“About time. Both the Feds and the tribe have been showing a great deal of interest in me lately. So let’s get to it. What’s the problem?”
Ella wondered if she’d made those assumptions after finding Ford’s listening device, or if she’d had more to go on. “You have a history of demonstrating against the operation and construction of nuclear power plants,” Ella said, not elaborating. Her gaze stayed on Dr. Lee but the woman gave nothing away.
“And you want to know if I’ll be a problem once the Tsétaak’á Generating Station opens? Is that it?”
“In a nutshell,” Ella answered, glad to take the direct approach.
“As I’m sure you already know, I’ve discontinued my efforts to prevent the opening of the Hogback facility.” She met Ella’s gaze and, though it was an atypical response for a Navajo, held it. “I’ve come to realize that other types of influence are more effective—and are more long lasting—than demonstrations.”
“Explain,” Ella prodded when Dr. Lee didn’t elaborate.
“Women are the real source of power on the reservation. We’re the property owners, and always get custody of the kids. Our primary clan, the one we’re ‘born into,’ is our mother’s. It’s through our women that change—the real kind—will come. That’s why I teach women’s studies these days. Influencing those who’ll impact the future, that’s the legacy I want to leave behind. My voice won’t prevent future nuclear power plants, but the young women who are in my classes today may someday accomplish that goal.”
It was a practiced speech. Ella could feel it in her gut. “So you’re no longer interested in stopping the opening of our nuclear facility?”
“No. This is a fight for the next generation,” Dr. Lee said. “Does that disappoint you?”
Ella blinked, surprised by the aggression in her tone. “I’m neither pleased nor disappointed. I’m only after the truth.”
Ella allowed the silence to stretch out between them for several long minutes. Dr. Lee scarcely moved, her breathing regular and slow. Intuition assured Ella that she, too, was being methodically sized up.
“What’s frightening you?” Dr. Lee asked at last, her gaze narrowed. “Has there been another threat against the plant? Are you here to determine if I’m involved?”
“What makes you think anyone has made any threats?” Ella deflected. Dr. Lee’s tactic disturbed her. The activists she’d met in the past had usually been argumentative and highly driven people—warriors of a different kind, anxious to take action. Yet there was a coolness about Dr. Lee that seemed out of character with the radical, outspoken activist her old files claimed her to be. Maybe age had mellowed her, or maybe she was just fishing, trying to find out what Ella knew.
Dr. Lee stood. “I’m here most mornings, teaching, but I have office hours in the afternoons. If I can help you with something, Investigator Clah, don’t hesitate to ask,” she said. “You might consider stopping by and acquainting yourself with what we have to offer in women’s studies these days. We give the students plenty to think about, and there’s more than enough to satisfy anyone who needs a commitment to a cause.”
“I didn’t come here tonight only because of you,” Ella said, just to gauge her reaction.
“I’m sure you didn’t,” Dr. Lee answered with a laugh. “Multitasking is the province of a skilled law enforcement officer.”
“You say you’re no longer involved with the activists who’ve worked hard to stop the power plant from opening. Does that mean you’ve lost contact with those people?” Ella glanced at Dr. Lee’s desktop computer. “Or do you mean that you only stay in touch via e-mail?” It was a shot in the dark—a way to see how Dr. Lee would react more than anything else.
Dr. Lee calmly pulled back a strand of gray hair that had worked itself loose from the traditional Navajo bun at the nape of her neck. “They’ve gone their way and I have mine, so we’ve lost touch. And, no, Detective, you can’t browse through my mail. There are some rights I will fight to preserve. The right to privacy is one. But if you really suspected I was involved in something dangerous, I’m sure you’d already have found a way to check my computer and private mail. Seems like these days, the government can invade almost every aspect of a person’s life without due process.”
“Thank you for taking time to talk to me, Professor,” Ella said, following her to the door.
“For the record, if I had been communicating with those activists and trying to hide it, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to use a computer that’s on a college network. My e-mails are subject to examination at any time by the administration—standard policy. If I were hiding something, I’d make darned sure no one would ever find it.” Dr. Lee stepped back so Ella could pass, then locked the door behind them.
Whether Jane Lee was involved in a plot against the power plant remained an open question. To Ella, the professor was now even more of an enigma than before. She was clearly a woman of layers, not afraid of a challenge and still defiant.
“By the way, have you seen the new generating station close up?” Ella asked without any particular inflection. There was no denying the photos she’d seen of Dr. Lee photographing the plant. “It’s state-of-the-art. Safety’s been the primary concern, if you believe such publicity.”
Dr. Lee smiled. “So that’s where this is all coming from! You’re right, I have looked at it from a distance, and I even took photos,” she answered. “Who wouldn’t? It’s a piece of history in the making. From that standpoint, it interests me, if only as a visual I can share with my classes.”
Again, Ella picked up nothing from either Dr. Lee’s inflection or her body language. That alone made her suspicions grow. Instinct told her that Dr. Lee had learned from past mistakes, and that would make her a formidable enemy.
SEVEN
As they walked down the hall, Ella noticed Ford and Justine just inside the reception area, talking to one of the faculty members. Apparently having seen them, too, Dr. Lee excused herself and walked ahead to greet them.
While Dr. Lee and Ford spoke, Justine stepped away discreetly and joined Ella.
“How did it go at the hospital?” Ella whispered.
“There was an ugly scene. Ralph’s sister is a devout Christian, but the rest of the family got their backs up the second they saw Reverend Tome. Rather than make things worse for everyone, Ford spoke briefly to Trudy, then left. Afterwards, we dropped Abednego off at the house—he’s now wearing his canine ballistic vest—then drove straight here.”
Ella watched Ford and Dr. Lee in conversation. Her gut was telling her that Jane Lee was guilty of something. Jane’s failure to even mention the bombing, which had to have been on everyone’s mind at the college, assured Ella that she was hiding something.
When Justine went to get herself a cup of punch, Ford came over, greeting Ella with his usual warm smile. Glancing around casually, he lowered his voice, and added, “I was hoping to make myself a little more useful here tonight.”
“There’s a desktop computer in Dr. Lee’s office. . . .”
“Say no more,” he answered.
“Her door’s locked.”
“I’m sure you can get around that,” he answered, “so the real question is whether you think the risk is worth it.”
Ella took a deep breath. “How fast can you work?”
“Depends on what I’m up against,” he answered honestly.
Ella considered it for a moment. If they both disappeared for more than just a minute or two, Dr. Lee would go check on things. Ella was as sure of that as she was of her next breath. And if they left Justine to stall Dr. Lee, she’d catch on immediately.
“The risk is unacceptable,” Ella said at last. “You recently hacked into her laptop but found nothing?”
“That’s right.”
“Did you access all her e-mails?” Ella asked.
“There were some encrypted files I couldn’t access without the passwords. It’s been a while since I did this kind of work,” he admitted
grudgingly.
“I have an idea,” Ella said, thinking of Teeny, the nickname she’d given her old friend, Bruce Little. He was the best hacker she knew. “But it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I’ll swing by your place shortly after seven. That okay with you?”
“That’s fine,” he answered.
Putting away her cell phone, on which she had been talking, Justine joined them again. “I just spoke to Phillip Cloud. He’s on guard duty by your house, Ford. He and his brother will be taking turns tonight, watching with night-vision binoculars. He wanted us to know that your dog began barking like mad a short time ago. Then he stopped.”
“Abednego needs a reason to bark. . . .” Ford said slowly.
“Could you take my brother home?” Ella asked Justine. “I want to go check on Abednego.”
“Not a problem.” Justine answered.
“Thanks,” Ella replied, already on the move.
“Let me go with you,” Ford said, quickly falling into step beside her. “Abednego’s reliable. He knows something’s not right or he wouldn’t have been barking.”
“Dogs can also bark at silly things like a cat on the cinder block wall. Let’s not see too much in this,” she said, reaching the door. “Maybe it’s the vest.”
“No, if that was bothering him, he’d just try and take it off. When Abednego barks, there’s a reason,” Ford said firmly but softly, following her out. “Dogs have very highly attuned hearing, and often pick up what a human ear can’t.”
Ella still wasn’t sure how much credibility to give his view of the dog. Ford was very fond of the animal and that tainted his judgement.
When they pulled up to Ford’s home twenty minutes later, nothing looked disturbed.
“The lights aren’t on, so no one’s approached the house. The motion sensors I installed are very sensitive,” Ford said. “That means Abednego must have heard or smelled something.”
Once again there was no hesitancy or doubt in his voice.
They went inside, but it was soon clear nothing was amiss there either. Abednego, wearing the loaned blue ballistic vest, was waiting in the kitchen, and greeted them eagerly. Ford scratched the big animal between the ears, checking him out for wounds or injuries. “His muzzle is wet, and from the water on the floor around his dish, he just drank.”
“That vest has got to be hot, or maybe he’s just nervous. A lot has been happening lately,” Ella suggested.
“If he’d kept on barking I would have been more inclined to agree with you. But he only barks when something’s not right. Take a look in that arroyo out back just beyond the block wall. If I’d have wanted to approach this house and not be seen until I got real close, that’s the route I would have taken.”
“Okay, I’ll check it out. Stay here. I’ll be back as soon as possible,” Ella said. Once outside, she grabbed a big flashlight from the glove compartment of her SUV, then contacted Phillip via her hand-held radio.
Moments later, Ella and Phillip met out back and, together, climbed down into the six-foot-deep, rainfall-carved arroyo. They found a variety of footprints, most small, indicating the presence of children, who tended to play in arroyos. Yet one set, much fresher than those kid-sized impressions, caught Ella’s immediate attention. They were barely visible and without patterns, as if the person had worn moccasins and worked hard not to leave a trail. After a careful search, Phillip found a spot where that same person had climbed up on the side facing the rear of the house, and had lain flat on the ground. The size of that impression suggested an adult.
“It looks like he stopped here to case the place. But he’d have needed a night-vision scope like mine to see anything at this time of night,” Phillip said.
“He was looking for weaknesses,” Ella said after a moment. She thought back to Dr. Lee, but the professor’s whereabouts were accounted for tonight. Her teaching assistant had left the gathering early, but Mona Tso wasn’t very big, and these impressions seemed more man-sized.
Ella was now sure that there were other players she’d yet to identify lurking about somewhere, maybe watching them right now, hidden by the darkness. That possibility unsettled her, and for the first time, she found herself grateful that Dawn was away with her father.
Ella walked into the kitchen to fix herself some coffee before leaving for work. She’d just turned on the pot when Rose came in.
“I haven’t had a chance to see or talk to you lately and I’ve been worried,” Rose said. “I heard about that blast at the college. I understand it even made the national news on TV.”
“I’m working the case. That’s why I’ve been putting in such long hours—even working on Sunday,” Ella said. Her mom had stopped watching the news a few years earlier after noting the increasing number of commercials advertising prescription medications. As a Traditionalist, Rose believed that speaking about something could bring it into existence, and had refused to listen to companies talk about diseases so they could sell their pills.
“I’ve heard that the officer who was injured is a member of your team and that you were there when it happened. Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?” Rose asked.
“Mom, I haven’t been avoiding you. Really. It’s this case . . . it’s taking up all my time.”
“Are you really all right?” Rose asked, her voice a taut whisper. “You have a bruise on your forehead, and scratches on your cheek.”
“I’m fine, Mom,” Ella said softly.
“So many things are changing here,” Rose said with a long sigh. “The Navajo Nation was a place of peace once. Now harmony is something we have to struggle to maintain so we can continue to walk in beauty.”
“Progress can be good, but it also usually brings things no one wants.”
Rose nodded slowly. “The Plant Watchers have to meet more often now because it’s harder to find the herbs we need. Did you know that? The earth is suffering. So many of the Plant People are moving away. Even our hataaliis are having trouble finding what they need for our ceremonies.”
Ella poured herself a cup of coffee and proceeded to drink it standing up. “Tsétaak’á Generating Station is supposed to be much less polluting. It uses less water, and no smoke is produced. Our air should be cleaner in the future.”
“Only if they get rid of all the cars and trucks. Every family wants two or three of them these days. Sit down,” Rose added in her best mom’s tone. “I’m fixing you a proper breakfast.”
Ella started to argue, then changed her mind. She was hungry, and Rose’s special breakfast burritos had no equal anywhere. More importantly, Ella had a feeling her mother had something else she wanted to talk about.
Silence stretched out between them. As she waited, Herman came in, saw them together, poured himself a quick cup of coffee, then wordlessly left the kitchen without even glancing their way. That alone assured her that something important was going on.
Rose finally placed her specialty breakfast in front of Ella and, as Ella began eating, spoke again. “My friends and I have heard a rumor. Some are saying that government people have been sent here to spy on us because they’re expecting violence at the power plant. They might even send in the National Guard.”
“I haven’t heard anything about government agents coming into the area,” Ella said, wondering who was spreading these stories.
“Even if you had, I know you probably couldn’t say so. I just thought I’d pass these stories on in case it could help.”
“You did the right thing, Mom,” Ella said, taking another big bite of the burrito.
“Would you like another one?” Rose asked.
“No, I’m fine,” Ella said with a happy smile, looking down at her plate.
“You don’t eat much when your daughter is with her father. You worry all the time she’s gone.”
Ella didn’t bother to deny it. “A part of me thinks she’s still too young to be away from home. We talk every day on the phone, so I know she’s homesick, but she wants to act all grown up for her
dad.”
“And the fact that she tries to impress him bothers you,” Rose observed.
It hadn’t been a question. “I just wish I could convince her that she doesn’t have to impress anyone.”
“She idolizes her father. He’s important to the tribe, working for the Navajo Nation in Washington D.C.”
“I know and that’s okay, to a point. But she shouldn’t feel the need to become someone else just for his benefit. I intend to talk to her about that when she gets back.”
“She’s not sure who she is, daughter. She’s trying to find that out, just like you did at that age. She’s growing up so quickly,” Rose said sadly.
“I just wish the house didn’t feel so empty when she’s gone. Believe it or not, I miss the chaos—the radio blasting, the constantly ringing phone, and that cartoon horse announcing she’s got e-mail. . . .”
Rose nodded. “Children remain children such a short time. But it’s not too late for her to have a sister. . . .”
Ella laughed. “I don’t think that’ll happen, Mom.”
“Are things okay between you and your friend?”
“I have feelings for him,” Ella said, always avoiding names out of respect for her mother’s traditionalist ways. Names were said to have power and weren’t to be used lightly. “But his religion creates some problems between us that I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to fix.”
Rose nodded. “It was that way between your father and me, too, but I never regretted marrying him.” She smiled slowly. “Well, hardly ever.”
Ella laughed, then after a moment, grew serious again. “You know, at the beginning, I never thought religion would matter, but the longer we see each other . . .” She exhaled, expelling her breath between her teeth. “I like having the freedom to follow my instincts and my heart, but he lives by so many rules.”
Aware that she’d said too much already, Ella stood. This wasn’t something she’d meant to discuss with her mother. It was something Ford and she would have to figure out for themselves.
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