Enemy Way

by Aimée

  “I’ll take my brother over there as soon as I can,” Ella said at last, as they pulled in front of their home, noting from Clifford’s car and the interior lights that he was waiting for their arrival.

  Ella wasn’t at all sure how Wilson would react if he happened to still be there when she returned to Lisa’s home with Clifford. If he thought about it, he’d guess the reason for sure. Once, the three of them had put their lives on the line, standing together against the skinwalkers. This time, the line between enemy and friend would not be as clear.

  Two ran up and barked furiously the moment he saw Rose. When her mother opened the car door, he jumped up on his hind legs, licking at her face furiously.

  “Two, no!” Rose laughed, then gave the dog a big hug before pushing him down off her lap. “Have you been feeding him on schedule? He looks a bit thin to me.” She gave Ella a stern look.

  “He’s fine, Mom. He even sleeps with me at night.”

  Ella stood by in case her mom needed help. Rose maneuvered herself out of the car and onto her crutches without much trouble. As they approached the house, her eyebrows rose. “You never told me how bad the attack was.”

  Ella looked at the pockmarks, clearly visible because the stucco used to patch the wall was a shade lighter than the old. “It looks worse now, because the new stucco doesn’t quite match the faded old stucco,” Ella said, minimizing the incident, though she knew her mother hadn’t been fooled for one second.

  As they entered the living room, Rose sighed contently, leaning on the crutches as she turned slowly around. “I’m home, I really am,” she whispered to no one in particular.

  Clifford emerged from the kitchen, Loretta half a step behind him. “Mom called from the hospital before you left. We’ve been waiting forever. I thought you two were coming straight home,” he said, glaring at Ella. “Julian is asleep on your bed. He just couldn’t stay awake any longer.”

  “I wasn’t planning on a detour, but things got a little complicated,” Ella said.

  “I asked Ella to make a stop,” Rose said, putting an end to the discussion before it became an argument. “Now, why don’t you two go off and talk, while my daughter-in-law and I get something fixed for dinner. Later, Loretta can show me my grandson when he wakes up from his nap.”

  As if sensing that his mother’s words were not a request, Clifford gave Ella a puzzled look, and followed her into the next room. “What’s going on?”

  Ella filled him in on their mother’s intuitions about Lisa’s home. “Mom thinks you’d be able to sense and maybe locate things the lab techs and I missed. She may be right. You want to go over there with me now?”

  “Let’s get Mom settled in, then we’ll go later this evening, when we can be sure Wilson has left. I hate the idea of going where someone has died, especially their home. But this is for our friend, and I can do that for him.”

  * * *

  It was dark when Ella and Clifford arrived at Lisa’s home. “Where are the gangs?” Clifford asked. “I didn’t see any teenagers at all hanging around here tonight. Have you arrested everyone?”

  She shook her head. “Some are in jail, but most are hiding out. They’re afraid they’re easy targets out in public these days, not just from the police, and they’re right.”

  As they left the vehicle, Clifford stopped and looked up and down the street. “There’s fear here, a lot of it,” he murmured. “It hangs over this area like a dark cloud. The neighbors don’t even look out their windows to see who we are.”

  They went inside Lisa’s house, using a duplicate key Ella had picked up at the station. She stood back and allowed her brother to walk through the house, room by room. Wilson had emptied the closets, and most of the things that he could give away were now gone, but the place still smelled of death. Ella tried to block it from her mind as she followed Clifford into the kitchen.

  Clifford walked past the trash, and seeing the discarded bag of herbs, picked it up and opened the cellophane bag. Before Ella could warn him, he sniffed the contents.

  His face suddenly contorted into a deep scowl.

  “Oops. Sorry, brother. I should have spoken faster. That stuff stinks. It made me a little sick.”

  Clifford face was set. “I know this foul concoction. It’s a evil mixture that’s supposed to be given to confuse and control an enemy.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Don’t you remember the smell in the tunnels where the three of us fought our old enemies? The herbs they used were similar to this. Separately, these herbs aren’t harmful, but together, mixed to a certain strength, they induce a sense of complacency. It’s much like a powerful sedative. In fact, one of the herbs is valerian.”

  “I’ll take it to Justine and have it analyzed.”

  “You’ll find nothing spectacular. It won’t help you make a case, I don’t think, except against one who is already dead. They’re common herbs. The effectiveness of the mixture is completely dependent on the skill and knowledge of the person making the infusion. I’d advise you to bury it. Give it back to Mother Earth to purify.”

  “This was prepared for our professor friend on a regular basis,” Ella said, avoiding the mention of names and watching Clifford’s reaction to the news.

  His eyebrows rose and he expelled his breath slowly. “Then the bone fetish you recovered may have come from here, too.”

  “We found a small, empty metal treasure box the day of the murder. I wonder if she kept the fetish in that. The box, I think, was what triggered the attack on her. She may have been fighting over it.” Ella paused, trying to recall the details. “Our friend’s fiancee managed to burn one of her assailants. Then later, when we found the body of one of the murdered Many Devils, a kid we know only as Shopper, the ME’s report confirmed that the body had been burned with some kind of powder. Are you familiar with a chemical capable of doing that?”

  “The burning powder sounds like something the witches use. Remember that they learn to distill all kinds of powders from plants and minerals. It’s part of their bag of tricks. You’ve encountered some of those in the past yourself. Remember the red powder the witches used against us in the tunnels?”

  Ella nodded slowly. “I strongly suspect that they are searching for a particular item of power that was taken from the metal box I mentioned.” She looked across the room lost in thought. “Whatever it is, it’s got to be fairly small.”

  “An item of power could be just about anything,” Clifford said, walking around the room. “including something taken from an enemy’s body.”

  Ella considered that. “There’s another possibility in all this. Maybe our friend’s fiancée was under someone else’s influence,” she said, and reminded him about the cane prints she’d found.

  “And you haven’t been able to find the one who has been leaving that trail?”

  “No, and not for lack of trying,” Ella heard a slight rustle in the bushes outside the house. Quickly she opened the back door and ran outside. The yard was empty.

  Ella glanced around, searching the area with her flashlight. As she aimed the beam at the place beneath the window nearest to where they’d been standing, she saw a fresh trail left by someone using a cane. Ella followed the tracks until they disappeared on the pavement, a dozen yards away.

  She muttered a soft curse. “I can’t track anyone down an asphalt road on a moonless night,” she said, glancing at Clifford, who’d come outside.

  Clifford crouched, studying the tracks. “If you find the person who was here, you’ll have the answers that have been eluding you. I’m sure of it.”

  “Whoever it was is gone now.” Ella leaned back against the side of the house. “You realize that we can’t discuss any of this with Wilson. The suggestion, without solid proof, that he was about to marry one of the tribe’s mortal enemies, would destroy what remains of our friendship with him.”

  “That’s exactly the type of plan you’d expect our enemies to come up with. It’s a divide-and-conqu
er strategy,” Clifford said.

  Ella exhaled softly. “Once I do have evidence to back up my suspicions, I’ll talk to Wilson. No matter what the consequences, I’ll have to warn him. His life could depend on his staying alert. But here’s another thought. If he was being set up, and his fiancée was part of the plot, you can bet we’re also targets. We’d all better start watching our backs. Our enemies specialize in treachery and deceit, and those are powerful weapons.”

  SIXTEEN

  Ella went to the station the following morning a little late. Her mother had insisted on everyone, including Loretta and her grandson, Julian, who’d both spent the night, eating a proper breakfast. Rose was learning to get around the house in her crutches, and was already doing more than Ella had ever dreamed she’d be doing this soon.

  As she walked inside her office, her intercom buzzed. When Ella answered it, Big Ed’s voice said, “Ella. Come and see me.”

  Usually if there was bad news, Big Ed came looking for her, so she took the summons as a signal that Big Ed had good news. She hurried to his office. Maybe things were finally turning around for her. Ella started to knock on Big Ed’s open door, but he waved for her to come inside.

  “Sit down,” he said, gesturing to a chair. “I wanted to let you know that since the brutality suit against you has been officially dropped, you can stop taking Justine with you. I still want to caution you to be very careful. And I want you to stay away from Leo Bekis and his family now that he’s out on bail, clear?” Seeing her nod, he continued. “Just use your common sense, like always, and you’ll be fine.”

  “Thanks for that, Chief. I needed a vote of confidence around here.”

  He nodded. “I think I know how you’ve been feeling, like everybody is pulling at you from every direction. Sometimes nothing you do as a cop seems to make the slightest bit of difference. I’ve been there, so has every other senior officer in the department. The Rez has changed in the past few years, and the same troubles that plague law enforcement everywhere else have caught up to us here. To make matters worse, when we take action to protect the ones we serve, they sometimes create more problems for us than the criminals.”

  “It’s more than that, Chief. My problems … go beyond that.”

  “You have some personal concerns at this point, too, I understand that. We all do. But you’ll get through it, and the cases you’re working on, too. If you ever have second thoughts about making a difference, just remember The People need your expertise and your instincts,” he said. “You’re an asset to the tribe, one that would be hard to replace.”

  Ella knew that Big Ed was trying to ease the pressure she was feeling, and she appreciated his concern. “You can count on me to do my best, Chief.”

  Ella had just left his office when Justine flagged her down.

  In Ella’s office Justine dropped wearily into a chair. “We’ve been grilling the boys involved in the Fair Grounds situation for hours, and we’ve got nothing. We’ve used every trick we know, questioning them separately, intimating that we know far more than we do, but they’re saying nothing. We have no idea where they got the guns or ammunition, either. The only thing they insist on mentioning is the Many Devils, blaming them for absolutely everything, including the neighborhood robberies and the murders.”

  Neskahi came into the room, nodded to Ella, then sat down in the empty chair next to Justine. “I did get one thing from the youngest kid. He’s twelve, do you believe it? And he hates school, his parents, and just about every thing I mentioned, especially the Many Devils.”

  “But you still got something!” Ella said. “What is it?”

  “The kid wanted to make it even tougher for their rivals. He said he’d heard one of the Many Devils bragging that they’re going to start roaming around between midnight and two A.M. They want to tighten their hold on their neighborhoods by making sure everyone is afraid to go to sleep. They want people too scared to complain, and too tired to stand up to them.”

  “Those kids just don’t get it, do they?” Ella commented. “They’re going to get hunted down and killed one by one by the Navajo witches. They’ve stolen from a group that has far greater power at night.”

  “Yeah, well, you try telling them that,” Neskahi said. “They’d just laugh in your face. And now that the North Siders know when and where the MDs are hanging out, they might come looking for them. Everyone will be in danger then. This gang thing is going to explode, and soon.”

  Ella sat back and stared at an indeterminate point across the room. “I’m afraid you’re right, Sergeant. Let’s stick close to their area tonight. We want to keep the lid on the powder keg, if we can. We also need to get one of the MDs to tell us what else was stolen that was skinwalker in origin.”

  “But anyone who knows that could also be the one who was Shopper’s partner in killing Lisa Aspass. I doubt that boy will be too cooperative.” Justine said. “I wish I could get my hands on Thomas, my cousin. I know my aunt’s been lying about not knowing where he is. We’ve had a stakeout on the place, but he hasn’t shown up. But even if I found him, I doubt he’d talk.”

  “We’ll have to do what we can, and without a warrant, you can’t search their home. I’m afraid the next time these two gangs meet, what we’ve seen in early encounters is going to seem like a school dance in comparison.” Ella shrugged.

  * * *

  Ella patrolled the darkened neighborhood in a souped-up sedan from impound. It was a lackluster vehicle, not one meant to attract attention, unless gray primer paint could be considered an asset.

  So far she hadn’t seen any of the Many Devils or North Siders cruising, but she had a strong feeling some of the kids were inside their homes, watching her. The Many Devils who were not in custody were scared, but when these boys were frightened, they sometimes acted rashly to try and prove themselves. Machismo wasn’t just a Latin thing with gangs and that worried her now.

  Minutes turned into hours, but there was no sign of any teens, much less a gang. As she turned the corner and drove past Lisa’s home, she felt a shudder travel down her spine. She couldn’t rid herself of the sense of evil she felt whenever she was on this street.

  Ella shook her head, trying to push back the thought. As she turned the corner again, she saw a truck ahead, driving down the center of the road, weaving from one side to the other.

  Visions of Leo Bekis and her mother passed through Ella’s mind. She picked up her dome light, and placed it on the dashboard. Lights flashing, she pulled the driver over. She was parking behind him when she recognized the truck, despite a muddy splotch over the license plate. Ella put down her mike, choosing not to call the incident in just yet, and approached Wilson Joe’s vehicle.

  The driver’s side window was rolled down and Ella clearly smelled liquor on her friend’s breath. She didn’t need a sobriety test to know that he had been drinking too much to drive safely.

  “What are you doing in this neighborhood at this time of the evening?” she asked. “Don’t you know this area isn’t safe?”

  He gestured to the rifle rack behind him, where his weapon was resting. “Let the little punks come after me. I’ll give them the same chance they gave my Lisa.”

  “Is that why you’re out here? Are you hoping to find some trouble, anything to give you an excuse to take the law into your own hands?”

  “I’ve been waiting and waiting for you and your FBI training and fancy crime team to come up with answers, but you haven’t been able to turn up anything except a couple of dead kids. I’m out looking on my own now. I know that when a killer isn’t found right away, the chances of ever catching him decrease with each day. I’m not going to let that happen,” Wilson said, his speech slow with the effort it took for him to enunciate clearly.

  Ella felt her throat tighten. She’d never seen Wilson drunk before. As far as she could remember, Wilson had never touched alcohol. He hated the problem plaguing the Rez as much as any of them. Then she remembered her suspicions the other day a
t Lisa’s house. This wasn’t the first time Wilson had turned to the bottle.

  Sadness filled her as she saw the anger and hatred in her old friend’s eyes. “She’s gone, and nothing you can do will change that,” Ella said quietly. “Don’t throw your life away by doing this.”

  “Doing what? Your job? Someone should be looking for the killer, and who better than me?”

  Ella knew that if she took him to the station and they did a breathalizer test, his career as a college professor would be jeopardized. He’d saved her and Clifford’s lives more than once, and had stood beside them like a rock when no one else had wanted any part of them. Whether or not he still thought of her as a friend, that’s exactly what she was and would be to him now. It was time to repay their long friendship, and see that he got home safely.

  “Come ride with me. We’ll go to the Totah Cafe and talk.”

  “Talk about what? There’s nothing more to say.”

  “There’s plenty, believe me. You’re not the only one in pain, you know. My mom was like a mother to you, too, and now she needs someone else’s help to cope with her new challenge. You haven’t even come by to say hello. Mom misses seeing you,” she said harshly.

  The truth must have penetrated Wilson’s alcohol haze, because he looked instantly contrite. “I’m sorry, Ella. You know that I love her, it’s just that…”

  “Let’s go. You can tell that to her once you sober up.”

  He climbed down out of the truck, managed to lock the door, and followed Ella to her vehicle. Ella radioed her team and canceled the operation. It was too quiet tonight. The remaining gang members must have opted to stay home and avoid a confrontation, knowing they’d be ill-equipped to handle it. That, or they’d noticed the police were patrolling heavily. Switching frequencies, she contacted Justine and told her she could be found at the Totah Cafe.