Strenuous Deception

CHAPTER 4

Rusty's obvious fear shook April. "I don't understand," she said. "What are you so afraid of?"

"I told you, just forget it." His voice was firmer now.

She wanted to press him for more, but the bell on the front door rang. "I have to go," he stood and shoved past her. "I need to take care of this customer."

April could have waited on the customer. Rusty just wanted to get rid of her. She stood in the door of the office and watched as he greeted an attractive Native American woman. "A friend told me I should see you if I'm interested in Native American art," the woman said.

Rusty's smile was warm. "I have a pretty good collection for sale. Do you have a particular area of interest? I carry some outstanding modern pueblo artists, and of course, I have some of the classics."

"I'm interested in something a little older," the woman said. "My friend said you might have some artifacts from the ancestral peoples for sale."

Rusty stiffened. "What did you say your name was?"

"Carmen." She paused, then added, "My friend's name is Richard."

Rusty's shoulders slumped and he hunched over. He glanced from side to side and April shrank back into the office, out of his line of sight. "I might have some pieces you could look at," he said, the words almost whispered. "But they're not cheap."

"I have the money," the woman said.

The front door opened and a couple came in with two chattering children.

"I can't show you right now," Rusty told Carmen. "Come back after we close at six. Knock on the door and I'll let you in."

"I'd like some idea of what you have to show me," she said. "To make sure it's worth my time."

"It will be worth it," Rusty said. "Your friend knows that, or he wouldn't have sent you here. I have to go now." He moved down the counter to greet the couple and their children.

April turned away, struggling to make sense of what she had just seen. Rusty had raised her since she was five years old, and she had never known him to lie to her. And he hadn't exactly lied, had he? He hadn't denied having the pictographs. He had only warned her of the danger of asking too many questions.

But he was afraid of something. Of someone. If Rusty was in some kind of danger, Lance might be the only person who could help him. The only person who could help them all.

##

"He didn't want to admit to anything, but the moment I mentioned 'Richard' he deflated like a popped balloon." Carmen sat in the passenger seat of Lance's Ford pickup-the personal vehicle he used when he wasn't on duty. He had parked it two blocks over from Webber Art and Antiques while Carmen posed as a collector.

"We don't know for sure that he was thinking of Richard Prentice," Lance said.

"If we bring him in for questioning and put enough pressure on him, he might give us some names," Carmen said.

"Maybe when you go back this evening you can get some pictures we can use to link him to the thefts from the park." Lance signaled a turn onto Highway 550 and headed out of town, the opposite direction from Ranger headquarters and the park.