cases deal with crimes in Indian Country.
So far, I’d suffered with 95 percent office work, reading reports to familiarize myself with current events and cases. Nothing important had gone down since I’d punched the time clock as Special Agent Mercy Gunderson-not that I hoped for a horrific occurrence. But I hated sitting around talking about crap that’d never happen, wearing a gun I wasn’t allowed to shoot.
The stairwell door opened, and Turnbull popped his head in. “Briefing room.”
After a few moments I slipped into my chair, surrounded by a buzz of excitement. There was definitely something going on.
Director Shenker shuffled through a stack of papers as he entered the room. He glanced at the clock and stepped to the coffee center to fill his mug. “I’ve just been made aware of a situation on the Eagle River Reservation. The tribal police were brought in first, but given the sensitive nature, they’ve reached out to us for help.”
The latest departmental catchphrase touted the “new spirit of cooperation” on the Eagle River Reservation between the recently elected new tribal president, the newly promoted chief of the tribal police, and the “local” fresh Indian blood in the FBI-aka me.
“What’s the situation?” Agent Thomas asked. Technically, we weren’t assigned to specific reservations, but Agents Thomas and Burke worked the northwestern part of the state. Turnbull and I concentrated on the southwestern section, and Agents Mested and Flack dealt with the central section on the west side of the Missouri River. As the lone female agent in this office it was hard not to feel like I was just there to fill a quota.
Shenker pressed his thumb between his eyebrows. “Three days ago, seventeen-year-old Arlette Shooting Star disappeared. The tribal police instituted a search of the reservation and found nothing. The highway patrol joined in searching the surrounding area and found nothing, either.”
“No sign of her at all?”
“None. The last time her friends allegedly had contact with her was before lunch at the school on Friday. She did not report to her class after lunch. Her cell phone and her belongings were found in her locker.”
“Does she have a habit of disappearing?” Turnbull asked.
“No. She’s been living with her aunt and uncle on the Eagle River rez for the last year.”
“Where’d she live before that?” Mested asked.
Shenker flipped through the pages. “Standing Rock, in North Dakota. They’ve checked to see if she’s contacted anyone in that area, but no one is admitting they’ve seen or heard from her.”