"So you killed her."
"I protected my family.My community."David's hands were at his sides, relaxed."Do you know what it's like, Detective, to trace your family back ten generations?To know exactly who you are, where you come from?To have that identity written in your blood and your history and your very bones?"
"And Patricia's research threatened that."
"Her research would have shattered it."Something fierce flashed in David's eyes."Not just for my family, but for dozens of families.All so she could make an academic point about interconnectedness and historical fluidity.She was going to destroy people's identities, their children's futures, their place in this community—and she called it healing."
"So you murdered her.Then you did the same to Robert when he wouldn't stop the research."
David stared back at her, his eyes shining with defiance now.
"And Emma?"Kari asked."She was just the coordinator.She didn't know the specific findings."
"She had the data.She could have given it to you, could have given it to anyone.As long as she had access to those files, she was a threat."
"And Jake?He had nothing to do with any of this."
"Jake saw me."David's voice was flat, matter-of-fact."Leaving Emma's neighborhood."
"So you followed him back to his workshop."
"I couldn't take the risk.If he connected what he'd seen to Emma's attack, if he mentioned it to the police..."David shook his head."He was a loose end that needed to be tied off."
The clinical language—"loose end," "tied off"—sent a chill down Kari's spine.This wasn't someone consumed by rage or passion.This was someone who'd made calculated decisions, who'd weighed lives against his perceived needs and found those lives wanting.
"The ceremonial masks," Kari said."The staging at sacred sites.What was that all about?"
"I was being respectful."David's voice took on a defensive edge."If they had to die because of what they'd discovered about our sacred heritage, then they deserved to die in sacred places, surrounded by the ancestors whose memory they'd threatened to distort.It was more dignity than they'd afforded us."
"You killed them and then lectured me about respect for cultural traditions."
"Because Idorespect them.More than you do, certainly.More than Patricia did with her invasive research."David's hands clenched into fists."You don't understand.You're an outsider.You see our culture as something to be analyzed, categorized, protected in museums.You don't understand what it means to be Hopi.To have that identity in your blood and your soul and your very existence."
"I understand that two people are dead because you valued your secrets more than their lives."
"I valued my family more than Patricia's research project."David's voice rose."I valued the future of dozens of children whose enrollment would have been challenged.I valued the stability of our community over the academic ambitions of two anthropologists who thought they had the right to expose everyone's ancestry for the sake of 'truth and healing.'"
He took a step forward.Kari's hand moved closer to her weapon.
"Don't," she said quietly.
David stopped."You know I can't let you arrest me," he said.
"You don't have a choice."
"There's always a choice."David's eyes flicked to something behind Kari—the workbench along the wall."You broke in here without a warrant, like a common criminal.None of this is admissible."
"Maybe not.But once I convince the chairman to change his tune and your alibi falls through, you'll be under the microscope.There'll be nowhere for you to hide, and it'll only be a matter of time before I gather enough evidence to put you away."
"I believe you," David said quietly."Which makes me think it might be better if you never leave this room at all."
Kari's heart hammered, but she kept her voice level."Officer Polacca knows I'm here.If something happens to me, you'll have a lot of explaining to do."
"She knows you came to apologize and ask for my help.She doesn't know you broke into my garage and came at me with wild accusations."David took another step forward."I'm a respected cultural preservation officer.You're an outside detective who's been antagonizing our community since you arrived."
"So, what, you're going to kill me and claim self-defense?Do you even hear yourself?"
"Maybe I'll say you left.Make your body disappear."
