by Aimée
When Dawn nearly fell asleep sitting in the sand, Ella picked her up, brushed the sand gently off her daughter, and took the little girl back inside.
“Mom, I’ve got to go back to work,” Ella said. Clifford and his wife were seated on the sofa, and Rose in her favorite chair. “Dawn’s sleepy, so she might be ready for an early nap today.”
“I’ve learned not to count on things like that,” Rose said, laughing as she reached out for Dawn, who stumbled toward her.
“Before you go, sister, I need to speak to you,” Clifford said unexpectedly.
Ella saw the venomous glare Loretta gave her, and decided that the reason her brother and his wife had wanted to be alone with Rose was that they’d had a family meeting of sorts. It didn’t take a genius to guess the topic of discussion, either.
Curious, she tried to read her mother’s expression, but Rose’s attention was focused on Dawn. The only thing she could read on Loretta’s face was strong disapproval, but that didn’t tell her anything new.
Ella picked up her weapon from the top shelf of the bookcase where she’d left it before going out with Dawn. As she fastened the pancake holster to her belt, Clifford came into the kitchen.
“I want to help you find this killer,” he said.
“What did you have in mind?”
“As I thought about the events, one possibility came to me. I don’t like it, but I need to make sure we’re not going up against our old enemies again.”
“We’re not,” she said, knowing he meant skinwalkers. “The signs are wrong. This is more brutal and direct in its own way. I just need to get some solid evidence or a witness who’s credible before I’ll know exactly what happened. I think the killer or killers are enemies our cousin and I have made through the course of our work.”
“Maybe I can still help. You know that I wouldn’t volunteer to do this lightly, but why don’t you take me to where the crime took place? I may be able to see or sense something you and the others may have missed. I know how observant you are, but we just don’t look at things from the same perspective. That could be an asset to you now.”
Ella considered it. She knew what a sacrifice this was for Clifford, but he was right. His insight would be invaluable. She looked for physical evidence, but he looked for the hózhq, harmony in the relationship all things had to each other. That was why he could often quickly spot things that didn’t belong. An animal or even an insect that shouldn’t be there could have far-reaching consequences. This was an idea that forensic pathologists were just beginning to discover when they took into account seemingly unrelated things like the gestation of certain insects on dead flesh.
“A particularly bad death occurred there—so bad that some have renamed the place Red Mesa. Are you sure you’re up to going?” Ella asked, knowing that his beliefs would make a place like that totally abhorrent to him.
“Our relative was murdered, and you might start losing some of your allies, sister. You need me now and I’m going to help you in whatever way I can.”
As they went outside, Ella saw Loretta glancing out the window, and the expression on her face stunned her. She knew Clifford would have already told his wife what he’d intended to do, and she’d expected Loretta to have been spitting mad. Yet it wasn’t anger that she glimpsed in her sister-in-law’s expression, it was fear.
* * *
Ella drove her brother to the site of the fire and filled him in on the details of the crime as they walked to the exact spot. He looked paler than usual, but still very much in control of himself. Considering that to Clifford the threat the chindi posed to the living was solid, incontrovertible fact, she had to admire his courage.
Clifford took his time studying the place where the body had been found and the surrounding terrain. Finally he looked up and shook his head slowly. “All I can tell you is that this isn’t the work of the evil ones. It has none of their trademarks. From what you’ve told me, this wasn’t a ritual killing. It was just a brutal, calculated crime by cold-blooded killers. Judging from the time it must have taken, there were two of them, maybe more.”
“I was warned by an informant that there’s a conspiracy on the Navajo Nation. The problem is that I don’t know what kind of conspiracy. There’s a chance the crime against our cousin was just the first of many to come.”
Ella saw him wince and wanted to kick herself for not thinking before speaking. As a hataalii, her brother truly believed that words had power and that just voicing it could make it come true. “I’m sorry. Police work and your beliefs don’t mix easily.”
Clifford nodded. “You could be an even better cop if you learned to trust the power of our ways more, and blend them with all the training you’ve received.”
Hearing a vehicle approaching, Ella glanced up and saw Carolyn and Dr. Michael Lavery, the chief pathologist from the university’s medical school, pull up beside her Jeep in a new-looking SUV. Ella had met Michael Lavery before when they’d worked on the death of Senator Yellowhair’s daughter. The physician was a tall, slender Anglo with sharp gray eyes and short blonde hair, which encircled an expanding, well-tanned bald patch in the center of his scalp.
Seeing Clifford, Carolyn gave him a startled look. “Forgive me, but you’re the last person I expected to see here,” Carolyn said to Ella’s brother, avoiding the use of his name out of respect.
“I thought I could be of some use to my sister in searching for evidence, but it doesn’t seem so.”
“That’s not true,” Ella said. “You’ve helped me eliminate some theories and open the door to new ones.”
Carolyn introduced Michael to Clifford, and Ella was grateful when Michael didn’t immediately hold out his hand to shake Clifford’s. Navajos normally disliked touching strangers, but the last person a hataalii would want to touch was a pathologist.
“What brings you here?” Ella asked.
“Both of us wanted to go over the area again in case we missed something,” Carolyn said. “I don’t expect to find anything new, but it’s worth a try.”
“I appreciate you both coming here to help. I know that you’re in the middle of moving, and that’s always a hassle.”
“You’ll have to see our new house in Waterflow. Michael likes to garden now that he’s retired, and he’s already planning a huge rose garden.” Carolyn paused. “By the way, we’d planned to go on vacation together in a few days, but with everything that’s happened, I’m going to cancel.”
“No, don’t do that,” Ella said. “You haven’t had time off in years. You deserve a break from work.”
“Oh, please,” Carolyn said, smiling. “I’m getting this advice from a certified workaholic? When’s the last time you took time off?” Carolyn asked.
“I took maternity leave not so long ago,” Ella answered. “And these days, rather than take two weeks once a year, I find it easier to take a day here and a day there. But we’re getting off the subject. You really have to go on vacation. You’ve been giving your work everything for too long. You have to recharge your batteries.”
“You need balance and harmony, Doctor,” Clifford said. “When things are out of balance, sickness comes. It’s inevitable.”
“Medical science is just starting to come around to that thinking, too,” Michael agreed. “And what they say is true, honey, you seldom take time off. You’ve earned a few weeks to call your own.”
Carolyn had a frustrated look. “But right now—”
“Is as good a time as any,” Ella replied.
Carolyn sighed, then reached into her purse and extracted a small notebook. She wrote quickly and then tore off the sheet and handed it to Ella. “That’s where I’ll be. If you need me, or if there’s anything I can do, call. I can be back here in a matter of hours.”
As they walked away, Ella saw Lavery reach for her hand. She smiled, glad that love had found her dear friend. Carolyn had so few friends on the Navajo Nation, she needed someone like Lavery in her life, a man she had much in common with
.
“They make a good pair,” Clifford said quietly. “They’ll be good for each other if they’ll give themselves the time to let their relationship deepen naturally. But for people who are used to being in control of every facet of their private lives, it won’t be easy.”
Ella nodded slowly. “She cares about him a lot. That’ll help.” Ella glanced back at Clifford. “Thanks for treating her like a friend. I know that’s especially hard for you.”
“I don’t like what she does for a living, sister, and I don’t enjoy being around her. That’s the truth. But I also recognize that she’s doing what she feels is a service for the tribe. She’s a good person, and her motives are equally good. That deserves respect.”
As they walked back to the unit, Ella heard her call sign on the handheld radio. She answered and dispatch informed her that Big Ed wanted to see her when she came back to the station.
Ella drove Clifford back to Rose’s house first. “It won’t be easy for you now,” she said. “Loretta’s going to be afraid to be around you since you’ve been at that place of death.”
“I know. I won’t get near her or my son until later today. I need to perform some rites first.”
“Would you prefer I drop you off at your medicine hogan?”
He shook his head. “Let her see me and gain the assurance that I’m all right. I’ll walk home then without going into our mother’s house. My wife will know where I’m headed, and her mind will be more at ease that way.”
Ella looked at her brother for a moment before focusing on the road. No matter how many arguments they had, she knew that her brother loved his wife and his son deeply. In his heart, they would always come first.
She couldn’t help but wonder if anyone would ever love her that much, and if she was really capable of giving that kind of love in return. She loved Dawn with all her heart, and her daughter was the center of her life, but it was different between a mother and child. The relationship between two adults was always much more complex and, in her experience, never one that was on such an instinctual level. She’d heard of soul mates, of course, but if there was such a thing, she’d never experienced it.
Ella dropped Clifford off, waved to her mother, ignored Loretta, then headed straight to the station. She had a feeling that what lay ahead for her with the chief was not good.
She wasn’t wrong. Fifteen minutes later when she walked inside the chief’s office, his somber expression confirmed her suspicions.
“Sit down, Shorty.” Directness had always been Big Ed’s strength. “We have a problem with procedures that we need to work out. In the past few years we’ve had some major policy changes coming down from the tribe, and from federal guidelines that I never really expected to have to deal with. I’d have fought harder if I’d realized the implications,” he added, almost under his breath. “The bottom line is that when one of our officers is the victim of a homicide, we are required to have someone outside the immediate chain of command—in this situation meaning the FBI—look into it.”
“Does that mean you’re taking me off my assistant’s case?” She’d expected this sooner or later. In almost every police or sheriff’s department, a cop was not allowed to lead an investigation where he or she was personally involved. Still, it didn’t make accepting the news any easier.
“I don’t like handing departmental matters completely over to outsiders, Shorty, so I’m assigning Sergeant Neskahi to work as our liaison, and with Blalock directly. The sergeant’s never been assigned to the SI team permanently, so I can get away with it. I would do the job personally, but many believe that I won’t be objective. I’m too protective of everyone under my command.”
She nodded slowly. “Joseph is a good officer. But without Harry Ute on the team anymore, that makes us dangerously short of investigators,” Ella said. “Neskahi may have to work some long, long hours.”
She immediately thought of, but didn’t mention, Sergeant Manuelito, who’d presented such a thorn in her side on previous investigations. Manuelito was a seasoned officer, but he possessed not only a closed mind, but also a chip on his shoulder where she was concerned. He was the only officer in the entire department she actually considered an enemy.
“No one here really wanted the job, Shorty. We all know that the circumstantial evidence right now makes you a suspect. But I had a long conversation with the sergeant. I convinced him that it’s not only a matter of duty, but if he’s involved, you’ll at least be given the benefit of the doubt and not railroaded by anyone eager to close a messy case. Agent Blalock has turned out better than we all expected, but unfortunately, the Bureau tends to choke on all their rules, you know?”
She nodded. “I’m glad you assigned Joseph to this. He’ll bend over backwards to be fair. But that means we’ll also be shorthanded on other cases.”
“You know I would have replaced Harry long before now if I hadn’t been forced to keep his position vacant because of funding cuts. Everyone in your team has been working overtime a lot. I’m aware of that. I was hoping that when the president and Tribal Council settle on funding for the next year, we would be given more support. I was promised as much by several councilmen and the tribal president, but that still leaves us with a problem the rest of this fiscal year.”
“So while Neskahi is on loan, you want me to take up the slack around here?”
Big Ed nodded. “I know that you’re going to continue to look into what happened, Shorty. I don’t really expect anything else. But officially, you’re off that case, and taking care of all the other pending investigations. Clear?”
“Perfectly.” At least she hadn’t been put on administrative leave. Ella knew that in a large department she might have been transferred to another section and given a desk job.
Almost as if reading her mind, he added, “You’re lucky we’re so shorthanded right now. Otherwise I would have been pressured to keep you at the station or take you off duty until everything was settled.”
A knock sounded at the chief’s door, and hearing it, Ella turned her head. FBI agents Blalock and Payestewa stood there. Payestewa gave Ella an uneasy look, but Blalock greeted her with his customary nod.
Big Ed waved them into his office. “Come in, fellows. I’m glad you were able to stop by so quickly.”
The chief briefed the Bureau agents on the reassignments, then added, “Our Special Investigations people are at your disposal except for Ella. She’ll be handling other cases. You’ll of course need to get a copy of all her reports pertaining to Officer Goodluck’s homicide, but other than that, Ella’s officially off the case.”
“Count on us to give you a fair shake, Ella,” Blalock said. “I know what’s going on, and I don’t like it any more than you do.”
“Let’s get down to work,” Big Ed said, then looked at Ella. “I believe you have other things to attend to now, Special Investigator.”
Ella stood and left the office, closing the door behind her. Everything she had worked so hard to achieve was beginning to slip away. As she started down the hall to her office, Sergeant Manuelito came out of one of the squad rooms and stood in her way.
“I just want you to know that I’m volunteering to help out in the Officer Goodluck investigation,” he said. “I’ve got the credentials, and this is my chance to prove my skills as a major crimes investigator.” He paused, then added, “With you as head of the unit, I knew I’d never get an even break, but it looks like lots of things will be changing for the better.”
Not rising to the bait, Ella walked past him slowly, taking advantage of her height to force him to look up to her. He’d always had a problem with her and the way she got things done. To him, going by the book was everything.
His attitude only served to remind her of the road ahead. Her enemies would rise against her, united in one purpose—that of destroying her. At the same time, the few friends she had would find their loyalties tested to the limit. And after it was all over, no matter how it turned out, nothing woul
d ever be the same again.
SIXTEEN
Ella reported to work at the usual time the next day and spent the entire shift catching up on paperwork despite her desire to join the search for Justine’s killer. It was nearly evening when the desk sergeant came in with three thick file folders. “I just finished updating each of these with a short summary. Big Ed said you’d be handling these cases now.”
Ella took the files and scanned them, deciding which case had the greatest priority. The one ending up on top was the Thomas Zah case, the prisoner she and Justine had arrested and later on transferred back to Shiprock from Window Rock. He’d been taken to Window Rock initially because that was where the crime had occurred, but fearing that he wouldn’t get a fair trial there, his lawyer had arranged to have him moved back to Shiprock. His wife had been responsible for the hostage crisis earlier.
Ella studied the latest incident in the murder case, as described in a report made by a patrolman working the Twin Lakes area, east of Window Rock and on the New Mexico side of the Rez. The case was pretty straightforward, involving drinking and the brutal killing of an in-law in front of several witnesses.
Family feuds weren’t very common on the Rez, but when they did occur they were usually between members of different clans. This was natural, because marriages were traditionally outside the clan. These feuds could become very nasty, and go on for years. Ella had observed that although many of her people were quite easygoing, a perceived offense or slight between in-laws could generate hard feelings that often resulted in property damage, theft of livestock, or even violence.
Now Jimmy Begaye, one of the sons of the murdered man, was threatening to even the score and go after Thomas Zah’s relatives. Jimmy’s wife, Allison, worried that her husband would try and make good on his threat, had reported him missing. Jimmy had apparently left home, taking his hunting bow and knife with him.
