Chapter Five

Two hours later, Ari and Eoghan pulled into the very same parking lot where they'd been the night before when they'd lightheartedly and exhaustedly enjoyed an adult beverage, a nice meal, and a delicious dessert.

Right now, though, Ari was in no mood to exchange pleasantries with Joe Two Trees, the tribal police chief. He'd spent the better part of the last hour trying to find someone to shut off the horrid alarm. The smoke alarm, which had been hard wired to a switch accessible only in the basement, brought all the Embassy Suites second floor patrons out of their rooms in their underwear at six in the morning. He'd almost felt bad for flashing a U.S. Marshals star and verbally batting the pimply night clerk on the ears for falling asleep at the desk, oblivious to the smoke alarm blaring on the second floor.

Not to mention the fact that seeing a three-hundred-pound man dressed only in dinosaur skivvies and a single, dirty tube sock had ruined his fantasy life…at least until Eoghan's manties managed to replace that image.

As they climbed out of the Charger, coffee in hand, Ari was ready for battle. If this Two Trees guy turned out to be a pain or gave them attitude, he was going to go ballistic. Eoghan had practiced restraint, urging him to put aside his irritation this "beautiful, bright, mountain day," and be a human among others—most of them non-human—since they would presumably be seeing a hell of a lot more shifters than usual on the rez. Eoghan was way too perky after their morning sex.

An older model, olive green Chevy Blazer drove into the parking lot right at nine, and Ari noted the Tribal Police emblem painted onto the truck's door. There were two men inside, both young with black hair, one long and in a thick braid down his back. As they parked beside the Charger and climbed out, Ari noted they wore dusty boots and sidearms similar to their own, standard police issue Glocks. Though, neither man was as tall as Ari—most men weren't—they appeared to have nice physiques and clearly kept themselves in shape.

Though Ari hadn't seen a lot of shifters, he assumed these men were, and when the taller of the two turned toward the sun at just the right angle, he spotted it. The tiniest glow of violet circled each black pupil in the man's eyes. During a case last month where they'd put a German Shepard shifter into WITSEC, Ari had first seen the violet in the irises. In that case, the shifter had been in dog form, refusing to shift back until he knew he was safely ensconced in his new home. But during those brief moments of daylight before the sun set, Ari had spotted the same shade. Once it had gotten dark, the violet had glowed brightly. He remembered thinking how eerie it was and whether shifters had a way to turn it off so that humans wouldn't become suspicious. He kept forgetting to ask Eoghan.

"Deputy Marshal Sapphire?" the taller of the two police officers asked.

Eoghan stepped forward. "Hi there," he said, shaking the man's hand. "I'm Sapphire and this is my partner, Deputy Marshal Brown."

"Joe Two Trees, Chief of Police," the man said. "This is Alo Uwaite, my deputy."

"Nice to meet you both," Ari said, shaking hands too.

"It isn't often we meet anyone from the I.S.R. but this disappearance is concerning which is the only reason I called," Two Trees said. He held out a brown folder and Eoghan flipped it open to reveal the same mugshots they'd seen of Riversong Wilkins and Jack Vandross.

Eoghan nodded. "Yes, we've seen these photos and also read up on the situation which made them fugitives from justice back then. My former partner and I were the ones assigned the case a few years ago. We were the marshals who arrested them as they headed to the Oregon border."

"Oh? So, you met with the Redding vampire clan's tribal police at that time?"

"Yes," Eoghan said. "They wanted them off their reservation and well away from their citizens before anyone got hungry enough to notice. Neither of them admitted why they'd been stupid enough to venture onto a vampire clan's rez to begin with, but after meeting Vandross, I'm pretty sure that came naturally to the man."

Two Trees smirked and then punctuated it with a nod. "They never explained it to us either. We figured they were on the run and got disoriented. Whatever their reasons, that situation…with the kids and all…could have turned very ugly."

"Indeed," Eoghan said soberly. "So, would it be okay with you if we check out Riversong's house?"

"We already went through it," Uwaite practically growled. "Don't see what two humans are gonna find that we didn't." The sneer in his tone left no doubt that it was meant to be a verbal slap in the face.

Ari wondered what kind of shifter the deputy was even as he watched the chief turn and glare at him. He said something in a native tongue. It was short and blunt. Whatever he'd said, silenced the deputy as he shut his mouth, screwing it into a tight-lipped sneer just before he broke eye contact and crossed his arms, looking off toward a mountain range in the distance. He ground his teeth so loudly, Ari was sure they'd crack from the abuse.

"We have no problem taking you out there," Two Trees said. "I'd have given you the address to meet us there, but the road signs aren't well marked on the reservation, and neither are the houses."

"We'd appreciate that very much," Eoghan said. "Once we're there, if you don't mind showing me around, I'd like your first impressions about what happened."

Two Trees smiled and nodded. "Sure enough. Follow me then." He turned and got back into their vehicle with his brooding deputy, slamming the door as he and Eoghan did the same. Two minutes later, they were following the truck out of the parking lot, heading toward a tall peak in the distance. The day was beautiful and sunny which was helping to lift Ari's spirits.

"The chief is nice enough," Ari said, once they were on the road.

"Yeah, but his deputy sure didn't appreciate outsiders poking around," Eoghan replied.

"Yeah. What do you think that was all about?" Ari asked, turning to look at his lover.

Eoghan shrugged, shooting him a glance before turning his eyes back to the road and picking up the tall cup of java they'd picked up from Starbucks on the way to meet the chief of police.

"Many Native American populations pride themselves at being excellent trackers. Combine that with the fact that they're shifters who have a sense of smell you and I can't even comprehend, and I might be offended if humans were brought in to help. I don't know. Maybe it's something as easy to explain as being territorial or maybe the deputy doesn't think outsiders have any business helping out on one of their cases. You know how protective some LEOs are about their cases."

"Yeah, but Two Trees thought it was important enough to bring us in. Is that standard practice? I mean for the I.S.R. to become involved? You said we're not supposed to be a policing agency. Our purpose is only to act as marshals."

"True, but remember, I have history with Riversong Wilkins and our duties have always been fluid when it comes to the supernatural world. Oberon and Titania's missing offspring are a case in point."

"You're right. But in this case, Two Trees didn't know that you were involved in her capture until you told him just now. You never met him."

"No, I joined the hunt on the trail to Oregon, so I only met with the vamps, but he would have known that the I.S.R. caught Wilkins and Vandross."

"Yeah, that's true, I suppose," Ari said.

"Anyway, like I said, it's not terribly common for them to call us in except in unusual situations. I'll bet their trackers followed them until they realized they were on vampire lands which is why they called us in to retrieve them. Generally, shifter populations deal with their own people. It's not like they aren't allowed to travel on and off the rez, and though, most shifters prefer not to leave their own reservations, some do it to find work. In California especially, everyone—human and shifter alike—think Native Americans have become wealthy from casino revenue. But the truth is, not all tribes have casinos on their reservations. The Tahoe reservation is one of those who don't, so their people aren't terribly wealthy."

"I'm surprised by that. I would have thought the reservation allows gambling," Ari said.

"Why?" Eoghan frowned and looked over at him.

"Because Tahoe falls on the California/Nevada border."

"Oh, I see. Well, unfortunately, that's exactly why they don't have gambling. It's my understanding that the tribe has been trying to get the permission for years but due to bad blood between Nevada and California when it comes to gaming, they're not keen on granting gaming licenses to the tribes which spill across borders."

"I didn't know there was bad blood," Ari said.

"It's not widely known unless you're part of that world," Eoghan said. "I only learned about it when we were chasing Riversong the first time around. Our chief talked to Joe Two Trees' predecessor a lot during that case, and she found out that Nevada did everything in its power to lobby against Indian gaming in California."

"Well that makes sense but they've got the right to open gambling establishments anyway," Ari said.

"That's all true. It didn't make it to all California reservations. Some, like this one, don't have it. Some shifter reservations just don't want humans on their lands, gambling revenue or not."

"And judging by the way Deputy Alo Uwaite acted, he doesn't want us anywhere near this case."

"Maybe he just doesn't like humans. Some shifters don't," Eoghan said.

"I think we should keep an eye on that one," Ari replied, taking a long sip of his coffee. It was so good.

He was silent as Eoghan drove, watching the pretty scenery as they began a gentle climb up farther into the mountains. When the chief's truck made a turn off the main road and pulled onto a road they would have missed if they hadn't been following, he was glad the chief and his cantankerous deputy had met them in town. The road had narrowed to a single lane with not much of a shoulder on their right side. Beyond it, Ari saw a significant downward drop. He was glad it was daytime and that Eoghan was a good driver. After several more turns, the road widened to two lanes and he realized they'd driven into a small town. Ari breathed a sigh of relief.

"This has to be reservation land," Eoghan muttered, gaze fixed on the Blazer in front of them.

"It definitely looks like the town," Ari said, noting several single-story commercial buildings including a hardware store, beauty parlor, used car lot, and a gas station. Several people walked on the sidewalks including two women with baby carriages. To Ari, the place appeared to be a normal small town just like a million others all across America. At first glance, no one would know the shifter reservation was different from any other place.

"I'd say so. By the time Gladys and I got assigned the case, we were focused on finding them on the road to Oregon. Like I said, we did stop in Redding to talk to the vampire clan leader, but only caught up to our fugitive when he poked his head out to buy groceries. You should have seen how upset Gladys was when she heard we were chasing a fugitive who was dragging not only his mate but all their little kids along for the ride."

Ari nodded. "I bet. That must have been scary."

"Trust me, it was terrible. Even though there was no sign of violence in Vandross' past, we couldn't be sure he wasn't armed. If we'd had to put him or Riversong down—in front of those kids—the aftermath for them would have been unimaginable."

"The worst," Ari concurred. Memories of the crap he'd seen and been forced to do in the military haunted him to this day. Families devastated; homes destroyed. Innocents always paid the price.

"Anyway, this place doesn't seem so poor," Ari said as they drove through town."

"No, but you never know what you'll find when you get a chance to see how they actually live. The chief said Riversong's brother was taking care of her and the kids after Vandross went to prison but I guess we'll never know until we see the place."

"You're right but it makes me wonder," Ari said.

Eoghan shot him a quick glance as they made a turn onto a rural, dirt road. The trees were thick on either side of the single lane road. "Wonder about what?"

"It sounds like ever since Vandross went away, she was doing better. This has to be a kidnapping, right?"

"Agreed. That's why the brother called us. The last time his sister ended up on a vampire reservation. Who's to say she wouldn't end up back there again because the last time Vandross wandered onto their lands," Eoghan said. "He was an idiot, escaping the law, clearly not the brightest tool in the shed."

"And yet he put his woman, a newborn, and two other children in horrible danger by running. It sounds like he did that on purpose so that their tribe wouldn't dare follow," Ari said.

"I never thought about it that way." He tapped his chin with a finger. "There might be something there."

"What did you ask her when you rescued her and the kids?"

"Like I told the chief…we never talked to her. We put her and the kids in the back of a police van and put him in a different vehicle and called the tribal police. They showed up after a couple of hours and took them off to detain them on the reservation as far as I knew."

"Okay, and you said he went to Folsom and she was incarcerated in the reservation jail for the duration of her six-month sentence," Ari said.

Eoghan nodded. "That's right."

"Okay, then." He pointed out the windshield as he watched the Blazer turn into the driveway of a small, white tract home. The neighborhood appeared middle class, neither rich nor poor with a combination of one-and two-story older homes with attached two car garages. The front yard of Riversong's house was neatly mowed and the flower garden, although slightly overgrown with weeds, appeared to be watered on some sort of timer since the empty driveway was wet and the flowerbeds looked dark. They parked in front of the house and got out of the car, walking up to meet the two police officers who waited for them on the drive. Ari noted two tricycles parked next to the front gate as they followed them to the front door.

There was no police tape across the doorway, and he was surprised to see Two Trees produce a housekey before unlocking the door.

"The brother's not meeting us here?" Eoghan asked, sounding as surprised as he was.

Two Trees turned to look at them. "No, he's at work and to be honest, I wanted to come out here without him. He's been very upset ever since he reported Riversong and the kids' disappearance yesterday morning. He blamed us for not arresting Vandross before he grabbed his wife and kids to flee the last time. And he swears he'll have my job if I don't find her this time around even though I wasn't even chief of police back then." He pushed the door open, and they all entered. "I didn't want to field any more of his phone calls. He was really pissed when he heard I'd brought the I.S.R. in on his sister's disappearance."

"But he knows the I.S.R were the ones who captured Vandross which allowed the tribal police to bring her and the kids back the last time, right?"

"Yeah, he knows but it doesn't make him any less of an asshole," the chief said gruffly.

Ari snorted and exchanged a glance with Eoghan who shrugged. "Doesn't he work with you on the tribal council?"

"We don't exactly work with him. We tolerate him more like it. The guy's overbearing and ever since Riversong went missing, he's been a pain in the ass. He wanted me to have everyone in my office stop all other police business to go looking for her. I'm sympathetic to him…I really am, but when I told him I called you guys because you'd helped locate them the last time, you'd have thought I'd drowned his cat."

"He sounds like a total idiot," Eoghan said. "If I had a sister who went missing, I'd turn over every rock in Tahoe and beyond to find her and I wouldn't care who was looking as long as she was found safe and sound."

"Exactly," Two Trees said. He held out his hands. "Well, here we are. Look all you like. We already looked at everything and collected as much evidence of her life as we could. Nothing stood out. According to her credit report, there're no weird collections, no late payments, and according to her boss down at the library in town, she's a great employee. We're stumped."

"Did you find any evidence of a kidnapping or anything that looked remotely suspicious of a forced abduction at all? Any signs of foul play?" Eoghan asked.

"Nothing. That's why we called you."

"Okay, we'll look around."

Ari was already circling the living room, looking at every piece of furniture, every knickknack, every child's toy in sight. He bent to look at a family portrait which included the photo of a younger Jack Vandross, Riversong Wilkins, an infant strapped to the front of her body with a Native American patterned wrap, and two small children, holding their father's hands. Riversong was smiling widely at the camera looking genuinely happy. Vandross was looking down at a little dark-haired child with the most loving expression on his face. Ari glanced up at Eoghan.

"Do you have gloves?"

"Sure." Eoghan reached into the backpack he carried, pulling out two pairs and handing one to Ari before donning his own.

Ari pulled them on before turning over the photo, noting the stamp etched into the frame. He flipped it back over and stared at it. Small, painted hearts were carved into the frame too. He held it out to Eoghan, who took it as the two tribal officers came over.

"What is it?" Two Trees asked.

"They look very much in love, don't they?" Ari asked.

Eoghan nodded as he handed the frame to the chief.

He looked it over, showing it to his deputy before handing it back.

Ari pointed to the hearts and the 925 mark. "It's sterling silver. Some of these cost a pretty penny and it frames a picture of a loving family. Did you see the look in Vandross' eyes when he was staring at his child?" He pointed to Jack's face. "That's a man who adores his family." He tapped Riversong's face. "And that's a happy woman."

The deputy shrugged but the expression on his face told Ari he wasn't being dismissive of them and was curious to hear what he was going to say. "What about it? She was a happy woman. So what?"

"From what I read in Vandross' file, he was convicted of a bunch of petty crimes, stupid stuff like shoplifting and the like, yes?"

"Right," Two Trees said.

Ari nodded. "And suddenly this petty criminal decides to become a ‘master criminal' breaking into a safe, stealing money and valuables, leaving behind fingerprints in a municipal building where he works, and matching fingerprints can easily be found. Then this master criminal goes on the run with his girlfriend, a woman he clearly cherishes, and the children he adores, yes?"

"Yeah," Two Trees said. "I…think I understand what you're trying to say." He glanced at his deputy before looking back at them. "You think he was set up to take a fall?"

"Well, the tribal council is the governing body, trying criminals here on the rez, right?" Eoghan asked.

"Yeah."

"And her brother is on the tribal council?" Ari asked.

"Yeah, but what difference does that make? Are you telling me you think Riversong's brother, Colt, set Vandross up to go to prison?" Two Trees asked.

"I don't know yet," Ari said, putting the frame back on the shelf. "I want to look around a bit longer."

"Me too," the chief said, seeming more than interested. He gave his deputy instructions for the kitchen as Ari and Eoghan headed for the hallway.

"Do you really think Colt Wilkins set Vandross up?" Eoghan asked as they walked into the first bedroom, clearly a room for a little girl. It was painted pale pink, contained a child's bed, and had brightly colored pictures on the wall. Aside from the framed pictures of teddy bears, there were finger painted pictures. They all depicted a happy family of five. The little girl in each one was holding her daddy's hand. The sun was shining. The primary colors done with tiny fingers, were bright.

"This is a happy little girl," Ari said, looking at Eoghan, before pointing to the picture. "She loves her daddy." He turned away when he heard a whistle making him spin back around. "What?"

Eoghan was grinning. "You're a damned good detective, Marshal."

"I don't know about a detective, but I'll let you call me a good tracker," Ari said, unable to hide his smile. "I had a great training officer to teach me how to hunt human fugitives and I have a great training officer to teach me how to hunt everything else now. Whether hunting a human, shifter, or vampire…or I suspect even an alien, all you gotta do is look for clues. Can't tell you how many times I've been in a house digging through a fugitive's trash to figure out what makes them tick so I can hunt them down."

"All right then, Dick Tracy, let's figure out whether someone kidnapped Riversong and her kids or whether this loving mom ran away on her own," Eoghan said.

Ari snorted and walked out of the room. They checked out another bedroom, finding nothing of note other than a second child's bed and a toddler's bed. This bedroom was painted blue. They checked out the small hallway bathroom before walking into the final bedroom at the end of the hallway. This one had clearly belonged to Riversong and her boyfriend when he lived there. The drawers and closet were filled with her clothing but of even more note, his as well. Ari pointed to his shirts on hangers and neatly folded in the drawers. "Look at that."

"What?" Two Trees asked as he and Uwaite walked into the small bedroom.

"I don't know," Ari said. "But if I wasn't holding out hope that my boyfriend was going to be released from prison before serving out his three-year sentence, why would I keep all his clothes? He's been gone for more than two years."

"Maybe she's sentimental," Uwaite said.

Eoghan rolled the closet doors until they could see how stuffed her side was. "Look at that. Her clothes are overflowing on this side." He rolled them again, revealing his side. "There's plenty of room for her clothes in here if she bagged all of his and gave them to Goodwill or the Salvation Army." He pointed to the drawers which told a similar story. "The same with her dresser. Clearly, she's hoping he's coming home soon."

"Why would she do that?" Two Trees asked.

"Here's a hypothetical," Ari said. "If I knew my boyfriend—the father of my children—was innocent and wrongly convicted by the tribal council, wouldn't I try to run away and find someone to help prove it so I could get him released from prison?"

"Yeah, I see what you mean," Two Trees said, exchanging a glance with Uwaite who nodded. He looked back at them. "That's good work. What else do you see?"

Ari glanced around the room, searching the walls as Eoghan explained about the fingerpainted pictures in the daughter's bedroom. Something occurred to Ari as he stared at a picture which hung over the bed's headboard. He pointed at the sacred heart depicted in the painting. "Is she religious? Catholic?"

Two Trees nodded. "I think so. I thought it was unusual when I read about it in the file. There aren't a lot of Catholics on this reservation."

"I'd imagine so," Ari said, nodding absently. "You know, I'm an Army brat. When I was a kid, we lived in a hell of a lot of places." He glanced at Eoghan who stood on the side of the bed in the cramped room. "Can I get by you? I wanna check something out."

"Okay." Eoghan moved out of the way, squeezing past him as Ari tried to make himself small to switch places with him.

"Thanks." Ari leaned over the headboard, trying to glimpse something between the wall and picture. He smiled when he saw it. "When I was a kid, everywhere we lived, I tried to find a way to make a new place my own. It's something a lot of military brats do. One of the things I did was to keep a journal of my most private thoughts, and after my mom found it, I began to hide it like any teenager would." He took hold of the sacred heart painting, pulling it off the wall and putting it on the bed. Behind it, cut into the drywall, was a crude cubby. He grinned. "As I thought." He reached into the space, pushing aside pink insulation and fished around until he found something. Smiling, he dragged it free of the wall, holding it up in dusty gloves.

"I'll be damned," Eoghan said. "It's a journal." He held out gloved hands and Ari handed it over, brushing off his dusty gloves.

"It's actually a diary," Ari said. When Eoghan looked up with a question in his gaze, Ari shrugged, pointing at the book. "It's pink with unicorns on it."

"I don't believe it," Two Trees said. "How did we miss it?"

"You're not an Army brat?" Ari asked, smiling at him.

When they didn't reply, Two Trees chuckled, shaking his head. "Okay…Army brats, that's huge. We'd better take a look at that."

"My partner's right," Eoghan said, flipping open the book and scanning the first couple of pages. "It seems to be Riversong's diary, but you'd have had no reason to look for it behind a picture. Take a fugitive hunter to find something like that. It's really tight in this bedroom. Let's get a look at it out in the other room." He deposited the book in the chief's gloved hands and then followed him and the deputy out into the hallway with Ari following.

They found chairs at the dining room table before the chief opened the journal. He flipped to the last page and then bent over it, reading the words written there. Ari was pretty sure he heard the man growl in the back of his throat before he glanced up. His eyes were glowing a vivid violet color which freaked him out more than a little.

"What is it?" Eoghan asked, sounding as alarmed at the chief's appearance as he did.

Two Trees read the final entry in the journal out loud.

"I'm leaving tomorrow and taking Morgan, Janus, and Kylie with me. Poor little Morgan. I pray she never finds out about her real daddy. She loves Jack so much. I can't wait for the police chief to figure out what the bastard's been doing. I know I should tell him, but I don't know if I can trust him. He works with the man. What if he does the same thing as Colt? How can I explain a fourth kid to Jack? Despite everything, I hope Jack's family will help me."

A ferocious growl pierced the air as the chief looked up at them. "Am I reading this right?" he asked.

"She's gotta be talking about her brother," Ari said, feeling rage like never before as he realized her own brother had been sexually abusing her…possibly fathering one of her children.

"That motherfucker, Colt Wilkins!" Two Trees shouted, stabbing a finger into the page he'd been reading. "That shifter shit has been outlawed for decades!"

"Stay calm," Eoghan urged, probably as concerned the man was about to shift as Ari was. Since neither of them knew what they'd be dealing with in shifted form, they needed to get his anger under control. To his credit, Deputy Uwaite was speaking to him in quiet tones, using their language to communicate. When the chief finally nodded and looked up, his eyes, though, still violet, weren't glowing like before.

"You realize she's talking about Colt Wilkins fathering her daughter, Morgan, the oldest, right?" Two Trees asked.

"I gathered that," Ari said. "And from what I understand, it sounds like Jack knew and was protecting her. When Colt found out that he knew, he engineered his downfall and most likely convinced the other council members that he stole money and goods, so he'd be convicted of grand larceny and sent away for some time."

The police chief nodded. "Damn him!"

Ari opened his mouth to agree wholeheartedly when he heard a rattle at the front door. Before he realized what was happening or he could stop it, Colt Wilkins came crashing through the door.

"What's going on here? What are you doing in my sister's house?"

The very last thing Ari expected to see was the transformation of both the police chief and his deputy shifting into the most gigantic, brown grizzly bears he'd ever seen.