Kari looked at him sharply. "You're suggesting we break into restricted corporate property?"
"I'm suggesting we do what needs to be done to find the truth." Ben turned back to face her. "Look, I'm not saying we charge in without a plan. But if this land was tribal property when Evan disappeared, if there are legitimate questions about what happened to him, then we have grounds to investigate even if the current owners don't like it."
"That's a legal gray area at best."
"When we're talking about killing people and disguising their deaths as accidents, I'm okay with gray." Ben's voice had an edge now. "We're not going to solve this by playing nice with corporate lawyers."
Kari felt a surge of gratitude and concern in equal measure. Ben was right—they couldn't solve this by following rules that seemed designed to protect corporate interests over indigenouslives. But she also didn't want to see him lose his job, or worse, end up like the people in Anna's files.
"We need to be smart about this," she said. "Start with the basics. Review the original missing person case, talk to Evan's family if they're willing, look at the geography and figure out the most likely areas where remains could be. Then we plan how to access the land without getting caught or creating legal problems that would undermine any evidence we find."
"Agreed." Ben returned to the picnic table. "What about your father? Is he going to keep researching the other cases?"
"I don't think so. I got the impression he's ventured as deep into this water as he cares to go." Kari picked up the thumb drive. "But he gave me copies of everything. Anna's notes, his analysis, the case files. It's all here."
"I want to look through it. Tonight, if you can send me the files." Ben's expression was determined. "I want to understand what your mother saw, what convinced her this was real."
They sat in silence for a moment. Kari thought about all the ways this could go wrong—wasted time chasing ghosts, professional consequences if they were caught trespassing, or worse, ending up as another case file in someone else's investigation of suspicious deaths.
But she also thought about Evan Naalnish's family, waiting fifteen years for answers. About the sixteen other people in Anna's files whose deaths had been too easily explained away. About her mother, lying cold in the desert, her investigation unfinished.
"Thank you," Kari said quietly. "For not thinking I'm crazy. For being willing to help with this."
"Partners," Ben said simply. "That's what we do."
"So where do we start? Realistically, what's our first move?"
Ben thought for a moment. "We pull Evan's case file, whatever the original investigators documented. We talk to hisfamily—his sister, you said?—and get whatever information she can provide about where he liked to explore, what routes he took, what he'd told her about this area he was excited about. We look at geological surveys of that land, figure out what might have drawn Evan's attention. And we study the terrain, identify caves, ravines, anywhere a body could be hidden for fifteen years without being found."
"All of that before we even think about accessing the restricted land."
"Right. We do the homework first, narrow down the search area as much as possible. We're looking for a needle in a haystack, so we better make that haystack as small as we can before we start searching."
Kari nodded. It was a sensible approach, methodical and thorough. Exactly what Anna would have done. "I can pull the case file Monday. Talk to Evan's sister, see if she's willing to meet with us."
"I can handle the geological surveys and terrain analysis. I've got some experience with that from search and rescue training." Ben started clearing the table. "It's going to take time, Kari. Weeks, maybe months of preparation before we're ready to actually search."
"I know. Mom spent years on this. I can be patient." Kari helped gather plates. "But we need to keep this quiet. If whoever killed Evan—whoever's behind these deaths—finds out we're investigating, we become targets."
"Agreed. We work this on our own time, keep it separate from department business unless we find something concrete." Ben paused. "You think Captain Yazzie would support this if we brought him in?"
"I don't know. Maybe eventually, if we have real evidence. But right now, all we have is Anna's research and some suspicious patterns. That's not enough to justify officialdepartment resources." Kari followed him into the kitchen. "We do this ourselves, quietly, until we have something solid."
"Sounds like a plan." Ben began rinsing the dishes in the sink. Kari watched him, thinking of how much work was ahead of them.
And glad to know she wasn't in this alone.
CHAPTER THREE
Thomas Hatathli reviewed the petition one more time, his pen hovering over the signature line as he considered whether the language was strong enough.
We, the undersigned, call upon the Phoenix City Council to conduct a full environmental impact study before approving any further development at the Sunset Ridge Resort site, and to consider reparations for the irreparable cultural damage already inflicted upon the indigenous communities whose sacred heritage has been destroyed.
Strong, but not inflammatory. Forceful, but not accusatory enough to give the city legal grounds to dismiss it out of hand. Thomas had learned over fifteen years of environmental law that the key to effective activism was finding the line between passion and precision—making your anger clear without giving your opponents ammunition to paint you as unreasonable.
He signed his name with a flourish, then sat back.
The Sunset Ridge Resort case had become his consuming focus over the past year. When the development was first proposed, Thomas had reviewed the environmental impact statements and found them laughably inadequate. The cultural survey had been cursory at best, conducted by an archaeologist with ties to the development company. The claims about "minimal impact" to indigenous heritage sites were based on deliberately narrow definitions of what constituted "significant" cultural resources.
