While Bernie was outside on the phone, the waitress brought dinner. Chee tasted the gravy—a creamy little brown lake surrounded by a mashed-potato dike. Very good! He cut some bites of the pork chop to go with the potatoes, tried the corn, and decided he was a happy man.
Bernie returned, frowning. After two years of marriage, Chee had become fairly adept at reading her moods, but this was something he seldom saw—sadness, confusion, anger, and worry mixed together. Searching his own conscience, he couldn’t think of anything he’d done lately to upset his bride. It must have been the phone call. Bernie loved burgers, but she wasn’t eating and didn’t seem to want to talk.
“Do you want to tell me what Mrs. Darkwater said?” Chee asked finally.
“Sister didn’t come home last night. I don’t know what happened. Mama’s been alone since yesterday, and Mrs. Darkwater can’t stay with her, and her husband is out of town.”
Chee chewed his pork chop, listening for more. The dining room had quieted as the tourists ate. The waitress returned with a box for the burger and a Coke refill. Bernie sat in silence.
“Eat a little, sweetheart, before the fries get cold. I’ll make some phone calls about Darleen.”
Bernie cut the burger in half, picked up a piece, and then put it down. She took a sip of the Coke. “Let me talk to Mama first to find out what she knows. Mrs. Darkwater was going over there to call me and get Mama to the phone.”
“You know, I have Largo and Bigman on speed dial. They’ll help us figure out what’s up.”
“I know. It’s just that—”
Her phone chimed. Bernie answered, “Hello?”
She put the cell on speaker, and Chee moved closer. “Yes, I’d love to talk to Mama.”
Chee pictured Mama seated in her favorite chair at the table and Mrs. Darkwater standing in her kitchen with the old-fashioned yellow phone receiver pressed to her ear, and then covering the mouthpiece with her left hand, telling Bernie’s mother that her elder daughter was on the line, before finally handing over the phone.
“Daughter, are you having a nice trip?”
“Yes, Mama. But Mrs. Darkwater said something’s happening with Sister.”
Silence. Then, “She has not come home. I tried to call her on that phone she has, but she did not answer me. I waited for her all night.”
The phone went silent. Chee heard Bernie’s mother sigh.
“Mama, was Sister arguing with you, something like that?” Darleen had never run away before, but maybe she’d needed some space to cool off.
“No. Some friends came by, and she drove off with them. She was happy. That’s all.” Bernie’s mother paused. “You find out what went wrong and bring her back here.”
“I’ll find out.”
An accident, perhaps? Chee wondered. Or maybe Darleen’s drinking had led to an arrest.
Bernie shifted gears. “What did you eat today, Mama?”
“I didn’t get around to that yet.”
“Is there something in the refrigerator for you to make a sandwich?”
“I’m not so hungry.”
Chee watched Bernie drum her index finger on the table next to her plate. Mama could be as stubborn as her daughter.
“At least have some peanut butter and crackers. Maybe there’s some juice. You don’t want to get weak, Mama, especially with the heat.”
The phone faded to silence, and then Mama said, “The sun can be hot in that valley. You be sure to have plenty of water. Make sure the Cheeseburger has water, too.”
Mama and Darleen had given Chee that nickname before he married Bernie. Funny, he thought, since Bernie preferred her burgers cheese-less.
Bernie exhaled, and Chee saw the worry on her face. “Could you hand the phone back to Mrs. Darkwater, please?”
“She’s not here.”
“But she just called.”
“I told her to leave with her son and the little one. Darleen will be home soon.”
“Mama, listen. We don’t know when Darleen will be home. I will find out what happened to her. Do you know the names of the friends she left with?”
“One was that Stoop Man. And his sister, too.” Mama’s voice had an edge now. “Daughter, I need to say an important thing.”
Bernie and Chee stared at the cell phone, waiting.
“If you come here now instead of staying there with the one you married, I will be angry with you. T’ahi’go.” The word translated to something between “livid” and “furious.”
“You hear me, daughter? Understand this.”
Bernie’s eyes glistened. “Use your walker, Mama. Be really careful. Drink something.”
Bernie’s mother was probably not sipping water like she was supposed to, Chee realized, because without Darleen as a safety net, using the bathroom was difficult for her. She had given herself a black eye that spring when she slipped and fell against the tub.
“You be careful, too,” she said to Bernie, and hung up.
Bernie looked at the phone and then shifted her gaze to the picture-perfect view of the expansive valley. Chee thought how much they’d been looking forward to this vacation. He thought about the private tour in the People Mover, and Bernie’s face when he told her how the red stone buttes and spires began to glow at the first hint of dawn. He thought of who they knew who might be willing to stay with Bernie’s mother, and discarded every idea as quickly as it popped up.
“I need to check on Mama and figure out what’s happening with Darleen.” She looked like she was fighting back tears. “Oh, honey, I’m so—”
Chee touched her lips with his fingertip. He had already left cash for the bill and a tip on the table. He reached for his truck keys. “Don’t forget to take your burger. I might want it later if you don’t.”
3
They made good time, Chee driving as fast as he could safely. Before they reached Agathla Peak, Bernie had called the hospitals in Shiprock and Farmington. If her baby sister had been in an accident fairly close to home, the ambulances would have taken her there first. Through friends who worked in the emergency rooms and gave her the information confidentially, she learned that Darleen had not come in for treatment, been admitted, or been transferred elsewhere. Good, but it left the mystery unsolved. Of course, there were other hospitals in the area—Gallup, Cortez, Durango—but those were farther away, and Bernie didn’t have contacts there. She’d put that off until she ran into a dead end.
Darleen could have been arrested. If she were, it probably had to do with too many beers.
Bernie thought about calling Bigman and decided not to, at least for now. If the Navajo Police had picked up Darleen, she knew someone would be in touch. Even if they had stopped Darleen and let her go, Bernie and Chee would find out about it soon enough. Theirs was a small and close-knit community. She’d have to live with the embarrassment.
She phoned a girlfriend who worked for the San Juan County sheriff’s office and could have discreetly found out if Sister had been arrested by one of the deputies. But the woman was out of the office, and Bernie didn’t have her cell number.