by Aimée
“If that’s what you want, you’ve got it. But if you need help, anytime, come by the house or give me a call. You remember my home number?” She saw him nod and continued. “Mom can keep a secret, and no matter what, I promise to cut through the red tape and give you all the backup you need.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.”
Seeing him glance at Dawn, Ella shook her head. “Don’t worry about her. You’re not as interesting to her as the river or her stuffed pal. By the time she gets home, she’ll forget all about you.”
Harry laughed. “Women everywhere seem to feel that way about me.”
Ella laughed, then looked at her daughter, motioning her back farther from the water’s edge. As she turned to look back at Harry, he’d disappeared into the reeds, and all that remained were boot tracks in the sand.
Ella exhaled softly. Harry was one of those men who was born for surveillance and undercover work. He could blend into a crowd of three and go unnoticed virtually anywhere. Although she admired him for following his dream, she found herself hoping that he’d return to Shiprock and the Navajo police in a few years.
Ella used her cell phone to contact Justine, but there was no answer. Leaving another message on her phone mail, she hung up. Either Justine was incredibly busy in her lab, or she was ducking Ella’s calls. The thought annoyed her. This was work, not personal, and Justine had professional responsibilities. When she told a member of her team to get in touch, she meant it.
Ella spent another hour with Dawn by the river, but when Dawn tried to make a pillow in the sand to sleep on, it was obvious that her daughter was ready to go. By the time they were home, Dawn was already asleep, so Ella put her down for her nap. After watching her daughter for a while, Ella joined Rose in the living room where her mother was crocheting a woolen hat for Dawn.
“You seem preoccupied, daughter. I was hoping that spending time with your child would help you relax. But it hasn’t. Not that I can see.”
“I’m worried about Justine,” Ella said, and explained about the incident with the police chief. “I’ve left two calls already, asking for her to contact me, but so far Justine hasn’t even tried to reach me. I know she’s angry, Mom, but I can’t let her get away with this kind of nonsense. It’s part of her job to stay in touch.”
“Give her time to cool off, and she’ll remember her responsibilities. Then it’ll be easier for both of you to talk. Do what you have to, mind you, but you’ll get farther if you don’t force the issue until she’s ready to listen to reason. Justine has always been stubborn, like her sisters.”
Ella nodded. “You’re right, but her attitude lately is getting me pretty ticked off, too. Right now I just want to get in her face and chew her out real good.”
“And what would that prove? That you’re her boss, and she has to listen whether she wants to or not?”
“Right or wrong, she owes me some respect because I’m head of our SI team. Any good law enforcement officer knows how important discipline and mutual respect are when working as a unit.”
Rose nodded. “She’s your assistant, and you have a right to expect her to follow your orders, but you need her loyalty, too, and that can’t be forced.”
“I don’t know, Mom. If she can’t deal with what’s happened and move on, then maybe she shouldn’t be part of the team. If I can’t count on her without question, I’ll have to find somebody to replace her. I know there’s been a lot of stress at the station because of cutbacks, but Justine has been handling it a lot worse than the rest of us.”
Rose nodded slowly. “All I’m telling you is that if you move slowly, and carefully plan your actions, you’ll be less likely to do something you might regret later.”
Ella glanced at her watch. “I’m going to go back to the station and see if I can catch her there. I need to know why she’s not answering my calls. Will you stay with Dawn?”
“That’s not a problem, but I sure wish that you could learn to really take time off. Your work consumes you, daughter. You’re never away from it, even when you’re with your family. I can see it there behind your eyes all the time. You need time for yourself as a woman and a mother. Dawn needs you, too.”
“She has me. I’m always there for her. But I have to earn a living, Mom. You know my job’s never been eight to five. Criminals don’t keep regular hours, and the department is still shorthanded.”
Rose shook her head. “What I want for Dawn is what I gave you. A girl needs time to be with her mother. I breast-fed you and your brother when you were little. Not the bottle on a schedule like the Anglos. Whenever you cried, or you wanted comfort, you had it. Dawn’s being raised on Anglo time and feeding schedules, like with some TV family.”
“It’s not as bad as you’re saying,” Ella said with a tiny smile. “You feed her whenever she wants to eat, and she sleeps when she’s ready, like it was with Clifford and me. She’s not being raised strictly traditional, true, but the Rez isn’t strictly traditional either. Dawn will be a product of her time. Someday she may even be proud of me for the work I do for our tribe.”
“I just wish…”
“That I were more of a traditionalist, like Clifford,” Ella finished for her, looking at her mother’s long maroon skirt and colorful blue blouse. The top was worn outside the skirt, and bound at the waist with a silver concha belt. All very traditional, she noted, and unlike her own slacks, boots, and jacket.
Ella felt the sting the truth always brought. Rose loved them both, but Ella had always known her mother’s heart was closer to Clifford’s, and that was something no one could deny.
“And if Dawn someday chooses to be a traditionalist like your brother instead of a modernist, will that hurt you? Will you be disappointed?”
For the first time Ella understood what her mother must have gone through. “I won’t be hurt, not as long as the path she chooses is one that she can give her whole heart to. Without that, her life would only be a passage of days, and that would hurt me. I want far more for her.”
Rose nodded slowly. “We’ll see, daughter.”
“But we’re a long way off from all that, Mom. Dawn’s just a baby learning about the world around her. Everything right now is a grand adventure.”
“Which you’ll miss seeing with her unless you’re very careful.”
Ella sighed. This was an argument she didn’t want to continue. If she’d been independently wealthy, she would have loved to stay at home with Dawn for at least the first few years of her life, but reality had forced her to make a different choice.
Ella drove to the office, wondering if maybe she should have waited until tomorrow before approaching Justine. But her young assistant needed to know about Begaye right away, especially if the escaped killer was in the area. Justine’s feelings at the moment were not a priority. Her safety was.
Ella walked into the station a short time later, and as she walked down the hall, Sergeant Joseph Neskahi came out of one of the offices.
“Hey, if it isn’t our celebrity,” he said with a teasing grin.
“How’s that?” Ella looked behind her, wondering what was going on, and if Neskahi was referring to someone else in the hall.
“You haven’t heard the radio ads?”
“What ads?”
“You know that Mrs. Yellowhair is trying to get her party’s nomination for her late husband’s senate seat, right?” Neskahi asked.
“I’m voting for her,” Officer Philip Cloud said as he passed them in the hall. “That seedy Anglo car dealer who got appointed by the county commission has been giving The People a hard time for years. He won’t sell cars to Navajos because he can’t repossess them here on the Rez. That guy makes me sick to my stomach.”
Ella laughed, sharing his sentiments as did many Navajos, then looked back at Joseph.
“As I was saying,” Joseph continued, “Mrs. Yellowhair is running a few radio ads. In one she answers questions about what she stands for. She then points to you as a role model f
or our tribe because you keep your identity as a Navajo without shying away from progress.”
Another cop came down the hall, saw Ella, and held out his notebook. “May I have your autograph? It’s for my son, of course,” he assured her.
“Oh, cut it out,” she groaned, already suspecting that she’d never hear the end of this.
Neskahi chuckled, but seeing the look Ella gave him, tried to wipe the grin from his face. He didn’t have much luck. The corners of his mouth continued to twitch.
“Don’t worry, Ella. You’ll have your fifteen minutes of fame—until that shock jock George Branch hears about it. Then the character assassination will begin. He doesn’t like the Yellowhairs or you.”
“Something else to look forward to on what used to be my favorite radio station,” she muttered. Seeing Big Ed motioning for her, she excused herself quickly and went to the chief’s office.
“I heard about the radio spots,” Big Ed said.
“I had nothing to do with that,” she said quickly. “You know I try to keep a low profile. It’s a lot safer for a cop.”
“I figured that wasn’t your style.” Big Ed paused, then continued. “By the way, I had another talk with Justine a few hours ago. I’ve ordered her to report to Sergeant Hobson twice a week. They can work out which days. He’s going to review our lethal force policy and threat evaluation strategies with her.”
“Chief, there’s something I better tell you right up front. I was the one who recommended that Justine downplay the misidentification incident on her report. I didn’t want anything on record until we were able to figure out exactly what went down.”
“Understood, but she’ll still have to undergo some refresher training. By the way, when I spoke to her about that, she was very short-tempered and defensive, and that doesn’t speak well for her. Those are character traits I don’t want to see in any officer.”
“Let me talk to her. Right now she’s upset because she thinks I told her to do one thing, and did another myself,” she explained.
“To the best of my knowledge, Justine’s never been quick-tempered before, though she’s sure been sensitive lately. If there’s a personal problem I need to know about, make sure that I do. I don’t like surprises, Shorty,” he said, using the nickname he’d given her, though she was actually almost a head taller than he was.
“Justine will come around. She just needs a little time to get herself together. We’ve been understaffed, and it’s meant a lot of extra responsibility for her.”
“She may also be getting a little cocky and over-confident. Let’s face it, she’s been on a winning team for some time now, and has helped take down some real heavy hitters. Maybe that’s what happens when you meet so much success at the start of your career. A few setbacks may be just what she needs to bring her down a peg or two, Shorty.”
“Let me look into things, and I’ll let you know what I find out. I came by to talk to her.”
“Then you’d better go by her home.”
“What? It’s not her day off. Besides, it’s payday. I would have thought she’d hang around at least until the checks were handed out.”
“So would I. But she took off sick this afternoon.”
In all the time Justine had worked at the department, Ella couldn’t remember her missing even a half day’s work. The news surprised her. Something was going on in her young cousin’s life, and now it was affecting her job.
Saying good-bye to the chief, Ella headed down the hall to the side door. One way or another, she intended to find out what was going on. Justine would have to either deal with whatever was bothering her and leave her personal life at home, or take a leave of absence until she could work things out. A cop with only half her mind on her job was a corpse waiting to happen.
FOUR
She was about to walk out of the building when Dwayne Blalock, the FBI agent assigned to their area, came walking up to her. A few years ago, Blalock, known by Navajos as FB-Eyes because he had one blue eye and one brown, could have posed for a recruiting poster for the Bureau. The Anglo was tall and athletic, good-looking in a suit, and possessed an attitude of arrogant competence.
Over the years, Blalock had learned the hard way about working with the Southwest cultures and respecting ways different from his own. However, he had mellowed considerably and was pleasant enough most of the time these days. But Ella still wouldn’t go as far as saying that she actually liked him, at least not out loud.
“Hey, Ella, are you in a hurry? I have someone I want you to meet,” Blalock said, then glanced back at the parking lot. “He’ll be here in a minute.”
“What’s going on? Am I going to regret this?”
“Only time will tell. The Bureau, in their infinite wisdom, has decided we need another agent in the area. I’ve been assigned to an office here in Shiprock, and the new man will take over my desk in Farmington.”
“Is this because of the terrorism incident we had here?”
“Yeah, that and the state senator’s murder. The Bureau likes things nice and neat, and neither one of those went down well back at headquarters. Of course, they’re citing the growing population in the Four Corners area as a reason for the extra agent, but that’s just a smoke screen. The older I get, the easier it is to see past the politics.”
A moment later a short, stubby-looking young pueblo man with neatly combed black hair, an easy smile, and a new-looking dark gray suit walked in. “Okay, I’m ready to meet this crack Nava-Joe team you spoke so highly about,” the man announced to Blalock in an eager, high-pitched voice.
“Agent Lucas Payestewa, this is Special Investigator Ella Clah. Her crime unit is the primary group you’ll be working with when you investigate crimes on and around the Navajo Nation.”
Ella stared at the agent. The man was Hopi unless she missed her guess, but why on earth would anyone assign a Hopi to investigate crimes on the Navajo reservation? The animosity between the tribes was generations old. It had its roots in issues still not resolved. They all centered on land disputes compounded by the fact that the Hopi reservation was completely surrounded by the Navajo Nation.
Seeing the surprise on her face, Payestewa chuckled. “Yep, I’m Hopi. But don’t worry, I’m the soul of diplomacy. You’ll love me.”
Ella nearly choked. “Okay. We’ve learned to believe everything the FBI tells us,” she managed with a straight face. Ella then looked at Blalock, who rolled his eyes but said nothing.
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you in particular,” Payestewa said. “I’ve heard a lot about the legendary Special Investigator Clah.”
Ella shrugged, then as Officer Ralph Tache passed by, she introduced him to Payestewa. Sergeant Neskahi hung back, watching the proceedings, apparently unable to make up his mind about the man.
“So you’ll be stationed pretty close to home,” Ella said, making conversation when everyone fell silent. “Most agents end up halfway across the country, or farther,” she said, leading all of them to her office and inviting them inside the small room.
“Yeah, but I doubt I’ll get many calls to go to the Hopi mesas. They don’t have much need for an agent with a law degree there. Crimes are usually pretty straightforward, and they already have enough tribal police to find any lost Navajos or run a snoopy Anglo out of a kiva.” He smiled broadly, indicating he was joking.
“So you’re an attorney, then?” Ella asked
“Yeah, I’ve got the sheepskin and everything. The tribe paid for my schooling, naturally. I think they wanted someone they could trust to represent them, so I ended up specializing in civil rights cases for minorities. Then, after a few years, I realized that I was spending almost all of my time waiting for a case. There just wasn’t enough work for me there. The tribe didn’t need really me, so I applied to the Bureau. When the Farmington position came open, the Bureau decided to take advantage of my background. With the large Native American population, Farmington has a continuing problem with civil rights violations
, especially between the Navajos and the Anglos.” He grinned. “Hey, if you ever want to hear any lawyer jokes, I’ve heard them all.”
Ella smiled, but she wasn’t at all sure how to take him.
“I think the Bureau made the final decision after the local politicians chose that car dealer, Marvin Riley, to take over for Senator Yellowhair until an election could be held,” Blalock said. “There was quite an uproar on the Rez. I know tribal officials wanted Yellowhair’s wife to get the appointment, or at least another Navajo.”
“And now you get the honor of being the first FBI agent to open a Shiprock office. That’s going to put you under an even bigger microscope. Is that a step up or a step down?” Ella asked.
“Officially I’ve been promoted,” Blalock said with a scowl. “Because of our history of successful joint operations with your PD, they felt I should open an office here with a two-person full-time clerical staff. Up to now, the only staff I’ve ever had was the infectious kind,” he muttered.
Ella knew that it was a dubious promotion. The PD would not like having the FBI so close at hand. Although their help had come in handy in the past, the PD preferred to maintain control over all criminal investigations on the Rez. To make things even worse for Blalock, he’d be Payestewa’s supervisor and would have to keep more regular office hours. He’d also have to use office space provided by the tribal government and be forced to rent tribal housing unless he wanted to drive back and forth every day from his current apartment in Farmington.
Payestewa looked at Ella. “So, is there anything interesting going on around here right now? You guys really made the news about this time last year. Maybe you’ll get a new gang of terrorists plotting to blow up one of the coal power plants.”
“Things are pretty quiet right now except for a recent armed robbery. But something else will turn up,” she answered vaguely, recognizing the eagerness in his voice as inexperience. “How long have you been working in the field?”
“Two years. I can’t believe that I’m finally back in the Southwest. They started me out in South Dakota, then sent me to New York because someone thought I’d be good at gaining the trust of some South American immigrants getting pushed around by one of the unions.” He gave her a confused look. “Don’t ask me how they came up with that one.”
