“No need. You left your number with Darla, no doubt. I’ll just send you a text.” Ava turned, walking into the grocery store.
He watched her for longer than he wanted to admit. He was intrigued by her on a personal level, which he wanted to ignore,
Chay’s peace of mind and the safety of the women on the Navajo Nation and surrounding Dark Canyon depended on it. That area was too wild and untamed. A place where it was too easy to snatch and hide women.
While it had happened before, Chay wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again. Too many missing and murdered relations in the Navajo Nation weighed on him. It was a constant worry for his people, his friends and neighbors.
It was a crisis that was affecting many reservations and the number of missing indigenous women had been ignored for too long. There was a movement where a red hand was painted over the mouth to bring attention to the fact that so few of themissing received large scale media attention. Chay couldn’t change what the rest of the country did, but he was damned sure going to protect and find those missing here.
And he needed to know that none of his people were involved in criminal activity.
His phone pinged with a text from his grandmother reminding him he was coming to dinner that evening and informing him that she expected him to be on time. Chay smiled to himself. Two sassy women in one day.
In a way Ava reminded him of his grandmother. She didn’t take any crap, either.
She felt like someone was watching her as she got out of her Chevy Trax, heading back into the hospital. A light snow was falling, and she slipped on a patch of ice as she looked around to see if anyone was in the parking lot with her. She noticed a Chevy Tahoe leaving.Chay.
That man was determined to get his questions answered. Actually, everyone was. Poor Fern needed time to recover, but Ava knew that the trail could grow cold unless police moved quickly on following up any leads.
But that was tomorrow’s problem. Right now she was going to collect the baby who had been named Gracie at the fire station where she was found and take the nine-month-old home. She hadn’t had a baby to foster before. She’d had two brothers, one six and one four, last summer. They’d been a lot of fun, and they still video chatted with her once a month.
Dr. Meadows waited for Ava in her office. Though they both worked at the hospital, their paths didn’t cross that often. She’d been the attending physician for the boys and now Gracie.
“Hi, Hannah,” Ava said as she entered the other woman’s office.
“Good to see you. Did you have any trouble with the items I suggested?” Hannah asked.
“None. Pretty easy to find. My parents still had a crib and high chair, so Dad brought those over this afternoon.”
“Must be nice being related to half the town,” Hannah said with a smile.
“It is,” Ava admitted. She sort of took it for granted that she could pick up the phone and call her parents. They always were there for her. Sometimes they could be a bit much—whose parents weren’t? But they were there when she needed them. “Mom sent some blankets as well.”
“The baby was wrapped in one. It’s a Diné design,” Hannah said.
“Good. Is she Native American?”
“We’re not sure. I’m running a DNA test, and we’ll know more soon. Want to come and meet her?”
“Yes.” Ava followed the other woman down to the nursery, where Gracie was cooing softly in her crib. The little girl looked up at Ava, their eyes meeting, and she made another gurgling sound.
The little baby was being treated with antibiotics, and Ava would have to administer other meds. But she had no signs of abuse or broken bones, which was a good thing.
She glanced at Hannah. “Okay to pick her up?”
“Yes, of course. You’ve signed all the paperwork and she’s yours to take home,” Hannah said.
Ava carefully lifted the little girl out of the crib, supporting her back and head the way she’d been taught in the infant first aid course she’d taken. Gracie reached out her pudgy hand and grabbed a chunk of Ava’s hair, tugging with a lot of strength.
Ava laughed and untangled the baby’s hand, cradling her to her chest as she turned to face Hannah.
“Looks like she’s taken with you,” Hannah said. “I’ll get her discharge papers signed and be back in a few minutes so you two can leave. Her bag is packed over there. I’ll bring her prescriptions back with me, too.”
“Thanks. Where’s her blanket?”
“It’s in the bag over there.”
Hannah left, and Ava was alone with Gracie.
