Red Mesa

by Aimée

  The room became bright and clear with the quick flicker of the fluorescent light fixture, but everything inside looked normal. All the drawers were closed, and no cabinets appeared to have been rifled.

  “Ella. Did you see this?” Harry was inside now, his pistol down by his side. He pointed to the doorjamb, which was splintered around the lock. They both turned for a closer look and saw the dirty smudge of a boot print scratched into the white paint next to the knob. A large crack in the wood showed where the dead bolt had been forced to give way.

  “Kicked in for sure. But where are my baby and my mom? Did this happen after they left or before?” She moved quickly into the living room, pistol ready, and switched on a lamp.

  “Ella! Careful and by the book! Remember?” Harry followed, covering her. “We need to make sure the bad guys are really gone.”

  He touched her shoulder, which was shaking slightly along with the rest of her. She looked at him, hoping he hadn’t noticed, but there was an uncharacteristic softening in his eyes that told her he had. She tried to calm down and take a breath. “Harry, she’s my daughter. I’ve got to know what happened here, and fast.”

  “Then cover me, and we’ll clear the house.” He crouched down and inched around into the hall. Ella followed close behind, ready to take on the intruder with deadly force, if necessary.

  Two minutes later, they returned to the kitchen. “Nobody is in the house now, that’s for sure,” Ella said. “And there’s no sign of anything missing or a struggle. If we’d had an intruder while Mom and Two were here, one or both would have taken him on,” Ella added.

  “Rose would have used her cane, I’ll bet.” Harry nodded. “Maybe your mom took Dawn and drove away in her truck, and the thief broke in after he saw them leave. Burglars do that a lot. Your family is probably safe, doing some shopping.”

  “That still doesn’t explain Two’s absence. Let me look around for Mom’s purse or Dawn’s diaper bag. If that’s gone, it’s a good sign that Mom and Dawn left under normal circumstances. Would you take the flashlight from the drawer beside the refrigerator and check outside for Two? I just hope nothing happened to that mutt. He’d die protecting my family.”

  “If he’s outside, I’ll find him. You check around one more time. Maybe your mom took a sweater for Dawn, or like you said, her diaper bag.”

  Harry left for the kitchen, and Ella went into the nursery. The diaper bag was on a chair, but the zipper to the diaper storage was open, and two disposable training pants were in there instead of the usual three. That could have meant that Rose grabbed a pair as she left, not expecting to be gone long, but making sure in case Dawn had an accident. Checking in her room, Ella noted that Dawn’s toy dinosaur was gone. Moving quickly through the house, she couldn’t find it on the floor or in any other room.

  As Ella reached the kitchen, she saw the beam of a flashlight outside. “Here dog, here boy!” Harry called from near the shed.

  Ella checked in the refrigerator and saw an empty space where they normally kept one of Dawn’s child-sized water bottles for when they went out. Rose must have grabbed it, too, when she left.

  Looking around to see if there were any other clues, Ella glanced over at the hook by the door where the dog leash was kept. The phone rang just as she realized the leather lead was gone.

  “Hello, Mom?” Ella grabbed the receiver before the second ring, knowing somehow who it was.

  “Hi, daughter. I’m okay, and so is my granddaughter. We’re at the vet’s in Shiprock. It’s Two. He became really sick all of a sudden, and I thought that mutt was going to die unless I did something right away. I tried to get hold of your brother, but he was away visiting a patient.”

  Ella couldn’t speak for a moment, her heart was still pounding so hard. Harry walked in just then, and she smiled at him. “They’re okay!”

  “Is he okay? Yes, the vet says Two’s going to be fine,” Rose said, unaware that Ella had been speaking to Harry. “They pumped out his stomach, and they’re going to run tests on the contents to see what made him so sick.”

  “That’s great, Mom.” Ella mulled things over in her mind. The problem with Two and the break-in could have been linked to whoever had been hanging around outside the night before. “Make sure the vet checks for poison. I have a feeling somebody put something in his food, or left some bait outside for him.”

  “But why would anyone do that? We don’t have any close neighbors, and Two wouldn’t harm anybody’s lambs or chickens.”

  “Did you notice anyone hanging around the place today, Mom?”

  “Two barked a few times, but that’s all. Is something wrong at the house? You’ve got that tone in your voice,” Rose said.

  “Somebody kicked in the back door after you left, but I still haven’t found out why. You just take care of Two, and Dawn, and I’ll see you when you return. When do you think that’ll be?”

  “I’m about to leave now. Two is coming with us. The vet doesn’t need him to stay overnight, though he’s still pretty weak. What else happened to the house? Is anything missing?”

  “Except for a little splintered wood, nothing else seems wrong. Don’t worry about a thing. By the time you get here, we’ll have gone over everything one more time.” Ella looked over to Harry, who nodded.

  “You have company?” She paused, then continued quickly. “I hope you’re not going to tell me it’s my granddaughter’s father.” Rose still wasn’t much impressed by Kevin. “My day’s been bad enough.”

  “No, but it’s someone you know.” She looked at Harry and he nodded, understanding what Rose had asked. Ella knew that her mom liked Harry and knew his family from way back, but she wasn’t about to announce his name over the phone and explain why Rose couldn’t talk about it. “You’ll see, Mom.”

  “So everything’s okay with Rose and Dawn?” Harry asked as soon as Ella hung up. He put the flashlight back into the drawer. “I assume the dog is with your mother.”

  “She took him to the vet’s. Mom thinks he may have been poisoned, but she couldn’t get my brother’s help because he’d gone to tend a patient.”

  “Is Two going to make it?”

  “Yeah, he’s even coming home now. Did you notice anything outside that would help us ID the person who broke in here?” Ella knew Harry was an expert at spotting evidence. She’d hated to see him leave her crime team to join the Marshals Service because of that.

  “I found a place where it looked like a man had crouched and waited behind the shed. My guess is that he stayed there until your mom left. The tracks lead to the back door, and the prints seem to match the impression he made on the finish of the door when he kicked it in.” Harry pointed out the marks on the door again. “It looks like the whole thing was planned.”

  “Poisoning Two made it easy for him to break in. With Mom and the dog out of the way, he had a clear field. I wonder what he wanted. I still haven’t spotted anything missing.” As Ella looked around the kitchen curiously, something suddenly occurred to her. “Do you suppose he broke in to leave something behind?”

  “You mean like a bug or a hidden camera? Or maybe a bomb?” Harry’s eyes narrowed at the thought. “You have made some enemies, Ella, like the guy I’m tracking.”

  “I don’t think he’s the bomb type. That’s too cerebral for him. And where would he get the materials needed?” Ella looked under the sink, noting the pots and pans, which had replaced the cleaning solutions in the prechild housekeeping setup.

  “I agree that it doesn’t seem to fit Begaye’s profile,” Harry said. “If he was ready to attack, he’d probably come up behind you on a street corner or try and run you off the road. A bomb would be too impersonal for someone who enjoyed using his fists and feet to kill someone. But if he wasn’t the one, then who was, and why?”

  “Let’s take another slow, careful look around. If you see anything that doesn’t look right, check it out or let me know. Let’s go from room to room and look for a subtle trap of some sort.” E
lla walked over to the refrigerator, opened it up slowly, and looked inside while Harry checked the fittings on the gas stove.

  “Here’s something, Harry. He took my last diet cola.” Ella checked the trash can and shook her head. “Must have grabbed it when he left. My mom won’t drink the things, and neither of us would ever give one to Dawn. And there should be two more apples in there.”

  “Unless your mom had a hungry and thirsty guest earlier today,” Harry suggested.

  Ella looked in the small plastic, lidded container between the cupboard and the refrigerator. “Then the apple cores and the can would have been here in the trash. She insists I use a glass, and wouldn’t serve the drink still in a can to any visitor. I’ll ask anyway, but I think we got off lucky if that’s all that’s missing.”

  “There’s got to be more to it than that. Let’s keep looking, and have your mom double-check. I doubt this guy went through all the trouble of poisoning the dog and breaking in because he was hungry. The fact that he brought poison along implies a plan being enacted. Anyone breaking in for food would act spontaneously out of hunger.” Harry finished looking into the cupboards and moved into the living room.

  On impulse Ella checked her bedroom, but found her father’s old deer rifle and extra ammunition she kept in a locked drawer still there. All her and her mom’s jewelry seemed undisturbed as well, though the only expensive items they owned were old silver and turquoise squash blossoms and rings.

  Moving over to her computer, Ella spotted immediately that her CPU was still warm to the touch, though it had been switched off. “Harry, I’m going to start searching for fingerprints.”

  He called back from the hallway, where he was checking a closet and the heating unit. “Dust the refrigerator and the door, too. Do you have your kit in your Jeep?”

  “Yes, and my old one is here on the top shelf in my bedroom closet. I’ll get both and you can dust the kitchen for latents.”

  A half hour later, they gave up. All the surfaces they checked had been wiped clean, probably with window cleaner and paper towels, which they found, damp, in the trash. Ella put on a pot of coffee and heated up some mutton stew while they tried to guess the purpose of the break-in.

  “Let’s go over what we have,” she said. “We’ve found no evidence of tampering or vandalism except for the door, nor was anything of any significance taken from the house.”

  “Yet the perp was very careful not to leave any physical evidence that could help us identify him,” Harry pointed out. “And we’ve pretty much ruled out Samuel Begaye as a suspect. Who else might have it in for you at the moment, Ella?”

  “Except for any of the relatives involved in Zah’s transfer, I really can’t think of anyone. And I think those people would have trashed the place, not just kicked the door open and had a light snack.” Ella shook her head, stirring the kettle of stew. Seeing the flash of lights, she turned toward the kitchen window as a pickup came up the driveway. “Here’s my family. Let’s see what my mom can add to the mystery.”

  * * *

  Thirty minutes later, Ella had no more answers than before. Rose had already given her the details of earlier events. She’d left with the sick dog and her granddaughter in a hurry, but hadn’t noticed anyone hanging around outside.

  As Rose looked at the scraggly brown-and-black-haired mutt, who was now curled up on his folded quilt in the kitchen, she reminded Ella that he’d been barking earlier in the afternoon.

  “When will the vet be able to tell you if Two was poisoned?” Ella asked as she sat with Dawn at the table, helping her eat small chunks of stew with a spoon. Nowadays Dawn managed to keep a high percentage of food off her chin and the front of her shirt. She hated bibs.

  “He sent samples of the dog’s stomach contents to a lab in Albuquerque. He’ll get a call back probably tomorrow or the next day.”

  “I noticed the dog dish was only half-empty when I went out looking for him earlier,” Harry mentioned. “You might want to save what’s left just in case the vet needs more to go on.”

  Ella started to hand Dawn to her mother, but Harry stood and held up his hand. “I’ll bring it in. You make sure your daughter has a chance to finish her dinner.” He walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up the flashlight he’d used earlier, then slipped outside.

  “You told me that the criminal the deputy marshal is hunting could be hiding in this community somewhere,” Rose said. “But you still don’t think he was the one who poisoned the dog or kicked in my door, do you?”

  “No, and until I can figure out what our intruder was doing here, identifying him will be almost impossible. I’ll mention what happened to my brother and my daughter’s father and see if they have any ideas, or have seen any strangers around lately. In the meantime, I better fix that lock.”

  “Wait until tomorrow, and maybe your daughter’s father can do the job. He’s coming over to visit her anyway. At least that’s what he said. Just let him know ahead of time so he can bring the right tools. He’s always looking for an excuse to stay a little bit longer. You notice when he comes over it’s nearly always around a mealtime?” Rose gave her a wry smile.

  Harry came in just then, holding the dish of kibble, which was still more than half-full. Ella took it from him, then put the food in a plastic bag. “This didn’t turn out to be the relaxing evening I’d planned for you.”

  He grinned at her. “Then ask me again.”

  Rose smiled at him. “You have an open invitation.”

  Ella looked at her mother in surprise. Her hopeful expression said it all. She’d found a new candidate for a son-in-law. Ella barely managed to suppress a groan.

  “I better be heading back, but I’ll stay in touch,” Harry said, then wishing them good night, went to his car.

  “He’s a very nice man, daughter, and he’s even better looking now that he’s finally putting on some weight. Don’t you think?”

  “Mom, don’t start.”

  “You two seem to understand each other so well, too.”

  “We’re cops.”

  “Which gives you something in common.” Rose stood and picked up Dawn. “I’m very glad you brought him by.”

  Alone in the kitchen, Ella looked at Two. “She’ll never stop now. First it was Wilson and now it’s going to be Harry. What have I started?”

  Two looked up at her, yawned widely and slowly, then put his head back down.

  “Well said, dog,” Ella replied.

  EIGHT

  Ella stayed up late fixing the back-door trim with two steel mending plates and some screws she found in the kitchen drawer. She then attached an old barrel bolt on the inside to serve as a temporary lock until it could be repaired or replaced.

  It wasn’t until that task was done that she felt safe enough to go to bed. Yet, even though she was exhausted, sleep eluded her. Ella continued to think about the break-in as she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Harry’s search for Begaye and its ramifications, coupled with the conspiracy warning she’d received from Coyote, circled endlessly in her mind.

  It seemed that she’d only just fallen asleep when Two woke her up, sticking his nose right up against her face. He was a big dog, and could easily rest his head on the mattress when standing next to the bed. She tried to push him away, but he’d go to the window, growl menacingly, then return to her bed. Ella grudgingly opened her eyes and watched him. The dog still wasn’t feeling up to par, but he was clearly agitated about something.

  Reaching for her pistol and the flashlight in her nightstand drawer, she crept out of her bedroom without turning on the light, clad in her long nightshirt and wearing fuzzy slippers. First she checked on Dawn, but the baby was sound asleep, curled up in a fetal position under her blanket. A moment later she entered the kitchen and opened the back door, letting Two out.

  The dog ran a few feet, then stood beside Rose’s herb garden, the hair on the back of his neck standing up straight. His deep growl was relentless, his eyes glued on somet
hing farther away from the house.

  Ella moved forward cautiously, the bright moonlight a help as she tried to figure out what was spooking the dog. She checked the ground for footprints and made a visual search of the area surrounding the entire house, but saw nothing new or unusual that could explain Two’s behavior.

  Finally she went back to the kitchen door. Twice she tried to get Two to come inside, but the dog insisted on remaining on the back step, determined to guard the house from something only he could see.

  As Ella went inside, she saw Rose standing in the dimly lit hallway, wearing her flannel robe and old moccasins.

  “Something’s not right, daughter. Two doesn’t get upset for no reason.”

  “I know,” Ella answered. “I get the strong feeling I’m missing something. But I looked carefully and nothing’s out there now.”

  Almost in response, Two scratched on the screen. Ella let him in and the dog trotted to the end of the hallway and lay down.

  “Danger seems to be pressing in on us,” Rose said quietly.

  Ella felt it, too. Her instincts told her that the dog had been poisoned, and that the incident was only the beginning of the bad times that lay ahead. “I’m going to call the station. If there’s something going on in this part of the Rez tonight, I need to know about it.”

  Ella picked up the receiver and after several moments hung up. “Nothing unusual,” she told her mother. “Just the regular number of DWIs, driving while intoxicated, arrests. I’ve asked that the patrolman in this area make additional passes around here, just in case.”

  “We might as well go back to bed,” Rose said, unsatisfied. “If there’s trouble, it’ll find us soon enough. In the meantime, maybe we can get some rest.”

  Ella didn’t get much sleep, but by seven she was ready to get up. Using the phone in her room, she dialed Justine’s home number. All night long she’d thought about how to mend the rift between them. Things were starting to get busy again at work, and they had to find a way to pull together as a team.