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“Nice work, Watson.” He nudged her further away from the milling guests. “It just hit me that the current main entrance to the reservation is not the same one they used a hundred years ago.”
“Oh, really?” She looked intrigued.
“Yep. The old entrance has been closed for years. Sealed off and overgrown. If my memory serves, a church once stood where the grill is located.” He dialed Aiyanna and lifted his phone to his ear. She hadn’t made it to the funeral this morning or the reception that was now in full swing.
She picked after a few rings. “Is everything okay with my husband?”
“Yep. I’m looking right at him.” As if feeling Shep’s gaze on him, Marco glanced his way. They exchanged nods. “Didn’t see you at the funeral and was hoping you and little Marco are well.”
“He’s a little under the weather,” she sighed. “I think he’s only teething, but we kept him home as a precaution.”
“I hear you. It’s wise to play it safe. Hey, while I have you on the phone…”
Prim rolled her eyes. “Subtle you are not,” she hissed.
He winked at her and kept talking. “Didn’t The Longhorn Grill used to be a church?” He remembered seeing something to that effect in one of the black-and-white photos Aiyanna had hanging on the wall of her restaurant.
“Yes, it did.” Her voice grew animated. “The original part of the dining room, before we expanded it, once served as a school house. It was later converted to a church. Then the church was relocated to the business district on the rez, and this one was vacant for years —right up to the point when I purchased the lot.”
Shep was familiar with that part of her story — how she’d turned the overgrown lot and dilapidated building into a thriving restaurant. “Did the city council give you any heartburn over tearing down the church?”
“Not a word, because I didn’t tear it down.” She chuckled. “Though we stripped it down to the bare bones, technically, all we did was renovate it. I didn’t want to get tied for years in some dispute over a historic building. Why are you asking?”
“Just trying to put some context into what’s going on with the grave we found next door.” It was more than that, but he didn’t have time to go into it now. “We’ll continue to keep you and Marco posted about everything.”
“Thanks, Shep.” The sigh was back in her voice. “You don’t, by any chance, think…” She stopped.
“Think what?” he prodded.
“I know it’s not my place to ask.” Her voice grew wry. “But I overheard something my husband said to Adriel the other night, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.”
“Oh, yeah?” He caught Prim’s eye as he cradled the phone against his ear.
“If anything comes of it, you didn’t hear it from me, you hear?”
His heart thumped in anticipation. “My lips are sealed.”
“They want you on the police force at the rez, Shep.”
“They?”
“Yes. Adriel and the others. They’re trying to figure out what it would take to recruit you.”
“Wait a sec.” He lowered his voice a notch. “Adriel wants this?”
“Of course, he wants it, Shep! You’re one of us. You always have been.”
That was news to him. Ever since he’d gone to work for the Heart Lake PD, Adriel had been treating him like he’d betrayed his tribe or something. Yeah, they were still friends, but barely.
Aiyanna was still talking when he tuned back in. “Nobody ever understood why your uncle moved you off the rez after your parents died. But now that you’re an adult, you can make your own decisions.”
He huffed out a breath. “Nobody besides you has ever said anything to me about this. Not even dropped a hint.”
“Well, they’re planning on it. And when they do,” her voice grew fierce, “you did not —and I repeat —you didnothear it from me!”
“You have my word.” He ended their call, feeling stunned. He reached for Prim’s hand. “You ready to get out of here?”
She nodded and tangled her fingers with his as he led her in Sheriff Gil Remington’s direction.
