The Owl Cried Twice

Secluded in the mountains behind Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Sage Institute compound is home to four young geniuses. A Texas dowager with a large fortune generously funds the institute that attempts to bring the brilliance of the past into the present.
The residents live on the compound in style while they pursue their work of art, science, and statesmanship. One of them, David Roy, straddles the worlds of art and physics like an Old Master and resembles a Renaissance angel.
Enter Aline LeDoux, a Cajun transplant to Santa Fe from Louisiana. She’s an aspiring painter, with emphasis on the aspiring. She left the bayous for the badlands in order to escape memories of her husband’s death in a boating accident in Louisiana.
Through the help of a family friend (the smooth as glass Cameron Boudreaux), Aline is hired as Sage’s ombudsman. Her job is to solve problems that come up with the residents. And they come up!
First, there is David Roy’s disappearance under mysterious circumstances. On the same day, a security guard vanishes. One of them is found dead… murdered.
Aline juggles her attraction for rough hewn sculptor Herb Tsosie, whom she half suspects of foul play, her best friend Kelsey’s well-intentioned help, a visit from her laid back but savvy Cajun dad, and encounters with multinational corporate spies. She needs to unravel the unusual relationships between the residents, solve the mystery, and get Sage’s affairs back on track.
Murder drives the action, which takes place against a backdrop of ancient mesas, predatory fauna, and Indian ruins, all part of life in the Land of Enchantment.