The next morning I turned the Castle over to Rose once more and went looking for the tribal lawyer's office on the reservation. It wasn't hard to find. It was in the Indian Center, the largest building in this end of the reservation.

I asked if I could see the tribal lawyer.

Without actually looking at me, the receptionist responded, "Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but if you will mention Elena Toadlena to him, he might see me without an appointment."

"Whom shall I say is calling?"

That was the first time I looked carefully at her. She was a real stunner, dresed in a suit, and serious as all get out. She was Indian, obviously, but very well camoflaged. She could front for a law office anywhere in the world, and spoke English like I hadn't heard it since my high school English teacher retired. I mean "as" of course, not "like". This was serious business, seeing a lawyer on a reservation.

I very carefully said, "My name is Claire Yates. He won't know me. I'm Mrs. Toadlena's next door neighbor, as we do things out here, and she suggested I see him."

The last part was a lie, of course, but I was sure he would see me out of curiosity if nothing else. This office with this receptionist saw a lot of white people, I guessed. I wondered what would happen if a Navajo walked in. Maybe the receptionist would smile, who knows?

"I'll see, Ms Yates. Please have a seat."

She disappeared into the inner office, then came back with the good news that the lawyer would see me and ushered me in.

"Joseph Kicking Horse," he said smiling, "at your service. Please have a seat and tell me all about it."

He was tall and handsome, a Navajo in a white man's suit and tie. He looked like someone to take seriously, Navajo though he certainly was.

"I came about the dead goat." Bad start. The look on his face told me that he didn't know about the dead goat. So I backed up and told the story of how I had found the goat and how I had traced the goat to the Toadlena's and about my meeting with them at their farm.

"That's how I found out about the land and water grab. It pissed me off. I want to find out who wants the farm and the spring enough to kill a kid's goat for it. I want to know who is trying to frighten the Toadlenas."

He looked at me without speaking for a full thirty seconds. Then, "I didn't know about the goat or Edward. Grandmother Elena talked to me about the land offer. You must know that or you wouldn't be here. So in a way, I'm representing her. Does she know you are here?"

"No. I'm here on my own. But I think you can help me." I told him the story as it had been told to me.

"The men threatening the Toadlenas came twice. The second time Edward wrote down their license number. I really hope whoever killed the goat don't know that and that they don't find out. Edward gave the number to me. I can't look it up without making a nuisance of myself with the local law, and word might get back to the crooks. I don't want that. So I came to you. Maybe you could look up the number without leaving a trail.

"I knew we'd have trouble with that spring from the day of the earthquake. Things like that attract white money, and white money is almost as much trouble around here as white law.

"How did Edward know to take the goat to your, castle, I think you put it? Had he been there before?"

"Edward saw the car they were driving when they came to the Toadlena's farm. He recognized the same car turn into the driveway of the castle from his school bus one afternoon. That's another reason to be very quiet about this. The men who killed the goat might think Edward knows too much."

"Ms. Yates, I think I know something about this scam. Variations of it happen to us now and then. This particular variation would be particularly lucrative. If I'm right, these people are dangerous. I'm staying out of it and you had better be very careful yourself. I would suggest you find out how they got into your house, or castle as you call it. Does the owner of the castle know who they are? Suppose he does? You could find yourself an instant meddling outsider if the gang finds out you're getting involved in their scheme."

I hadn't thought of that. But I really couldn't imagine the owner being part of a scam. And anyway, I wasn't to be put off that easily.

"There's another thing I'm sure of from the story Grandmother Toadlena told me. The guy threatening the Toadlenas isn't who he claims to be. I want to know who he is. I want to know who owns the car."

The lawyer looked at me very carefully again. "What will you do once you find out?"

It was another real good question that I hadn't thought of. That's what you get for not thinking things through, Claire. "I don't know. Think of some way to expose them, I suppose. Make them quit threatening my neighbors. I don't like people who kill a little boy's prize goat. Sounds silly, doesn't it?"

"Not silly, but possibly dangerous."

"So how do I look up a license number? How do I find out who owns the car? The cops do it all the time. Do I know a cop? No. Do I want to? Not especially. I'll bet the school could do it for me, but I'd also bet they won't, without a very good reason which I don't want to give right now."

He paused again. He was looking me over very carefully, again. Was I nuts? Was I dangerous? Then his face changed a little bit and he looked as though he had made a decision.

"I can get the owner of the car for you. The tribal police do it all the time. It won't be noticed."

He reached for the phone. In less than five minutes he had a call back. He wrote on a notepad and handed me the note. I put it in my purse without looking at it. It had suddenly become a precious secret, just like in a spy story.

He laughed, then abruptly stopped laughing. Holding his face firmly neutral he said, "She won't ever say anything to anybody. She defines confidentiality. She scares me, sometimes."

"Like the school secretary?" I ventured, smiling.

"A lot like the school secretary. And often necessary. Lawyers are sometimes like children." He smiled again. "What else can I do for you?"

"I guess that's it. Thank you."

"I have some advice for you. Be careful. The people you're dealing with might not stop at goats."

"I will."

A week later I was back in his office.

The piece of paper in my pocket had the name of a car dealership on it in a big city far away. No name, no owner, just a car dealership. They had apparently leased the car to somebody. They said they did that on their web page.

I had tried everything I could think of, which wasn't all that much, to find anything at all about the business which had leased the car. The dealership was no help. They wouldn't tell me anything without a court order. They said so. Over the phone, they said so. That scared me. I was getting myself into trouble without even being aware of it. The internet offered to give me the information, it said, for a price, but first I had to not only pay for it, but give them my name and contact information.

After the requirement for a court order, I wasn't going to give anyone in this business my name. Not until I knew what they were going to do with it.

So here I was back in the lawyer's office, seeing if I could get any advice from him.

"Thank you for seeing me again. You gave me the name of the company that owned the car. It was a car dealership. The dealership leased the car to someone else. I got nowhere trying to find that person. Not even on the internet.

"Then I called the car dealership. I thought maybe I could get the name of whoever signed the leasing papers.

"I got nowhere. They wouldn't tell me anything. They said it would take a court order. That scared me. So I came back to you. Can you help me with the name of the person that leased the car?

"Probably not." He looked disappointed. "I hoped it was a rental, not a lease. The lessee might not be a person at all but some sort of business entity. It could very well be a fake company." He looked out his office window for a long moment. "The car dealership will verify the payment but not the source. They don't really care who is driving the car as long as they are getting paid for it and the car is properly insured. I won't be able to see their records any easier than you can."

"So what can I do? I want to know who's behind all this."

"There ought to be a copy of the lease agreement in the car. I think that's the law. I can ask the tribal police to pull the car over if they see it on the reservation. The officer can and should ask to see the lease papers. Then the police will have that on the record of the stop and I'll call you with it."

"What if the car doesn't go onto the reservation? The farm isn't on the reservation."

"The tribal police have no jurisdiction outside of the reservation. They seldom leave the reservation. I'm sorry, that's all I can offer."

"I'll ask the Tribal Police to be on the lookout for the car, in case he does come onto the reservation. Generally speaking, it isn't legal to stop someone and ask them who they are. Although that often happens, legally or not, very often to the people I serve. It's a free country, remember?"

"Oh, I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you for trying."

"You're welcome. Don't hesitate to call again if there is anything else I can help you with. And do be careful. These guys may be dangerous."

"Oh, I'm aware of that. Thank you."

I left on that note.