Page 52 of Close To Darkness

She raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Look," he said, "it's not like I've been on this full-time.I still have my regular workload, you know?"

Kari sighed.The explanation made sense, but it didn't make her feel any better.

"I've been thinking," Ben said slowly, his eyes fixed on the road ahead."We need help.Someone who can investigate from inside the federal system, who has access to databases and resources we can't get on our own."

"Who would help us?Who—" She stopped suddenly.Therewasone person who might help them.Might.Or he might just tell them it wasn't their case and they needed to back off.Difficult to tell.

"You're not talking about Daniels again, are you?"she asked.

"It's worth a shot, isn't it?"

Kari fell silent, thinking about the FBI agent whom she had once known as Uncle Paul.The man who, once upon a time, had been her father's partner.Kari's path had intersected with Daniels's on previous investigations, and it had become clear very quickly that he was not about to let family ties interfere with his work.His loyalty was to the job, first and foremost.Everything else was secondary.

Still, if she could convince him…

"There's no reason to worry about getting shut out of the investigation anymore," Ben said with a derisive snort."Thereisno investigation."

"I'll reach out to him," Kari said."It's a big ask—snooping around a closed case that's none of his business, especially if there are higher powers who have a vested interest in making the whole thing go away.But maybe I can convince him to keep his ear to the ground, if only for old time's sake."

"Sounds like a plan."Ben pulled off the highway onto the smaller road that led to the reservation."But you should get some rest first.You look like you need it."

He dropped her off at her house as the sun was setting, painting the desert in shades of orange and red that seemed to set the land on fire.Kari stood on her porch for a long moment, just breathing, letting the silence and the space wash over her.After the noise and crowds and constant motion of L.A., the quiet of the reservation felt like medicine.

She unlocked her door and stepped inside, dropping her bag in the hallway.The house was exactly as she'd left it—a little dusty, a little empty, but familiar.Home.

She was heading to the kitchen to make tea when the phone rang.

Not her cell phone.Her landline—the old one mounted on the kitchen wall, a relic from another era that she'd never bothered to disconnect.It almost never rang.Almost no one had the number.

Kari stared at it for a moment, an uneasy feeling prickling at the back of her neck.Then she picked up the receiver.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other end was distorted, electronically altered to be unrecognizable—a mechanical rasp that could have been anyone or no one."Detective Blackhorse.Welcome home."

"Who is this?"

"Someone who's been watching your investigation with great interest."

Kari waited.The person on the other end of the line waited, too.

"What do you want?"Kari finally asked.

"I want you to walk away from the Naalnish case.Go back to solving crimes on your reservation.Live your life.Grow old.Die peacefully in your bed—instead of cold and alone in the desert."

"Is that a threat?"

"More like a warning—and the only one you're going to get.Don't forget: the same thing that happened to your mother could very easily happen to you."

"What do you know about—"

The line went dead before Kari could even finish the sentence.

Shakily, Kari hung up the phone and took a deep, calming breath.Who had been on the other end of the line?Someone who knew exactly what had happened to Evan Naalnish—and maybe to Kari's mother, as well?

Someone who'd had a hand in what happened to them?

Gooseflesh gathered on her arms.For all she knew, she'd just been speaking with her mother's killer.And she didn’t need to be any good at reading between the lines to realize she could very well be next if she didn't stop investigating.

But when had Kari Blackhorse ever been the kind of woman to walk away from a fight?