CHAPTER FOUR
Ben was waiting on her porch when she got home, two bottles of beer sweating in the evening heat. He handed her one as she climbed the steps, his expression suggesting he already knew something was up.
"You didn't come back to the station," he said. "I figured either you'd been abducted by aliens or something happened at the Naalnish place."
"Something happened after the Naalnish place." Kari unlocked her front door and gestured for him to follow. "I got a call from a cousin I haven't seen in years. She needs help finding her niece."
Inside, the house was warm from being closed up all day.
Kari opened windows while Ben settled into the armchair he'd claimed as his own during their many working evenings together.
Her mother's house had gradually become a second office for them both, a place to review cases away from the fluorescent lights and interruptions of the station.
She told him about Lola, about Tayen, about the Glimmer account that had gone dark. Ben listened without interrupting, sipping his beer and watching her pace the length of the living room.
"Can I see the profile?" he asked when she'd finished.
Kari pulled out her phone and navigated to Tayen Stern's Glimmer. She'd saved several screenshots at Lola's house, preserving the images before the account potentially disappeared entirely. She handed the phone to Ben and watched his face as he scrolled.
"She's pretty," he said. "Young. Looks like she's living the dream out there."
"Look at her eyes."
Ben looked more carefully. After a moment, he nodded slowly. "She's performing. Every photo, every smile. None of it's real."
"That's what Lola said."
"But that doesn't mean she's in trouble." Ben set the phone down on the coffee table. "A lot of people perform on social media. It's practically the whole point."
Kari stopped pacing and leaned against the doorframe. "Maybe."
"Could be she just doesn't want contact with her past. Plenty of runaways feel that way."
"Could be." Kari picked up her own beer, which had grown warm in her hand. "But I promised Lola I'd try to find out for sure."
Ben was quiet for a moment. "You're thinking about going to L.A."
"I'm thinking about it. Yes."
"What about the Naalnish case?"
The question hung in the air between them. Kari walked to the window and looked out at the darkening desert. Somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, the FBI was examining bones that should have been hers to examine, investigating a murder that should have been hers to solve.
"The Naalnish case isn't ours anymore," she said quietly. "You heard Agent Rivera. They don't want us anywhere near it. All we can do is wait and hope they decide to share something eventually."
"And your mother's files? The other sixteen cases?"
"Those aren't going anywhere." Kari turned back to face him. "They've been waiting fifteen years, some of them. A few more days won't matter."
Ben studied her for a long moment. They'd worked together long enough that he could read her moods, could tell when she was struggling with a decision.
"You want to go," he said. "Not just because of Lola.
You need to do something. You're going crazy sitting here waiting for the FBI to throw us scraps. "
Kari couldn't deny it. The past three days had been an exercise in frustration, watching an investigation unfold from the outside while being told repeatedly that her help wasn't needed or wanted.
At least in Los Angeles, she could actually do something.
She could ask questions, follow leads, make a difference for someone.
"Family asked for help," she said. "That means something."
"It does." Ben finished his beer and set the empty bottle on the table. "Look, going to L.A. to check on a cousin's niece isn't breaking any laws. You're not interfering with a federal investigation. You're just... taking a personal trip."
"You're saying I should go."
"I'm saying you're not going to be any good to anyone here while you're this wound up." Ben stood and stretched. "Take a few days. Go to L.A., find the girl, make sure she's okay. I'll hold down the fort here. And I'll keep my ear to the ground about the FBI investigation."
"You'd cover for me?"
"I'd tell Captain Yazzie you're taking some personal time to help a family member. Which is the truth." He picked up his keys from the table where he'd dropped them. "Besides, someone needs to check on Ruth while you're gone. I'll stop by, make sure she doesn't get too lonely without you."
Kari smiled despite herself. "She'd like that. She thinks you're too skinny. She'll probably try to feed you."
"I'm counting on it." Ben headed for the door, then paused. "Kari. Be careful out there. L.A. is a long way from home, and you won't have backup if something goes wrong."
"I'll be fine. It's just a missing persons case. I'm probably going to find Tayen living her best life and wanting nothing to do with her aunt."
"Probably." Ben didn't sound convinced. "But call me if you need anything. Day or night."
After he left, Kari sat down at her computer and pulled up Tayen Stern's Glimmer profile. The account was still visible, though there had been no new posts since yesterday morning. She scrolled through the images again, more carefully this time, looking for details she might have missed.
Tayen's transformation from reservation teenager to L.A.
model was documented in excruciating detail.
The early posts, from about eighteen months ago, showed a girl still finding her footing.
Awkward poses, uncertain smiles, captions that tried too hard.
But over time, the professional sheen had developed.
Better lighting, more polished captions, the gradual accumulation of followers and brand partnerships.
Kari noticed something else as she scrolled. Tayen's posts frequently mentioned an agency called Elite Vision Modeling. Tagged locations showed photo shoots, promotional events, industry parties. Whatever Tayen had gotten herself into, Elite Vision seemed to be at the center of it.
She jotted down the name and did a quick search.
Elite Vision had a professional website showcasing dozens of young models, most of them with the same polished look as Tayen's photos.
The agency specialized in what the website called "discovering fresh talent from unexpected places.
" Reading between the lines, that seemed to mean recruiting young women from small towns and disadvantaged backgrounds, girls who might not have the connections or resources to break into modeling on their own.
Girls who might be vulnerable. Girls who might not have anyone looking out for them.
Kari dug deeper. Elite Vision's website listed an address in the Arts District, phone numbers for booking and new talent inquiries, and a roster of current models that included Tayen Stern.
The agency had a slick social media presence, with thousands of followers across multiple platforms. Everything looked legitimate on the surface.
But legitimacy could be a facade. Kari had seen enough in her years as a detective to know that the most professional-looking operations sometimes concealed the ugliest truths.
She searched for reviews, complaints, any indication that Elite Vision might be something other than what it appeared.
Most of what she found was positive, but there were a few threads on modeling forums where anonymous users mentioned promises that hadn't been kept, fees that seemed excessive, contracts that were nearly impossible to escape.
Nothing concrete enough to suggest criminal activity, but enough to raise questions.
Kari leaned back in her chair, uneasy. She didn't like the picture forming in her mind.
A runaway teenager, grief-stricken and alone, arriving in Los Angeles with nothing but desperation and dreams. An agency that targeted exactly that kind of girl.
And now, a sudden disappearance, the moment her past tried to reach her.
It could be nothing. Tayen could be fine. She could simply be a young woman who'd built a new life and didn't want to be reminded of the old one.
But Kari's instincts were telling her something different. The same instincts that had served her through years of police work, that had helped her see patterns others missed, that had kept her alive in situations where hesitation meant death.
She picked up her phone and dialed Ruth's number. Her grandmother answered on the third ring, her voice warm and unsurprised, as if she'd been expecting the call.
"Shimásání," Kari said, using the Navajo word for grandmother. "I need to tell you something."
"You're leaving," Ruth said. "I felt it this morning. A restlessness in the wind."
Kari smiled. Ruth had a way of knowing things before they were spoken, a gift that Kari had learned to accept rather than question. "Only for a few days. Lola Chee needs help finding her niece. The girl ran away to Los Angeles."
"Mary's daughter. Yes, I heard about that." Ruth's voice carried a note of sadness. "A troubled spirit, that one. Running from grief rather than through it."
"I'm going to try to find her. Make sure she's okay."
"Be careful, Asdz?′?′ K'os." Ruth used Kari's Navajo name, the one she'd given her at birth. "Cities are hungry places. They consume what they cannot understand."
"I'll be fine, grandmother. I've lived in cities before."
"You lived in Phoenix. That is not the same." A pause. "Take your medicine pouch. Keep it close. The protection travels with you, even away from this land."
"I will. Ben's going to check on you while I'm gone."
"Good. That boy needs feeding. Too much time eating gas station food." Ruth's tone softened. "Find the girl, Kari. Bring her home if she'll come. But don't lose yourself in the looking."
After she hung up, Kari sat for a moment in the quiet of her mother's house. Outside, the desert night had fully descended, stars emerging in the vast sky overhead. In Los Angeles, she knew, those same stars would be invisible, drowned out by light pollution and smog.
Something was wrong in Los Angeles. And Tayen Chee was caught in the middle of it.
Kari picked up her phone again and dialed Lola's number.
"I'm going to L.A.," she said when her cousin answered. "I'll fly out tomorrow."