“Afternoon,” the Indian said, his copper face expressionless, his deep voice smooth. He was addressing Bennett and Harper, looking right through Penny. “Beautiful day for a walk in the park.”
No one replied. The women and the little girl stood frozen in place, as if turned to ice. The Indian glanced from Bennett to Harper, unperturbed. “Ah, little one,” he said softly to the child. “Do you wait for tonight’s snow so that tomorrow you might go out and build a snowman with Mama?”
Harper gave a slow nod.” Yeth.”
The Indian smiled faintly. “Mama,” he said to Bennett, speaking past a seething Penny as if she weren’t even there. “Do you know a woman named Nest Freemark?”
Bennett swallowed against the dryness in her throat, so frightened she could barely bring herself to do that much. The Indians she had encountered had mostly been street people, drunks and indigents and welfare dependents, barely able to get from street corner to soup line. This one was a different sort entirely, big and powerful and self-assured. He had not threatened Harper or her, but he seemed capable of anything.
“Do you know Nest Freemark?” he pressed gently.
Bennett nodded. “She lives right over there,” she managed, suddenly in control of herself again, her mind clear.
“She is your friend?”
“Yes. I’m staying with her.”
“Would you go to her and tell her Two Bears is waiting in the park to speak with her?”
It was an odd request. Why didn’t he just walk over there and tell her himself? But she didn’t feel inclined to argue the matter, and it gave her the excuse she needed to get away from Penny. “Okay,” she said. “Come on, Harper.”
She reached for the little girl’s hand, but Penny moved instantly to block their way, wheeling back on the Indian. “Why don’t you just push off, Tonto? Run your own errand. We were talking.”
For the first time, he looked at her. And Penny, well, Penny with her drugs and smart-ass talk, looked as if she might turn into a pillar of salt. She shrank from him as if struck, retreating into a protective crouch. Then something ugly and dark surfaced in her eyes, and she took on the appearance of a feral creature. She lunged at the Indian, snake-quick. There was a glint of metal, but the metal went spinning out into the gray, and Penny shrieked and dropped to one knee, holding her wrist and baring her teeth at Two Bears. A knife lay on the ground a dozen feet away, knocked free from her hand. Bennett had never even seen the Indian move.
“You should be more careful,” the big man told Penny, then dismissed her as if she were already gone. He bent to Harper. “Come, little one,” he said, taking her tiny hand in his. “I will walk part of the way with you.”
Harper went obediently, saying nothing. Bennett followed, leaving Penny kneeling on the ground where the Indian had put her. She did not look back.
CHAPTER 11
Nest Freemark pulled on her parka, not bothering with snaps or zippers, and banged her way out through the storm door onto the back porch, down the steps, and into the yard. She exhaled her frustration in a frothy cloud, her mind racing. First Larry Spence comes by with his bizarre story about drug dealing in the park and now O’olish Amaneh reappears. Today was turning into a replay of yesterday, and she wasn’t sure she was up to it.
She was already scanning the park, searching for the Indian’s familiar silhouette when Pick dropped onto her shoulder.
“Getting to be old home week around here, isn’t it?” he offered brightly, fastening on her collar with both twiggy hands. “Hey, watch what you’re doing!”
She was hunching down into the coat, jostling Pick as she did so, working the Gore-Tex into a more protective position. It was colder out than she had believed. The temperature was dropping again, the afternoon chill deepened by the sun’s disappearance behind a thick bank of clouds, the morning’s brightness faded to memory.
“Try thinking about someone besides yourself!” Pick snapped, regaining his balance.
“Quit griping.” She was in no mood for sylvan nonsense. Pick meant well, but sometimes he was an out-and-out annoyance. She had enough to deal with. “You saw him, I gather?”