by Aimée
“You got Coors on tap?” Dan asked.
“Sure do, hon. And you, ma’am?”
She bit back a groan. Dan was “hon,” but she was “ma’am”? She suddenly felt ancient. “Bud Light,” Ella said. “In the bottle, please.”
As soon as the barmaid moved away, Dan looked at Ella. “I swear to you I’ve only met her once or twice, and there’s no way we ever dated. We got talking one night when business was slow, that’s all.”
Ella laughed. “No explanations are necessary, and I’m not dating anyone else, either. But let’s not get off track. Line of duty, blurry … remember?”
Before he could respond, the waitress came back with their drinks and bowls of chips and salsa. Ella took a tiny sip of her beer. The drink was mostly civilian cover and she’d ordered a light beer to keep up the image. What made it easy to keep her drinking to a bare minimum was that she hated beer. Sipping it came more naturally to her than an actual swallow, and the salsa and chips helped her keep it down.
“I’m thinking that we should look for a hooker working the customers rather than a single girl looking to hook up,” Dan said. “I heard that the woman with Harry was all over him.”
“Based on looks alone, Harry would have been a good target for a working girl—if she didn’t let his body language get in her way,” Ella said. “He was difficult to approach. Getting to know him was even harder.”
“Yet you and him…”
“That was a long, long time ago,” Ella said, finishing the line of thought she assumed he was following. “Things didn’t work out, because what I saw in my future and what he wanted in his were too far apart.”
“Your life is just how you like it?”
The question was innocent-sounding enough, but she knew there was more to it. “I like my life because I love the people in it. Family, both at home and at work, is important to me.”
“I know, which is why I don’t get what you’re doing now. There’s trouble ahead for your unit, and your job and that of your team’s could be on the line. Yet you’re not using your considerable influence to fight back.”
“I’ve heard about Gerald Bidtah’s plans, but that’s Big Ed’s fight, not mine.”
“What if they insist on having all homicide investigations run out of Window Rock and disband your unit, sticking you in some office at tribal headquarters? Will you take a stand then?”
“It hasn’t come to that yet,” she said, then shook her head, signaling him to drop it. “Stay focused. Our objective is to find the woman in the sketch.”
He nodded, his gaze taking in the room. “Tell me about Ute’s work. What was he investigating that may have given someone a motive for taking him out?”
“He was working for Bruce Little, and Bruce won’t divulge specifics unless we can prove it has a direct link to the murder. All I know is that Harry was looking into thefts of county property. Do you know, or have you heard anything about that?”
He shook his head. “News to me. Does Sheriff Taylor know?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I suspect he does and is keeping a lid on it and his investigation.”
“Makes sense. So who’s Little’s client?”
“I have no idea, but I’m fairly sure that it’s someone of influence, maybe a county official.”
“You’re telling me that there’s corruption inside county government, but you’re not really giving me anything to go on.” Dan’s tone held an edge. “What division of county has the problem with thefts? Are we talking the sheriff’s department?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know, or won’t say?” Dan pressed.
“I’m giving it to you straight. I don’t know.” Ella’s gaze remained on the women around them, but there were no Navajo women in the bar that matched the description. “Concentrate on the women, Dan.”
“First time my date’s ever suggested something like that, but if you insist,” he said, then forced a slow grin. “Hey, I recognize one of the bartenders working tonight. Let me show her the sketch. If she doesn’t know the girl, maybe she can pass the sketch around to her coworkers.”
“Good idea.”
Dan had been gone only a few minutes before Ruby came over. “Everything still okay here?”
“Yes, thank you,” Ella said, her gaze still on the room.
“Do you two have a thing?”
Ella, who’d been studying the room, glanced back at her in surprise. “Say again?”
“You know, are you officers just working together, or are you hooking up?”
Before she could answer, Dan came back. “Hey, Ruby.”
Ella bit back a smile. “Ruby wants me to clarify our status.”
“Just askin’ in case I decide to make a move of my own,” Ruby said, winking at Dan.
Dan gave Ella a sad smile, then looked back at Ruby. “Ella keeps me guessing, but I’m not giving up, not yet.”
To her credit, Ella didn’t choke.
“Well, sweetie, if you ever get tired of the chase, I’ll be around,” Ruby said, then walked off.
Ella looked at Dan in surprise. “Why the heck did you tell her that?”
“She went away without feeling rejected. What’s the harm?” He gave her a slow grin. “It’s the truth, isn’t it?”
Ella rolled her eyes. “Getting back to business. Did you get anything from the bartender?”
“Yeah, Nadine remembers Harry. She said that the woman was seriously groping him, even nibbling at his ear. They left together right before she had to ask them to get a room.”
“Interesting. For a guy, I guess that beats the heck out of nachos and salsa.”
“More than you realize. Nadine said the woman was hot. She knows most of the working girls on West Main, but she’d never seen this one before,” Dan said. “Nadine also told me that it surprised the heck out of her when she targeted Harry. Several suits were here that night, high roller oilmen sitting on fat wallets, but this girl set her sights on Harry right from the start.”
“Could be a Navajo girl looking for another Navajo, or maybe she likes men who have that dangerous edge about them. Or more likely, she had an agenda—scouting out his apartment. Harry was missing his laptop, remember? We’ve got to find this lady, so what do you say we go to the Bucking Bronco Lounge next?”
Dan left several bills on the table and winked at Ruby as they walked out.
Seeing it, Ella laughed. “So, do you like her or not?”
“I won’t rob the cradle, but every man appreciates an ego boost.”
“You need that?”
“It’s nice to get a little attention once in a while,” he said.
“Here I thought I was enough for you,” Ella teased with a labored sigh.
He met her gaze. “You would be, if that’s what you wanted.”
The intensity of that look took her by surprise. “Focus, focus. Later, when we’re off the clock, we’ll see if I can think of a way or two to make you smile.”
“Looking forward to it.”
His voice, low and deep, gave added meaning to his words. There were no dull moments with Dan. As they stopped by her truck, he leaned back against it and hooked his thumb into his pocket.
Following his movements, Ella glanced down, her eyes lingering for a second over his belt buckle, remembering the last time she’d unbuckled it. Dan was an excellent lover who knew when to be tender and when to get rough. Maybe he was the man for her after all.
She pushed the thought back instantly and focused on business. “There’s something I need to follow up on. I’m going to call Justine while we’re on our way to the Bucking Bronco. Harry’s date was messing with him, so it’s possible her prints are on his belt buckle.”
“Good idea,” he said, smiling slowly. “So tell me, where did that belt buckle idea come from?”
“I’m taking the fifth,” she said, chuckling. She was physically attracted to him, but even more important, she really liked Dan. “I’ll fo
llow you out. I don’t want to leave my truck parked here.”
“Don’t blame you.”
Ella climbed into her truck and started the engine while Dan continued walking to his. She was looking forward to the next time she and Dan met off the clock. Justine dreamed of babies. Ella’s dream was simpler. She wanted to have time on her hands to just relax and enjoy herself.
She tried to picture herself without the badge—a civilian with leisure time at her disposal, going on dates where “strapped” meant too little cash instead of referring to the weapon she carried.
Change … maybe it wasn’t a bad thing after all.
* * *
Ella waited at the parking lot exit for an opening in traffic as vehicles whizzed by. She’d be going with the flow, so all she needed was an opening in the outside lane.
As she pulled out onto the street, the right front end of her truck suddenly wobbled, pulling her sharply back toward the curb.
She compensated instantly, but not before a horn blasted and she heard squealing tires. A sporty Mustang raced by her on the inside lane and the guy flipped her off.
Ella touched the brakes, trying to track a straight line, but it was hard to maintain control of the steering as the wobble grew worse. She didn’t think she’d had a flat, but something was definitely wrong. She looked in the rearview mirror just as Dan moved into position behind her and flicked on his high beams.
“Crap.” Ella searched for a place to pull over, but there was nothing but sidewalk and curb for another half a block. Knowing she couldn’t risk veering out into traffic, she pulled to a stop.
Ella saw Dan, his emergency blinkers on, stop right behind her to block the lane. Grabbing the key from the ignition, she climbed out the passenger’s side, her gaze on oncoming traffic. With the nearest streetlight fifty yards away and the business beside her closed and darkened at this hour, walking around to check her tire was risky business.
As she took a closer look, Ella saw the wheel and tire were canted inward and hanging on to the axle by a single lug nut. Another few seconds and the tire would have come completely off. The other lug nuts were probably somewhere back down the street or in the parking lot.
“Want me to arrange for a tow truck?” Dan called as he came up the sidewalk, waving his phone.
“Yeah. Try Smitty’s. He’s just a half mile or so from here on Orchard Boulevard.”
As he joined her, he saw the problem close up. “That damn tire almost came off. How’d that happen?”
“This isn’t an accident. Somebody removed the other lug nuts while we were inside. Glad I wasn’t heading back to the Rez and turning right instead of left. Otherwise I might have yanked the tire off and crashed,” she said, looking more closely at the wheel. “I’m hoping there’s no real damage to the wheel or bolts and all I’ll need is a jack and five new lug nuts.”
Ella stepped back onto the sidewalk, standing beside Dan and watching people gawk as they drove past them.
“This has all the markings of a prank—a dangerous one,” Ella said, remembering the attempt made to burn up her SUV earlier in the day.
Dan nodded. “If the intent was to make you wreck, the perps would have done more than just loosen the lug nuts.”
Ella’s gaze drifted back to the Horny Toad’s parking lot. “What do you say we go ask the working girls on the street corners a few questions?”
“Yeah, good idea,” he said. “It’s possible one of them saw something useful. They probably watch vehicles leaving the bar, hoping to catch somebody’s attention.”
“This wasn’t an isolated incident, and no way it’s just a coincidence. It’s the second time today the vehicle I’ve been riding in has been attacked,” Ella said.
“Huh?”
As they walked up the sidewalk, she told him about the firebomb.
NINE
Earlier, Ella had noticed two women standing on opposite street corners a little farther up—prostitutes, judging by the way they waved at passing drivers. Their profession often made them excellent sources of information—but only if they chose to cooperate.
Ella took the one closest to her while Dan crossed the street to speak to the other. As she approached the young woman, Ella realized that she couldn’t have been more than a few years out of high school—if that.
Instead of flashing her badge, Ella reached for her wallet and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. “I need some help.”
The Anglo girl gave Ella a tentative smile, then pushed her jet black hair away from her face. “My name’s Candy. What did you have in mind? A threesome is going to run you eighty dollars, but if you want—”
Ella held up her hand. “I just need some information.”
The young woman’s eyes widened. “You a cop?”
Ella didn’t answer directly. “Someone was tampering with my pickup. Did you happen to notice anyone sneaking around the parked cars over there, say within the last hour?” she said, and pointed to the parking area.
“You’re the one with the wobbling truck, aren’t you?” she said. “I saw that. You got lucky.”
“Yeah. Turns out someone removed the lug nuts off my front wheel and my insurance company is going to want details of what happened. Did you see anyone?”
She jammed the twenty-dollar bill Ella had just given her into the pocket of her painted-on jeans. “No, but I’ve only been here about fifteen minutes. Do you want me to ask the other girls and give you a call if I get anything?”
“Sounds good.” Ella took a card from her wallet and handed it to her.
Candy glanced at the card. “So you are a cop.”
“Yeah, but I’m off duty, so this repair bill’s on me. I’d appreciate any help you can give me.”
“Sure.”
As Candy walked away, Ella saw a tow truck drive past, then pull into the lane just ahead of her pickup. As it started to back into position for a hookup, Ella whistled to Dan, then turned and jogged back to her truck.
Ella gave the tow truck driver her keys and waited while he hauled her pickup off the street and into the parking lot of the real estate office.
Five minutes later, Leroy, judging from the embroidered name on his work shirt, took a closer look at her tire. “No obvious damage. I can fix this right here, if you want, Officer.”
“Go for it,” she said.
He worked efficiently, using battery-powered tools and a bright lantern, then lowered the vehicle to the ground and disconnected the winch cable.
“Your truck’s ready to go,” he said, putting his tools back into a metal storage bin. “You got lucky, ma’am. None of the bolts were bent or stripped too much to use, so all it really took were new nuts. The wheel’s on securely now, your tire is scuffed but intact, and you’re ready to roll. You might want to drive slow at first, just to make sure. And better have the alignment checked, sooner rather than later.”
Ella gave him a credit card as Dan joined her. While Leroy went back to his truck to make out her bill, she hung back with Dan. “Did the woman you spoke to see anything?”
“Nah. She was too busy ‘making friends.’ She said she’s come and gone twice within the past hour.”
“It was easy for our suspect to stay under the radar out here. I’ll have to be more careful from now on, even off the Rez.”
Dan waited by the cab of her pickup while she finished finalizing the bill. When she came back, he opened the door for her.
“You look so serious, Dan. What’s on your mind?” Ella said, climbing in back behind the driver’s seat.
Resting one arm on the frame, he leaned in slightly through the open window, obviously wanting to keep the conversation private. “Have you considered the possibility that Navajo witches are sending you a message by tampering with your ride?”
She thought back to the jawbone she’d found in the bed of her truck, something Dan didn’t know about, and realized he was probably right. Before she could say anything, he continued.
“You mentio
ned that cooking oil fire, now this. With that in mind, think of Coyote, the trickster in our creation stories. What’s been happening to you is right in line with that kind of thinking,” Dan said. “The suspect probably figured you’d catch the problem with your tire in time—and if not, that was just too bad.”
She nodded slowly. “It fits, in a sick way.”
He glanced at his watch. “I better take a pass on the Bucking Bronco. I’ve got an early court date tomorrow and I need to go over my notes and get at least a few hours’ sleep.”
“Okay. Thanks for all the help.”
“No problem,” he said, then after a beat added, “I don’t believe in the supernatural, Ella, but I’ve dealt with crazies and saw plenty of weird stuff when I lived down by Winslow. Watch your back.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said. “I’ve had run-ins with skinwalkers before. Let’s just say they leave a lasting impression.”
“I know your father died at their hands,” he said, his voice gentle. “They’ll use those memories against you. It’s the way they work. They’re crazy, but they’re also cunning.”
Dan was right. They’d zeroed in on her vulnerabilities with uncanny precision. Even after all these years, she still missed her dad. His death had created a void in her life, one that would never be filled. Ella checked out the wheel repair again, needing a second or two to compose herself before answering.
“I have powerful allies, Dan—my mom and brother,” she said at last. “And my backup is top notch, you included.”
“You know I’ll help you any way I can,” Dan said.
“I appreciate that. The problem is I don’t even have a suspect yet. That’s why I’d like to ask you a big favor,” Ella said slowly. It wouldn’t be a fair request, but she had to try anyway. “Can you compile a list of officers who have direct access to county inventory? I’m looking for someone who’s fairly competent with a rifle and has a good working knowledge of Navajo culture, or has access to contacts who do.”
He stared at the ground for a moment, then looked back at her. “I don’t like the idea of putting people from my department under the microscope just so you can rule them in, or out, as potential suspects. However, I trust what you’re doing, so I’ll see what I can find out. But no promises.”
