Four Corners War

by Ted Clifton

  “No. Please. I’ll be okay. Just give me a minute.” He drank more water. “I knew something like this would happen. It was the sheriff, wasn’t it? Is that why you’re the sheriff now?” He was still shaking.

  “You think Trujillo had something to do with Mr. Grimes’s death?” Ray asked.

  “I don’t know. I just don’t know. How can this happen? Everything is all screwed up. I’m going to jail, aren’t I? My god. Everything’s all screwed up.” Bowles began to rise, and quickly collapsed. Two women, walking toward the office, screamed. Tyee called 911.

  They followed the ambulance taking Bowles to the emergency room at the San Juan Regional Medical Center. Standing next to the emergency entrance was a familiar face—Agent Ben Crawford.

  Tyee spotted him first. “Looks like the FBI has descended on Farmington.”

  They parked and walked up to meet Crawford. “You’re a long way from Washington,” Ray said.

  Crawford chuckled. “Yeah. Very early morning flight.” Still, he seemed edgy, Ray noticed. “Your governor,” Crawford said, “talked us into backing off Grimes for a few days. He insisted if we moved to arrest Grimes when we wanted, it would interfere with the state’s investigation. He hinted the state’s charges would be more important than the tax matters. He said all that to the guy above me, who is more politician than cop. I was instructed to let it go for a few days. Never should’ve agreed to it. So now, here we are trying to catch up to events we should have been out ahead of. Right after we heard Grimes was dead, we were proceeding to serve search warrants for the business offices and his home.”

  Ray was impressed. The FBI had moved fast. Within less than four hours they’d made it to Farmington in full force. “I’m shocked you even knew he’d been killed. You guys have the whole country bugged or something?”

  “Not funny, Ray. We have connections with the Navajo Police. They tipped us off. The search warrant was issued last week, and we were just waiting on our deal with the governor. So, we had to move fast. We understand his wife shot him, right?”

  Ray nodded and glanced at Tyee, they both knew: it had to be Watchman who’d told Crawford. How did Watchman know? And why would he act so fast to get the FBI involved? There were a lot more questions to be answered. “The wife— Grimes called her Vickie, but her real name is Joyce—admitted she shot at Grimes several times. He was in the pool, and they’d had a disagreement. She said she got a gun and started taking potshots, but never intended to hurt him. She claims she only wanted to scare him. He was shot in the head and, again according to her, she jumped into the pool and tried to pull him out. Then she called 911. So, we don’t yet have all the necessary details, but I think she’s more or less telling the truth. I think someone else could have been there, took advantage of the situation, and shot Grimes.” He looked up at the hospital. “She’s in here, too, experiencing some kind of mental breakdown. I assume that’s why you’re here.”

  “We got word about her, but we were en route to Grimes’s office when we heard about his CFO. So, in fact, we’re here waiting on you, because of Bowles. I wanted to have a quick word with you before we execute our warrants. We’ve been told that Jackson might have had evidence of Grimes’s manipulation of reservation gasoline sales to embezzle the tax revenue. Are you aware of that? And do you know where those documents might be?”

  “The city attorney told us he’d seen them. And he said Jackson had the documents but didn’t know what he’d done with them. So he got a warrant and searched the sheriff’s department offices. They didn’t find anything. I believe Jackson might have taken those files with him when he took that military equipment to Colorado. Matter of fact, we think the Acting Sheriff Trujillo could be looking for those files up there right now. But you should know, we also think Trujillo could be involved in some of this stuff. Reason for that is, he just took off without explaining why.” Ray threw up his hands.

  Crawford shook his head and began to laugh. Ray and Tyee couldn’t help joining him. “How the hell do you get involved in this shit?” he asked.

  “I think it’s Tyee’s fault.” Ray couldn’t stop laughing.

  After they got themselves under control, Crawford thought a moment and told them, “We’ve got some private security around that camp. But I’d bet they’d be easy to get around. Or if you looked official, they might not even interfere with you coming in to look around. So, Trujillo might just pull that off. Why do you think those files might be there?”

  “Timing, mostly. We know he had some he showed the city attorney. We also know they weren’t at the sheriff’s office. And if Jackson thought those files were the key to arresting Grimes, I don’t think he would’ve left them at his house. I believe he would have kept them with him, and when he left, would’ve taken them along. Now, keep in mind—this is a guy who was on the verge of losing his mind.”

  Crawford shook his head. “With Grimes dead, it’s mostly a moot point, anyway. Plus, we have enough evidence to charge Grimes and Bowles.”

  “Looks like another example of our governor getting involved where he shouldn’t have,” Tyee said, almost grumbling. “If he’d let the FBI do its job, Grimes would be in jail, alive.”

  Ray wasn’t going to defend the governor but refused to believe his motives were evil. “His heart’s in the right place. It’s just that sometimes his head isn’t.”

  They nodded. Crawford added, “I understand his concern. There’s a bunch of federal agencies waiting to jump all over the Grimes empire. They can’t put the companies in jail, but they can fine them to death. Thing is, that means some negative financial impact here—and in some ways, all over the state.”

  “What do you think will happen on the Navajo side?” Tyee asked.

  Crawford shrugged. “You’re aware of the complications. But we’re not the lead agency to deal with the Navajos. This gets hyper-political in a hurry. Nobody wants to jump in right away. We have heard a group of Navajo leaders are trying to work something out that would allow the current president to resign. The whole thing could just disappear for them.”

  “Man, that doesn’t seem right.” Tyee sounded disappointed.

  “No. It doesn’t.” Crawford shrugged as he turned to go into the hospital.

  “Now what?” Tyee asked Ray.

  “Before we can go home, we’ve got two murders to solve, and then get the sheriff’s department up and running.” Ray frowned. That was a lot, he knew.

  “That could take forever,” Tyee grumbled. “I thought you believed Grimes killed Martin.”

  “I just thought he was the most likely suspect. We were going to arrest him just to shake things up. It’s a wide-open investigation, especially now.”

  “Maybe when we get ballistics, it’ll prove Vickie shot Grimes. Case closed.” Tyee smiled at the thought of how those problems might be solved.

  Ray shook his head. “You know you don’t believe that. What we need to do is circle back to the Martin killing and do a better job of investigating. Start with the ballistics and forensics. Send the entire file to the state police lab in Albuquerque. Have them re-examine everything. We need clues. And we need to look at Martin. Who would want to kill him, and why? Who were his friends? Who were his enemies? We need suspects. We need to do the hard work. Something will jump out.”

  Tyee sighed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  They arranged for security around Mrs. Grimes and headed back to the sheriff’s department.

  The first call Ray made was to Sue. “I’m sorry I haven’t called. Things are worse.” He related all the events to Sue, and how long he thought he and Tyee would stay in Farmington. “Worst case, if we don’t have solutions in two weeks, I’m turning everything back to the governor. He can appoint someone else sheriff. But we won’t stay past that; I even hate doing that much. It’s just that I’d feel a lot better if we could solve the murders and have some order in the department before someone else takes over.”

  “I understand. It’s fine, Ray. I’m fine
, and Happy’s fine. Do what you have to do, but—stick with the two weeks. There are lots of crimes that go unsolved. Give it a good try, and then come home, okay?”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  “Just don’t go crazy. And if you get a break, send Tyee to Albuquerque so he can talk to Nancy. If he doesn’t do something soon about her, it’ll be the biggest mistake of his life.”

  “I’ll see to it that he gets time to go see her. I’ll tell him that Mom said he has to go.”

  That made her start to cry. Her voice broke a little. “Be careful, Ray. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” They hung up. Ray went to find Tyee.

  “Tyee, new plan. I think you should take the case file on Martin to Albuquerque, wait a couple of days and see what they can come up with. I’ll call the governor and have him light a fire under them. You okay with that?”

  “Sure. You sure White Man Leader will be okay without Indian Sidekick?”

  “Well, actually, I’m not.” Ray smiled. “Now, don’t yell at me or anything. But I just talked to Sue. She says hi. And she said you should go see Nancy before you screw up both of your lives.”

  Tyee smirked, hardly offended. “So, taking the file to Albuquerque is just a ruse to get me to go see Nancy?”

  “Not really. When Sue mentioned the idea, I realized we needed to lean on this whole investigation—and hard—to get some kind of results. The best way to do that is to push on the governor. Let him light a fire under those guys. If you hand-deliver those files, it will be an obvious way to make the point that this is important and urgent. It all just came together in a flash.” Ray smiled.

  Tyee had to laugh. “Okay. I guess I’ll buy your story. When do I leave?”

  “I’ll go call the governor now. Get your stuff together and you can go right away.”

  “Feels like the bum’s rush.”

  “No comment.”

  Once on the road to Albuquerque, Tyee realized how right this trip was, and not only for the sake of the investigation. He knew he had to talk to Nancy and it needed to be right now. The trip took on a new sense of urgency. He calculated his route and a plan. The lab was on the northwest side of town, right on his path into the city. He would stop at the lab, leave the materials, and call Nancy. The obvious hole in the plan was that she might not be available. She might have gone to T or C to see her parents. Or she could be somewhere else. Or she could be with a new boyfriend. His doubts, always just below the surface, grew.

  The collapse of his marriage had sent him into a tailspin. It flung him from a life as one of the most promising, happily married computer tech guys at an up-and-coming firm in Denver to the drunken Indian-stereotype guide of Elephant Butte Lake. He lost everything, mostly his confidence and self-respect. Deep into his miserable life at the bottom of a bottle, he met Ray Pacheco. Gradually he learned to trust again and joined Ray and Big Jack to start a new private investigation business. He had dug himself out of a horrible hole, with a little help from his new friends. Still, he felt terrified of making a commitment to another woman. He never wanted to live through that kind of pain again.

  The reception Tyee got from the state police lab people was almost embarrassing. Everyone treated Tyee like royalty. He figured the governor must have laid it on pretty thick about his mission and its importance. The head man, a Frank Millsap, insisted that Tyee wait in his office while they transferred the files and evidence bags from the truck into the lab.

  “It’s so great to meet you,” Millsap enthused. “We’ve heard so much about the work you and Mr. Pacheco have done for the governor. It’s almost like you’re celebrities.” He appeared to be serious. Still, Tyee thought the whole exchange seemed weird. “Our orders are to treat this as the highest priority, and we might have answers for you maybe by later today—but for sure by tomorrow.” Millsap beamed.

  “Thank you, very much,” Tyee tried to seem untroubled. “Why don’t I come back, say, a little after noon tomorrow, and check in with you?” He tried not to seem anxious to leave. Still, he did have other matters to deal with. He had other things to do, and Millsap’s gushing was making him uneasy.

  “Great. We’ll see you then. Is there anything else we can do today?” Still gushing.

  He hesitated to ask, but, “If I could have a quiet place and a phone for a few minutes, I’d appreciate it.”

  “Oh, please—use my office.” Millsap gestured for Tyee to take his chair.

  It seemed to Tyee that the governor might have threatened everyone at the lab with a list of terrible consequences if they so much as inconvenienced him. The visit was bizarre. “Thanks. This won’t take long.” Tyee shut the door.

  He called Nancy’s number and got her answering machine. “Hi, um, Nancy, this is Tyee. I know I should’ve called earlier, but, uh, I didn’t. Which, of course, you know.” Jeez, I sound like an idiot. “I’m here in Albuquerque. I know I should’ve called earlier—yeah, already said that, didn’t I? Look, uh, if you have a little time, I sure would like to see you, maybe lunch or dinner or just coffee or something. I guess you’re busy with school, but just a few minutes would be great. Not sure how you’d call me back. Ray and I talked about getting mobile phones, but don’t have one yet. My goodness. I’m sorry, Nancy. I’m just rambling—.”

  She picked up. “Tyee? It’s me, Nancy. Yes, I can meet with you. Where are you?”

  “Good thing you picked up. I was getting nonsensical. I’m out at the state police lab, northwest of downtown. Maybe twenty minutes away from the school.”

  “You know where the Frontier Restaurant is on Central, just across the street from the university?”

  “Sure, know right where that is.”

  “How about I meet you there in thirty minutes?”

  “Yeah. That’s perfect. I’ll be there.” He felt reluctant to hang up. He didn’t quite know why.

  “See you in a bit.” She hung up.

  He sat, first elated then suddenly nervous about seeing her. But that was exactly what he wanted to do—to see her and talk to her. He felt silly. He took a deep breath and walked out.

  The drive to Central took longer than he’d anticipated, through traffic a lot worse than he remembered. He spotted the restaurant and pulled in to park. As soon as he entered, he saw her in a booth. Something in his brain clicked. He knew he loved her. He wanted to be with her. It was all clear now. Why had he let her leave without telling her? Why was he such a fool?

  “Nancy.” He smiled. He knew he looked goofy. He couldn’t help it and didn’t care.

  She stood and wrapped him in a hug. “Tyee. What brought you here?” She kept her eyes on his while they sat.

  Good he thought, something to talk about besides his feelings. “I had to bring some evidence files out to the state lab. We—Ray and me—have been in Farmington working on some pretty bad things going on out there.” He paused, realizing how wrong he was. He didn’t want to talk about anything but them. He wanted to marry her. What should he say?

  “I heard about some of that on TV. And read stories in the paper. Sounds bad.”

  “Yeah, a couple of murders and lots of money missing,” he agreed in a rush, and blurted, “Nancy, I’ve really missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you, too.” Her lip trembled.

  “How’s school?” Great, he thought, why not talk about the weather next?

  She shrugged. “It’s good. Kind of hard to go back to sucking up to professors, especially now that some of them are younger than me.” She smirked at that. “But I like the law courses. Once I can just concentrate on law, I think everything will be fine.” Her eyes softened. “Tyee, I was afraid. So, I ran away. I don’t want to be hurt. I don’t want you to be hurt. And it seemed like the best thing was just to not be together.”

  He took a deep breath. “I know. We’re both afraid of another bad relationship. But since you left, I’ve been thinking a lot more about not being with you. And that hurts worse. I’m not one of the guys you’ve been wi
th. And you’re not my ex-wife. I think we both care too much to hurt each other, and I think we should try—oh, I don’t know, I guess I think we should just get married.” He looked up at her from under his eyebrows, bracing for what she would say, which he was sure would be, “Hell, no.” But she didn’t say anything. She just sat, staring, maybe too shocked. “I didn’t say that well. Did I?”

  She chuckled. He hoped that was a good sign. “You said everything just fine.” She tilted her head. “Why are we making this so hard? I want to marry you, and you want to marry me. What’s the damn problem?” She giggled.

  Tyee got up, which others nearby noticed, given his size. He took her hand and helped her out of the booth. They embraced and kissed. He knelt. “Nancy Clark, will you be my wife?” He pulled out a ring kept in a plastic bag—not very romantic, but it was what it was. He had carried it with him for weeks. He took the ring out and handed it to Nancy.

  She took it and put it on her finger. “Yes. I will be your wife.”

  The room erupted in applause. Tyee didn’t look around but noticed how he didn’t feel embarrassed at all.

  They went to Nancy’s tiny apartment and for the first time in months, they felt complete.

  The next morning, they walked around the corner to a mom-and-pop coffee shop. Most of its patrons were students, all bent over notebooks and texts. It was a comfortable atmosphere of belonging and privacy, all at the same time.

  “What’s Ray going to say about you moving up here?” she asked.

  “Good riddance.”

  She punched him in the shoulder. “Come on, Tyee. You know that’s not true.” Nancy was smiling. In fact, she was joyous.

  He shook his head. “He’s already been talking about taking more time off. I think Pacheco and Chino is about done, no matter what I do. We’ll always be great friends. But Ray seems tired. I think being with Sue changed things for him. He wants to be with her, and I think he worries more about the risks. You see, when we started, he made it clear we would only be working as advisors, never in the middle of the action. Well,” he cleared his throat, “things didn’t turn out that way. Ray’s nature is to take charge, and where he sees a need, he jumps in with both feet. So we’re taking more risks, usually without the kind of support he had when he was a sheriff. I don’t know if he plans just to take some time off and then get back into it in a few months, or if this is the end. But my moving here to be with you won’t interfere with anything he decides. And I know he and Sue will be happy for us.”