Bad Moon Rising - Paranormal Romance (2 page)

Mya shook her head, disagreeing with him. It was true that she had no formal police training yet, but her gut instinct was telling her that the deaths of the two men were connected somehow. “You’ll see. He was murdered just like the other guy.”

To Mya it was obvious that the two victims were connected, and she couldn’t understand why Donny was so hesitant to call it like it was. The first murder happened right in Window Rock. Ben Metzger’s body was discovered in the auto repair shop where he’d worked. He was in the same condition as the latest victim that had been discovered off the side of the highway, near
Chinle
. Just like the latest victim, Metzger appeared to have been attacked by an animal, but there was something that didn’t make sense.

How did the animal get into the building?

Of course it wasn’t entirely impossible. It was plausible that the animal had snuck in during the day while the garage doors were open, but not probable. You would think that Metzger might have discovered the animal long before closing time.

“Don’t you think that the best way to proceed right now would be to just assume that the same person killed the two men? That way we could start looking for a suspect.” Mya asked before taking another drink of her iced tea.

Leaning back against the cushioned bench, Donny let out a loud sigh. “You still have a lot to learn about police work. You don’t cut corners. It’s okay to follow your gut feelings, but do it by the book.”

“But …” Mya interrupted.

Donny cut her off. “Even if we knew exactly who killed those guys … without evidence there isn’t a thing we could do right now.”

Mya knew he was right. If they didn’t have evidence, the killer could be standing right in front of them and there wasn’t a thing they could do. “Okay, so now what? Do we wait for the autopsy report?”

“That’s exactly what we do.” He gave her a tolerant smile. “But if you are anxious to be doing something … you could drive out and talk to Ben Metzger’s brother. He lives near Red Canyon. That’s about thirty miles north of here.”

Mya shrugged. “Okay, but how come you are not coming with me?”

Donny’s eyes shifted to the window where he pretended to be engrossed in a flock of birds that had gathered on the sidewalk outside the coffee shop. “I’m going to stick around the station today and catch up on some paperwork.”

Mya was excited at the prospect of doing something other than shuffling paper, which is all she’d really done since coming here. So far Donny hadn’t let her get too involved in the case, but she had a feeling that was about to change. Even if she didn’t accomplish much with her drive to Red Canyon, at least she’d get some fresh air. Anything had to be better than sitting in that closet they called a filing room.

After finishing their drinks, they headed back to the police station across the street. It was then that Mya eyed her little red Nova skeptically. She’d hate to get stranded out in the middle of nowhere if it broke down.

“Can I use the patrol car?” she asked.

Donny followed her gaze and guessed what she was thinking. He threw her the keys to the patrol car. “Just make sure that you bring it back in one piece. It’ll be my head if something happens to that car.”

He rolled his eyes, clearly not convinced. Taking a pad of paper from his shirt pocket he wrote down the directions to Red Canyon. After tearing the paper from the notebook, he handed it to Mya. “If you get lost, radio dispatch. They’ll help you find it.”

“Okay,” she said, taking the paper from his hand.

“If you get a bad feeling while you’re out there, just turn around and come back. We’ll go out there later,” Donny spoke over his shoulder before entering the sandstone colored building that housed the tribal police.

Mya thought his words were a little strange. Why would she get a bad feeling talking to a family member of one of the victims?

Shrugging it off, Mya got into the patrol car. Before starting the engine, she took some time to study the directions he’d given her. It didn’t look like the place would be too difficult to find. A few minutes later she was on her way out of town.

It was a long - hot drive. Mya kept the windows rolled up and the air conditioner running at full capacity. She tried to concentrate on the details of the case, but her thoughts kept drifting to the biker. Just the memory of those hypnotic eyes sent a tingling sensation down her spine.

Mya was almost positive that she’d never seen the guy before today, but his eyes were so familiar. Even more peculiar was that she could swear there had been recognition when he looked at her.

The miles flew by and before she realized it she was lost. Granted, she had been somewhat distracted, but Mya was sure that she’d followed Donny’s directions right down to the letter. She’d taken the highway toward
Chinle
, and then drove about twenty miles. That’s exactly what he’d written down, but she’d somehow missed the turn off to Red Canyon.

Glancing down at the police radio, she was tempted to call into dispatch, but she hated to admit that she’d gotten lost. That might give Donny an excuse not let her help out with the case.

She’d just decided to turn the car around and do some backtracking when she spotted a pullout up ahead. There was truck parked in the pullout, and next to it was a little makeshift awning. At least she’d found someone that might be able to give her directions to Red Canyon.

Mya parked next to the ancient brown truck and got out of the car. She had to take a closer look at the truck because she wasn’t sure if it was actually brown, or if it was just covered with rust. She decided it was a little of both, which wasn’t surprising, considering that it was old - at least an early seventies model.

Next to the truck there was a makeshift awning put together with a sheet of tattered green canvas. An old man was sitting beneath the awning; in front of him was a long table that he was using to display a variety of native trinkets.

Like many people on the reservation, he was probably subsidizing his income by selling handcrafted souvenirs to tourists, though she couldn’t imagine what tourists would be doing out here, unless they were lost like she was.

Instead of just coming right out and asking for directions, she took a moment to examine the turquoise jewelry and colorful sand paintings laid out on the table. They were beautiful.

“Hi,” she said with a smile.

The old man gave her a slight nod of his head to acknowledge her greeting.

“I’m kind of lost. Do you think you could tell me how to get to Red Canyon?” Mya asked, setting down the sand-painted clock that she’d been looking at.

When he spoke, his voice was so raspy and faint that she had to strain to hear him.

“You don’t want to go there,” he said, briefly looking up from the leather pouch he was working on. She saw that his deeply lined face was as rough as old leather, but his dark eyes appeared kind.

Mya hesitated, unsure how to respond. She wasn’t used to getting advice from strangers, particularly advice that she hadn’t asked for.

“I’m looking for the Metzger place in Red Canyon. Could you tell me how to get there?” she asked again, deciding it was probably best to ignore his reference to bad spirits.

He finally looked up and gave her a wide - toothless grin. “You have the warrior’s spirit, but you’re not real smart,” he said, tapping his forehead with one finger.

“It’s official police business,” she told him. Mya couldn’t understand why she felt obliged to defend herself to the man, but she did.

With a slight shrug of his shoulders, he pointed in the direction she had been heading. “Down that way you’ll see a dirt road going east. Take that road.”

“Are there any signs?” she asked. The dirt roads throughout the rocky desert all looked the same to her. She was certain that she’d miss it if there weren’t some kind of road sign to look for.

“We are not crazy,” he told her, as if he’d read her mind. “It keeps the skinwalkers from darting into the road and causing accidents.”

His explanation did nothing to clear her confusion. She’d heard of skinwalkers, but had never given them much thought. As far as she was concerned, skinwalkers were a myth to explain away bad events that the people didn’t understand.

“Thanks,” she told him, but before she could turn away, the sound of his voice stopped her.

“Here,” he said, handing her a little pouch made of animal skin. “Run some of this over your skin and you’ll be protected from the skinwalker.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“Corn pollen. It will protect you.”

Mya smiled at him. She didn’t believe that something as simple as corn pollen would protect her from anything, but she thought it was sweet for the old man to be concerned. “Thanks,” she told him. “Maybe I’ll stop by another time and buy one of your necklaces. I really like them.”

He waved as Mya walked away. Sticking the bag in her pocket, she got into the patrol car. Pulling back on the highway, she returned his wave.

Just as he’d said, she drove about another mile before she saw a stick in the ground, near the turnoff. The pole was only of couple of feet tall. There was no doubt that she’d have missed it if she hadn’t been on the lookout for it.

Slowing the car almost to a crawl, Mya turned onto the dirt road. She had been expecting to find a little house or trailer not too far off the main highway, but that wasn’t the case. It seemed like she drove for miles and still found no visible signs of life.

Finally she entered a small canyon with red cliffs on both sides. She now understood why Donny had sent her out here. It was a long drive. He must have known it would keep her busy for most of the day.

Mya was a little upset. She’d hoped that Donny had sent her out here because he was finally starting to trust her, but she suspected it was merely to get her out of the way so he could get some real work done.

Mya pushed aside the resentment that was creeping up on her. He’d come around to her way of thinking soon enough. Then he’d see that she was an asset to the department, at least that’s what she was hoping.

Bringing the patrol car to a complete stop, her eyes scanned the canyon floor. At first it appeared to be deserted, She couldn’t see anything but sagebrush and rock, but as she took a closer look, she noticed a small camp trailer near the base of the cliff.

She wasn’t really surprised to find that the Metzgers lived in such an isolated area. So many people on the reservation lived in such places - typically in camp trailers. A lot of them didn’t even have running water. Their water usually came from a well, if they were lucky enough to have a well and there was good supply during the previous winter and spring.

Taking her foot off the brake, Mya drove slowly until reaching the trailer. Putting the car in park, she turned off the engine. Instead of jumping right out, Mya took a moment to evaluate her surroundings.

At the side of the trailer was a blue - late model sports car. It struck her as being completely out of place. In comparison, the camp trailer was old and on its last leg; white paint was peeling away in several large areas, revealing the metal siding beneath.

Mya got out and stood by the car, hesitant to go to the door. Nothing stirred but the dry desert wind - wind that persistently whipped at the strands of blond hair that had escaped her ponytail. Mya always wore her hair in a ponytail while working. She’d heard too many stories of female officers taken down because someone got a handful of their hair. She figured that if she were going to get taken down, it wouldn’t be because some perp got a hold of her hair.

Casting her eyes to the west, she realized that it was already late afternoon and the sun would be setting soon. The drive to Red Canyon had taken a lot longer than she’d anticipated, and with each minute that went by - the shadows in the canyon grew longer. In the fading light, the canyon seemed gloomy - almost ominous. Though there didn’t appear to be anything threatening about the place, she couldn’t get over the feeling of foreboding that had suddenly pulled her into its grasp.

With a shake of her head, Mya dismissed her thoughts as ridiculous. The only thing wrong here was that she’d been silly enough to let the old man’s morbid warning put her on edge.

Taking a deep breath, she started for the trailer. It appeared to be deserted, but she wasn’t going to drive all the way out here without at least knocking on the door.

After taking only three steps, she heard something moving around behind her. Mya froze instantly. For just that millisecond in time, she felt an unfathomable dread. At the back of her mind she knew that her fear was unreasonable, but it was there nonetheless.

It wasn’t the same kind of fear that you feel when you know that there is an animal ready to spring on you. It wasn’t even the same terror you might feel while walking alone at night and knowing that you were being stalked. It was far worse than that. It was the kind of fear that you experience when you know that you are in the presence of something that is made of pure evil.