“And how would he know I printed out the map?” She exited the closet, the gun dangling at her side. “That’s why I printed it instead of sending it to myself. That he would’ve noticed, but I don’t think there’s any trail when an image is printed from your phone, is there?”
“I don’t have a clue.” He pressed his thumb against the closet light switch. “Why wouldn’t he want you to see the map? In fact, why did you go all cloak-and-dagger to get the map? You could’ve just asked him for a copy.”
“I didn’t want him to think I had any interest in the project beyond my initial rejection of it. That’s why I was secretive about it. I don’t know why he would be—unless there’s something on that map he wants to keep hush-hush.” She sank to the edge of her bed, thankful she’d had time to make it this morning.
He sat next to her, causing the mattress to dip and her shoulder to bump his. He didn’t move. “Something illegal about the construction maybe? Did you notice anything about the map?”
She scooted away from him. “I don’t know construction. I wouldn’t have noticed anything like that. It was a building-phase map, which is why it helped me because it pinpointed exactly where the workers were going to start digging.”
He patted his pocket. “I think your phone is ringing in the other room. It’s not mine.”
“It’s probably Gran wondering what happened to me.” She bounced up from the bed. “You can give me a ride?”
“Of course.”
She snatched up her ringing phone on the counter, the call coming from Gran’s friend Rosie. “Hello, Rosie?”
“Hi, Jolene. Viv is wondering when you’re going to pick up your car. I’m still here with her, so can you give me a ride back to town? Or I can drive the car to your place, and you can give me a ride home from there.”
“I want to check in on Gran anyway, so I’ll go out there. Sam can drive, and then take you home. He gave me a ride to my place. Is Gran okay?”
“A little wet, but just fine. We were wondering the same about you. Do they know where those bones came from?”
“That’ll take a while, Rosie. Construction has been halted in the meantime.”
“Okay, we’ll wait for you and Sam.”
Gran yelled in the background. “Tell her not to hurry.”
Jolene rolled her eyes at Sam. “We’ll see you in a little while, Rosie.”
Sam scratched Chip’s belly. “Granny Viv and Rosie took your car, leaving Rosie’s grandson to take her car, leaving you to catch a ride home only to drive to the rez, get your car and give Rosie a ride home. Did I get that straight?”
“Maybe the scheme didn’t work out quite the way Gran wanted it to, but at least we got to admit our secrets to each other and forge a plan.”
“We forged a plan?” Sam stopped rubbing Chip, who kicked his legs in the air to show his displeasure.
“Of course we did, Sam Cross. We’re going to delay the Desert Sun Casino project long enough to find out if the land is the graveyard of missing people and why my father was murdered there.”
AS SAM PULLED his truck up in front of Gran’s house, he tapped on the window. “Wade’s here. That could be trouble.”
Jolene narrowed her eyes as she stared at Wade’s yellow Humvee. “Why does he drive that abomination?”
Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. It must be good for maneuvering in the sand.”
“Wrong answer.” Jolene punched his rock-hard bicep. “Maybe I can hint around that I think someone broke into my house and watch his reaction.”
“Not a great idea.” Sam cut the engine on his truck. “Don’t get into it with him at all. The man’s gonna be on edge.”
“The better to trap him.” She yanked on the door handle and slid from the truck, avoiding a puddle of rain in the dirt.
As she and Sam walked up to the porch, her cousin stepped out of the house, all smiles.
“That was quite a ground-breaking ceremony this morning, wasn’t it? Ended in dramatic fashion with a monsoon.” Wade shook out his umbrella.
Jolene raised one eyebrow. “And a pile of bones.”
“Well, it is the desert, right, Sam? There are bound to be bones buried in the desert.” Wade skirted several pools of water with his expensive cowboy boots on his way to the Humvee. He grasped the handle and turned. “You know it’s funny, though. We did survey that land thoroughly and didn’t find any bones before, especially so close to the access road.”
“Maybe your surveyors did a lousy job.” She waved from the porch. “I’m sure you’ll be back in the saddle in no time.”
Wade touched his fingers to his forehead. “Count on it, cuz.”
The Humvee’s engine rumbled as Jolene grabbed the handle of the screen door.
Sam touched her ear with his lips. “He sure is cheery.”
“It’s a facade. He’s running scared.” She pulled open the screen door and knocked on the front door once before pushing her way in. “Gran, it’s me.”
Rosita rose from a chair, holding two coffee mugs. “We just had some tea. Do you want some?”
“I think Sam needs to get the truck back to the Border Patrol station, and I need to get my car.” Jolene strolled to her grandmother’s chair and dropped a kiss on top of her head. “Was I taking too long for you to wait for me, Gran?”
“I knew that storm was going to break any minute, and I figured you and Sam might want to catch up.” She tilted her head back to look into Jolene’s face. “I was right. You two took a while to get here.”
Sam took the cups from Rosita’s hands and carried them into Gran’s small kitchen. “I stopped by Jolene’s house to see Chip...the dog.”
“How was Wade after that debacle at the ground-breaking ceremony?” Jolene perched on the arm of Gran’s chair. “We just
