Free Buried Secrets by Margaret Daley

come up with a plan tomorrow.”
    “I’ve never…had someone attack…” Words failed her. She wanted to talk about what had occurred, but she couldn’t put it into a coherent sentence. So much had happened in the past day. Too much. Too fast.
    His hands rested on her shoulders. The savage twist to his mouth attested to his emotions as he kneaded her taut muscles. “No one will attack you if I can do anything to prevent it. That’s a promise. We’ll find out who’s behind this and stop them.”
    Maggie closed her eyes to the comforting feel of his hands on her, stroking away her agitation with his touch. She wanted to lean into him, but she had already depended on him for so much. In the past she had always stood on her own two feet, never depending on another person—not even Gramps, her mentor. The Southwest, a land that was often harsh and barren, had long ago taught her she had to rely on herself if she was to survive its realities.
    Opening her eyes, she drew on her inner strength. “I’m fine.” When he threw her a questioning look, she added, “Really, I am, Zach.”
    “Okay. Pack a few things. I don’t think you should stay here until we’ve figured this out.”
    Against Zach’s protests, Maggie tended to his cuts, her movements quick and efficient. She gave him some aspirin and took some herself. Tomorrow her body would protest the assailant’s harsh treatment of her.
    Then, with Zach’s help, Maggie packed an overnight bag. She was aware he thought the man might return with reinforcements, and she only took what was necessary. Five minutes later, she sat in Ray’s black truck while Zach headed away from her house. She looked back at her home, which had been her haven. She wasn’t sure she would ever feel safe there again, and hated that her attacker had taken her sanctuary away.
    As Zach drove out of Santa Fe, Maggie could think of nothing to say, her thoughts still a jumbled mess. She’d always prided herself on being logical and orderly, both necessary traits in her profession, but right now she couldn’t put any kind of logical order to her thoughts, and gave up trying. That would come later.
     
    Except for an occasional light dotting the landscape, pitch-black was all Maggie saw around her when Zach pulled off the highway and bumped along a dirt road that led to a house. Am I making a mistake putting my trust in him? He’d said they were going somewhere safe, to stay with a cousin who lived on a reservation. But what if this was all an elaborate setup to get the diary?
    For miles she hadn’t seen many signs of life. If Gramps knew who she was with—She quaked thinking how angry her grandfather would have been.
    Everything she’d done in her life had been for Gramps. He’d taken her in after her mother’s death, only a year after her father had died in the cave-in. Gramps had held her when she had cried for her parents at night. He’d cheered her on when she had decided to become a doctor. He’d made sacrifices so she could achieve her goal. She owed him, and this was definitely not the way to repay her grandfather. Guilt gnawed at her composure, which was pieced together with a fragile thread.
    “Your cousin doesn’t mind us dropping in?” Maggie asked, not liking where her thoughts were taking her.
    “Evelyn’s home is always open to family. I have a lot of cousins in this area. If someone is checking out my relatives, it will take them a while. Besides, one of my cousins is a tribal police officer. Nothing much happens without him knowing about it.”
    In the dark she sensed the brush of his glance.
    “Both Evelyn and Hawke are very knowledgeable about the terrain in this part of the country. That might prove useful to us when looking for the codices.”
    “I see.” His relatives were Willow-in-the-Wind’s family, the woman her grandfather had been engaged to marry before Red Collier had run off with her.
    Zach parked behind the house so the black truck couldn’t be