Christmas Witness Read online

  Keeping the bed between them, Annie moved closer to the telephone, her back to the wall. “I’m Annie. Who are you?”

  “Why is the electricity out, and where is my father?” His voice held an unmistakable air of authority, commanding her to answer.

  Fear pulsed hard and fast within her, but his words broke through to her. “...Your father?”

  “I’m Jake Black Raven.” His voice was too controlled to pass as natural. “What’s going on here?”

  Jake. The twin who never played by the rules. Paul’s description of his son echoed in her memory. He moved like a shadow, all grace and confidence, but there was deadly intent in each step.

  “What on earth are you doing here? Was Paul expecting you?”

  Ignoring her question, Jake threw the curtains open wide, but the clouds muted the moon’s glow and the room remained in partial darkness. “Where’s my father?” he demanded.

  “By the dresser, but he’s badly hurt.” Right now he needed to be with his father. Her question could wait.

  Jake moved quickly. As he saw Paul’s lifeless body, he dropped to his knees. “No!” His voice was an agonized whisper. “What happened?”

  “I found him like this,” she answered gently, sharing his pain. “Your father was attacked by Ralph Ortega, a man who was supposed to be his friend. He was dressed as Santa Claus for the party. But something must have happened. I’ve already called the police and an ambulance,” she added.

  “Ralph Ortega? I knew him years ago. Why would he do this?”

  “I don’t know.”

  With shaking hands, Jake felt for a pulse in vain. Gently, he closed Paul’s eyes. “It’s too late for an ambulance.”

  As the wail of a distant siren rose in the air, Jake stood and slowly walked back to the door. “I’ll show them into the house. That responsibility is mine now as his son,” he added, his voice hushed and strangled.

  Alone, Annie knelt by Paul’s body, her heart breaking into a million pieces. Tears fell freely down her cheeks as she grieved for the friend she’d lost.

  Feeling the baby stir inside her, she placed one hand over her stomach. Once again, in the face of death, life cried out to her, demanding she remain strong. Gathering her courage, Annie said a silent prayer and stood. There was only one thing she could do for Paul now. Her testimony would be needed to bring his killer to justice, and she owed it to him to see this through.

  Saying a final goodbye to her friend, she went downstairs to meet the police.

  Chapter Two

  Annie sat at the dinner table as Captain Daniel Mora of the San Esteban Pueblo Police Department paced in front of her. Each of New Mexico’s nineteen pueblos had their own police force, but Captain Mora’s uncompromising stand on crime had made him almost a legend. His gaze darted back to her often as he asked question after question.

  “You said the man was dressed as Santa, fake beard, cap, and everything, right?”

  She nodded. With the lights back on now, she could study Mora freely. He was small of stature and seemed to possess an unlimited amount of energy.

  “Then you said he threatened you with a knife and rushed out the door,” he finished. “Now, think hard. Did you hear a vehicle drive off after that?”

  She paused then, after a moment, shook her head. “I don’t remember. I wasn’t paying attention to anything outside. I was terrified and my only thought was to find Paul.” She rubbed her shoulder where the killer had collided with her. “Captain, I’ve already told you everything I remember. I can’t do anything more to help you right now. But I can still do something for the pueblo children—I can see to it that they all get their presents. This is the beginning of the Christmas season. Paul bought gifts for all of them and, despite everything, I know he wouldn’t have wanted the kids to leave empty-handed.”

  “And neither do I. But I’m conducting a murder investigation and that’s my primary concern at this time.” He paused, then drilled her with his gaze. “Are you sure you have no idea what ‘evidence’ the deceased was referring to or where it might be?”

  “I honestly don’t. I do know that he had locks put on the doors recently, though. Someone was going through his stuff and snooping in drawers,” Annie told him.

  “Did he have any idea what the person was looking for?” Mora’s eyes narrowed.

  “He never said, but Paul didn’t seem too worried about it.” She paused, then in a shaky voice added, “I guess he should have been.”

  “And your relationship to Paul Black Raven was?” Mora questioned, eyeing her pregnant belly.

  Annie tried to keep her temper in check. “We were good friends. That’s why he hired me to restore the old bunkhouse. In exchange, I got a place to live rent-free here on the pueblo, though I’m not Tewa or a member of any of New Mexico’s Pueblo tribes.” She paused, then gave him a long, pensive look. “But I don’t understand. Why all these questions? You already know who killed Paul.”

  Captain Mora shook his head. “We found Ralph Ortega down the highway, beaten and tied up by the side of the road, nearly frozen to death. He was in his underwear.”

  Her eyes widened and comprehension dawned over her. “When I asked Paul why Ralph had done this to him, he said, ‘not’, then he went on to say something else, so I didn’t connect it. But I guess he was really trying to tell me Ralph was innocent.” She paused, a new horrific thought taking shape in her mind. “That means the killer is still out there, and he could be anyone,” she added, suddenly understanding Paul’s warning to trust no one except his sons.

  Mora nodded. “We’ll find the trail to the killer, but first we have to gather all the information and hard evidence we can.”

  As she heard the sound of children crying, her heart twisted inside her. “Captain, please let me go take care of the kids. I’m needed out there.”

  “All right, but stay available for the next several days. I’ll have more questions.”

  She reached the door when she heard Jake’s unmistakable voice. He was in the room behind her, answering the officer questioning him. Annie turned her head and looked back through the partially open doorway. Jake was sitting, controlled and composed, in a tall-backed mission-style chair. Her heart drummed in her ears and her skin tingled with awareness. Though she knew he was under an incredible amount of pressure, he exuded the confidence of a man who knew his strengths as well as his limitations and was comfortable with both.

  As if sensing her gaze, he glanced back and, for one brief moment, their eyes met. A rush of warmth spread over her and her pulse quickened. Alarmed by her own response, she quickly turned her head, breaking eye contact. Annie started down the hall when Captain Mora suddenly called her back.

  “One more question,” he said, meeting her at the door. His voice was low so only she could hear. “Do you know what brought Jake Black Raven back at this particular time after being away for so many years?”

  “No, I don’t. You’ll have to ask him.” The question had also been on her mind, but he hadn’t answered when she’d asked earlier and she hadn’t spoken to Jake since the police had arrived. The captain had made sure of that. She suspected that Mora was just insuring that his two witnesses wouldn’t discuss the events before he could sort out the facts.

  “Before you go outside, Mrs. Sandusky, you’ll want to wash the blood off your hands.” Captain Mora added gently, “It’s okay now. The samples my officer took earlier should be sufficient.”

  A shudder ripped through her. In her haste to salvage a little bit of Christmas for the kids, she’d almost made things worse. Her stomach in a knot, she turned and headed directly to the bathroom to use the sink.

  A few minutes later Annie stepped out into the sala. The Christmas tree now twinkled in the massive living room, but did nothing to lessen the gloom that had settled over the house. Picking up the sack of gifts from beneath the tree, Annie went outside to talk to the stunned guests.

  Having received the news from the officers on duty, paren
ts clustered in the parking area outside, trying to come to terms with what had happened. The children cried, impatient and frightened by events they couldn’t understand.

  Tired and cold, but doing her best to hide her discomfort, Annie began handing out presents to the children and wishing them a happy holiday season. The glow in their eyes as they accepted the small, brightly wrapped packages helped brighten her own spirits. At least for the kids, this dreadful evening would always hold one happy memory.

  As she worked, Annie saw that Martin, the ranch foreman, had arrived. He’d undoubtedly seen or heard the police vehicles and had rushed over from his home on the adjacent property.

  Martin gave her a nod, then went to talk to the police who, aided only by flashlights, were searching the grounds in the dark.

  It was close to midnight when she was finally allowed to return to the bunkhouse. She hadn’t seen Jake again, but she’d heard that Mora and his officers were still questioning him. People had often compared Mora to a bloodhound who never gave up once he caught the scent of a trail. He was certainly living up to his reputation now.

  Exhausted, Annie slipped out of her shoes and eased down onto the bed, too tired to even try to get out of her dress. Yesterday, her biggest concern had been getting her latest carving finished so she’d have money to buy a few more things for the baby. Now she wasn’t even sure where she’d be living a week from now.

  She closed her eyes, wanting to stop thinking and just rest. As the gray mists closed in on her, she drifted off to an uneasy sleep.

  IT WAS WELL PAST DAWN by the time Annie woke up, relieved to have escaped the nightmares that had plagued her all night. Sun streamed through the part in the curtains, making her hide her eyes. With effort, she struggled to overcome the gravity barrier her midsection posed these days as she tried to get up. The more her body grew, adapting to the baby inside her, the more cumbersome the slightest activity became.

  A shower helped her come fully awake. After a quick breakfast, she sat at the rustic pine chest of drawers that served as her bill table and began to figure out her budget. Listing her debts against another column showing what she could expect to earn from her work, was a sobering exercise.

  She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but when she let it out, it sounded more like a shudder. If Paul’s sons shut down the ranch and sold everything, forcing her to move out of the bunkhouse, she wasn’t at all sure how she’d manage. She would, of course, try to work double time to finish the promised carvings, but she’d also need to find a second job. Unfortunately, she seriously doubted there would be many employers willing to hire a pregnant woman this close to term.

  She was pacing up and down the wood plank floor, lost in thought, when she heard a vehicle pull up outside. Annie watched from the window as Jake Black Raven stepped out of a brown-and-tan pickup.

  Last night she’d only caught glimpses of the man. In the full light of day, he was even more devastatingly handsome than she’d realized.

  She followed him with her eyes as he strode up to the front door, his cream-colored wool sweater contrasting against his copper skin, coal-black hair and piercing eyes. Despite his easy strides, there was an air of masculinity about him that was impossible to mistake. A prickle of warmth ribboned deliciously through her, but she firmly brushed the feeling aside, attributing it to just another crazy surge of hormones.

  Composing herself quickly, Annie opened the door. “Please, come in. Take a seat anywhere,” she said, leading the way into the room. As she sat on the wooden chair, she looked back at him. He was standing a few feet away, his gaze on her swollen belly. The surprise on his face was easy to see.

  Annie suddenly realized that in the darkness and in all the confusion of the night before, he’d never seen her body clearly, let alone noticed the fact that she was pregnant. Their gazes had met once when she’d turned her head and looked back at him through the partially open door after Mora had finished questioning her. But she’d been facing away from him at the time.

  Then Annie saw Jake’s gaze focus on her left hand. Silently she cursed the fact that she’d taken off her wedding band. Pregnancy had made her hands swell and the ring had become uncomfortable.

  She looked directly at him, knowing what he was thinking. As with many at the pueblo who didn’t really know her or her relationship to Paul, Jake was probably wondering if the baby she was carrying was his father’s. When she’d moved in, her pregnancy had not been noticeable. Jake was obviously too tactful to ask, but, if his thoughts continued along those lines, he’d soon begin questioning if someone acting out of jealousy, or perhaps on her behalf, had committed the murder.

  She almost began to tell him the plain and simple truth, but then stopped. As a foster kid, she’d spent a lifetime being scrutinized and judged by people she scarcely knew. That experience had taught her one thing—explaining herself was a waste of time. A person who distrusted her would never value her word, either.

  As he sat on the sofa and she saw the wariness on his face, sympathy filled her. She told herself his reaction was only natural and she had to cut him some slack. “I’m very sorry about your father,” she said softly. “Everyone in the community will miss him.”

  “Thank you,” he said, his voice heavy. “It’s still difficult for me to accept this. I always thought of my father as indestructible.” He stood, apparently uncomfortable on the old leather cushions that seemed to swallow people up.

  She studied Jake’s expression as he walked to the window and looked out toward the main house. He’d stayed away for so long and now it was too late. She’d been led to believe from the things Paul had said that there’d been some kind of argument and that the boys had struck out on their own right after high school. But why had they abandoned their father so completely? She doubted that the argument had been entirely Paul’s fault. It seemed out of character with Paul’s gentle nature.

  As the moments of silence stretched between them, Annie remembered how much Paul had enjoyed talking to her about Jake. In the last few months she’d learned all about the boy who’d tamed the wildest horse in his father’s stable with nothing more than soft words and an iron-willed determination.

  Paul had often said that Jake had been the twin most like him, always challenging any obstacles in his way, and accomplishing what he set out to do. Hearing the stories about Paul’s first-born twin, she’d fallen a bit in love with Jake herself, though only in the sense one might admire a legend.

  It was hard to say where the truth stopped and a father’s pride began, however. Less complimentary stories about Jake also abounded in the pueblo. He’d left his father’s ranch at eighteen and now, twelve years later, he was the head of one of the most successful residential construction firms in the Rocky Mountain area. But, unlike Paul’s gentle stories, gossip on the pueblo also claimed that Jake had turned his back on everything that made him a Tewa. Some said he had a cash register for a heart and cared for little except the bottom line. He’d driven more than one man out of business by undercutting him, and it was his singleminded dedication that had placed his firm at the top.

  She studied Paul’s son now, trying to learn everything she could about him. Depending on the stories she chose to believe, he was either a devil or a saint. Experience told her the truth probably lay somewhere in between.

  JAKE STOOD, looking out the window as he waited for Annie to return from the kitchen with the cup of chamomile tea she’d offered him. Hearing her footsteps, Jake turned and took the mug from her hands.

  “Now what can I do for you, Jake?” she prodded, then took a sip of the steaming liquid.

  “We have to talk. You were the only witness to my father’s murder.” Though there was nothing he could do to avoid it, he regretted having to discuss this with her. Speaking to this beautiful, gentle woman about a vicious murder seemed wrong in itself.

  “I should tell you that I wasn’t a witness. I found your father after the fact.”

  “But you w
ere the last person to see him alive.” She nodded and he continued. “From the kinds of questions I was being asked by the police, I know my father said something to you before he died. I’d like to know what it was.” To have to talk to a virtual stranger, however beautiful, in order to find out about his own father stung. He kept his tone quiet and even, but the flicker in her eyes told him that, somehow, she’d sensed the effort it took.

  Annie recounted what had happened, then added what she hadn’t told Captain Mora because of its personal nature. “Your father wanted you and Nick to know that he loved you both very much.”

  Jake felt his muscles tense. Years back he’d yearned to hear that from his father, but now, they were only words—a message conveyed much too late. Darkness and regret filled him, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

  “Tell me about this hidden evidence he mentioned,” Jake said.

  “I wish I could. Paul asked that I help you, but I have no idea what the evidence he spoke about was or where I can find it.”

  “Someone viciously attacked and killed my father,” he said, the words tearing a hole in his gut. “Based on his last words, we can conclude that he believed his killer was one of the people he knew well and trusted.” Jake’s eyes came to rest on her. Her pregnancy only seemed to add to her beauty and vibrant femininity. Although, despite the circumstances, she seemed composed and calm, just beyond that, he sensed something fragile about Annie. Whether it stemmed from sorrow, or fear, or maybe even guilt, he couldn’t say.

  “I hope you’re not thinking that I killed your father,” Annie said sharply, looking him straight in the eye.

  “I know you didn’t kill him,” he answered, noting her anger. Even the possibility that anyone might believe she’d harmed his father was a personal affront to her. “The evidence fully supports your innocence. Captain Mora said that the killer’s clothing would have been completely splattered with blood. You had blood on your hands and a bit on your clothes when Captain Mora questioned you, but that was the extent of it. Also, I’m certain that my father would have been able to wrench a knife away from you. He was in remarkably good shape, from everything I’ve been told.”