Ben studied the photographs while he waited.Yazzie shaking hands with tribal council members.Yazzie accepting an award from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.Yazzie was standing with a group of young officers, including a much younger Ben, at a graduation ceremony years ago.
A lifetime ago,Ben thought.
When Yazzie finally hung up, his expression was grim.He didn't speak immediately, just sat there looking at Ben with a weary resignation that suggested the news wasn't going to be good.
"That was the FBI field office in Phoenix," he said finally."They're closing the Naalnish investigation."
Be's heart sank."Closing it?They've only been on it for three days."
"They've completed their preliminary assessment.Their conclusion is that the death is inconclusive.They can't definitively prove murder versus accidental death."
"His skull was crushed."Ben heard his own voice rising and forced himself to stay calm."I saw it myself.The back of his head was caved in.That wasn't an accident."
"According to the FBI forensic team, the skull trauma could have been caused by a rock fall or cave collapse.The body's decomposition over fifteen years makes it impossible to determine whether the injury occurred before or after death."Yazzie's voice was flat, reciting facts he clearly didn't believe."Without additional evidence, they can't justify the resources required for a full homicide investigation."
"Additional evidence?What more do they need?A signed confession from the killer?"
"Ben."Yazzie's tone carried a warning.
But Ben was already on his feet, the chair scraping against the floor as he stood."That's bullshit and you know it.Someone killed that boy and buried him in a cave on land that got sold for four times its value three weeks after he disappeared.Now the FBI spends three days poking around and decides there's nothing to see here?"
"Sit down, Ben."Yazzie's voice was quiet but firm.Ben sat, though every muscle in his body was screaming at him to do something, anything, besides sit in this office and accept what he was being told.
"I don't like this any more than you do," Yazzie continued."Evan Naalnish deserves justice.His family deserves answers.They've been waiting fifteen years to know what happened to their son, and now we're supposed to tell them that the federal government can't be bothered to find out."He shook his head slowly."But the land where his body was found isn't ours anymore.It belongs to Devco Holdings, which means federal jurisdiction applies, which means we have no authority to investigate."
"What about the timing of the sale?The land was sold mere weeks after Evan disappeared, not to mention that the buyer paid four times what it was worth.Doesn't that seem suspicious to anyone with half a brain?"
"I raised that point with the FBI.Multiple times."Yazzie's jaw tightened."They said Devco Holdings has fully cooperated with the investigation and that there's no evidence connecting the land sale to Evan's disappearance.Said the timing was coincidental."
"Coincidental."Ben nearly laughed."A young man vanishes while exploring land that someone then pays millions to buy and fence off from the public, and that's a coincidence."
Yazzie leaned forward and lowered his voice."Ben, I'm going to tell you something, and I need you to keep it between us.You can't even tell Kari, not yet.Can you do that?"
Ben nodded, his jaw tight.
"I made some calls after we first found out about the jurisdictional issues.Tried to find out who's behind Devco Holdings.It's a shell company, registered in Delaware.The actual ownership is buried under layers of other corporations, trusts, and holding companies, each one leading to another.I followed the trail as far as I could, called in favors from people who know how to trace these things."
Yazzie paused."Whoever bought that land fifteen years ago didn't want anyone to know who they were.And they went to considerable expense and effort to make sure of it."
"So we're just supposed to accept that a young man was murdered, that someone paid millions to buy the land where he was buried, and that the FBI can't be bothered to figure out who or why?"
"I'm not telling you to accept anything.I'm telling you what the official position is."Yazzie held Ben's gaze."What you do with that information on your own time is your business.But if you go digging into this, you do it quietly.You do it carefully.And you don't put this department in a position where the FBI can accuse us of interfering with their investigation, such as it is."
Ben understood what the captain was really saying.Officially, the case was closed.Unofficially, Yazzie was giving him permission to keep looking, as long as he was careful about it.
"What about the family?"Ben asked."Someone has to tell them."
"I'll handle that.They deserve to hear it from someone in person, not over the phone."Yazzie's expression softened."It's not the news any of us wanted to give them.But at least they can finally bury their son.The FBI is releasing the remains tomorrow."
Ben left the captain's office and walked out to the parking lot, the afternoon sun harsh on his face.The temperature had to be pushing a hundred degrees, the air shimmering with heat, but Ben barely felt it.He stood by his truck for a long moment, hands clenched at his sides, trying to process what he'd just been told.
Inconclusive.After fifteen years of waiting, of hoping, of not knowing what had happened to her son, Dorothy Naalnish was going to be told that the FBI couldn't say for certain whether he'd been murdered.The crushed skull that Ben had seen with his own eyes, that had so clearly been the result of violence, was being written off as possibly accidental.
A rock fall.A cave collapse.Natural causes.
Ben thought about the night he'd cut through that fence, the night he'd found Evan's remains.He'd known he was risking his career, maybe even his freedom, by trespassing on private property.But he'd done it anyway, because Kari's mother had believed something happened on that land, and because Ben had believed her.
Anna Chee had documented seventeen deaths over five decades.Seventeen people who'd stumbled onto something dangerous and paid for it with their lives.All of them ruled accidents or natural causes.All of them indigenous.All of them forgotten.
