Earthway

by Thurlo, Aimée

  “Piece of cake.”

  “And Anna? Make sure you keep your service weapon and badge out of sight,” Ella said, gesturing to her waist.

  “Not a problem. I’ll also loosen my hair. When it’s not braided like it is now, it’s down to my waist. People tend to see the hair, not me or my face.”

  Ella nodded in approval. “Good thinking.”

  With a plan ready, Ella and Justine drove together to campus. “What would you rather do, search Dr. Lee’s office or car?” Ella asked.

  “I’ll take her car,” Justine said. “I brought a GPS tracker that I’d like to place somewhere on her vehicle. It may help us along the way.”

  “Go ahead, but hide it well. Jane’s sharp. Remember that she found the device Ford dropped into her purse.”

  They were heading toward the building when Ella’s phone vibrated, and Officer Talk’s voice came through clearly.

  “We have a hitch. Instead of going to her office, the subject dismissed her class, then took off across campus. Her TA, Mona Tso, is still in the room—the same place where Dr. Lee’s next class will be held. Looks like Mona is sharing lunch or whatever with an ex-military looking guy in his forties. Guy was waiting around, bucket of chicken under his arm, and Mona sneaked him in right after her boss left. I followed Dr. Lee, but she might have made me.”

  “Where’s she at now?” Ella asked.

  “Near the student union building, the north end. It’s lunch time, and the commons is really crowded right now. Maybe she’s just picking up a salad or sandwich. She has her purse with her.”

  “You’d think she’d send her teaching assistant to pick up snacks. Or maybe Jane knows about Mona’s boyfriend and wanted to give them some privacy. Stay back, but keep her under surveillance. I’ll be there and take over for you in another four or five minutes.”

  Hanging up, she briefed Justine. “We’ll have to put the fire marshal on hold,” Ella added, then called Mike’s number and gave him a quick update.

  Soon Justine, who’d been driving, pulled over, and Ella got out. As she hurried across the campus toward the student union building, she saw that it was just as crowded as Marianna had said. After checking in with the younger officer, Ella spotted Dr. Lee in the lobby outside the dining hall.

  “I’ve got her,” Ella said, then maintaining visual contact, followed her without narrowing the distance between them. Twice she saw Dr. Lee get jostled by the crowd, and another time, the professor bumped into a young man leaving the building. But as the crowd thickened even more, Ella lost sight of Dr. Lee altogether.

  Common sense told her to watch the food line, but she still couldn’t locate Dr. Lee. Five minutes later, when Ella spotted her again, Dr. Lee was looking in her purse as she exited the building.

  Ella followed, checking her watch. They were running out of time to carry out the plan before Dr. Lee began her next class. Soon Dr. Lee entered the women’s studies building and headed back to her classroom. Mona greeted her at the open door. The boyfriend was nowhere in sight, so he must have taken off already.

  Ella remained at the opposite end of the hall. She knew in her gut that she’d missed something important, but before she could give it more thought, her phone rang. It was Anna Bekis.

  “What now, Investigator Clah?” Anna asked. “Do we still have time to do this?”

  “Doesn’t look like it. Hang tight, and we’ll give it another shot at the end of her next class. If she doesn’t return to her office then, we may have to give up on the purse and settle on an office search instead,” Ella said. “Stay in touch and keep your eyes open.”

  “Okay,” Anna said, then ended the call.

  Ella called the fire marshal and then Justine, informing them of the change in plans. Then she headed for the campus security office. There were security cameras at the student union, so maybe Dr. Lee’s activities in the dining hall had been recorded.

  The woman in the blue-and-white uniform behind the desk, Vera Hunt, had been a classmate of Ella’s back at Shiprock High. Vera had served on the tribal PD for ten years, too, before coming to work on campus.

  Hearing Ella’s knock on her open door, Vera looked up from her paperwork and smiled brightly. “Hey, Ella, I’m glad to see you. I’m just sorry that it had to take a campus bomb attack to bring us together again. That’s why you’re here, right?”

  “Yeah, I’m following up on a few details,” she replied, unable to provide any other information.

  “How about a cup of cocoa while we conduct business?” Vera reached for a big thermos.

  Ella sat and accepted the cup of hot chocolate Vera offered her. “Hey, this is seriously good!” Ella said after taking a sip.

  “I’ve been experimenting with the mix for years. It gets cold in this office, but I can’t push the temp up because of the computer equipment. Since I can’t stand coffee. . . .” She sat on the corner of her desk and faced Ella. “So how can I help you?”

  “I’d like to take a look at the student union building’s security video.”

  “I gave a copy of that to Justine the night of the big blast,” Vera replied.

  “I need the video for today. It’s just follow-up,” Ella responded, deliberately being vague.

  “You’ve got it, but I should warn you that our cameras are completely inadequate and the VCRs are ancient. I’ve told administration that we need better equipment, but they’re always more worried about their budget. Maybe they’ll come up with the money now that we’ve had a bomb attack.”

  She walked around her desk. “What part of the student union building do you want to focus on—the entrance and foyer, or the interior?”

  “The interior.”

  Vera went to the machines in the next room and came back out with two videotapes. Placing the first in the VCR in her office, she turned on the monitor and ran the footage.

  The cameras weren’t that bad, but the videotape itself had obviously been recorded over many times and was grainy. This particular camera focused on the lunch line from the east side. The images recorded were for the span of time Ella had lost sight of Jane. Ella caught a glimpse of Jane bumping into two different people—or maybe they’d bumped into her. It was impossible to tell.

  “Can you zoom in on this person?” Ella pointed to the professor, who was in profile.

  “That’s Dr. Jane Lee, women’s studies. She’s your mark?”

  Ella nodded. “But keep that to yourself, okay? It’s important.”

  “I understand.”

  “Let me see the other tape,” Ella said. “That should show the reverse angle, right?”

  “It does.” Vera loaded the second video, then forwarded it to the same time period.

  “There, regular speed please,” Ella said.

  A man wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses approached Dr. Lee, but he kept his face down, making it impossible to identify him. Vera worked with the machine, trying to lighten the image, but nothing helped. The only thing Ella managed to see clearly was the distinctive name brand on the ammunition box Dr. Lee took from the man and quickly slipped into her purse. From its size and shape, it looked like rifle rather than pistol rounds, though it could have been a mix.

  Legal ammunition sales were always recorded, and Jake Rowley hadn’t mentioned selling any ammo to Jane, just the pistol and rifle. Whether purposely or not, Dr. Lee had managed to prevent both transactions from being documented, at least on paper.

  “Sorry we can’t get a better look at the man who handed the box of bullets to Dr. Lee,” Vera said finally. “He tucked his chin down at the wrong moment.”

  Or the right one, Ella mused. “Any idea who he is?”

  “None.”

  “He obviously knew about the cameras. . . . Could he be part of your security team? Except for the position of his head, he walked like a cop—or ex-military.”

  Vera’s eyebrows shot up, but she recovered quickly and focused on the screen. “I’ve got two security guards who might fit the
general description of the man on the video, but one’s not here today. His wife’s having a baby and he’s at the hospital with her, which should be easy enough to verify.”

  “And the other?”

  “He’s on campus, but our people are always in uniform, Ella, like I am—white shirt and badge, blue pants, and black shoes,” she added, pointing to each.

  “Can you verify his activities?”

  “Let me find out where he was about that time,” Vera answered, then checked her log books. “He was answering a call at the administration building. One of the secretaries reported money missing from a cash box. She’d left the drawer unlocked and when she came back from lunch, the cash was gone.”

  Ella sighed. Another dead end. But at least they had an image. Maybe someone else could ID him.

  “Have your security people view these tapes and see if anyone can ID this guy. But don’t let anyone outside your office know what you’re doing. Secrecy’s our only advantage.”

  “You’ve got it.”

  Ella stood up. “You’re a good cop, Vera. If you should ever want to come back to the department, give me a call.”

  “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m where I belong,” Vera said. “After I was nearly killed by that glonnie I pulled over,” she said, using a common Navajo expression for drunk, “I didn’t have it in me anymore. On campus I deal with people who are looking forward to life, not trying to escape from it. As a cop, I saw too much despair. Here I see hope, and futures in the making.”

  Ella understood. There’d been times when she’d thought that law enforcement would eat her up from the inside out. The difference between them was that she could no more leave the department than she could will herself not to take her next breath. Police work was too much a part of who she was.

  Ella checked her watch. It was almost time for the fire marshal to make his move. She’d have to get in place quickly. “Thanks for your help.”

  On her way to the lobby of the administration building, Ella asked Marianna for an update on Dr. Lee’s whereabouts.

  “She’s heading to her office—finally. I’ve called Mike and Officer Bekis. Both are ready.”

  “Stay with her until she’s inside her office, then leave the area. I’ll be close enough by then to see when Mike Martinez pulls her out into the lobby,” Ella said. “But if you see that she’s not going to make it to her office for whatever reason, call me immediately.”

  Five minutes later, Ella watched from an adjacent corridor as the fire marshal led Dr. Lee and two other professors into the lobby. Unfortunately, Dr. Lee, who hadn’t seemed at all happy about the interruption, had decided to take her purse with her.

  Ella nodded to Anna, who was reading a newspaper across the lobby, then proceeded down the hall in the direction of the offices that had just been vacated.

  Standing in front of Dr. Lee’s office, Ella looked down at the lock, noted the manufacturer, and brought out two master keys. The second one opened the door and she slipped inside, locking it behind her.

  There were papers and mail in two stacking baskets on Dr. Lee’s desk, and Ella took a quick look through it all. Finding nothing of interest, she moved behind the professor’s desk and looked at the brand name on the locked, central drawer. This time, it took three attempts to find the right key.

  Just as she opened the drawer, there was a knock at the door. “Dr. Lee?”

  Ella didn’t recognize the voice—a young woman’s—probably a student. Ella froze, happy that the walls were solid and there were no windows.

  The knock came again, louder. About ten seconds later, she heard a single word—“crap”—and then silence. Not knowing if the student was still out there, Ella worked quickly and silently. She looked at the contents of the open drawer without touching anything, and saw packs of chewing gum, erasers, staples and a stapler, and a folder with a tag that read “class rosters.” Other office supplies were in there, too, along with a nail file and a set of keys. From their shapes, the keys probably fit the file cabinets along the side wall.

  As she was about to close and lock the drawer, Ella heard a faint sound by the door. A piece of folded paper had been slipped underneath—maybe a note from the student who’d come knocking. She’d check it later.

  Quickly going through the other desk drawers, Ella found only lecture notes, reference books on women’s issues, and what looked like student assignments and grade sheets from a computer spreadsheet program.

  Finally, she got down on her knees and looked up at the bottom of the center drawer. A piece of tape had “9002eelenaj” written on it.

  It was a password obviously—Jane Lee written backwards, plus the year 2009. That probably gave access to the files on her office computer, or maybe her grade program. All in all, Ella thought it was too simple and obvious to hide any big secrets, but sometimes the biggest minds made simple mistakes.

  Not wanting to waste time checking out the password now, Ella worked her way around the room. She checked the unlocked file cabinets quickly and found they contained only reference materials and old student papers.

  Turning a quick circle, she noted only Southwest landscape watercolors and Indian poster art on the walls. Taking them down to examine the backs wouldn’t make much sense. Ella knew the information had to be immediately available to Jane.

  Ella took a quick glance at the paper that had been slipped beneath the door. It was a note on a physician’s letterhead explaining the absence of Betty Largo from a recent class.

  Ella was looking under the office chair for other taped passwords or lists of code words when her cell phone started to vibrate. Seeing the “go” text message, she put the chair back in place, then checked to make sure everything was as it had been before.

  Moving quickly she exited the office, walked briskly down the hall, and out a side door.

  As Ella headed to the visitor’s parking lot, she dialed Anna’s number. Notifying the bomb tech that she was clear, Ella instructed her to meet and assist Marianna. Lastly, Ella checked in with Justine.

  “I placed the GPS and searched the car, top to bottom, but there was nothing of interest to us there,” Justine answered. “How did it go with you?”

  “Not good. Jane kept her purse with her. All I found after searching her office was the likely password to her office computer, or maybe her grade program.” Ella then gave her partner the code.

  “Let me guess—it was written on a scrap of paper and slipped underneath her desk pad.”

  “Close, it was on a strip of masking tape stuck beneath her desk drawer.”

  Ella and Justine met at the parking lot a short time later. “Big Ed may not agree, but I’m sending Marianna and Anna back to help Neskahi. When Dr. Lee leaves the campus, you and I are going to stick to her like sand to the desert floor.”

  It was another twenty minutes before Marianna finally reported that Dr. Lee was heading to her car. Relieved that the wait was over, Ella asked her and Anna to return to the station.

  “Where did you place the tracking unit on Dr. Lee’s car?” Ella asked Justine.

  “I used quick-set epoxy and stuck it behind her license plate.” She brought out the small GPS screen and showed Ella the color display. “The red dot is Jane’s car.”

  They set out heading west, Justine behind the wheel and Ella monitoring the GPS. After a while, the route seemed clear. “Looks to me like she’s going home,” Ella said. “The software doesn’t show every unpaved road in the area, but the blip and the direction indicate she’s now on that gravel lane.”

  “Too bad. I was hoping we’d get lucky,” Justine said.

  “Wait a sec,” Ella added suddenly. “She’s come to a full stop, and although the scale isn’t precise, I don’t think she’s home yet.” Ella paused, then continued after a beat. “She’s moving again.”

  “There might have been something in the road, like those geese. Or maybe she met someone,” Justine said.

  “No, no way. If she was going to make c
ontact, it wouldn’t have been out in the open like that, where she could be seen for a mile in every direction. Something else is going on. Stay sharp.” Ella got out a pair of binoculars and studied the area ahead of them. “Nobody’s passed us, and I can’t see any sign of another car or truck in the distance.”

  As they reached the lane that led to where Dr. Lee lived, Ella sat up. “Take it slow,” she said. “That fence . . .”

  Justine glanced at it, then back at Ella. “What? It was there last time.”

  “Look at the Coke can. See it balanced on that post up ahead?”

  “If it’s a code or a signal it’s definitely low tech, and that doesn’t fit with all the electronic gizmos she’s been using,” Justine said. “For all we know, kids could have done that.”

  “What a better way to throw people off the trail than to mix a variety of methods. Leaving a marker like that as a sign to pick up a message at a drop, or make a contact, is right out of an old Cold War spy manual.”

  “We could dust the can for prints. If someone else put it there as a signal . . .”

  Ella considered. “Drive down to the end of the lane first and let’s make sure we’re not being watched, or that Jane isn’t out in her yard looking this way. If it’s clear, we’ll stop and I’ll keep watch while you dust the can. Then we’ll wipe it clean and put it back exactly where it is.”

  As they were circling the area, they found a place beside the river road where somebody had been dumping garbage, a common problem in an area where public sanitation services were scarce. “Stop a second, Justine,” Ella said, pointing toward the debris pile.

  “Yeah, I see the Coke can. We can use it as a substitute while we work on the other one. Good idea, partner.” Justine stopped the unit, and Ella walked over to the mess. A few seconds later, they were on their way, empty can in hand.