William managed a laugh. “Lots of areas like that on Cowboy’s property, Joe.”

“This is a half hour off the highway. Dirt road that’s barely a path runs north and south parallel to it.”

“I’ve got three or four lessees these days. I’d have to look it up, see if I can figure out where you mean.”

Joe nodded. “You could do that. You could even send me to track down the leaseholders and ask them all the same questions, but you know what, William? I haven’t changed in the last few years. I still get downright mean if I think someone’s jerking me around. So if I do go to all the trouble of questioning those people, just to find out that maybe none of them hold the lease to the piece of property I’m interested in, I’m going to be unhappy.” He watched the other man swallow hard. “Then I’m going to come back. And when I do, you’ll join your grandfather and me for a little discussion about what the hell you’ve been doing with his land.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” William said sullenly. “You don’t need to go making trouble and upsetting Grandfather.”

“Just what is it that you didn’t do?”

The other man threw a quick glance toward the house. “I leased all the land. And every dime is accounted for, every penny.”

“Okay.” Joe gave a slow nod. “So let’s go back to the house and you can get me the names and contact information of those you leased it to.”

William didn’t move. “Thing is-” he swallowed “-that parcel you mentioned…it’s not much good for running sheep. I didn’t see the difference if I leased it out separate. Got an extra few thousand for it, and that’s more than I’d have gotten if I’d bundled it with the other acres, the way it used to be. I mean, what’s the harm?”

“The name?”

“I don’t know. Some guy approached me at the flea market, right after I’d gotten out. Seemed to know who I was. He wanted to rent that part of the property and enough surrounding land that he’d have some privacy.”

“For what?”

“He didn’t say and I didn’t ask.” His voice had gone from whiny to mulish. “Nothing illegal about what I did. I don’t have to ask why he wanted it. As long as he sends his money in on time, that’s all that matters to me.”

Joe took the drawing out of his pocket that Delaney had started and the composite artist at headquarters had finished. “Do you recognize this man? Is he the one who approached you?”

William leaned forward to study the picture. “I couldn’t say for sure. It was almost two years ago, and I never saw him again. He just sends a money order to an account I set up in Phoenix. That’s all the contact I have with him. He wanted me to stay clear of the property and it’s not like that was a hardship. It’s out in the middle of nowhere.”

“And that didn’t tip you off because all your lessees request that, right?” Disgusted, Joe folded up the picture and shoved it in his pocket.

“So, what’d he do? I mean…” William shuffled his feet when Joe looked at him. “Why are you hunting for him?”

“Well, attempted murder, for one thing.” Given the shots the man had fired at Delaney, Joe didn’t figure he’d have trouble making that charge stick. “I’m not sure yet what he was up to on your grandfather’s property. But you’d better start hoping that whatever dirt he was into doesn’t come back to splash on you. I understand parole officers aren’t too forgiving about things like that.”

“You and Cowboy seemed to be getting along well.” Joe shot a look at Delaney across the interior of the Jeep. “I’ve never known him to be that open with strangers.”

“It’s my midwestern charm. Few men can resist it.”

“Maybe it’s the other way around. I’ve heard stories. Back in the day, I hear he was quite a ladies’ man. Been married three times. Outlived them all.”

She scooched down in the seat and braced her knees against the glove compartment. “You didn’t tell me he was a shaman. A crystal gazer, he said. He invited me back to talk to him. I’ll definitely make a point of doing that.”

Changing the subject, she asked curiously, “So what did you find out from…William, was it?”

Joe nodded, the sunglasses he wore shielding his eyes. “Cowboy’s grandson. Seems ol’ Billy worked himself a private deal with someone a couple years ago. He claims he leased that section of land to some stranger who approached him. Only saw him the once and can’t give a description of him.”

“Convenient,” she muttered. “Do you believe him?”

It took a while for Joe to answer. “For now, anyway. William was sent up for operating a chop shop in Flagstaff. He’d steal a vehicle, disassemble it and sell the parts. Strictly small-time. Maybe had another guy or two working with him when he was busted. Had the bad luck of stealing the mayor of Flagstaff’s new Porsche.”

“But you found lots of tracks at the site, you said.”

“Probably a pickup, and at least one large van or panel truck. ATVs. But nothing that would lead me to believe William was operating in that area. Why would he? He’s got it made now, living a pretty easy life for very little work, just pretending to take care of Cowboy.”

Delaney frowned. She didn’t like the idea of the remarkable man she’d just met being taken advantage of, even by family. “I think you should have brought him in,” she said firmly. “Put a scare in him at least.”

He threw her an amused glance. “So now you’re Miss-demeanor?”

She made a face. “He might know something. Maybe if you had that picture I started for you, the one you were going to…” A folded-up paper landed in her lap. Unfolding it, she studied the composite the police artist had completed. “So now what?”

“Our mug files have been computerized for a few years now. I’ll feed in a composite sketch and the computer compares it to the mug shot database, using a standard composite program. I just haven’t had time to sit down with it.”

When she made an impressed sound, one corner of his mouth curved. “Our federal tax dollars at work. Someone wrote a grant. Yet we still have a hard time getting radios that work and run-flat tires for the police vehicles.”

“So when do you think that you’ll get around to matching the sketch?”

“You’re as bad as Taos,” he muttered. “I could go back and do it tonight. I’m getting used to going without sleep.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she responded mildly. She waited a beat. “Tomorrow will be soon enough.” Laughing at his expression, she continued, “I’ve got a date tomorrow with the guide the council was kind enough to provide me with. The way I understand it, I can use him for any tour I want to take on Navajo Nation lands, which will make things a lot easier for me.”

“Like I said, you’ve got a powerful friend. Taos is protecting his investment.”

His tone hardened with the last statement, and Delaney glanced at him curiously. “Taos? What investment?”

“You can’t afford to be naive. The council bucked a lot of public resentment by bringing a non-Navajo in here to write a book on our culture that could have been done by a tribe member.”

So they were back to that again. Straightening, she set her feet on the floor. “Forgive me for believing that my experience in photojournalism and my résumé can’t be duplicated, despite my lack of bloodline.”

There was impatience in the look he threw her, but something else, as well. Something that may have been concern. “That’s right, it can’t be duplicated. They’re using you, Delaney. Banking on the publicity your next project is going to bring, counting on the fact that the publishing world is going to pay major money to snap up anything you decide to write, and that millions of readers are going to want to get their hands on it.”

Lifting a shoulder, she wondered at the tinge of bitterness in his words. “That’s the way my world works, Joe. You spend years clawing and scratching, hoping to get to this point. If you’re fortunate, you get there through sheer talent, but there are lots of people in the field just as talented, just as driven. So sometimes circumstances, or sometimes just dumb luck, lands a person at the top. In the end it doesn’t matter how I got here because now publishers are calling my agent, not the other way around. Of course the council is looking at the money and publicity this project stands to bring the tribe. Anyone who hires me at this point in my career is banking on the same thing.”