“Some of our kolas are dead and these guys are saying so what? Ain’t that what we were trying to get away from on the rez and everywhere else? Adult white folks dismissing us as worthless thugs? Or savages?”
Bucky said, “Axel’s right. That horse coulda thrown any of us. Why’d we hide the truth?”
“It’s too late to make it right now. Who woulda been in trouble anyway? We’d be headed to juvie, not the pen. But didja ever wonder how he”-Randall gestured to Hiram again-“knew exactly where to dump Albert’s body? It was like he already had a place all picked out.”
All faces turned toward Hiram.
“We let Blacktower take advantage because we was all too drunk to realize both of them had other motives. White man motives. Makes me sick. Especially when I heard what you guys did to Lanae. There ain’t nothing in our history, or any Lakota ritual, about raping a virgin as a sacrifice to the Great Spirit. These assholes just wanted a young piece of dark pussy, and they used us to get it.”
Warning chills raced up my arms. Axel was playing fast and loose against a guy with a gun. Not smart.
“That’s enough, Axel,” Theo warned.
Axel paid no heed. “I ain’t gonna listen to this bullshit. I sure as hell ain’t gonna take part in something that’s gonna hurt anyone.”
“I’ll remind you that this sudden burst of conscience will not absolve you of your past actions in any of these situations, either in our eyes, or in the eyes of the law,” Theo said.
Axel laughed. “You can do whatever you want, ‘Great White Chieftain’ or whatever dumb-ass name you wanna be called. And you better let me do the same.”
“Or what? What makes you think you’re safe?”
Nothing thinly veiled about that threat.
“If anything happens to me, like what happened to Levi or Sue Anne, I got someone who’ll spill everything that’s been going on with this stupid group to the sheriff. And then he’ll come after you.”
“You wish,” Theo sneered. “Sheriff Dawson won’t do a damn thing based on the scared ramblings of a fifteen-year-old kid when he hasn’t done squat about two clear cases of murder.” An arrogant expression crossed Theo’s face. “He doesn’t care about dead Indians. Only thing he cares about is getting elected sheriff. And since high school kids can’t vote, and neither can the people on the rez, I don’t think he’ll be too concerned.”
Part of me wanted to defend Dawson; a bigger part feared Theo had made the right assessment.
“Wrong. If I tell him that you-”
“I’ll tell him that you failed my class, which isn’t a lie, and you’ll make up all sorts of lies to cause problems for me.”
Axel said, “You asshole.”
“And if any of the rest of you really want to push it, I’ll inform the sheriff I suspect you guys”-he gestured to Little Bear and Moser-“killed Levi because he’d cozied up to your old girlfriend, Sue Anne. How long you think it’ll take before he connects the dots to Sue Anne’s murder?” He faced Randall. “You’re not out of it either. Albert ran away from home and hid out in your basement. Not to mention Bucky, here, stole the horse, that killed Albert out of his uncle’s pasture. Don’t forget you all participated in the mating ritual, some of you several times. Not one of you here is without guilt.”
Dead silence.
“Don’t screw with me, boys; I’ve got you by your little teeny balls.”
Axel spit on the rock by Theo’s feet. Then he said to Bucky, “We’re outta here. For good.”
Bucky shot Hiram an anxious look before he chased after Axel. I gave the kid credit; he didn’t turn his back to the man with the gun until they were out of sight.
Theo glared at Moser, Little Bear, and Randall as they backed up, also intent on escape. Without a word they fled. An engine sputtered, roared to life, and broke the quiet.
Hiram plopped on a rock. “This ain’t going the way it was planned.”
“No, really? Brilliant deduction.” Theo stood. “Stay here and put out the fire.”
“Where you going?”
“To follow those little shits and see if I’ll need to do any more damage control.”
“More damage control? What’d you do?”
“What needed done. What you and that asswipe Kit were too civilized to do.”
Hiram shook his head. “That ain’t your job. You’re supposed to be convincing her to sell. Period.”
“She will. Soon.” Theo disappeared up the hillside.
I listened until I heard his vehicle drive away. Then I pushed back through the bushes and unsheathed my knife. Ten seconds later I had that knife at Hiram’s throat.
“Drop the gun.” My voice was an unrecognizable growl.
He didn’t argue.
“Kick it next to the fire.”
Hiram stretched his leg. With the toe of his boot he sent the gun skittering over the barren ground like a silver spider.
I dug the blade in, drawing blood so he knew I wasn’t bluffing. My knife skills were rusty. I looked forward to a hands-on refresher course.
“Did you kill Levi?”
“No!”
I didn’t believe him. “Did you kill Sue Anne? Leave her to bleed to death on my porch?”
“No. But-”
“But what?”
Another pause and he blurted, “I think Theo did.”
“Did he kill Albert Yellow Boy, too?”
“That was an accident, I swear.”
“Convince me.”
“Moser, Little Bear, Bucky, Randall, Theo, and me were out here doing fast mounts and dismounts. As Albert climbed on, a rattler spooked the horse and it reared. Albert tried to get loose, but his shoe caught in the stirrup. The horse threw him sideways and broke his neck. Killed him right away.”
“Why’d you move him to my land?”
“We thought a dead boy, especially a friend of Levi’s who’d been in trouble, would convince you and Hope to sell the ranch faster.”
“Was that scare tactic Theo’s idea?”
“Yeah.”
“Why should I believe you didn’t kill Levi as an additional incentive for us to sell?”
“That wasn’t in the plan. We figured Wyatt would leave the estate stuff to Hope. With him dying… she’d need someone else to depend on.”
“It never occurred to you she could depend on me?”
“Ah. No. Kit introduced Theo and Hope, thinking Theo could feed us information on everything that was going on, while convincing her to sell to us.”
“You purposely set up my sister with that piece of shit?”
“Nobody twisted her arm to crawl in his bed, Mercy.”
I hissed and dug the blade edge into his Adam’s apple. “Wrong answer, Hi.”
“Okay, okay! Yes, Kit set them up.”
“When?”
“About five months ago.”
Jesus Christ. They’d planned to get their grimy hands on the Gunderson Ranch before my dad was even in the ground. “How did Kit know Theo?”
“After Theo moved here, he came into the real estate office asking about local land for sale. He was scouting for that group in North Dakota he used to work for; them guys wanted a place to run a huge herd of buffalo.
“Kit promised Theo if he could talk Hope into agreeing to sell to Kit’s investment group, he’d set a side a large section for them buffalo guys to buy. Problem was, we didn’t know Theo was such a wild card. He wormed his way into them kids’ group by talking about his ‘Indian blood’ and his understanding of Lakota rituals. When Theo bragged that he could get them kids to do anything he wanted, including hurting themselves and each other, it freaked Kit out. Everything was s’posed to be handled on the QT. He sent me to keep an eye on him.”
“Theo, the almighty Indian leader, didn’t care you were babysitting him?”
“No. Since I’m Lakota, he acted like I was Tonto to his Lone Ranger. Them kids didn’t care who hung around either as long as there was enough booze flowing.”