Black Sun Descending (10 page)

“The only time I remember Jane and Penny together was for a meeting at our home here in Flag about Wilderness along the river corridor in Grand Canyon National Park. There were a few other folks in the room, people that Penny must have known and volunteered with, and there was the superintendent of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.”

“Chas Hinkley.”

“Yes, you know him?”

“Only in so much as his name appears in Ms. Vaughn's computer a number of times.”

“Did he write her threatening emails?”

“No. Nothing like that. But
she
wrote
him
a great number of times.”

“What did she say?”

Nielsen straightened up. “Dr. Pearson, let us ask the questions.”

Silas looked at him. “No, Special Agent, I won't
let
you ask the questions. We're having a conversation. If this is an interrogation, then I'm leaving.”

Nielsen nodded his head. Ortiz smiled warmly. “Ms. Vaughn seemed to be petitioning Mr. Hinkley for support for her proposal for legislated Wilderness in the Grand Canyon. In her last email she indicated that she was willing to concede that there would be no such designation in Glen Canyon—the part below the dam—but that what she called ‘capital-W' wilderness was necessary to ensure the protection of the Grand Canyon.”

“Did Hinkley respond?”

“Not that we can see.”

“Is he a suspect?”

“No.”

“Don't you think that the two of them had a particularly acrimonious relationship?”

“I wouldn't describe them as friends, but no, there was nothing there to indicate motive.”

“Did you review her paper files?”

“Yes.”

Silas rubbed his face. “You don't think that the notes found there were more than casual banter?”

Ortiz smiled again. “Dr. Pearson, what else can you tell us about Ms. Vaughn that we might not already know?”

Silas remained silent. He weighed his conversation with Dallas Vaughn in his head, and considered the threats against her by Slim Jim Zahn. If they weren't taking the Hinkley threats seriously, what would they think about these hunches that he was developing? Finally he said, “Nothing. I can't think of anything more to tell you.”

Ortiz pulled a heavy file from his briefcase on the floor and put it down on the table. He tapped his pencil on it a moment before opening it. Silas could see that there were neatly organized stacks of paper in it. The whole thing was an inch and a half thick. Ortiz sifted through them. Nielsen smiled at Silas.

“Did you know that Ms. Vaughn had made comments in the past that she wanted to blow up Glen Canyon Dam?” Silas looked from one agent to the other. “Yes, that's right. She had said so publicly. Eight years ago. And again just five years ago. She said that the best thing we could do for the Colorado River was blow up Glen Canyon Dam and let the river run free through Glen Canyon and the Grand Canyon.”

Silas looked at the file. He pointed to it and said, “Is that an
FBI
file?”

Nielsen was still smiling. “The National Security Agency keeps an eye on people who publicly threaten to blow up government property, Dr. Pearson.”

“Half the environmental activists in the Southwest have mused about blowing that thing up. It doesn't make them a national security threat.”

Ortiz shrugged his shoulders. “You teach English, Dr. Pearson. Words have meaning. You know this. Ms. Vaughn threatened terrorism, and the government had to keep an eye on her.”

“Were you keeping an eye on her when she went missing?”

“No. Obviously we weren't following her every move.”

“What about when she was murdered? Were you keeping an eye on her then?”

“Dr. Pearson—” started Agent Nielsen.

Something occurred to Silas and he cut the agent off. “Were you watching Penelope?” The two agents were quiet. “I have a right to know. Do you have a file on her?”

A long moment passed. “Yes,” said Nielsen.

Silas felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. “You sons of bitches. Four and a half years I've been looking for my wife. Four and a half years of crawling around in the desert. How many times have I been interviewed by you, Agent Nielsen? And your boss Taylor? And here in Flag, before the congenial Mr. Ortiz was on the file? And now you're telling me that the
FBI
was watching Penny before she went missing?”

“We keep tabs on a lot of people, Dr. Pearson.”

“What does Penny's file say?”

“We're not going to discuss this right now.” Ortiz was still smiling amiably.

“Well,” Silas stood up, “then you're not going to discuss anything else right now. Ken Hollyoak will be in touch with the Bureau about getting a copy of my wife's file.”

“Sit down, Dr. Pearson, please. We still have questions for you about Ms. Vaughn's death.”

“Forget it. You're on your own.” Silas turned for the door.

“Your wife and Ms. Vaughn were working on the same things, Dr. Pearson. You tell us what you know about Vaughn and it may lead to information about the whereabouts of your wife.” It was Nielsen speaking.

Silas had his hand on the door handle. He looked back over his shoulder. “If that's the case, then I'll find her on my own.”

SILAS LEFT THE FBI'S OFFICE,
got into his Subaru, and drove back into Flagstaff. He gripped the wheel so tightly that he thought his fingers would go numb. He nearly ran a red light as he crossed the railway tracks and had to take a deep, calming breath before he could proceed.

He got back to his hotel and packed. He called Ken Hollyoak.

“What did I tell you, Silas?”

“This isn't the time for I-told-you-sos, Ken.”

“No, you're right. What do you want me to do?”

“Get me that file.”

“I can put in a request. It's going to take some time. The
FBI
doesn't just hand these things over, you know. The file is likely at the National Security Agency and the
NSA
isn't exactly a—”

“Penny is
legally
dead, Ken. That should make it easier. That's all I'm saying.”

“It hasn't been long enough. You'd need seven years before you can go to the courts and ask for a death certificate. I can argue that this is a civil liberties issue, but since 9/11 that's become much more difficult. I'll try. In the meantime, stay away from the
FBI
, okay?”

“All but one of them.”

SILAS CALLED KATIE.
“How did Jane Vaughn die?”

“Oh, Silas, I don't think I can tell you that.”

Silas recapped what had happened. “When I found those bodies in Arches and Canyonlands, you told me that cause of death was significant. Sometimes cause of death will indicate if a crime is personal or professional.”

There was a long silence. “The trouble this time is the damage to the bones, Silas. The radioactive material Jane Vaughn was buried in did a lot of damage to the calcium in the bones. I can't find any indication of a stabbing or a gunshot wound. The hyoid bone was recovered intact. What I
have
found is a number of hairline fractures to the skull. These suggest that Jane may have been beaten. I'm trying to date the fractures right now, to determine when they occurred. We may conclude that she was beaten to death.”

“Good God.”

“Not an easy way to go.”

“If what I've read in the papers over the years is true, it's consistent with cases of domestic abuse.”

SILAS NEXT CALLED
Dallas Vaughn and got his answering machine. He left a message saying he wanted to return his wife's office key and gave the man his cell phone number. He had no sooner hung up than there was a knock on the door. Silas peered through the peephole. It was Hayduke. Silas opened the door and the young man quickly stepped into the room.

“Holy shit, man, I thought you were a goner this morning! I thought the fucking feds were going to arrest you.”

“You saw that?”

“I was across the street, eating breakfast. I saw them come and go. I followed you over to their office after you had your breakfast. I thought if you needed help . . .”

“What were you going to do, spring me from the hoosegow?”

“I don't know . . . so, what did they want?”

Silas considered this. “They wanted to know what I had found out about Jane's work, and how it might relate to her murder.”

“They knew you'd been in the office?”

“Yeah. Dallas Vaughn told them he had given me a key.”

“Did they know about me?”

“They didn't say. I don't think so.”

“Good! I don't want anything to do with the feds.”

“Hayduke, when you knew Penny, did she ever tell you anything about the
FBI
having a file on her?”

“Fuck, you got to be kidding me! They had a file on Pen?”

“It seems like it. They had one on Jane because she had once publicly stated that blowing up the Glen Canyon Dam would be the best thing for the Colorado River or something. I think it was an off the cuff statement, but the Bureau took it seriously enough that they started monitoring her.”

“I remember that speech. It was great. Just over at
UNA
, your old stomping grounds. That was before Penny disappeared.”

“I think that speech is what got Jane an
FBI
file, and maybe Penny too.”

“I don't think that's what got Penny a file, man. She wasn't into all that. She wanted to find another way to save the Colorado River.”

“Wilderness designation?”

“Yeah, that was a part of it.”

“Which brings us back to Chas Hinkley. Listen, we need to get out of Dodge. I'm going to go and find Vaughn and brace him about his wife, then find this Chas Hinkley guy and see what he knows.”

“Yeah, let's do that!”

“Not we, just me.”

Hayduke looked like a crestfallen child. “Really, come on, I'm good at scaring people.” He smiled a wolfish smile.

“I'm sure you are. But I don't want to scare them. I just want to learn a little more about what they knew about both Jane and Penny. In the meantime, why don't you see what you can learn about Jane's work?”

“What, you want me to go to the library while you're out having fun?”

“The library can be fun.”

“Says the former English professor.”

“Well, I'll come with you. I want to look something up while we're there.”

THE FLAGSTAFF PUBLIC LIBRARY WAS
located downtown on Aspen Avenue. The two men entered and while Hayduke disappeared to conduct his research, Silas went to the information counter and asked to see stories related to the disappearance of Jane Vaughn. It took half an hour, but the librarian returned with a stack of backdated
Arizona Daily Sun
s. Silas took them to a table near a large window overlooking the treed yard of the library.

He spread the papers out and started to read and jot notes in a small spiralbound notebook. An hour passed. When he had finished with the papers he picked them up, arranged them in a neat stack, and took them back to the information desk. From there he could see Hayduke busy at one of the computer terminals.

“I'm going to go. I've got what I need. How are you coming along?”

“Fucking great, man. Look, I've got a pretty good list of topics to cover here. I'm going to dig in now. What have you got?”

“I'll give you the
Reader's Digest
version before I hit the road.”

Hayduke followed Silas back to the table by the window and sat down roughly. Silas began, “Dallas Vaughn reported his wife missing on November 17 of last year. She was due back November 16 from what she had told him was a business trip to Page, Arizona. He called the Coconino County Sheriff's Department the following morning, and they started the investigation, working with the
FBI
once they had exhausted their initial efforts. It seems that Jane had been in Page, but nobody seemed to know why. We know they never found a body.”