He scrambled after her, not sure what she had planned for her cousin. He stepped onto the porch behind her just as the last tones of the doorbell echoed on the other side of the double doors.
Cerisse opened the door, not a dyed-blond hair out of place, a serene smile curving her plumped-up lips. “Jolene, Sam, so nice to see you. Wade said you were back in town. To stay?”
“Border Patrol business. How are you, Cerisse?”
She parted her lips to answer, but Jolene pushed past her. “Where’s Wade?”
Cerisse lifted one sculpted eyebrow. “Is he expecting you, Jolene?”
“Why? Do I need an appointment? He’s my cousin. I knew him when he was sitting in the dirt, splashing in a rain puddle on the reservation.”
“Jolene?” Wade trotted down the curved staircase, his long, thin fingers trailing along the polished bannister. “What’s going on?”
“This.” She ripped open the plastic bag Sam had carefully tied earlier to preserve the evidence, and dumped the dead snake on the floor. The point of the arrow clattered on the tile.
A scream pierced the air, and Sam jerked his head around as Melody flew down the stairs. “What is that doing in the house?”
“Ask your brother.” Jolene clamped a hand on her hip. “He left it for me—after he tampered with my brakes.”
Melody directed her wide-eyed gaze at Wade. “Wade? What is she talking about?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.” Wade spread his hands helplessly. “Sam?”
Cerisse touched Jolene’s shoulder. “Do you want to sit down and explain, Jolene? You seem...overwrought.”
“Oh, no you don’t.” Jolene shrugged away from Cerisse. “Somebody did something to my brakes today so that my car skidded in the rain, and I landed in the wash.”
Melody gasped, covering her mouth with one hand. “That was you? We heard about the accident.”
“You think I fixed your brakes...” Wade smoothed a hand over his glossy ponytail “...and then doubled down by putting a warning on your porch?”
“I didn’t say it was on my porch. Chip brought it in.” Jolene tapped her toe, a staccato beat on the floor that only added to the tension in the room.
“Why would I do that, Jolene?” Wade hooked a thumb in the pocket of his black jeans.
“Y-you know.” Jolene bit her bottom lip.
She hadn’t thought this through enough to realize she’d have to admit to burying those bones at the construction site.
One corner of Wade’s mouth lifted. “I don’t. Please enlighten me.”
“Those bones today.” Jolene threw out a hand. “You think I had something to do with that. You think I’m trying to sabotage the casino project.”
“Did you? Are you?” A slight twitch at the corner of his eye broke the smooth facade of Wade’s face.
“Of course she didn’t, Wade.” Cerisse patted Jolene’s back gingerly, as if Jolene were some kind of feral creature and one wrong move could set her off.
Sam didn’t blame Cerisse one bit.
“I didn’t plant those bones, but you know I’m unhappy about the casino. My father wouldn’t have wanted it, either.”
“We’ve had this discussion before, Jolene. The casino will bring jobs. It’ll improve the school on the reservation. All those things you claim to care about.”
“My father died on that land. Don’t you care about that?”
“I do, of course.” Wade nudged the snake with the toe of his boot. “Could you please put this away? You’re freaking Melody out.”
“You can deny all you want, Wade, but I know you’re behind these threats, these warnings.” Jolene started to crouch down to shove the snake back in the bag, but Sam stopped her.
He bent over and pinched the snake’s tail, dragging it back into the bag. The fewer fingerprints on this thing, the better.
“Cuz, if I thought you were interfering in the casino project, I’d just talk to you. In fact, I thought we already had that talk. You gave the impression that you were fine with it, or at least resigned to it.”
“Just...” she shook a finger in his face “...watch yourself.”
She spun around and charged outside.
Sam secured the bag again and shrugged. “She’s upset about the accident. She had to squirm through the window into the water to get out of her car.”
“That’s terrible.” Cerisse put a hand to her slender throat. “I’m glad you’re back, Sam, if only for a short time. You always were the only one who could calm her down.”
“She’ll be fine.” He raised his hand to Melody still clinging to the bannister of the staircase. “Good to see you again, Melody.”
Always the gracious hostess, even in the most awkward of occasions, Cerisse showed him to the door with a smile. “Come back again under more pleasant circumstances.”
Sam marched back to the truck where Jolene was already stationed in the passenger seat, her face tight. He’d better not tell her what Cerisse had said at the end there. She’d really explode.
He got behind the wheel, and placed the bag in the back seat. “That didn’t go well. What did you expect? He wasn’t going to admit it, even if he was responsible.”
“If?” She pushed the hair from her flushed face. “You believed that smooth SOB?”
“Weren’t you the one telling me after the accident that Wade wouldn’t try to kill you?”
“Kill.” She pounded a fist against her chest. “Do I look dead? He is trying to scare me off, though.”
He cranked on the truck’s engine and it rumbled in the circular driveway as he snapped in his seat belt. “Your feelings are out in the open now, so maybe that’s not a bad thing.”
“It’s on you now, Sam. You have to find the bones of those missing people out there to put a stop to the construction.”
“If I do find those remains, it’ll halt the construction, but it’s not going to stop it—not like it would if it were a sacred Yaqui burial site.” He wheeled around the fancy cars in the driveway and rolled down to the street.
“I know that, but if
