Chapter 1 #2
Spotting a familiar tall redhead leaving the hospital, he had an idea. Granted, not a great one, but it was an idea. And he wanted to put to rest that niggling thought that this might be connected to someone on the Navajo Nation.
So he followed Ava as she drove to the grocery store, where she quickly spotted him. He smiled and waved at her, getting out of his Chevy Tahoe.
“Hiya.”
“Hi. What are you doing?”
“Trying to talk to you,” he said. “I left a message with Darla. Did you get it?”
A flash of annoyance passed over her face quickly. “I did. As I told you yesterday, there’s nothing new to report. Fern is still recovering and hasn’t shared any new information with anyone.”
“Do you think I could question her?”
Ava crossed her arms under her breasts and stared down her nose at him. She had to be close to five-nine, and with the hiking boots she was even taller. A lesser man might have been intimated.
“Is that supposed to be an answer?” he asked when it was apparent she wasn’t going to say anything else.
“I was hoping you’d back down,” she said. “I’m not sure if she’d answer your questions. At our next session I can mention you want to talk to her. Or you could try going through her attending physician.”
“I’d appreciate that if you think it will work?” he asked, glad for the information she’d provided but more interested in the barrier she’d clearly tried to wedge between them.
“Yeah, I can ask,” she said with a shrug. “If that’s all, I need to get moving. I’m on my lunch break.”
“Thanks for asking Fern. I’ll stop by tomorrow to find out what she said.”
“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 the missing 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.
“Hi there. I’m Ava. I’m going to be taking care of you,” she said.
The little girl didn’t seem fussed about that. She continued cooing, her eyes wide as she watched Ava. There were times when she rethought her decision to stay single and not have kids of her own…this was one of them. Overpowering emotions flooded her as she rocked the baby back and forth.
It was something she craved. But she also guarded her heart when it came to relationships.
Losing her fiancé had taken her a long time to recover from.
It was only through her biweekly therapy sessions that she’d been able to start moving on.
But he had been the love of her life…there wasn’t going to be another one.
Growing up with parents who adored each other, Ava wouldn’t marry someone she didn’t love or who she was just really good friends with. She had friends—she could hook up if she wanted to, her life was good as it was. There was no missing spot to be filled by a partner or husband.
Greg was still alive in her heart. He’d been a kind and caring man. The perfect boyfriend after the controlling and abusive man she’d dated before him.
Shaking her head, she went to get the baby bag. Inside was a snowsuit, which would keep the baby toasty and warm when they stepped outside. Ava laughed to herself as she struggled to get Gracie into it.
The little scamp liked to kick her legs when she was on her back, but eventually Ava got her zipped in just as Hannah returned with the discharge papers. Ava zipped up her own coat, picked up Gracie and shouldered the bag to leave.
“If you need anything, call me. My cell is on the discharge papers,” Hannah said.
“Thanks,” Ava said. She didn’t anticipate calling anyone. Mainly because she really liked to figure things out on her own. She and Gracie would be good.
“We’re a team now,” she said to the little girl. “You’ve got me in your corner.”
She knew the baby didn’t really understand her but wanted the girl to know she had someone. Ava meant for life, which Gracie would learn as she grew up.
It had gotten darker while she was in the hospital, and she was careful as she made her way to her Trax and opened the door.
The car seat had been set up in the back seat.
She tucked Gracie in and then double-checked she was secured before putting the baby’s bag under the seat and getting in.
Firing up the engine, she cranked the heat and leaning over to check the baby one more time before heading home.
Her house was on a residential street with lots of families. She drove carefully toward it, happy to have Gracie with her. In the middle of all of the incidents going on around Dark Canyon, this was a bright light.