Lazy Bird a Seth and Ava Mystery Read online

  Lazy Bird

  A Seth and Ava Mystery

  Claudia Hall Christian

  Cook Street Publishing

  Denver, CO

  Also by Claudia Hall Christian

  StoriesbyClaudia.com

  Abee Normal, Paranormal Investigations

  The Casebook of Abee Normal, Paranormal Investigations, Volume 1

  The Casebook of Abee Normal, Paranormal Investigations, Volume 2

  The Denver Cereal

  V01 — The Denver Cereal V13 — Fort Collins

  V02 — Celia’s Puppies V14 — Olney Springs

  V03 — Cascade V15 — Manitou Springs

  V04 — Cimarron V16 — Idaho Springs

  V05 — Black Forest V17 — Poncha Springs

  V06 — Fairplay V18 — Hot Sulfur Springs

  V07 — Gold Hill V19 — Glenwood Springs

  V08 — Silt V20 — Pagosa Springs

  V09 — Larkspur V21 — Steamboat Springs

  V10 — Firestone V22 — Estes Park

  V11 — Fort Lupton V23 — Woodland Park

  V12 — Fort Morgan V24 — Roxborough Park

  Alex the Fey Thrillers

  The Fey Lean on Me About Face

  Learning to Stand In the Grey In Deep

  Who I am Finding North True Mark

  Hackneys

  Hackneys

  The Queen of Cool

  The Queen of Cool

  Reapers

  Reapers

  Seth and Ava Mysteries

  Tax Assassin Little Girl Blue

  Carving Knife Billie’s Bounce

  Friendly Fire Footprints

  Cigarette Killer Freddie the Freeloader

  Lazy Bird

  Suffer a Witch

  Suffer a Witch

  Copyright © Claudia Hall Christian

  ISNI: 0000 0003 6726 170X

  Licensed under the Creative Commons License:

  Attribution – NonCommercial – Share Alike 3.0

  ISBN-13 : 978-1-956034-34-9 (print)

  978-1-956034-33-2 (digital)

  Library of Congress available on request.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE:

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  First edition © November 2022

  Cook Street Publishing

  ISNI: 0000 0004 1443 6403

  PO Box 7247

  Denver, CO 80207

  For Vietnam Veterans,

  the lost and those who were able to move on.

  One

  Having managed to survive physical therapy and a trip upstairs to shower and getting her clothing on and coming down the elevator, Ava O’Malley leaned heavily on her cane as she hobbled into the kitchen.

  “Are you heading back to work today?” Jemma asked from her spot at the bar in the kitchen.

  Last weekend, Jem “Jemma” Pohogwe had married to her beloved Seth Running Wolf at Seth O’Malley’s family homestead outside of Granby, Colorado. Because Running Wolf was involved in a big case, he was back at work on Monday after a romantic few nights in a swanky hotel in Glenwood Springs. For convenience, more than anything else, the couple were living in an apartment in their carriage house behind the house.

  In the front living room, Ava’s husband, Seth O’Malley, was playing the grand piano, while his father, Bernie, was playing a trumpet, and their friend, Bumpy, was playing the standing base. They were practicing as a jazz trio for a fundraising event next weekend.

  “Oh, I suppose,” Ava O’Malley said, sitting down next to Jemma at the bar in front of a plate of eggs and toast.

  “Three months is not a long time for being shot,” Jemma said.

  Having just taken a bite of toast, Ava nodded and rolled her eyes. Maresol Tafoya, who was, among other things, their housekeeper, came around the corner to stand in the kitchen.

  “I think you should take another month off,” Maresol said. “Eat your eggs.”

  “I have another case,” Ava said. “I will eat my eggs. Promise.”

  Ava took her laptop out of her backpack and opened it to show the email.

  “I woke up this morning to the Evil Wizard telling me that the contract was for ten cases, not ten bodies,” Ava said, grimacing. She called her boss, the head of the Denver Labs, the “Evil Wizard.” “I guess that contract I got was to bring modern forensics to ten rural cases in Colorado. We have to start today.”

  “What’s a ‘Mancos’?” Jemma asked.

  “It’s a town in southeastern Colorado,” Maresol said. “Small. Rural.”

  Jemma nodded.

  “What’s his rush?” Maresol asked.

  “Says that I’ve been sitting around too long,” Ava said with a shrug. “He says he’s being pressured to start on this one from Mancos. ‘Pressure on me means you have to get to work.’ His words.”

  “That man. . .” Maresol shook her head in disgust. Turning to Jemma, she asked, “Are you going to tell Ava?”

  Maresol gave Jemma a pointed look.

  “Tell me what?” Ava asked.

  “We’re pregnant!” Jemma said.

  Ava cheered.

  “You already knew,” Jemma said.

  “I suspected,” Ava said. “I’m happy for you both. How many months?”

  “Three,” Jemma said, grinning at Ava.

  “Right after I was shot,” Ava said. “See! I’m good for you.”

  “Yes, it’s all about you,” Jemma laughed.

  Ava laughed.

  “I know that it’s not in the right order for society,” Jemma said. “We wanted to get pregnant after we were married. Have a baby after we’d published our first book. We thought it would take us longer since we’re both past thirty.”

  “Babies come at their own time,” Maresol said. “Now, tell us. Do you have a good doctor? Should we do some shopping? Is there a ceremony we should learn?”

  Overwhelmed by Maresol, Jemma held up her hands, palms forward.

  “You’re freaking her out,” Ava said. “Slow down.”

  Maresol nodded to Ava. Turning to Jemma, Maresol gave her a happy smile.

  “I’m happy,” Maresol said. “Babies make me very happy. I can’t wait! All of my friends have babies to dote on. Now I will, too!”

  Ava grinned at Maresol, who laughed. The phone rang, and Maresol answered the landline.

  There was a knock at the door. Maresol looked at Ava. She pointed to herself, and Maresol nodded. Ava got up with the help of her cane.

  As she passed Maresol, the older woman grabbed the cane. Ava gave her a stern look, but Maresol shook her head. Maresol jerked the cane from Ava’s hands.

  “If you’re going back to work, you should be walking,” Maresol said.

  Scowling at Maresol, Ava limped her way to the door.

  Three months ago to the day, Ava had been shot in the chest and in the leg. She’d been wearing a body-armor vest, but the bullet to her chest had broken her sternum and a couple of ribs. The leg wound would have killed Ava, but Jemma had placed a tourniquet after killing the shooter. Ava was well into healing when a random X-ray showed that Ava’s femur had broken and chipped from the force of the bullet. Another surgery gave Ava a nice rod through her femur.

  Of course, her leg was taking forever to heal.

  Their mean physical therapist, Otera, had told Maresol that the bone wasn’t healing because Ava wasn’t putting weight on the leg. Ava had liked the physical therapist when she was torturing her husband, piano prodigy and detective Seth O’Malley.

  Ava was panting by the time she reached the door.

  “Y
ou only have yourself to blame,” Maresol yelled after her.

  Ava sneered in Maresol’s direction.

  “I felt that,” Maresol said.

  Sighing to herself, Ava jerked the huge, heavy front door open.

  A beautiful woman of nearly her height was standing on the doorstep. She was wearing expensive designer clothing and expensive jewelry — diamond necklace, diamond tennis bracelet, huge diamonds on her ring finger, diamonds in her ears. The light of the diamonds made the woman’s flawless skin look a warm brown. Ava glanced at the woman’s waist-length dark hair to see if there was a crown in her hair. Seeing only hair, Ava looked at the decidedly Native American woman.

  “What?” Ava asked with uncharacteristic rudeness.

  The woman laughed.

  “You must be Ava,” the woman said.

  Irritated, Ava looked around the house.

  “This is my house,” Ava said. “I guess it’s me. Brilliant insight.”

  She went to close the door. Feeling movement behind her, Ava turned to see Maresol barreling toward the door. Maresol pushed Ava out of the way.

  “Who are you, and what do you want?” Maresol asked.

  “I’m Koko Running Wolf,” the woman said. “My brother lives here?”

  “What makes you think you’re welcome here?” Maresol asked.

  Just a few months ago, Seth Running Wolf’s mother had flown into a rage at Jemma in a restaurant and then gone about blocking their marriage through the Blackfoot Nation, Running Wolf’s people. Jemma and Running Wolf were married in a civil ceremony and had a large wedding scheduled with Jemma’s Shoshone people at the summer Pow Wow.

  “You must be Maresol,” Koko said.

  “I am Maresol Tafoya,” she said. “And I will tell you this — if you, your mother, or anyone else from your janky family come here to abuse our Jemma again, you will deal with me and my friends. That won’t end well for you.”

  “Good to know,” Koko said. “I am here to meet Jemma and see my brother. Do a job. That’s all.”

  “Your brother isn’t here,” Ava said, moving to close the door again.

  Koko held up her hand to keep the door open.

  “I’m aware of that,” Koko said. “The great FBI Agent is working to prosecute the men who are stealing and killing our women.”

  Koko pointed to herself.

  “Federal prosecutor,” Koko said. “I was invited to participate in the case.”

  “Whoop-di-fucking-doo,” Ava said. “Do you honestly think that, after what your mother did, we give a shit?”

  Koko laughed.

  “You’re on notice,” Maresol said.

  Maresol stepped back to let the woman into the house. Ava sneered at the woman’s back, and Maresol grinned at Ava. Maresol guided Koko toward the kitchen, leaving Ava to close the heavy door and limp back to the kitchen. She got there in time to see Jemma’s awkward interaction with her new husband’s sister.

  Ava noticed that Jemma had her hand over a picture that she must have taken out when Ava went to the door.

  “What do you want?” Ava asked.

  “I want to make peace with my sister-in-law,” Koko said, turning to Ava. “It seems like I need to treat with you, Ava, as well as you, Maresol.”

  Maresol scowled at the woman.

  “Okay, okay,” Koko said. “I knew that my mother was coming here. In my defense, I did warn my brother, but he’s all kinds of oblivious.”

  Maresol and Ava didn’t respond.

  “My mother did the same thing to my husband,” Koko said. “Our father is Canadian, from that branch of the Blackfoot Nation. He introduced me to my husband the summer before college. My mother was furious.”

  “He’s white?” Ava asked.

  “I’m not that crazy,” Koko said with a laugh. “My mother would have killed me first and then him. Likely my father, too. No, my husband is of the nation.”

  Koko turned to Jemma.

  “I will tell you. . .” Koko said. “My brother and I are very close. He’s never found any woman he’s cared anything about. My mother has set him up with literally thousands. He’s dated a lot of women over the years. But he never had even a passing interest in any of them. I think that’s why she was so mad.”

  “That — and she’s evil,” Ava said.

  Koko laughed.

  “Is that an ultrasound picture?” Koko asked.

  Jemma looked at Maresol, who shrugged.

  “She is your family now,” Maresol said to Jemma.

  Jemma thought for a moment before nodding.

  “We’re going to have a baby,” Jemma said, taking out the picture. “Everything is out of society’s order, but we’re happy.”

  Koko picked up the image and looked at it. She gave Jemma a big smile.

  “This is our secret,” Koko said. “We won’t tell mother until you have a beautiful baby.”

  “She won’t tell Jem that she’s some dumb, poor whore Plains Indian?” Ava asked.

  Grumpy, Ava was unwilling to give in so easily. Koko winced at Ava’s words.

  “Did she say that?” Koko asked.

  Jemma blushed, but Maresol and Ava nodded. Koko nodded in response.

  “Told you that my brother was going to be Chief?” Koko asked.

  Maresol and Ava nodded. Koko rolled her eyes.

  “Okay,” Koko said. “I’ll deal with my mother. My brother is her favorite because he is his own person, completely on his own. He came out of her that way. He doesn’t need her, so she adores him. At least, that’s what my therapist says.”

  Koko shrugged.

  “May I?” Koko asked gesturing to a stool at the bar.

  Maresol nodded, and Koko sat down.

  “Would you like breakfast?” Maresol asked. “What does your husband do?”

  “No breakfast. My husband works with our dad,” Koko said. “He helps with the running of casinos to assist indigenous nations make an income to support themselves. He’s in Arizona right now, working with the Navajo Nation.”

  Ava looked at Maresol, and she nodded. Maresol had contacts on the Navajo Nation and would check out what Koko had said.

  “And your other brother?” Maresol asked.

  “He’s a shaman, of all things. Healer. Teacher,” Koko said. “How the most gentle, kind person came out of my mother is a big mystery, but he’s really good at it. He told my brother Seth that he would meet someone here in Denver, but Seth. . .”

  Koko shrugged.

  “Coffee?” Koko asked. “You asked about breakfast. I would love some coffee.”

  Maresol turned in place. She poured Koko a cup of coffee and pressed a small pitcher of non-dairy cream in her direction. The music stopped in the front living room.

  “Good coffee,” Koko said. “How does this work?”

  “What?” Maresol asked.

  “You act like you own this house, but I assume that was Seth O’Malley playing the piano in that room,” Koko asked. “My little brother is named after him.”

  “I do own this house,” Maresol said.

  “Seth gave her the house,” Ava said. “She lets us live here with her.”

  “Why would a man, especially a white man, give you a house?” Koko asked.

  “Because she needed a place to call home,” Seth said from the door to the kitchen. “She is nice enough to let my wife and I live here.”

  “Me, too,” Jemma said.

  Seth came around to greet Ava. They spoke quietly back and forth.

  “Why do you ask?” Maresol asked.

  “If I’m going to participate in this case, I need a place to live,” Koko said. “My brother lives here. I wondered if I might be able to stay as well.”

  “Children?” Maresol asked.

  “I have three children,” Koko said. “Two are in college. One is in medical school. My brother Seth is the youngest and the last one to have children. I started early — had one in college and another in law school. The third was a graduation celebrat
ion.”

  Koko nodded.

  “Husband?” Maresol asked.

  “As I said, he’s in Arizona,” Koko said. “If you’re asking if he’ll be here to annoy you, I’m afraid that he will. We don’t spend more than two nights apart.”

  “Ever?” Ava asked.

  “Ever,” Koko said. “It’s something that’s important to him. I will tell you, though, he’s literally the nicest person in the world. Except for my mother, I’ve never met a person who didn’t love him on the spot.”

  Koko glanced at Jemma and nodded.

  “I bet my brother says that about you,” Koko said.

  Jemma looked embarrassed.

  “I don’t know why our spouses put up with us,” Koko said. “But I’m glad they do.”

  “We have three apartments on the second floor,” Seth O’Malley said. “If Maresol agrees, you’re welcome to one. Jem and Running Wolf are in one. My daughter, Julie Ann, isn’t here right now, but she’s been staying in one of the apartments when she’s in town. We can always move her belongings into the house if you want her apartment. She won’t care. The apartments are. . .”

  “Lovely,” Jemma said. “They are lovely.”

  “. . . not very fancy,” Seth said. “Ava and I lived in one while the house was being remodeled. They are comfortable. Quiet.”

  Seth shrugged.

  “I assume that you’re Ms. Running Wolf?” Seth asked. “Here to work the case with myself and your brother?”

  “I think every native person in the entire federal government wants to work on these cases,” Koko said. “I’m senior, so I was invited to join the case.”

  Seth nodded. He bent over to kiss Ava. She touched his cheek, and they kissed again. Seth started toward the door. Maresol put three bottles of water in his hands. He nodded and left the room.

  The music started again from the front room.

  “They’re practicing for a concert this weekend,” Maresol said. “You should know that there’s a lot of music played in this house.”

  Koko looked at Jemma and then at Ava.