Free The Eagle and the Fox (A Snowy Range Mystery, #1) by Nya Rawlyns Page A

certain way of pronouncing words. Like his last name.”
    “Yeah, Goggles, wasn’t it?”
    “Uh huh. Well, this kid sounded to me like he came from North Dakota, not northwest Wyoming. Certainly not from the rez.” After pausing to scratch at his itchy beard, Josh asked, “What the hell kind of name is Goggles anyway. Near as I remember he’s Northern Arapaho, ain’t he?”
    Marcus chuckled. “You can thank the government for that. Back in the day, when it came to taking a census, they used translations of Indian names. When I took on Petilune, I got curious about the family so I did some digging on the internet. ‘Goggles’ isn’t as unusual as it sounds. Initially it was put down as ‘Iron Eyes.’ But like sometimes happens, the records got destroyed so the Bureau just assigned random English surnames or rough translations when that didn’t suit. In George’s family tree, it ended up being what it was. No rhyme or reason to it.”
    Josh raised an eyebrow. “Am I wrong thinking maybe that child isn’t the fruit of those particular loins?”
    “It’d be a kindness if she wasn’t. That’s bad blood there, make no mistake about it. Those two brothers of hers are heading for trouble, sure as I’m sitting here. The further she stays away from that den of dysfunction the better off she’ll be.”
    And that brought them back to the fact they had no idea where Petilune had gone off to.
    “That child got any girlfriends she might hang out with? Anybody we can ask, see if they’ve seen or heard anything at all?” Josh stood and groaned from the effort. It had been a long, trying day and his body was ready to give up the ghost on him. He was clutching at straws, but they were out of options so he asked, “Should we go by Janice’s and see if by some miracle the kid decided to crawl in a window and is hiding under her bed?”
    Although, to Josh, that seemed a reasonable thing to do, Marcus cautioned there could be problems with that idea. “It’s coming ten. Janice will be either passed out by now, or still awake but well on her way to being comatose. In any case, she’s a mean drunk and if Pet’s not there it’s gonna unleash a firestorm I’m not sure will help our cause.” He rubbed his palms on his thighs, a nervous gesture Josh recognized. “Us going there is a little tricky no matter how you cut it.”
    Searching for alternatives, Josh asked, “How about I go to the school tomorrow and talk with the principal? I hear she’s a pretty reasonable person and might be somebody to get on our side.”
    Marcus agreed but added, “I'm not comfortable waiting that long to find out if Petilune has surfaced, are you? She's just a kid, after all.”
    “I don't like it either. Damned if we do, damned if we don't. One thing I do know... I'm not gonna sleep tonight if we don't find out one way or the other.”
    Marcus muttered, “Shit,” and disappeared into the back recesses of the loft. When he returned, he had his keys in his hand. “How drunk are you?”
    “I can drive.”
    Marcus tossed the keys in the air. Josh swooped them into his hand and grinned. “Was that a test?”
    “Yeah, you passed. Now let’s go see if that crazy-assed girl is home. If she is, then all we’ll need is to find a way to get her to spill about this Kit guy. If she isn’t...”
    Josh let silence be their answer. They’d have to deal with whatever came, one piece at a time.
    ****
    “W ell, that was fun.” Marcus slid into the passenger seat of his truck and attached the seat belt.
    Josh smirked. “I’d like to know how that coke head learned the word ‘indisposed.’ Guess we were lucky they were all high as a kite. Not sure I’d want to confront the oldest one if he was feeling cross about anything.”
    “I’m actually glad Petilune wasn’t there. Jesus, those assholes are toxic.” Marcus scrubbed at his face as if desperate to rid himself of contamination.
    Josh asked, “You ever consider going to child