Rattlesnake Crossing

by the slightest tract. of a New York accent.

'I'm Sheriff Joanna Brady,' she said, bringing out her ID. 'Anil this is Detective Ernie Carpenter. We're looking for either Daniel Berridge or someone named Crow Woman.'

A quick flash of something that looked like hope passed across the man's chiseled features. 'I'm Danny,' he said. 'Have you found her, then?'

'We're not sure, Mr. Berridge,' Ernie put in. 'We need to ask you a few questions.'

'You have found her!' Daniel Berridge exclaimed as all hope disappeared from his face and was replaced by unmasked despair. 'She's dead, isn't she? I knew it. What happened? Did she fall? Did a cougar get her? A snake? What?'

In this case, Joanna thought, being dead is the least of it. 'We're not sure the person we found is your wife,' she said kindly. 'Detective Carpenter and I have been going over a copy of the missing-person report Deputy Sandoval took yesterday. It says Katrina was wearing a watch when she left home. Unfortunately, the report neglected to say what kind.'

'An Omega,' Daniel Berridge answered at once. 'I bought it for her for Christmas years ago.'

Ernie reached into his pocket and pulled out the see-through bag containing the remains of the shattered watch. 'This one?' he asked.

Daniel Berridge looked at it and nodded numbly. 'That's it,' he said. 'Where is she? Please, tell me what happened.'

'Search and Rescue found her on the far side of the river,' Joanna said. 'She was shot-shot and mutilated.'

'Oh, God,' Daniel groaned as his face reddened and contorted with grief. He swallowed hard. 'Was she… was she raped, too?'

'No,' Joann, said. 'To the best of our knowledge, she was spared that. From the looks of it, all her clothing was still intact.'

'But I thought you said she'd been mutilated. What does that mean?'

'I'm sorry, Mr. Berridge. There's no easy or kind way to tell you this. Whoever murdered your wife also scalped her.'

'Scalped,' he whispered hoarsely. 'You're kidding! This is the twentieth century, for God's sake. This has to be some kind of sick joke. You're making it up.'

'No,' Joanna said. 'I wish I were.'

Stumbling backward Daniel Berridge collapsed on a low, rolling stool. He buried his face in his hands, and sobbed. Several minutes passed before he was once again capable of speech.

'What kind of a monster would do such a thing?' he croaked. 'It's awful. It's insane.'

'Yes,' Joanna said. 'I couldn't agree more. It is insane and whoever did it is indeed a monster.'

For a time the room was silent except for the ticking of an immense grandfather clock. Finally Berridge seemed to pull himself together. 'Who did it?' he asked. 'What kind of a person could do such a thing? And why?'

'We don't know,' Joanna said. 'We were hoping you might be able to help us answer some of those questions. Did your wife quarrel with anyone recently? Did she have any disagreements with some of the guests here, or maybe with one of the other employees?'

Daniel Berridge's teary eyes met Joanna's. 'Only me,' he said bleakly. 'The only person Tina ever quarreled with was me.'

'When?'

'Just before she went out Monday afternoon. She told me then that she was going to leave me for good. She insisted she wanted a divorce, and it I wouldn't give her one, she'd gel one anyway. When she disappeared right after that, I thought that was what had happened. Even though she didn't take anything with her-no clothes, no luggage I still thought that the next time I heard from her would be through a lawyer. I never thought she'd turn up dead. I still can't believe it. I can't.'

'What was the quarrel about, Mr. Berridge?'

'Money,' he said. 'Money and racing.'

Just then a door on the far side of the lobby opened, and Crow Woman swept in. She was dressed much as she had been the day before, except this time her hair was pulled back into a hair net and she wore a long white cook's apron over her almost floor-length squaw dress.

'Danny?' she called. 'Are you in here? Somebody said there were cars out front-' Crow Woman stopped short when she saw Joanna and Ernie. 'What are you doing here?' she demanded.

'They found Trina,' Daniel Berridge said.

'Good. I'm ready to have her come home to the kitchen, where she belongs. That substitute cook we hired from Sierra Vista doesn't know up from down.'

'Trina isn't coming home,' Daniel Berridge said softly. 'She's dead, Carol. Somebody shot her.'

Now it was Crow Woman's turn to stumble in search of a place to sit. 'Shot?' she echoed. 'No. Are you sure?'

'It's Trina, all right. They found her watch.'

Crow Woman stood up and went over to the man who was supposedly her brother, although the two of them were as different as day and night. 'Oh, Danny,' she murmured. 'I'm so sorry. Who did it? Do they know yet?'

'No…' Joanna began.

'And she wasn't just shot, Carol. Sheriff Brady here says she was scalped.' Daniel Berridge’s voice broke over the word. 'Whoever killed her scalped her.'

'My God. I can't imagine…'

'I can,' he said fiercely. 'It's probably one of the guests. I've been telling you all along, Carol. Some of these people are nutcases. Just because they've got enough money to come here and stay for two weeks doesn't mean they aren't crazy.'

'Oh, no,' Crow Woman gasped. 'A few of them may be a little strange, but I'm sure they're not killers. That's utterly out of the question.'

'What do you mean, strange?' Joanna asked.

'Strange?' Daniel Berridge repeated. 'I'll tell you about strange. Most of the people who come here have been playing at being Indians for years. It's a big deal over in Europe, in Germany especially. Sort of like Boy Scouts, but for grown-ups. For adults. People have little bands that go on camp-outs together. They give themselves Indian names and dress in Indian costumes. Some of them learn to make baskets or do beadwork.

'They believe Indians still live close to nature, and they think that by coming here, they're getting the real thing. It's bullshit, of course. They'd be astonished if they saw 'real' Indians, if they went out to Sells or over to San Carlos or into one of the reservation gambling casinos. Our guests don't want to know that the Indians in this country aren't any better off than, say, Turkish immigrants are in Germany. And here at Rattlesnake Crossing, they don't have to. They're in no more danger of meeting a genuine Indian here than they are a genuine Turk-'

'We give them what they want,' Crow Woman interjected. 'We give them what they expect to find here.'

'We make money and we give them a crock of horse-shit,' Danny Berridge countered. 'We let them sleep on Posturepedic mattresses in air-conditioned cabins or spend the night cooking their brains out in a stupid sweat lodge. And when they go hick home after this 'native' experience-when they go hack to Dusseldorf or Frankfurt or Kempten-they're convinced that they've been touched by the Great Spirit. Give me a break!'

'Danny, please. What if one of them were to hear…'

'Let 'em,' Daniel Berridge said fiercely. 'Because when I find the son of a bitch who did that to Tina, I swear to God I'm going to return the favor!' With that he stood up, strode across the lobby and disappeared outside, slamming the heavy wooden plank door behind him.

Crow Woman gazed after him wonderingly. 'I've never seen Danny like this,' she said. 'And he doesn't mean it, of course. He's the kindest, most gentle man I know. He wouldn't hurt anyone, but still…'

'Your brother told us that he and Trina quarreled before she left,' Joanna said. 'Is that true?'

Crow Woman looked at her. 'I suppose so,' she said. 'I mean, I didn't hear them fighting myself, but Danny told me about it later. And I guess I knew it was coming.'