The hunters noticed the circling birds against the rose-tinted sky above the rim rock and saw where the flat rays of the early morning sun glinted on something that didn't belong there and the three of them walked that way. What they find, the body of a young blonde white-skinned girl apparently killed by a bear, sends FBI agent Zack Tolliver and his friend Eagle Feather in pursuit of a dangerous and powerful killer. As more bodies of young girls are found, the case grows in complexity and the men are drawn into an investigation of a wide ranging crime spree. Soon it becomes apparent the killer has focussed his attentions upon Zack, leaving clues that draw him from Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation to Palm Springs and back. This investigation has become very personal.
Genre: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Police ProceduralBelow 50,000 at Amazon.com, frequently near 20,000 overall, often top 100 in Native American Literature category.
John Roundtree's house sat hollow-eyed and alone at the edge of town, not a town so much as a few dusty buildings clumped on either side of the state road that passed through on the way to more important places. His dusty old pickup out front with the cloth showing through the tires hadn't moved in years; weeds grew high around it and lizard tracks disappeared under it. Nobody knew what John Roundtree did anymore. Few people saw him outside his house in the light of day and those who did guessed from his red eyes and wild hair that he didn’t get much sleep. They whispered around that John Roundtree spent his nights with evil spirits.
John Roundtree wasn't always like that. Used to be he built things with brick, fancy walls and such. He was a real artist with brick. At first he worked with his own sun-dried clay bricks, then when the fancier imported bricks became cheap enough he started to use those and he would build beautiful things. He lined up the bricks so the fancy designs matched and the wall looked almost like a solid piece of hand decorated stone. Back then he was in demand all over the Reservation and beyond. Most of the people in town had a Roundtree wall or patio somewhere on their property.
But it was a long time since Roundtree built a wall. It was a long time since he did much of anything, for that matter. Not since the night his son died during childbirth. After that, he didn't come into town much, maybe just once or twice a month to buy flour or a little sugar at the dry goods store. A rumor floated around that Roundtree's son was stillborn and that crazed with grief he left his young wife to bleed to death.
After that the residents of Elk Wells talked of a man-like creature they saw at night. Sometimes it appeared on a lonely road, they said, striding across it or running along with moving cars before it disappeared in the darkness.
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Vanesa Gómez Paniza
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