiled, looking amused."I thought you were in a hurry to leave?"
Kari's hand remained near her weapon, but she didn't draw it.Not yet."Dark blue Explorer.That's what the witness described.The vehicle Jake Honanie saw leaving Emma's neighborhood the night she was attacked."
"There are probably fifty dark SUVs in the area."David's voice was calm, conversational."That's hardly evidence of anything."
"You're right.It's not."Kari took a small step to her right, angling herself so she could see both David and the garage's side door."But it's interesting.Especially combined with the acetone on the passenger seat.Did you know that Jake mentioned a 'chemical smell'?"
"I do a lot of preservation work."
"And the breathing problems," she continued, ignoring him."Both Emma and Jake said that the man who attacked them was making a labored, wheezing sound.The kind of sound someone with asthma would make when they're agitated or exerting themselves."
"Asthma is incredibly common."
"Fair enough.Any one of these details alone means nothing.But together?The vehicle, the breathing, the chemicals, the burns on your face the morning after Emma threw scalding tea at her attacker?"
"I explained the burns.An allergic reaction to—"
"To preservation chemicals.I remember."Kari's voice was steady, but her pulse was racing."And you had an alibi.Chairman Namingha verified you were at that council meeting all night."
David stared at her, his face revealing nothing."That's right."
"The chairman has been fighting to keep Patricia's genealogical research private," Kari continued, her thoughts crystallizing as she spoke."His grandchildren's enrollment status would be questioned if that data became public.He has a personal stake in making sure those findings stay buried.He'd see you as an ally—someone else trying to protect the community from destructive information."
"The chairman told you I was at the meeting," David said.His voice was still calm, but there was an edge to it now."Are you suggesting he lied?"
"I'm suggesting he might have been...flexible with the truth.To protect someone he thought was innocent.To protect someone fighting for the same thing he was fighting for."Kari took another small step, keeping her distance."But he doesn't know, does he?He doesn't know what you really are.He thinks he's protecting a cultural preservation officer who opposed a dangerous research project.He has no idea he's providing an alibi for a serial killer."
The words hung in the air between them.David was very still, his expression unreadable in the dim light.
"That's quite a theory, Detective," he said finally."Based on what?Circumstantial evidence?The fact that I have asthma and drive a common vehicle?"
"Based on the fact that two people are dead, killed because of Patricia's research."Kari's voice was harder now."Research that threatened to expose uncomfortable truths about tribal ancestry.Research that you opposed from the very beginning, calling it 'dangerous.'"
"Because itisdangerous.I was right about that."
"You were.Because you made it dangerous."Kari felt the certainty settling into her bones, the way it always did when the pieces of a case finally aligned."Patricia and Robert were going to present findings that challenged enrollment claims for multiple families.You couldn't let that happen.Not just because of what it would mean for the community, but because of what it would mean for your own family."
David's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
"I saw the genealogical data," Kari said."Not all of it—the chief took my laptop before I could finish.But I saw enough.Enough to know that your family was in there.That you had secrets you wanted to keep hidden."
"Everyone has secrets, Detective."
"Not everyone kills to protect them."Kari's hand moved fractionally closer to her weapon."The chairman doesn't know you're a killer, does he?"
David was quiet for a long moment.When he spoke, his voice was softer, almost resigned."No.He doesn't know."
The admission hung between them, quiet but absolute.Not a confession in the legal sense, but an acknowledgment of truth.An ending to the pretense.
"Why?"Kari asked."Why kill them?You could have fought the research politically, culturally.You had the chairman's support, the council's ear.Why murder?"
"Because politics is slow, and this was urgent."David's voice carried a strange calm, the tone of someone explaining something obvious."Patricia wasn't going to be stopped by council meetings or cultural concerns.She believed she was doing something noble, healing historical trauma through truth.She didn't understand—or didn't care—about the damage that truth would cause."
