Before Sunrise by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online

thinking back. “He said he was an anthropologist…”
    â€œDamn!”
    Her lips parted. She’d never seen easygoing Drake look so angry. “What’s happened?” she asked.
    â€œThey found a DB on the Rez,” he said quietly.
    She blinked, trying to recall the terminology. “A dead body,” she translated, “on the reservation.”
    He nodded curtly. “Just barely on it, about a hundred feet or so from the actual boundary. He appears to be of Cherokee descent, because we also found a tribal registration card, with the name and number missing, and we found part of a membership card from a professional anthropological society, which we assume was his—the part with his name was missing. So was his driver’s license.”
    She gasped. “That man who called me…?”
    â€œLooks like it could be. We can’t go on Cherokee land unless we’re asked. And this makes it a federal matter. But I have a cousin on the reservation police force, and he told me. It’s all real hush-hush. The FBI is sending a special agent out to investigate, someone from that new Indian Country Crime Unit they’re forming. I just wanted to warn you that they will want to talk to you.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou were the last person who spoke to the victim,” he said. “They found your telephone number scribbled on a pad next to his phone at his motel and looked it up in the phone book. That’s when Cousin Richard called me—he knows I hang around the museum a lot.” He studied her worried expression. “Somebody killed the guy, in his motel outside Chenocetah, or on the deserted dirt road where he was lying. The road leads the back way onto some construction sites, near a mountain honeycombed with caves. A jogger found him lying on the side of the road early this morning with a bullet in the back of his head. She’s still being treated for shock at the local clinic,” he added.
    Phoebe leaned against a pillar at the front of the museum, trying to catch her breath. She’d never imagined that she might end up involved in a murder investigation. It took a little getting-used-to.
    â€œMaybe I should join her,” she said, and not completely facetiously.
    â€œYou’re not in any danger. At least…I don’t think you are,” he added slowly.
    She lifted her face and met his eyes. “Excuse me?”
    He frowned. “We don’t know who killed him, or why,” he said. “Unless that story of his was concocted. And even if it is, there are three new big construction projects underway in the area. If what he told you is true, there’s no way of knowing where he was looking when he found that site.”
    â€œWho did he work for?” she asked.
    â€œThey don’t know yet. The investigation is still in its preliminary stages. There’s one other thing—you can’t tell Marie.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œShe can’t keep her mouth shut,” he replied quietly. “There’s an investigation going on, and I’m telling you about it because I’m worried for your safety. I don’t want it told all over the county, though.”
    She whistled softly. “Oh, boy.”
    â€œJust in case, have you got a gun?”
    She shook her head. “I shot a friend’s pistol once, but I was afraid of the noise and I never tried it again.”
    He bit his lower lip and drew in a long breath. “Youlive out in the country. If I can get a target, will you let me come out and teach you how to shoot?”
    She felt the world shake under her feet. Drake was happy-go-lucky on ordinary days. But he wasn’t kidding about this. He was genuinely worried about her. She swallowed hard.
    â€œYes,” she said after a minute. “I’d be glad to have you teach me, if you think it’s necessary.” She gave him a searching look. “Drake, you know something