“Thanks. No need to ask anyone else,” he said.
“Sure.”
“I have to run—I’m late to dinner with my grandmother,” he said.
“Oh, you better get going. ’Bye.”
Tomorrow the top of his list would be finding out if there was a list of kids who aged out and who had access to it. He needed to see if there was any crossover in skills. Some reason why all of these women were taken. As a medical coder, Fern might have read some sensitive information that she wasn’t aware of. He hadn’t thought to check what job Camille Lancaster had.
Pulling into his grandmother’s driveway, he smiled as he always did. It was hard not to remember his first glimpse of the house and how scared he’d been when he saw her in the doorway. His mom hadn’t told him much other than that he was going to stay with his grandmother for a little while.
It wasn’t the first time she’d left him with someone, but it was the first time the person had been a relative.
He walked to the front door, the Gerber daisies he’d picked up at the grocery store in one hand. There was some light snow falling, but it was February, so that was to be expected.
He knocked, then let himself in.
“In the kitchen,” she called.
Hanging his coat on a peg near the door and taking off his boots, he went to find her. He gave her a hug and a kiss on the top of her head.
“Good to see you.”
They ate dinner before she asked why he’d called earlier. “There’s a baby in Dark Canyon that was left at the fire station. She’s part Diné. She was wrapped in a blanket that had a little moon in the corner. Just like all of our weavers have done for generations.”
Grandmother sat in her thoughts for a few minutes, and Chay let her. That was a lot of information to digest.
“I would like a great-grandchild.”
“Whose baby could she be? Did Mom have another kid? I know Dad didn’t.” His father had died when he’d been a baby.
Grandmother pursed her lips. “Not that she told me. But I can’t rule it out. Are you involved with the child?”
His mom hadn’t exactly kept in touch with them. But he hadn’t been sure if his grandmother had had any contact that she hadn’t shared with him. There was one year when he’d been twelve that he’d really wanted his mom to come to his birthday. Which she hadn’t.
“No. I’m not made to be a father. But I want the baby to be raised with The People. Also I wanted to get your opinion.”
“Smart. I think she should be raised here. I’m not sure why you believe you wouldn’t be a good father, though.”
“Grandmother,” he said with a sigh.
She just tutted at him. “You’re so much more than you give yourself credit for.”
Ava’s calendar was free until the afternoon, and she made an appointment with Marg at Family Services. Gracie was in a chatty mood on the way to the meeting and kept up her babble as they were seated at Marg’s desk.
Marg’s office was smaller than Ava’s and had three big filing cabinets lining one of the walls. There was a poster of the Dark Canyon National Park on the other wall. Marg was about Ava’s age but always looked tired. Her brown hair was always up in a messy bun and she wore a pair of horn-rimmed glasses.
“What’s up?” Marg asked.
“With the DNA results in and matching Officer Benally, I thought it would be nice to have Gracie spend more time with him.”
“Oh, thank God. I was afraid you were going to say you couldn’t keep her,” Marg said.
“No. I’m keeping her for as long as I’m needed. I’ve spoken to Officer Benally—”
“Does he want to adopt her? What’s his connection to the child?” Marg asked, riffling around on her desk for some papers.
“He’s got about a twenty-five percent genetic match with her, which would make him her uncle or maybe cousin,” Ava said. Chay had been adamant that he didn’t want to raise the child, but Ava was convinced if he spent more time with Gracie that would change his mind.
