Lost Birds: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel by Anne Hillerman

Author:Anne Hillerman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2024-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

17

On his way back home, Leaphorn noticed that Red Lake Trading Post was still open. He went inside and made a purchase he’d been considering. Patricia accepted the money with remarkably little enthusiasm. Then he called Louisa, both numbers, and again got no answer.

He refreshed his memory—had she mentioned doing something today that he had forgotten about? But the only thing he remembered her saying was that she wanted to focus on her work and be available in case Kory wanted to get together before he and Erlinda left town.

Vague worry rode with him back to Window Rock.

When he arrived, he saw Louisa’s car in its usual spot in the driveway.

The first thing he noticed when he went inside was that she hadn’t started dinner. Very unlike her. And she wasn’t working at the table where her notes were spread. “Louisa? Everything OK?” She didn’t respond. He checked her bedroom, the bathroom, his office, and even his bedroom.

She was gone.

Maybe she’d left for a walk, he told himself. She did that sometimes to clear her head, and it was a pleasant afternoon. He had advised her to always take her phone with her, just in case of emergency. Maybe she’d simply been out of range when he had tried to reach her. Leaphorn called her cell phone, heard it ringing, and tracked the sound to her purse on the shelf in her closet. Her sneakers were there, too, the shoes she had purchased expressly to support her commitment to long walks.

His worry spiked.

He didn’t have a number for her son, but he knew how to reach Erlinda. He called her, again with no answer. As he considered what to do next about Louisa, he checked to see if Louisa or Lin or even Kory had sent a text. Instead, he found the messages from Bowlegs. After he read them, he called Detective Short, glad that he had her private cell number, gave her an update and forwarded Cecil’s messages to her.

All the while, of course, he was thinking about Louisa.

Then he got in his truck and drove to the Window Rock Lodge, where he knew Kory had booked a room, hoping against his instinct for trouble that Louisa was with him and Lin, and that everything was all right.

The motel was about a twenty-minute drive from the house, and as he drove, he thought about what to say to Kory if Louisa wasn’t there. Would Kory think he was a neurotic old coot? He realized that he didn’t care about Kory’s opinion of him. He just needed to find Louisa and make sure she was safe.

He parked, berating himself for not paying more attention to Kory’s black rental sedan so he would know if it was one of the several small cars in the crowded lot. He walked into the small lobby. Erlinda, also known as Lin, the woman who had been in their living room crying the day before, sat alone on a generic couch, staring out the window.

He called her name once and then again.

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