Watching Tiernan—his relaxed style, his genuine smile, his easy laugh—Ella wondered how she could have thought him so threatening the first time they’d met.
As she made her way toward him, her pulse threaded unevenly. She was here for a drink, nothing more. How could there be more with her returning to Sioux Falls in a couple of weeks? So why the expectation, the catch in her breath, the edgy sense of something about to happen?
Tiernan glanced her way, and when he saw her, locked his gaze with hers. The space around them dissolved into nothingness. She felt as if he could see inside her… as if she should be able to see inside him. The closer she got, the more intense the connection.
And then he reached out and touched her and she simply lost the ability to breathe.
“You came,” he said, his voice warm. “I was worried you would change your mind.”
“I—I almost did,” she choked out.
“’Tis glad I am that you thought twice on the matter,” he said, his voice whiskey smooth. “What will you have to drink?”
“A red beer.”
Tiernan turned to the bartender and handed him some money. “The lady wants a red.” The bartender quickly filled a mug and handed it to Tiernan, who indicated a dark corner. “We’ll just be taking ourselves to that booth.”
“Tina will be your waitress. I’ll have her check on you in a while.”
With a beer in each hand, Tiernan nodded to him, and indicated Ella should take the lead. Separating from the crowd, she felt her pulse rush a little faster. It wasn’t like she was going to be alone with the man, but she couldn’t help her reaction. There was something powerful about him, something so deeply magnetic that she couldn’t deny it.
She slid into one side of the booth as Tiernan set down the two mugs. Then she slid her beer closer and fingered the icy glass as he sat opposite.
“To smooth sailing on the set,” Tiernan said, raising his mug. He waited until they’d both taken a sip before saying, “So define superstition for me.”
Warmth rose in her face as she remembered evading him earlier. “There was a raven’s track carved into one of the fence posts on the pasture. That man, Jacob, thought it meant a sign of something bad about to happen.”
“I saw it, the same as in the earth where Harold Walks Tall fell to his death.”
“You saw that one, too?” She gasped. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Not everyone believes in these signs. People who weren’t brought up on the rez tend to think of them as superstition. They don’t give them credence, perhaps even think those who do are foolish,” she admitted. “I thought it might make our story less credible. The People regard nature as a force in itself. They take animal totems. Different animals mean different things. The raven is a trickster, possibly a shapeshifter. It’s almost like the villain is telling us not to believe what we think… but people are too afraid to sort it out.”
“And I didn’t know what a raven’s track might mean,” Tiernan said. “I wonder what the investigators thought when they saw it. Or if they even paid it any mind. What did this Jacob assume was going to happen?”
“You’d have to ask him.”
“And why was he blaming you?”
She didn’t answer at first. Then she said, “For months before Mother moved us to Sioux Falls, bad things were happening on the rez. Stock dying, a man losing his mind, a house burning when no one was home. Always the incidents were somehow connected to the sign of the raven.”
“But how does that involve you?”
“My father was a shaman. They blamed him.”
“Shaman… you mean like a holy man?”
“No, not holy. A good man who helps people. A spiritual leader.”
“You said ’twas your mother who made you move. What about your da, then? Does he still live on the reservation?”
Ella went very still. “No,” she said, her voice controlled. “He’s dead.”
The last thing she wanted to talk about with a near stranger. How had she let him lead her there? They were supposed to be talking about what happened the day before, not fifteen years before.
“Why am I thinking there’s more to the story?” he asked.
For a moment, she resisted answering. But who else could she talk to? Certainly not the grandparents. She didn’t want to worry them. And for some reason, she felt the need to tell Tiernan. What power did the man have over her?
Finally, she said, “Because there is more. They thought Father was a sorcerer—evil—so they killed him.”
“Who killed him?”
“The People who live on the rez. Nearly everyone. It was like they were in a fever, like their minds were affected and they couldn’t stop themselves. Mother and I tried to make them stop. And Nathan and Leonard, two of his apprentices. But it was no use. They tied Father to a stake and set him on fire.”
Shock registered in Tiernan’s expression and he asked, “You saw it happen?”
She nodded and her hand shook as she lifted the mug to take another sip of beer. Not that it made her feel better. Nothing could.
“Most of it, anyway.” Thankfully, Nathan had covered her eyes. “Father was not an evil man,” she said. “The things that happened were caused by another, someone working in secret. Almost everyone believed my father was to blame. And then the whispers started—he was evil, he was a sorcerer, he needed to be destroyed.”
“What did the authorities do? The tribal police?”
“Nothing. The incident was buried along with my father. Word leaked out and the FBI tried to investigate, but no one would talk.”
“What about you and your family?”
“Mother and I could only tell them what we saw. We had no physical proof of anything. They couldn’t bring an entire tribe to trial without there being political repercussions, so eventually the case just died.” She met his intent gaze. “Now the superstition has already been resurrected, and I fear they will try to do the same to me as they did to Father.”
Tiernan was silent for so long, her pulse began to thud. The green of his eyes seemed to deepen in color and the smile that usually hovered around his mouth was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t seem put off by what she’d told him, rather he appeared to be angry.
“What made you come home, then?” he suddenly asked.
“I’m not home.” She wondered that he didn’t question her about why she feared she might be next to be thought evil. How could she not fear it when twice in two days the raven’s track had appeared in her presence. “I’m simply a consultant for the movie.”
“Is that the only reason you’re here?”
“There are the grandparents—they’re aging. Our People don’t live long lives on the rez.”
“But there is more,” Tiernan said with certainty.
Ella flushed and hedged, “What more could there be?”
“Your wanting to resolve what happened to your da… even if you are reluctant to talk about it.”
“It’s been a long time. Fifteen years. I was a child then. And I’m no investigator.”