Hillerman, Anne - Cave of Bones by Hillerman Anne

Author:Hillerman, Anne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-04-03T04:00:00+00:00

Cooper worked near the Shiprock hospital, a neighborhood Bernie hadn’t visited very often in her role as a police officer, in a converted garage separate from the main house. She opened the door to Bernie’s knock, and offered her a seat in one of two padded rolling desk chairs.

The office was neat except for the desk, where papers in uneven piles covered the surface. Cooper noticed Bernie’s glance. “That’s my filing system,” she said. “Those farthest away are the bills. The smaller stacks are the donors I need to acknowledge. And the middle stuff is, well, miscellaneous.” She sat down in the chair next to Bernie and turned to face her. “So, have they found Dom? Is he dead? Is that why you’re really here?”

“No, no, no. Like I told you, I’m here to talk about the financial reports.”

“As long as they haven’t found his body, that means hope is out there, on the prowl.” She gave Bernie a weak smile. “That’s what we tell the kids, you know. That hope, grace, whatever you want to call it, waits for us all like a lifeline. We just have to believe in ourselves enough to reach for it.”

Cooper got up, filled a mug with water, and put it in the microwave. “Do you want some tea?”

“No, thank you.” Unless the person offering was a Navajo grandmother, she declined tea. Her experience with Louisa’s herbal blend had left her ever wary.

“I’ve got some instant coffee, too.”

“No, thanks. As I mentioned, Councilor Walker thinks there’s some malfeasance going on with the agency and its use of Navajo Nation funding. She thinks Cruz was involved in it, and that’s why he disappeared.”

“That’s crazy.”

Bernie watched Cooper take a box down from the cabinet above the microwave, open it, and take out a tea bag. “If we get a donation, Cruz records it and deposits it, and then I or Cruz or Mayfair draft a thank-you. All our audits have been clean except for some minor discrepancies.”

“What were those about?” For the first time, Bernie wondered if Councilor Walker might be onto something.

Cooper sat down again. “Oh, a balancing issue between our records and some new bookkeeping software the board talked us into. Somebody got the software as a donation.”

“With some groups, the main job of the board is to raise money.”

“You’re right, and that’s part of the problem here. The board is supposed to connect us with donors, make donations themselves. or come up with ideas for fund-raising that they take ownership of. But instead of that, sometimes board members really want to run the programs themselves, or meddle with them, or try to get their relatives hired.” The microwave beeped; Cooper removed the cup and added the tea bag. “When someone new comes on the board who actually cares about the kids and really wants to help, that person may try to change the culture, but often they get frustrated and resign, or stop speaking up.”

The aroma from the tea drifted over to Bernie. It was some sort of mint.

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