“No!”
“Maybe it was one of your buddies? Did Moser snap Albert’s neck like this?” I amplified the force by jerking my arm harder around his throat.
“Stop. Jesus, that hurts.”
“Who tried to cut off Sue Anne’s head?”
“I don’t know! Sue Anne ain’t been around, and the rest of us been laying low for a while.”
“During this time you decided to ‘lay low,’ did you come up with a plan to keep Levi Arpel out of your club by killing him?” As I said Levi’s name, I rammed Randall’s hand further up his spine.
He whimpered. “You’re hurting me.”
“Not as bad as you’re gonna hurt if you don’t answer the fucking question.” I bent his thumb until it reached his wrist. “Tell me everything or I break it.”
“We didn’t have nothing to do with Levi. And after what happened with Sue Anne, some of us want out. We’re having a meeting with the leaders.”
“When?”
“In the next couple days.”
“Where?”
“I ain’t sure. Lemme go.”
“Yeah,” a deep voice said behind me. “Let him go.”
Keeping my grip on Randall, I wheeled around, using him as a human shield in case these idiots were armed. Satisfied they weren’t, I threw him at Moser’s feet. Everyone jumped back. Randall stayed on the ground.
“I don’t like nobody fucking with my friends,” Moser said.
“Yeah? We have something in common then, ’cause I don’t like nobody fucking with my family.”
“So who’s your family?”
“Levi Arpel was my nephew.”
Moser, Little Bear, and Bucky exchanged a look.
“What do we care? He’s dead.”
“That’s why I’m here, Moser. For answers on why he’s dead.”
Little Bear grabbed his crotch. “I got answers for you right here, bitch.”
The guys behind him laughed.
“But I’m looking for big answers, Little Bear, not small ones.”
That got real laughs until Moser sent them a dirty look. “What makes you think we know anything about it?”
“It’s too goddamned coincidental that Albert and Sue Anne were both in the Warrior Society, but trying to get out, and Levi wanted to be in, but you kept him out, and now all three of them are dead.”
Moser shrugged. “Shit happens.”
“I don’t buy that.” My gaze swept the other pimple-faced beanpole. “Bucky and Levi had a fight the night before Levi was murdered. Maybe I oughta drag Bucky to Sheriff Dawson and let Dawson question him.”
“You can’t force him off the rez because of the sovereign nation laws,” Moser said smugly. “Besides. He’s a minor. That’s kidnapping.”
The little bastard thought he was so smart. Time to smack his pride and point out his stupidity. “Wow. Almost sounds like you’re still calling the shots, Moser. But I heard your so-called spiritual leaders horned in and took over.”
“Shut up, bitch,” Little Bear snapped.
“Bet that burns your ass. You’re nothing but a whipping boy. Literally. I heard about the ‘toughening’ rituals. Do these advisers let you do anything without their permission? Or do you obey like good little conquered Indians and do what they tell you?”
Randall leaped to his feet. “How’d you know? That big-mouthed bitch Sue Anne-”
Moser punched Randall in the jaw and Randall hit the dirt like a hailstone. Then Moser focused on me. Little Bear flanked his left side.
“You don’t know shit.”
“Yeah? Sue Anne told me a bunch of stuff. So did Levi.”
Moser’s nasty, snaggle-toothed grin appeared. “Whatever Sue Anne said was a lie. And Levi didn’t know nothing. Besides, ain’t like you can ask him.”
Little Bear laughed.
“Gang-raping Lanae Mesteth wasn’t a lie, and I know that’s why Sue Anne stopped going to meetings.” When none of the guys disputed my statement, I had that sinking sensation in my gut.
I grasped for something solid. A threat they hadn’t considered. “If I call Lanae and tell her Sue Anne was murdered, she’ll come back here and testify against all of you and your leaders.”
No response.
Someone a lot more intimidating than me kept these boys on a short leash. “Why is their identity such a secret? Why are you guys protecting them? You know they wouldn’t do the same for any of you.”
That got Moser’s attention. He muttered in Lakota to Little Bear and they each took a step sideways.
Ooh, I didn’t like the looks of divide and conquer.
As I reached for my gun, a banshee wailed behind Little Bear. My fingers froze on the grip. Next thing I knew, a broom handle thwacked Little Bear across his upper back with enough force he crashed to the ground.
Swish swish crack. Another grunt of pain. This time from Moser. I saw he’d curled his left hand over his right bicep.
Before Moser recovered, another loud crack sounded as the stick connected with his shins. Moaning, he fell to his knees.
I looked up to see who’d come to my rescue.
Hope.
I blinked. Hope? What was she doing here?
Before I could warn her to get the hell back, she brandished the long stick above her head like a Valkyrie poised for battle. “Which one of you bastards did it?”
No one uttered a peep.
“Somebody better start talking.” Hope pointed the end of the stick at Bucky, jabbing him hard in the sternum. “You. Now. Talk. Why is my son dead?”
“I-I d-don’t know.”
“Liar!” She swung the stick so fast if Bucky hadn’t ducked, his fat head would’ve been pulp. “Try again.”
I’d never seen this side of my sister. It was as beautiful as it was scary.
“We didn’t have nothing to do with Levi getting killed,” Bucky said.
“Then why all the intimidation and shit, huh? Why’d you act like you were gonna beat the crap outta my sister if you haven’t done nothing wrong?”
Randall blurted, “Because we’re scared! And now she comes around asking the same questions we been asking each other-”
“Shut the fuck up, Meeks,” Little Bear snarled.
Hope’s shrill laugh could’ve shattered glass. “You should be scared. Of me. So help me God, if I find out one of you punks killed my son, I will track you down and beat you to death.”
I moved to stand by Hope, poised to make an escape. Someone would notice us before too much longer, and, like Dawson, I’d rather avoid dealing with tribal cops.
“If you guys are telling the truth, and you didn’t have anything to do with your friends ending up dead, I guess I’d worry if the secrets I was keeping are worth dying for. I’d be freaking out that I’d be the next one.”
They had nothing to say to that either.
Hope warned, “Don’t follow us. Stay right there until we’re gone.” She wielded the stick as we backed away.
We rode in silence to the Indian Health Services Hospital and parked in the visitors’ lot.
An SUV towing a fishing boat screamed up to the emergency room entrance. I couldn’t see what injury constituted an emergency, so out of habit my mind supplied all sorts of gruesome images involving fishhooks, fillet knives, and propellers.
I rolled my window down. The night air smelled stagnant: old sweat socks mixed with sewer gas and dead animals. “Thanks for coming to my rescue tonight.”
Hope smiled slightly.
“How did you happen to stumble across me in Eagle River? When we’re both miles from home.”
“Does kinda smack of coincidence.” She sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m channeling John-John’s psychic abilities. I just knew I needed to get away from Theo after supper.”
Get away from lover boy? That was new.
“Whenever I’m on the rez, I’d swing by the rec center because Levi usually needed a ride home. Old habits die hard, I guess, and I noticed Daddy’s truck. Then I heard you talking and saw those guys surrounding you. I ran back for a weapon.”