Sheridan looked from her dad to Nate and back.
“I have a different angle on him than you do,” Nate said. “To you, he’s just Stenko’s crazy son along for the ride. I know of him in a different way.”
“Not just that,” her dad said. “He’s a murderer. He shot and killed a pharmacist in Rawlins. It’s on tape.”
Nate whistled. “Then he’s really stepping out. I never would have guessed he’d cross the line. I mean, he’s very passionate and strident, but murder? Nah—that doesn’t fit.”
Her dad looked to Sheridan with exasperation, as if hoping she could translate Nate’s language into something a game warden could understand. Sheridan shrugged and mouthed,
“Let’s say they’re the same Robert Stenson,” her dad said to Nate. “How does that shed any light on what’s going on? How does that get us closer to finding April?”
Said Nate, “I’m not sure it does.”
“And if Robert’s company has something to do with Stenko and the murders, why hasn’t the FBI been working that angle?”
Nate said, “You give them too much credit.”
“How do you always seem to have an angle I don’t have?”
“Because,” Nate said patiently as if explaining it to a child, “you think in a linear way and I don’t. You’ve got that law enforcement thing going. I never have. But give yourself some credit, Joe. You’re smart enough to reach out when you need help. That’s an unusual trait and a rare one with men of your ilk. Now if you’ll turn around and start climbing, we can eventually get out of this canyon and maybe we can put our heads together and find April Keeley.”
Her dad sighed and turned and began striding up the trail. Nate started talking.
SHERIDAN WAS THRILLED but tried not to show it. In the last hour while Nate packed a daypack with clothes and equipment, she admired not only the recovering eagle but also Nate’s other hunting birds—a male and female peregrine falcon and a red-tailed hawk. She was fascinated by the cave where Nate now lived and awed that her dad had brought her there. She wanted to believe she was being thought of as part of the team, and she knew that as long as she had her cell phone she was integral in the search for her foster sister.
Nate had been a shadowy part of their family for six years. He’d arrived the same time April had. She didn’t quite understand the partnership Nate and her dad had, but she found it exciting and reassuring. Nate had always been friendly to her, and she’d accepted his offer to be his apprentice in falconry. Her mom had told her several times over the years not to put too much stock in Nate’s presence, that she shouldn’t be surprised if he simply vanished from their lives some day. For the past year, she assumed he had gone away. Now, to her astonishment, she’d learned not only that Nate was still in the picture, but also that her dad kept in contact with him. No doubt her mom knew about Nate’s new home as well. That her parents had maintained the secret and kept it from Lucy and her surprised, angered, and impressed her.
Nate had a hooded prairie falcon in his gloved hand as he climbed and talked. He wore the shoulder holster for his .454 Casull revolver.
And as he talked, he made the case that it was the same Robert Stenson.
“I TRY TO LIVE LOW-IMPACT,” Nate explained to her dad, “as much out of necessity as a sense of duty. Naturally, I’m concerned about the environment and my planet. The whole world is in a tizzy about global warming, but I never take these crises for face value. If I did, I’d never get any sleep. Remember bird flu, swine flu, and mad cow disease? We were all gonna die from those, if you’ll recall.”
“What’s bird flu?” Sheridan asked.
“Exactly my point,” Nate said. “Sheridan doesn’t even know that it was supposed to be a big-time pandemic and that no one would be safe. One great crisis steps forward and replaces the last one and we don’t give it a second thought. Don’t forget the millennium bug! Ha! And I distinctly remember when I was growing up that we were headed for a new ice age. Remember that? I remember reading about it at grade school. Seems like people always want to think they’re doomed. It brings them some kind of black comfort, I guess. Anyway, since I’ve got that satellite Internet dish and plenty of time on my hands these days, I’ve been doing lots of research on climate change. I’m not sure what I believe yet. There’s no doubt there’s been an increase in temperature. Not much, but definitely real. The rub is whether it’s our fault or a natural cycle. There are some pretty convincing arguments on both sides. The problem is the issue has moved from science into religion, with true believers on both sides. There isn’t even debate anymore—both sides believe what they believe and their positions have hardened.”
Sheridan observed her dad. She could tell he was getting antsy waiting for Nate to get to the point. The muscles in his jaw balled up and released, as if he were chewing gum. He always did that when he was annoyed.
Nate continued, “It makes sense to me that the temperature of the planet isn’t stagnant. How could it be? How could it possibly remain at a single perfect temperature that never varies? That doesn’t wash with what I know about nature. All you have to do is look around to know that’s not right.”
Nate stopped and kicked at the dirt on the side of the trail. “I could dig a few feet down from where we stand and find fossils of ferns and fish when this canyon was a tropical swamp. Or I could dig a few feet further and find mammoth bones when it was covered with ice. So there’s no doubt the climate has changed and that logically it will change again.
“But at the same time,” he said, hiking again, “I have to believe that all the greenhouse gases we put into the air have to have some kind of overall effect. Again, it only makes sense that when you introduce all kinds of unnatural crap—including billions more people—into the ecosystem that you impact what’s there. If nothing else, maybe we’re accelerating a slow natural warming trend into something more serious, and if we can slow the trend, we should do it. Plus, it just goes against my grain to waste resources or use more energy than I have to. Like I said, I believe in living low-impact just because I want to. I don’t want or need too much stuff. So I’m conflicted and I’m trying to figure out the best way to live.”
Her dad grunted.
She didn’t know if he was agreeing with Nate or simply grunting for Nate to get on with it.
“What’s your take on man-made global warming, Joe?” Nate asked.
Joe said, “My take is I want to find April Keeley and bring her home safely.”
