Navajo Autumn by Chappell R. Allen

Author:Chappell, R. Allen [Chappell, R. Allen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Crime, thriller
Amazon: B00BOZ3WH8
Goodreads: 79192248
Published: 2013-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

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As they drove west on Highway 64 toward Lucy Tallwoman’s camp, Thomas Begay appeared to be on the verge of panic. Even so, Charlie could see he was determined to intercept Freddy Chee, urging Charlie to push the old truck ever faster. Charlie could hear a faint clatter of valves as they roared through the deepening twilight toward Lucy Tallwoman’s camp.

“You think he will go in the back way then?” Charlie asked.

“Yes,” Thomas nodded, clenching, and unclenching his fists in frustration. “He used to bring me booze the back way when I was herding sheep. Lucy and the old man could never figure out where I was getting it.” He smiled nervously, rubbing the side of his face. “That was back when she was still trying to reform me…before she gave up.” This seemed to remind him of something. “Boy, could I use a drink right now!”

Yeah…me too,” Charlie admitted. He was trying to tune the radio to the five o’clock news program on KENN in Farmington. In his rearview mirror he could see thunderheads building back toward town. His grandmother referred to them as the “too late rain” of autumn, meaning rain that comes too late to do any good. They were causing an annoying static on the radio. There was a strong low-pressure front moving in, according to the announcer, when they could finally understand him. “Possible heavy showers toward midnight for the entire area,” the report concluded. “Man, we’re having a hell of a lot of rain for October.”

Thomas turned to scowl at him. “I really don’t care to discuss the weather right now.” He shook his head in exasperation. “You really don’t get it, do you Charlie! We’re going up against a Skinwalker…or worse, and you’re talking weather.”

“What is a Skinwalker? I mean, exactly. They’re like werewolves, right! They can change their form, take the shape of animals and so forth…right?” Charlie tried to keep his tone serious, though he couldn’t understand how anyone in this day and age could believe in anything as preposterous as werewolves.

Thomas closed his eyes, not bothering to answer. He couldn’t explain the Yeenaaldiooshii to someone who thinks like a white man. Many years before, when his family still lived at Navajo Mountain and Thomas was yet a boy, there had been a rash of Skinwalkers. Witches, some called them. Before it was all over there were several people dead and one of the family clans banished from the area. Once that sort of thing got started, there was no end to the bad things that could happen. Any Navajo in his right mind had a healthy respect for Skinwalkers. Thomas’s Uncle John still lived up there, and while he hadn’t seen him in a few years, he remembered his teachings about such things. John Nez knew more about Skinwalkers than most, and how to avoid their evil—as far as one could. It was said that John Nez was descended from “Old White Man Killer” himself, a man who had wielded much power in the olden times.

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