Darkmoon(91)

“No, they didn’t hurt me,” I replied. “But they made it pretty clear they didn’t like my question.”

“And what was that?”

“Where to find Nizhoni.”

He laughed a little, perhaps at my naïveté. “Ah, that is something I doubt they would tell you, even if they knew the answer. But they died many years after she did, when her name had become only an echo of malice.”

“Well, they did tell me one thing,” I said, a little rankled by his amusement. “They made it pretty clear that she wasn’t to be found anywhere around here.”

“Indeed? Because I’ve already said she’s not to be found anywhere at all.”

“Maybe. But the man did tell me that an ill wind sometimes blows from the south, by which I assume he must mean Flagstaff. When…when the time comes, it seems logical to try there first.”

“It is possible. Perhaps we should start from there, then, rather than here.”

My father looked alarmed. “You mean…go to Flagstaff?”

“You must face your past sometime,” Lawrence told him. “The time for hiding will soon be over.”

I could tell my father didn’t like the sound of that at all, but he only nodded, face tight and still. What he was expecting from returning to his hometown, I wasn’t sure. After all, the person who had the most reason to tell him off was gone. Lucas had just texted Connor the day before to say he’d gone by to water her garden, and still no sign of Marie.

Connor, on the other hand, appeared distinctly relieved that my perilous journey would at least have its starting point on his home turf. “From the house?” he asked.

Lawrence shook his head. “No. It is too new. We’ll go to your apartment.”

How he knew about the apartment, I didn’t know. However, it was clear enough that Lawrence knew a good deal he probably shouldn’t. At the moment, I was just glad that we hadn’t yet handed the keys over to Mason.

And, like Connor, I was relieved I wouldn’t have to drive all the way out here on the solstice. It would happen at a little past ten o’clock at night three days from now, and blundering around in the darkness of the spirit world seemed infinitely preferable if that journey could be initiated on familiar territory.

“Okay, it’s a plan,” I said, trying to sound casual and probably not doing a very good job of it. “So we’ll all meet there on Saturday night, say, around nine?”

Lawrence’s expression told me he wasn’t fooled by my tone. Luckily, all he did was incline his head ever so slightly, then reply, “We will be there.”

And that, it seemed, was that.





16





Solstice





Although in the intervening days I attempted to do my out-of-body meditations starting from the apartment, I never got any hint that this Nizhoni was anywhere around Flagstaff. I tried to not let myself be discouraged, but it seemed I should have been able to feel something…anything.

But I didn’t, although I did make the acquaintance of two rather amusing bootleggers who’d shot each other in the middle of Leroux Street back in 1925. They didn’t seem to hold a grudge, though. Maybe spending eternity in one another’s company had mellowed them somewhat.

“You’re sure you’ve never seen a young Navajo woman around these parts?” I asked them desperately on Friday night, knowing I was running out of options.

“Nope,” said the taller of the two spirits, whose name was Isaac Ford. He scratched his thinning hair. “No Injuns.”

I winced and tried to remind myself that racial sensitivity probably wasn’t too much of a thing in 1920s Flagstaff.

“Me, neither,” said the short, round one, who called himself Clay Wilkins. “I’d remember.” He not-quite leered at me. “We don’t get enough pretty girls that we won’t remember the ones we do see.”

Of that I had little doubt. He seemed like just the sort of ghost to pull the covers off attractive tourists as they slept in one of the nearby hotels. The problem was that, in the spirit world, I didn’t have a lot of choices when it came to finding someone willing to talk to me. I couldn’t force them — either they’d come to me naturally, or they wouldn’t. At least I hadn’t yet come up with a way to compel them to make contact.

Since these two didn’t seem as if they were going to be of much assistance, I thought maybe I should try the second part of my plan on them, of convincing them it was time to move on. After all, I’d done a pretty good job of it with Mary Mullen.

“Have you two ever thought that maybe you’ve stayed around here long enough?” I inquired. “There’s a whole new existence waiting for you in the next world. Staying stuck here can’t be that much fun.”