OLD BEN and BOY

                                            Chapter Four

“I’m all ears Judge. I assume this is about Ben.”

“It is Harvey. After we talked yesterday I decided to try and call Ben’s cell number. I ended up calling three different times, every time it went straight to voice mail. Then I tried again this morning and got the same results.”

“Okay, he’s not answering his phone.”

“Not that kind of going to voice mail, Harvey. Usually when a call goes to voice mail, you hear the phone ring three or four times, first. These are going to voice mail on the first ring. That usually means one of two things, either the phone is turned off or the mailbox is full. Neither of those gives me a good feeling. So I came into town and went to the bank with an idea for Martin here.”

“I agree with you on the voice mails. So, what did you and Martin go over.”

“Well Harvey, the judge had an idea on Ben’s bank card. So I pulled up his latest statement, it shows any activity through the past days business. Now sometimes even if you use your card somewhere, that merchant may not get that day’s activity showing on the bank’s for a day or two, and then it will only show in processing until the day the bank clears it. But when I pulled up Ben’s we saw his last activity was six days ago, and there were three that day.”

“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.”

“Well that somewhere is Arizona.”

“Arizona, what in the heck would Old Ben be doing in Arizona?”

“I don’t know that. But six days ago he checked out of a motel in Flagstaff, then he made a reservation for another one in Durango, Colorado, and then he gassed up at a station in Flagstaff. That was his last transaction. Nothing since then anywhere.” Martin stopped with that left hanging in midair.

“So, six days ago he was leaving Flagstaff for Durango and then nothing.”

The Judge broke in before Harvey could finish the thought. “True, but that is not all we found out. I talked to the motel manager in Flagstaff and then the one in Durango. Ben never showed up at that motel, no cancelation, and never got there, at least not to the motel where he reserved a room, at least.”

“They remembered Ben for sure?”

“The one in Flagstaff did. He said it would be hard not to. An elderly man with long grey hair and a full grown multicolored dog. They said he paid extra so the dog could be with him in the room, and then waited that morning at checkout, so they could inspect the room for any damage. There was none, so they finished his checkout and he and the dog left. Said he was a very gentlemanly and agreeable ole fellow.”

“That would be Ben.”

“Of course the one in Durango never saw him, but they did say that the man who placed the reservation was paying extra so a dog could be in the room with him, the note and a charge was on the reservation.”

“So why was Ben in Arizona?”

The judge then offered a guess. ”I haven’t made a call yet, but I think he may have been to California.”

 “California, is this about that movie we talked about before?”

“Yes, I won’t know until I go back home and call that producer. I have his information in my desk.”

“Alright, let me know what the producer has to say Judge.”

“I will Sheriff, you will be my very next call. If any of this gives you any ideas, I think you should pursue them.”

“I will your honor, you can bet on that.”

Everyone rose and shook hands goodbye. Judge Strong and Martin turned and left the sheriff’s office. Harvey eased back into his desk chair leaned forward, his elbows on his desk and watched both of them leave the building and for several minutes just stared at the door. His stare was broken when his sister Donna walked through the door.

“Morning Sis.”

“Morning yourself Harvey. I was just headed back to the store and thought I’d stop by and see if you had found anything out about Ben Nicholson?”

“Some, seems he was in Flagstaff, Arizona six days ago, but we don’t know where he’s been since then.”

“Arizona? What on earth would that nice old man be doing in Arizona?”

“That, I don’t know yet. But I intend to find out.”

“Good, I like Ben. You find him, brother, and see he gets backs home to Hard Luck Creek.”

“I have every intention of doing just that.”

“Well, I know you’re doing your best. I’m just worried about him, he’s an old man and it’s not like him to be gone like this. I’ll see you later, if you have time why not come by the house tonight and have dinner with Dan and me.”

“Sounds fine, I’ll do my best. Thank you.”

Donna gave Harvey that wrinkled little smile of hers, gave a small wave, then turned and left. Harvey’s gaze went from the door to his phone, then to his computer. He turned in his chair and started clicking keys and then hit the search icon and waited.

Ninety minutes later his desk phone rang. When he answered it, he heard Judge Strong’s voice on the other end of the line. “Sheriff, I just got off the phone with the producer in California. Ben was there and approved the movie seven days ago. They haven’t seen or heard from him since. Said he seemed in good health and was heading home. That’s all he knew.”

“Thanks, Judge. I’m going to fill out a missing person’s report and log it into the national data base with what we know and I’m going to put out a BOLO on his SUV with the message about him being a missing person.”

“I agree, it’s time for that now. One more thought Sheriff, if Ben was going from Flagstaff to Durango the most direct route would be across the Navajo Reservation.”

“You’re right I guess, I know it’s the largest reservation in the country.”

“Harvey that reservation is a large as West Virginia, there’s a better than half possibility that if something happened to Ben before he got to Durango, it happened there. That could complicate things for you, their set up almost like a sovereign nation.”

“I see what you mean. Some reservations don’t even subscribe to all the national data bases. I’ll investigate that as well. Thanks Judge. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Later Sheriff. Good bye.”

                                                                 *****

Bobby Nightsong started to come to, his head was all blurry and he felt dried blood on his face some had crusted on his right eyelid. As things came into focus, he could see it was still dark, and looking up he could see it was still a long time until dawn. What startled him upright was that old SUV was gone and so was Jerry. Raising himself upright hurt like hell, but nothing seemed broken so he could walk. He needed to get to his Dad’s pickup and back to that Hogan before Jerry did something they both would regret for the rest of their lives.

It seemed like hours before he made it from the creek back to where he could see the lights in the windows of his family’s trailer. As he got closer, he didn’t hear anyone awake, it was silent except for the night breeze moving across the desert and a coyote baying far to the west. He got to the horse trough and cleaned the dried blood off his face, dipped his head in and shook the dirt out of his hair. Taking the truck would be faster he knew, but to do that he would have to go inside and get the keys off the table and his Dad was a light sleeper, he might wake up. If his Dad woke up before he was gone, he would be mad as hell when he saw him. Stealing it would make him even madder and there would be hell to pay. But if he took the Paint in the barn and left a note where the saddle hung in the tack room, his Dad wouldn’t care, it was Bobby’s Paint anyway.

Jerry would have to at least stick to the back-country dirt roads, on the Paint he could go cross country and save some time. He might not beat Jerry there since he wasn’t too sure how long he was out. But he didn’t think it was that long, it was still late in the night and Jerry might not even be going there, he might just have taken off like he had wanted Bobby to do. That at least was what he hoped.

Bobby went into the barn and saddled the Paint, he put his thirty ought six in the scabbard, God he hoped he wouldn’t have to use it. But he wasn’t going to let Jerry kill that old man. Then he threw a full leather water pouch across the saddle horn and tied it, before he grabbed some jerky he had on the shelves on the wall of the tack room and put that into the saddle bags for both the old man and the dog, that would have to do for now. He walked the Paint out of the barn and away from the house far enough that he wouldn’t make enough noise to wake anyone, then he stepped up into the stirrup and hoisted himself into the saddle. One kick to the haunches and he was off, not at full gallop, that was dangerous at night even with a full moon. Tonight, was only a quarter moon, the Paint responded with a jerk and straight out across the desert they went. It would be dawn at least before he would be close to the Hogan.

                                                                 *****

Jerry Denbow had driven for two hours before he slammed on the brakes of the SUV. He slammed his fists on the steering wheel and yelled cussing, Damn Bobby and Damn that old man. Shit, that old fart could identify both of them and damn Bobby to hell for wanting to help him. He was going to have to go back and make sure that Bobby didn’t do something stupid and get them both caught. He was getting close to Utah, but he had to turn around and keep that from happening. He had beat Bobby to the ground and unconscious, he might not come to until morning, he had time. Jerry made a U-turn and headed south, back toward the Hogan where they had left that old fool.

He drove as fast as he could on this dirt road, being night, he couldn’t see that far ahead and at this speed it would take him close to four hours to get to the Hogan, and that meant it would be past dawn when he got there. He started turning over in his mind how he could do what he needed to do. He only had his sheath knife on him and that would be risky with that dog they let stay with the old man. He needed an equalizer, he would have to kill the dog first. He kept trying to think where he could get a rifle or pistol, either one would do, but he couldn’t remember knowing anyone who lived this far north.

As he drove farther, he was getting more anxious and more frustrated, none of their friends lived around here, and no one lived that close to where the Hogan was either. Finally, Jerry settled on the only possibility he had. If he could get to his Dad’s house before he woke up, he would steal his 357. More than likely his Dad would be sleeping off last night’s bender anyway.

                                                               *****

Harvey woke long before dawn that morning, as if you could really say he woke, he hadn’t had two full hours of sleep all night. His mind just wouldn’t shut down all night, so he tossed or rolled over trying to find a position comfortable enough for sleep to overtake him but was only rewarded with cat naps at best. He looked over at his clock and it was 4:30 when he decided to just get out of bed. He walked into his kitchen, make a pot of coffee and went to take a shower. After two cups he went out in the predawn light got into the SUV and headed for his office.

The calls he made late yesterday gave him no feeling of accomplishment. The detective at the Navajo National Police that he talked to, a detective Aquilla hadn’t been very helpful. Oh, he had sounded sincere enough, but said he didn’t have the manpower to mount any kind of search for an older tourist when Harvey had no evidence to truly warrant one. But he would have it mentioned in the upcoming shift announcements, if anyone came upon the SUV then that would be different. But not to count on it as the nation was so large that it was unlikely anything would come of it, however if Harvey found any more leads please let him know and maybe that would be something they could investigate.

Then the Flagstaff Police Department was even less accommodating. If Ben had left Flagstaff when Harvey told them he had then Ben wouldn’t be anywhere close to their jurisdiction. The detective there had said he would go by the motel and gas station himself and ask questions of the people who remembered Ben. But he doubted they would remember anything more helpful than Harvey already had.

So, Harvey turned on his computer, logged into the missing person’s database to see if there might be any new information. When that turned out to be another dead end he logged into Google and searched for more information on the Navajo reservation, especially the maps he could look at. By eight thirty he decided to go over to the Hard Luck Café and get some breakfast. Just as he thought Dan and Paul were already there drinking coffee. Everyone said good morning and Harvey sat in the booth next to Paul. Jeanne brought him a cup and filled it with black steaming coffee.

“Anything yet on Old Ben Sheriff?”

“No, Jeanne nothing. I’m looking into every nook and cranny I can. All we know now is Ben was in Flagstaff, Arizona six days ago and headed for Durango Colorado. No one has seen him since.”

“I’m worried, Harvey. I feel like I should close this place up and go out there and find that old man.”

“That would be a waste of time, Jeanne; if that was all it would take, I would already be there.”

“I know you would, it’s just so frustrating.” Jeanne stood there a minute and then asked what they all wanted for breakfast. When she had them written down on her pad, she turned around and walked to through the door into the kitchen, but her usual spring was not in her step, she looked as if she had a great weight weighing her down.

Just as Jeanne disappeared through the door Martin walked in with Judge Strong. It was not usual for the Judge to be in the Café this early in the morning. The Judge sat down next to Dan and Martin pulled a chair from the nearest table and sat down at the end of the table between them.

“Good morning, everyone. I can see none of us are that well rested this morning.” Everyone nodded their assent and told the Judge and Martin good morning. “Any news yet, Harvey?”

“No, your Honor, I talked to both the Flagstaff and Navajo National Police Departments but neither one was very promising. One old tourist that might be on the reservation and again might not, doesn’t give them much to look into.”

“Well we could have guessed that. But at least they are aware of the possibility. So, what is your next move?”

“I’ve been trying to figure one out, but honestly, I think all we can do is pray and wait. It’s just that I am not a very good waiter.”

Jeanne came back when she saw the Judge and Martin took their orders and then once again with everyone’s breakfast. By a little after nine they had all paid their bills and left, each headed to their stores or offices. The Judge had talked to Harvey outside for a few minutes, then even he and the Sheriff parted and went their separate directions. Harvey walked back to the Sheriff’s Department.

                                                                *****

Boy woke with a start, he heard something different a little outside the Hogan. It was a new and different sound, when he started that low growl of his, Ben woke up and hushed him quiet. Ben could tell it was nearly dawn, the interior of the Hogan had streaks of light beaming in between the spaces of the old building. He could swear he heard hoof beats and the snort of one that was winded from a long or fast ride.

When the door to the Hogan swung open Ben saw one of the Dine’ youths standing there with two bags in his hands. “I brought you some jerky and water, Old Man.” Bobby Nightsong said as he walked inside. He left the door open and Ben could see a Paint horse standing outside his head down looking for some grass to eat, but there was none here.

“Thank you, Boy is hungry.” Ben answered in a hushed tone. Boy still had a low rumble, deep in his chest, but as Ben patted his head he got quieter.

Bobby handed Ben the two sacks. Ben looked inside the one and saw strips of Jerky, he pulled one out and handed it to Boy, who eagerly devoured it, and was handed two more. Boy’s tail was wagging back and forth as he consumed each one like a vacuum cleaner. Then Ben started slowly eating one himself, while he did he poured some water from the leather pouch into the bowl next to him and Boy. Then he spied a drink between two bites of the jerky, Boy slurped from the bowl, but furtively keeping an eye on the young man.

“You look like you had some trouble, like you’ve been in a fight last night.”

“I was, Jerry and I argued about what we were going to do with you and your dog. I lost, I guess you could say.” Bobby shuffled his feet, before going into a squat position right where he had been standing. “Jerry wants to kill you, he thinks you will get us arrested. I couldn’t accept that, even if you do. He will probably come here before long, if he didn’t decide to take off with your truck instead. I’m surprised I beat him here.”

“I thank you for coming. We were getting very hungry and I was beginning to think neither of you were coming back. I see you rode that Paint here, so maybe your friend did leave after all.”

“I wouldn’t count on that Old Man. Something in Jerry has changed, he’s scared about prison, and he is bull headed. But I am not going to jail for murder.”

“You can call me Old Ben, Ben or Mr. Nicholson, young fella, I am truly grateful that you came instead of agreeing with your friend, I think you called him Jerry.”

“I did, and you might as well call me Bobby, Bobby Nightsong. We need to get you out of this Hogan Mr. Nicholson, before Jerry comes looking for you. I don’t have the key, but I do have a file in my saddlebags, I’ll get it and try to file your manacle apart.”

“I’ll gladly let you do anything you can, don’t worry, Boy will not attack you as long as I am not being hurt.”

Bobby went outside to his Paint and came back with the file. When he was back inside, he slowly walked to where Ben was sitting, squatted down and started to work the file across one side of the manacle. It was slow and tedious work, every so often he would change hands when one started to ache, and this was going to take some time. The file was a good one, but the manacle was heavy steel. Both he and Ben stayed quiet, both listening for any sounds of a car on the dirt road. Only the sounds of the breeze and the horse shuffling around looking for something to eat could be heard. That and Boy sat chomping on bits of jerky when Ben gave him another one to eat.

                                                                    *****

Jerry Denbow had made it to his father’s just before dawn would start creeping over the eastern horizon. He had turned off the headlights of the SUV and crept slowly up the drive turning around so the Dodge would be pointed back to the road when he was done. All had went well, he got into the house without his father coming to and found the 357 in the drawer where his father kept the pistol and the box of bullets. He had even got back out of the house without making any loud noises. But when he started the SUV back up, it had cranked over too slowly which woke his father up and startled him into full awake, if not also hung over. When Jerry saw the lights come on, he panicked, gunning the engine and leaving a trail of dust as he tried to speed away.

Jerry’s father grabbed his rifle and bolted out the front door, seeing a strange vehicle speeding away up his driveway and fired two shots off, both hitting the SUV. One hit the tailgate the other went through the rear tailgate rear window and embe dding in the rear seat on the passenger’s side.

Jerry’s adrenaline was in high gear and he floored the Dodge onto the road and didn’t look back. His father went right back inside and called the Navajo National Police, he reported the break in and what he could see as an older SUV speeding away. He told the officer on the desk that he had fired two shots at the vehicle, but wasn’t sure if he hit it. The officer immediately put out the call to all cars on duty and alerted the night commander who in turn called the Chief of Police.  The CP then called Detective Aquilla, remembering the report the detective had told him about the day before.

Detective Aquilla jumped out of bed, took a quick shower and dressed. With a to-go mug of coffee in his hand he ran outside got into his Police car and headed for the office. Several on duty patrol cars were heading to the area near John Denbow’s property. Once Aquilla was at Police Headquarters and was briefed on the current status, he went to his desk to find the phone number of that Sheriff in West Virginia.

                                                                   *****

Harvey had just sat down when he noticed the message light was blinking on his desk phone. He picked up the receiver, pushed down the button and dialed in the code. Seconds later he heard the message, it was from the Detective he had talked to yesterday at the Navajo National Police. Harvey clicked off that line, found his notes from the day before and dialed the number for NNP in Arizona. When they answered the phone he told them who he was and that he gotten a message from Detective Aquilla to call him back. He was told to wait and in a few seconds Aquilla came on the phone.

“Sheriff Long, this is Detective Aquilla, thank you for calling back so quickly. I have a developing situation here and I thought you might be interested.”

“Sure, what do you have?”

“I can’t be certain just yet, but we got a call this morning about a break-in at one of our tribal member’s houses, he woke up as the burglar was speeding away and his description might be that SUV you were looking for. We’re not sure yet, the description is still vague, but I thought I would give you a heads-up, just in case. It’s only a little after seven here and the sun is just up good so far, I’ll let you know either way when I have more concrete data.”

“Thank you, Aquilla, I’ll be waiting for your call. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Sheriff.” Was all Aquilla said before ending the call.

Harvey in turn called Judge Strong and Dan Clawson.

                                                            *****

Bobby finally cut through the manacle and lifted it away from Ben’s wrist. “Here you Mr. Nicholson. Now we need to get out of this Hogan.”

“Thanks Bobby. You’re right, can you give me a hand up.”

“Here.” Bobby put his hand down and helped Ben get to his feet. “My Pinto won’t be any good if we ride double and it’s already full morning now, I’m not too sure how far we can get.”

“I’m not sure we should go anywhere. Just out of this Hogan, where he would be looking for us.”

“So, what do you think we should do then?”

“My old Drill Sergeant used to say the best place to hide is in plain sight.”

”Huh, that doesn’t make any sense. In plain sight means we could be seen?”

“But it’s the last place most people look when their looking for something, believe it or not.”

By now they had walked outside into the sun and Ben was looking around the area.

“See those scrub trees over there about a hundred yards or so. They’re there because there’s some moisture in the ground. At their edge there will be a little scraggly grass. Let’s get to them hobble your horse in front of them and he’ll start grazing on the grass. You, Boy and I will just sit down on the ground behind him against the scrub and there’s a good chance your friend won’t see us there if we’re quiet.”

“Okay, but that sounds pretty risky. I’m going to take my rifle with us. I can’t promise you I’ll be able to shoot Jerry, but if he sees us I’ll have to at least try. I’ve never shot anyone before. I just can’t let him kill you.”

“Don’t worry Bobby, if it doesn’t work, we’ll lay flat and if you give me your rifle I can keep him too busy to kill anyone.”

“Okay, let’s go play hide and seek in plain sight.”

Bobby with his Paint and Ben with Boy walked as quickly as they could in the direction of the scrub. Once there, Bobby used the reins to tie the horse to some sturdier weed growth and unsaddled his horse, and sure enough the Paint put its head back to the ground to munch on the sparse grass. Then he and Ben just sat down with their backs to the scrub, Boy laid down next to Ben. Then they just sat quietly and waited in the little shade the scrub afforded them.

Ben looked straight ahead beyond the Hogan, he eyes only slightly scanning the distance side to side. Bobby had handed him the thirty ought six and Ben had it rested across his legs.

“Whatever happens here today Bobby, I owe you a huge debt of gratitude. Few men would do what you have done today, you have shown bravery and character to a total stranger. I swear to you now on my blood, I will repay this gift in kind.” Nothing more was said, only the morning desert breeze answered the pledge. Ben reached into the bag, gave one piece to Boy, one to Bobby and chewed on one himself while they kept their vigil.