Bad Medicine (32 page)

As Billy Pete sped away, Ella stared at the trail of dust rising in the air. The air smelled of sand, not sagebrush or damp soil. They needed rain desperately, but the weather forecasts were still predicting more sun and heat.

Ella got back
into her Jeep and headed to the hospital, certain Carolyn would still be there. Carolyn would be trying hard to find an answer to why so many people were getting sick.

When Ella entered the morgue, she found Carolyn studying some medicine vials. “Hello there.”

Carolyn turned around, resignation in her eyes. “You here to arrest me?”

“Don’t be a jerk.”

“It’s not so far-fetched. Tribal public
health people, pressured by Yellowhair I’m sure, came in to test my supplies of medicines. They suspected I’d contaminated them somehow. They found nothing, of course, but random samples are being sent to the CDC in Atlanta for further examination.”

The afternoon newspaper lay open on Carolyn’s desk. Senator Yellowhair had gone on record saying that Dr. Roanhorse should be suspended, pending
a full investigation.

“Remember I told you that I was welcome in the outlying regions?” She saw Ella nod, and continued. “Well, these mysterious illnesses have changed all that. I’m now the Death Doctor out there, too, particularly since the illnesses only crop up after inoculation clinics I head. The other teams haven’t had this problem. Of course, our senator is using this crisis to blast me
out of everything I love.”

“Why does he hate you so much? This fight is really getting nasty. Your personal life is now part of the case, and I have to know.”

Carolyn moved away from the cabinet and sat down wearily in her leather chair. “You’re not going to give up on this, are you?” Seeing Ella shake her head, she continued. “I met James many, many years ago back in college. He was hot stuff
back then, so charismatic and all. He sure could turn heads.”

Ella stared at her friend. To think of Carolyn as a lovestruck girl was a stretch even her imagination had difficulty with.

“I liked him a lot at first, but I always sensed there was something wrong about him. When he asked me out, I turned him down. He didn’t take no for an answer, even back then, so he didn’t give up easily. But,
finally, he decided I wasn’t worth the aggravation. Then, through a twist of fate, we ended up running against each other in the college senate election. At first, he treated it like a joke, but when I won things got nasty. He took every opportunity to make my term absolute hell. He undermined everything I tried to do. I used his own dirty tactics against him and managed to make him look like a
jerk in front of a real public meeting. He’s never forgiven me for that. It wasn’t until recently, however, when our paths crossed again, that the resentment was rekindled.”

“Tell me more about this problem at the inoculation clinics.”

“It’s not the vaccinations, per se, or the classic reactions a few people always have. Those meds are clean. And after the clinics, the ones who get sick don’t
all come down with the same thing. Some have flu symptoms, at other times we’ve seen some really nasty bacterial infections, unexplained fevers, and the like.”

“When do the illnesses start?”

“Usually a day or two after we leave. At first there were just a few cases, here and there. We had one nasty bacterial infection that resulted in a death a while back, too, but nobody connected it to me
or my team. Well, almost nobody. John Tso, that elderly medicine man, always claimed that it had something to do with us.”

Ella remembered. “How do you explain what’s happening? Why are people getting sick?”

“I don’t know. But I can tell you this: If people stop coming to the inoculation clinics, things are going to get a lot worse. I’m really worried, not for myself as much as I am for those
members of the tribe who will stay away from the med teams out of fear. Meningitis is a really nasty, dangerous illness.” Carolyn paused, staring down at the floor, lost in thought. “I need your help, and they need your help.”

Ella nodded slowly. “There’s got to be a way to make people understand what’s at stake if they
don’t
get the shots.”

“I have to leave tomorrow first thing. I’ll be at
the Chapter House near Standing Rock. We have a batch of vaccines that are certified clean of any kind of contamination. Why don’t you come by? My team will hopefully be too busy to keep an eye out for whatever’s behind this trouble, but maybe you could spot something. But check your E-Mail before you set out. I have a feeling that I’m going to be taken off active duty any day now. I’ve heard rumors
about that around the hospital.”

“How can they do that? There’s no real evidence against you.”

“I could have weathered this, had it not been in conjunction with the mess surrounding Angelina’s tissue samples and Neskahi’s poisoning.”

Ella told her about the test results with Neskahi’s coffee cup. “Do you have any idea how the furosemide got into that cup?” she had to ask.

Carolyn shook her
head slowly. “I poured the coffee for both of us, then he got the urge to buy some cookies from the vending machine outside the pharmacy. While we went upstairs, I went to the storeroom to get some more cups. We’d used the last two.”

“Did he take his coffee with him?” Ella asked.

“No, I don’t think so. I left my cup there, too, after taking a sip.”

“And you knew it was your cup later, because
of the lipstick marks.”

Carolyn nodded. “And so did the person who added the poison. I bet that’s when it was done.”

“Was Howard Lee around or Nelson Yellowhair?”

“Probably, but I don’t recall for sure. There were others here, too, passing through. It was the end of a shift, and the elevator was constantly opening and closing. I have no idea who could have done it.”

“Don’t worry. The truth
will come out. Then you’ll have the satisfaction of seeing certain people eat their words.”

“I’ll look forward to that.”

Ella drove home slowly, for a change. It had been a long, long day, but she still wasn’t finished. She turned off at the road leading to her brother’s home, and shifted down, avoiding the major holes that dotted the dirt track like craters on the surface of the moon.

As she
approached Ella saw her sister-in-law bringing in their small herd of sheep. She waved to Loretta and continued to the house, hoping to catch Clifford. As she parked by his old pickup, she saw him talking to Kevin Tolino.

The two men were both tall and lean. Each had his own brand of charisma but were different in other ways. She met Kevin’s gaze, acknowledging him with a nod as she approached.

“I’d better be walking back,” Kevin said, holding his bandaged hand close to his side.

“Let me get you the herbs you need for that cut,” Clifford said. “I’ll be just a minute.”

As Clifford disappeared inside the hogan he’d constructed beside his home, Ella studied Kevin. “I hope you’re not leaving on my account.”

He smiled slowly. “No,” he said softly. “If anything, you tempt me to stay. But
I have work to do.”

Ella felt a stirring she scarcely recognized, but was impossible to mistake. She glanced away and suppressed it. “Yeah, I know all about work responsibilities.”

“So I’ve heard. Your brother says you work way too hard.”

The realization that Clifford had been speaking to this man about her made Ella nervous both personally and professionally. She wasn’t sure about Kevin, and
she certainly didn’t want her brother giving away information.

Clifford appeared before she could answer and handed Kevin the herbs. “Soak them first, then apply them as a poultice, held in place with a clean bandage. It’ll take care of the pain. By tomorrow, the cut should be well on its way to being healed.”

“I thank you.” Kevin nodded to Ella, then walked back in the direction of his home.

“What happened?”

“He was trying to work on his home in the dark and slipped with a chisel. He’ll be okay. It wasn’t a serious injury. What brings you by, little sister?”

“First, tell me. Did he ask you about me, or did you volunteer information?”

Clifford’s eyebrows rose and he smiled. “You’re interested in him?”

“It’s not that.”

Clifford continued to smile. “Yes, it is.”

“Stuff it. Answer
my question.”

“Kevin asked about you. He wanted to know how you liked living on the reservation after being on the outside. That’s what he’s facing now, that transition.”

“What did you say?”

“The truth. You bury yourself in work so you never have time to think.”

“Is that really how you see me?”

“I see you’re a beautiful woman who tries very much to hide her femininity. To you, wanting or
needing another is a sure sign of weakness.”

“No, that’s not true. I keep to myself because I’ve made my choice of a life’s path, and I want to honor it. Not every road is open to us.”

“This is an old argument and not why you’re here,” Clifford answered, deliberately not conceding.

Ella swallowed back her irritation. “I have an idea, and a favor I need to ask of you.”

He waved her inside the
hogan. “We can talk there while I mix some herbs for another patient.”

Ella followed him inside, then sat down on the ground while he worked. “You know my friend, the doctor.” Normally, she didn’t hesitate to use names but, in here, it seemed out of place.

He nodded. “She’s in a great deal of trouble.”

“It’s not just her anymore. She’s being used, but in the end it’s going to hurt a lot of
people.” She explained about the rash of illnesses.

“I don’t know very much about the medical sciences. I don’t believe in that way of healing. It seems to me that their failures are as spectacular as their triumphs.”

“I’m not asking you to change your views, and nobody’s forcing people to go to the inoculation clinics. But they shouldn’t stay away because they fear that Carolyn or the med teams
will bring illnesses.”

“The illnesses are there, though. You said so yourself.”

“It’s not the medication, that was checked, and the ones that will be taken to Standing Rock tomorrow have been checked very carefully. Something is going on, something that is a very real threat. If people are getting sick it’s not just coincidence. I don’t know how it’s being done, but I do know Carolyn isn’t responsible.”

“You think someone else is causing those illnesses.”

“Yes, but I don’t know how. That’s why I want you there. If there’s a contaminant someone is bringing in, that person is not just an enemy of Carolyn’s, he’s an enemy of the tribe.”

“Like a skinwalker?”

“Maybe. If so, you’re needed. If not, if it’s strictly a matter of criminal activity, I’ll handle it. But I need you there with me. People
who go to the inoculation clinics are ones who have elected not to practice the Navajo way exclusively. They are caught in the middle between the old and the new. It would be a shame if we both let them down.”

Clifford stared pensively at the bowl he was using to prepare an herbal mixture. Ella didn’t interrupt him. She knew what she’d asked would be difficult for him.

“I don’t like what is
being done to your friend. And I will stand against anyone who uses fear to control our people. I’ll be there and Loretta will come with me. We’ll bring food. I won’t take part in anything to do with their medicines or medications, but my presence there will show our people that they shouldn’t be afraid.”

Ella stood up. “I really appreciate your help in this. Carolyn will, too, though she may
not say anything.”

Clifford smiled slowly. “I don’t expect her to. She is a lot like you, too proud for her own good.”

*   *   *

Around 9:00
A.M.
Ella drove through Standing Rock, which was about halfway between Coyote Canyon and Crownpoint. She’d passed through once as a child when her father had been preaching at a revival near Crownpoint, and all she remembered about Standing Rock were the
school buildings north of the main road. She’d been driving for almost two hours, but the scenery, with the Zuni Mountains to the south, was fantastic.

When she pulled up next to the Chapter House, the medical team’s van was already there. Howard Lee and the nurse, Judy Lujan, were unloading medical supplies. She spotted her brother’s pickup, too, and not long after saw Loretta with Julian, looking
at a wagon and its team of horses.

Ella went inside and noted that only a few Navajo families had shown up. Carolyn walked up to meet her.

“Not exactly a horde of people, but they’ve been trickling in steadily since eight,” she said.

“News travels more slowly out here, but it still travels.”

“Your brother’s presence has helped a lot. People know and trust him. If he’s not concerned, they figure
they shouldn’t be either. He doesn’t exactly recommend the vaccination, but neither does he tell them not to get it. When he’s pressed, he says that nothing here is meant to hurt them and that they should not let fear stop them from doing whatever they feel is right.”

“That’s as much of a recommendation as he can give.”

“I know, and I really do appreciate it. I’m going to thank him just as soon
as I get a chance.”

Loretta came in from the back holding Julian and walked up to them. “We’re going to set out some food for anyone who is hungry. Would you like to help us, Sister-in-law?”

“Sure,” Ella answered.

As Ella went to the back, two elderly Navajos were brought in by a young woman. Had Ella ventured a guess, she would have said that the younger relatives had probably driven their
pickup to a remote hogan to persuade the older ones to come on in for the vaccination. The elderly couple looked at Clifford, seemed to recognize him and were heartened by his presence.

As Ella set out food she kept a close watch on the medical team. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Clifford keeping a sharp lookout on the shelves where the medications were being stored, searching for trouble.

Shortly after two, Carolyn received a call on her cellular. Transmission was poor, as it was in many places on the Rez, and she went outside hoping to clear it up. When she came back into the Chapter House, her face was somber. “Pack up, people. It’s time to head back.”