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She crouched down, careful not to disturb any evidence, and leaned closer to examine the injuries.The man’s face was barely recognizable as human, beaten to a pulp with such force that the skull beneath had fractured in multiple places.Deep lacerations crisscrossed his chest and arms, cutting through the fabric of his shirt as if it were tissue paper.Some looked like knife wounds, but others…

“Those almost look like claw marks,” Tsosie said, echoing her thoughts.

Kari gently turned the victim’s head, revealing the unnatural angle of the neck.“Cervical fracture.That’s likely cause of death.”

“Someone snapped his neck after beating him,” Tsosie said.

“And then arranged him like this.”Kari pointed to several small bundles of herbs placed around the body—sage, cedar, and something else she couldn’t immediately identify.“What do you make of this?”

Tsosie’s face had gone carefully blank.“It resembles elements of a Blessing Way ceremony.But wrong.Distorted.”

“Someone with partial knowledge of Navajo rituals?”Kari asked.

“Or someone deliberately perverting them.”Tsosie’s voice remained neutral, but Kari could see the tension in his shoulders.

She continued her examination, noting the victim’s watch—an expensive model designed for outdoor activities—still on his wrist.The front pockets of his pants yielded nothing, but in the back pocket, she found a leather wallet.

Kari stood, stepping away from the body to examine the contents.“Dr.Mark Harrington,” she read from the driver’s license.“Canyon State University faculty ID.Geology department.”

“Professor,” Tsosie said.“That explains the camera equipment.Probably out here taking samples or photographs.”

Kari flipped through the wallet, finding several credit cards and approximately two hundred dollars in cash.“Not a robbery.”

She handed the wallet to Tsosie, who bagged it as evidence, then turned her attention to the ground around the body.The earth told its own story—scuff marks and indentations suggesting a struggle.

“No drag marks,” she noted.“He died right here, or very close by.”

Tsosie was examining the camera equipment.“High-end gear.Professional quality.Memory card is still in the camera.”

“Bag it all,” Kari said.“We’ll need to see what he was photographing.”

She made a full circuit of the taped perimeter, scanning for anything that might help reconstruct what had happened.The scene was oddly clean beyond the immediate area around the body—no footprints other than Officer Nez’s and those of the hikers who’d discovered the body, no cigarette butts or food wrappers, no sign that anyone else had been present.

“It’s like his attacker appeared out of nowhere and then vanished the same way,” she said, more to herself than to Tsosie.

“Or knew how to move without leaving traces,” Tsosie suggested.

The comment prompted Kari to look at him more closely.His face revealed nothing, but there was something in his tone that caught her attention.

“You’re thinking this wasn’t random,” she said.

Tsosie met her gaze.“A geology professor comes out here, off-trail, possibly at night according to Nez.Gets attacked with unusual violence.Then his body is arranged in a way that mimics sacred ceremonies.”He gestured to the canyon around them.“This place has meaning.”

“You think he was targeted specifically?”

“I think we need to find out exactly why Dr.Harrington was here,” Tsosie said.

Kari nodded, turning back to survey the scene once more.The sun had risen higher now, its heat intensifying by the minute.In the distance, she could hear the approach of additional vehicles—likely the medical examiner and crime scene technicians.

“Time of death is going to be tricky in this heat,” she said.“Bodies decompose faster out here.”

“Based on the condition, I’d guess no more than forty-eight hours, like Nez said,” Tsosie said.“But the ME will know better.”

Kari’s phone vibrated in her pocket.She stepped away from the scene to answer it, recognizing the captain’s number on the screen.

“Blackhorse,” she said.

“I just got the preliminary report from Nez,” Captain Yazzie said, his voice terse and businesslike.“Homicide at Canyon de Chelly?”

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