The Serpent and the Crow

Book 1: Chapter Seven

Wade and Douglas sat in the '67 Chevy Camaro. Wade stared out the cracked passenger window. Douglas gripped the steering wheel as he watched the Coroner crying on a bench outside the County Coroner's Office.

Elmer patted Lindsey's head as he swayed back and forth while staring at the street lamp. He was indeed special. Doug thought that was Elmer's noblest trait; he had no inhibitions or rules to follow.

The name badge on his overalls was misspelt. Elmer's workplace didn't give a shit and thought Ellroy was close enough. Douglas turned the key, and the Camaro drove away.

Wade stared through the fractured window, creating a warped kaleidoscope view of the town of Solemn Pines.

The homeless gathered around fire barrels, trying to keep warm. Although Arizona was a desert, Solemn had frosty nights, high in the mountains and above sea level. In the winter, it snowed, and it was spring. The snakes slithered out of their hibernation cycle.

Douglas said, "what evidence have we got?"

"The crime scene. Body. Snakes."

Wade saw shop fronts closed and abandoned. It was a squatter's palace. Perhaps holding out for insurance. Selling items that only old folks bought if they didn't have the internet.

Wade saw that Solemn Pines could have been bustling with business. It was possible that before '92, the miners from Coyote Hills frequented the town to buy goods and catch up on the news at Malone's Irish Pub.

Douglas looked surprised. Nez said, "We don't have witnesses to the kidnapping or the murder."

"No motive, and motive can solve a case."

"There is something..." Douglas thought twice before saying.

"Quit being a git and get to it, hombre."

"The MO is that the killer kidnaps the kids. And, It takes four days for the victim to succumb to their wounds, right?"

"How do you know that? Do you consult with a Navajo calendar?"

Nez reached into the back seat and threw a couple of dossiers on to Wade's lap. Wade glanced at three files. One labelled Katie Harding, another named Isabella Moonstone, and Mary Schofield. Wade lingered in Schofield's file. He couldn't bear to look at the crime photos.

Douglas said, "I obtained this from the Solemn Pines County Sheriff's Department. Don't ask how I got it. Read the memo."

Wade looked at the yellow stick-it note, it read,

Transfer to Armadillo Heights Police Department, NM. -Sheriff Lionel Martinez.

"It doesn't say who requested it."

"Yeah, but I bet, dollar to doughnuts, that Lionel Richie Martinez looking motherfucker knows who demanded it. And why was he even there at the County Coroner's Office?"

"Let's rewind. Why is the killer's modus operandi interesting?"

"You ever heard of a Sky Burial?"

"Hey Chief, spell it out for the white folks at the back of the class that need captions for this educational video on affirmative Injun action."

"Native Americans, some of them at least, don't bury their dead. They use Sky Burials. They place the body on a platform, loft, or even on the limbs of trees."

"Go on, Attenborough."

"The human remains are carrion for the crows,"

"So, you're saying Katie Harding and these kids were killed by a fucking Navajo Joe? Your people."

"Your mind jumps to that? I'm just saying it has similarities. And I'm not Navajo, by the way. I'm part of the Sioux and Crow tribe. But raised by Navajo."

"What the fuck is the difference?"

"I'm trying to say if this is a sky burial, then why is an old Sioux custom being used in the Navajo territories? And if the killer were Native, they would have to know about customs that aren't practised in modern times. These days we're like your white folk. We bury the dead. The Navajo don't do either. They burn their dead."

"If it's not Sioux, Crow, or Navajo?"

"My theory is that it's someone framing it to look that way?"

"But why? And Why here?" Asked Wade. Doug shrugged.

Douglas said, "Perhaps understanding why the killer would use a sky-burial, and why in Solemn Pines can reveal that motive, and crack the case wide open."

The car stopped up against the railway tracks. The barrier arm fell as the bell rang. Red flickering lights illuminated Douglas and Wade's faces. They stared at a long caravan of logistic freight going off to Armadillo, New Mexico.

Wade decided whether to share his observations on the case. He understood why Douglas withheld information. If the news were to get out, the killer was a Native and kidnapping White Kids and offering them up to the Gods like a sacrifice on the altar. It would be open season on Natives.

Wade thought it best to hold his cards close. He wasn't quite ready to trust anyone, let alone a Native. The barrier arm lifted. But what didn't lift was Wade's distrust of the Redskins.

"Why, don't you stay over at mine? It's closer to the Precinct? Chief Kelly will want a brief on the situation in the morning, and there are still a few things we have to work out. What do you say?"

Wade wasn't too sure about visiting some Injun Rez in the middle of nowhere, sitting in a teepee smoking ganja from a pipe and banging on war drums.

His father told him to watch his scalp around the local Indian kids. His people had a long history with these Natives. But Wade thought this was different, as a white girl was murdered. He needed to check his values at the door to get justice for her family.