Never-ending-snake (38 page)

“I agree that it’s a bad idea, Chief,” Ella said slowly. “
From what I understand, no discussion between the two parties has taken
place, which means Emerson Lee and the Morgans haven’t signed off on anything yet. This survey could create even more problems. The situation’s too tense to move forward right now, at least not until a formal agreement is agreed upon.”

“Do you think there’ll be violence associated with it?” Big Ed asked Ella.

Ella considered it before replying. “It’s a crapshoot. The family’s bound to take offense
if IFT makes an appearance, especially at this crucial moment. It shows a lack of respect.”

“What would you recommend?” Big Ed asked.

“I would strongly advise IFT to do their planning completely off-site until tribal officials either act on a formal offer or get orders from the council to take over the property—assuming discussions fail to reach a compromise.”

“All right. I’ll pass that along
to Begaye, Garnenez, and the others running that show.”

Ella was about to say more when her cell phone vibrated. She’d intended to ignore it, but Big Ed’s phone rang at the same time.

Big Ed picked up the receiver, and as he did, Ella glanced down at her own phone. Her call had come from the tribal government offices in town, only a few miles away. Before she could listen to the voice mail Big
Ed looked up at her. “There’s some trouble at Begaye’s local office. Go see what’s going on. You’ll have details on your own voice mail.”

Ella hurried down the hall with Blalock. “Anything from the Washington side of the investigation that might explain the money Adam was carrying?”

“No, and believe me, we’ve been looking under every rock.”

“Let me take care of this problem at the tribal branch
offices first. Afterwards, you and I should go to Albuquerque and pay Marie Lonewolf another visit. Maybe we can talk to
Adam and get some kind of response. With a little luck, we might be able to jog his memory and get a reaction.”

“If the doctors allow it.”

“It’s worth a try, don’t you think?” Ella asked.

He nodded. “I’ll be ready to roll whenever you are.”

Ella found Justine in the lab
and, shortly thereafter, they left the station. As they headed down the highway she listened to her voice mail.

“What’s going on?” Justine asked.

“Vandalism again. We’ll get the details when we arrive.”

Silence settled between them as Justine drove. Knowing her partner as well as she did, Ella could sense something was bothering her. “What’s up, cuz?”

“Benny . . .”

“Mr. Romance! So what’s
been happening?”

“I like him, Ella—a lot. He came over to my house last night after that chapter house mess and cooked a late supper for me. He did all the work and wouldn’t even let me lift a finger. The bad part was he can’t cook. He burned everything and the smoke alarm went off from the trout he was cooking. We also had to clean up the stove when his ‘special’ sauce . . . shall we say, erupted?
But he was trying so hard!”

“It sounds like a disaster,” Ella said smiling, then, focusing back on business, opened her small notebook to check her notes.

“He makes me laugh, Ella, and that counts for a lot,” Justine said, glancing over at her. “And dessert was fabulous. That man looks incredible without his shirt. And Ella, he doesn’t wear underwear.”

“Whoa! Too much information!” Ella said,
looking up suddenly. “You realize that next time I look at him, that’s what’s going to pop into my head?”

Justine burst out laughing. “I was kidding! I just wanted to know if you were listening to me.”

“I owe you one, partner. Remember that,” Ella growled.

“But the dinner really was nice, Ella. The food was awful, but he’s really sweet.”

“And you’re not, so like they say, there’s balance in
that,” Ella answered with a chuckle.

Shiprock was a small town, so they arrived at the tribal offices less than five minutes later. As they walked into the front lobby, Alfred was there to meet them.

“It took you long enough to get here,” he snapped.

“We came as soon as you called, and that was only about ten minutes ago, Councilman Begaye. Now what can we do for you?” Ella asked.

Billy came
out of his office, halfway down the hall. “Finally! I left four messages for you. We’re going to need more protection!”

“From what? Slow down and tell me what happened,” Ella said, her voice cool and calm as she looked from one to the other.

“Come out back to the staff parking lot,” Alfred said, motioning them to follow.

“Fill me in on the way,” Ella said.

“No. I want you to see this yourself,”
Alfred answered flatly.

Once outside, Begaye led her down a row of parked vehicles, then stopped and gestured toward his luxury sedan. “Look.”

Ella saw the car and had to suppress a smile. The sedan’s driver’s side window had been smashed, which was unfortunate, but the interior of the car had been crammed full of tumbleweeds—prickly weed. As she drew closer, Ella sneezed. She’d always been
allergic to the danged things.

Almost on cue, Alfred and Billy began sneezing as well. Only Justine seemed to be immune. Grabbing a tissue from her pocket, Ella took a careful look around. No windows from the building faced this area, but there were security cameras
in place. “I’m going to need the footage from those,” she pointed up along the roof level.

“I’ve already had our future former
security guard set aside this morning’s footage for you,” Alfred said. “Damned idiot never sees a thing. I want whoever did this prosecuted.”

“I want them shot,” Billy said, sneezing again.

Ella bit back a smile, then sneezed. “Justine, will you take a look inside the vehicle and see if anything else has been left there?” she asked, then sneezed again.

“My car’s worse,” Billy said, pointing
across the lot. “They decided to save time by smashing the windshield instead.”

Wanting to get it over with so she could get away from the weeds, Ella glanced at Justine. “Take the other car, partner. I’ll search this one.”

Ella put on a pair of latex gloves, hoping to minimize the scratches, then opened up the car door and began removing one tumbleweed at a time. The stalks were dry and brittle
and the branches snapped as she made her way farther into the interior.

It took them less than three minutes to confirm that nothing except tumbleweeds had been left behind. But, by then, Ella’s eyes were swollen and she couldn’t stop sneezing. Ticked off, she glanced around. “Do I remember seeing a pharmacy around here?”

Alfred nodded and gestured across the street. “But I’ve got some over-the-counter
stuff that works,” he said, then sneezed. “Okay, it sorta works—that’s if you can get away from these weeds.”

“I’ll take yours,” she said, then walked back inside with Justine. They followed Begaye to his office, took the pills, then asked for directions to the security office where the surveillance footage was being prepared for them.

Justine was quiet as they walked down the hall. Ella
continued
sneezing, and by the time they reached the security offices, she was in a foul mood.

The uniformed guard reminded her of Rudy Nez. Seeing his name tag through her tear-filled, swollen eyes and noting that his name was Darwin Nez, she had to ask. “Are you related to Rudy?”

He grinned. “Yeah, he’s my cousin. I couldn’t work at the casino because my religion prohibits gambling, but after I left
the Air Force I needed a job—something I could do instead of construction work or sitting at a desk for eight hours. He told me about this job, and here I am.”

It appeared that Darwin wasn’t the only one who’d come out a winner from the deal. Rudy had a source placed in the same building as a tribal council member and most local government officials. Score one for Rudy.

Ella sat down to view
the footage, and before long found what they were looking for. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be enough. The two figures, the smaller of them possibly a woman, had deliberately kept their faces away from the camera and were wearing cowboy hats, pulled low over their eyes. She watched them bring a ladder close to the camera, then spray paint the lens. From that point on, they had nothing.

“How come you didn’t notice this was going on?”

“When I come on duty, the first thing I do is conduct a foot patrol inside the building, checking all the doors and locks. They must have known that,” he answered with a shrug. “When I got back to the monitors I saw something was wrong, but before I could go outside to check, Councilman Begaye called me to his office. He told me someone had vandalized
his car and ordered me to get the surveillance video ready for you. He said I should leave everything out there exactly the way it was until you got here.”

“There might be cameras outside the bank across the
street,” Justine said. “If so, maybe we can get something from those.”

“Good thinking, partner,” Ella said. “But the bank doesn’t have to cooperate with our investigation. We might need
a warrant.”

“Nah,” Darwin answered. “My older brother works security there. He won’t give you any problems. Just tell them I sent you.”

Ella thanked Darwin. This was the way things often worked in this small community—everyone knew someone who knew someone else. “I’ll go talk to him.”

As they went back outside and crossed the street, Ella started to feel the effects of the allergy pills. New
energy was pumping through her and she’d stopped sneezing. At least the pills weren’t the kind that made a person sleepy. That, in her business, could mean a one-way ticket to an early grave.

“You’re not exactly Rudy Nez’s favorite person,” Justine noted as they crossed the street. “You think Darwin will call his cousin? If he finds out we’re not exactly best buds with Rudy, by the time we reach
the bank things could become a lot more complicated.”

“Walk faster.”

When they arrived at the bank, Victor Nez came out to meet them. As was customary on the Rez, he didn’t offer to shake hands.

“I heard you were on your way over. Come into my office, and I’ll get the footage you need.”

Ella and Justine followed him inside an office that was the size of a small closet—probably because it was
also a storage area. There wasn’t enough room for all them to stand side by side, so Justine stayed a step behind Ella as the video feed played.

“I don’t have a plush office like my little brother does, but the equipment . . .” Victor glanced back and gave them a
happy smile. “I love all things electronic, and what I get to play with here is perfect.”

Ella looked at the screen. The camera lens
was directed in a way meant to keep any ATM customer in the center of the frame, but with no one standing there, she could see the parking lot across the street. Yet the angle was still wrong, so she couldn’t get a fix on the area she wanted. “Do you have a second camera? I need to see more of the parking area’s south side,” she said, pointing to the screen.

“There’s a second camera that monitors
our employee parking lot, and it’s aimed in that direction,” Victor said. “Let me see what kind of clarity I can get for you.”

They waited another few minutes for Victor to find what they needed. “This is the best you’re going to get,” he said, replaying the footage. “Remember that the camera is centered on our own lot, not the one across the street. The images will be small.”

Ella studied the
background, then moved closer to the screen. “There! Is it possible for you to enlarge and clear up that portion of the image?” she asked, pointing.

He gave her what could only be described as a completely contented smile. “You’re about to see why I put up with an office the size of a bathroom.” As he touched the screen with his index fingers and spread out his hands, the section she’d flagged
became larger and clearer. “How’s that? You can even read the plates on the pickup as it comes back into the street.”

Ella glanced at the equipment with a touch of envy knowing that her department would never have state-of-the-art electronics like this. “I wish we could positively ID the two suspects inside, but at least we have a hit on the truck,” she said, writing down the plate number.

Victor made a quick copy of the video segment, signed and dated the DVD, and promised to keep the original in the safe.

After thanking him, Ella called the information in as
they walked back to the tribal unit across the street. They were getting into the car when Ella got her response.

“You’re not going to believe this, partner,” Ella said as she fastened her seat belt. “We need to pay the Morgans
a visit.”

Justine gave her a surprised look. “
They
did this? Neither of them seemed the type.”

“Those were Chester’s plates, and the vehicle is registered to him and Trina. It’s possible that one of their clan members works in the building and knows the guard or has been watching Begaye and Garnenez,” Ella said. “The problem is that although we have enough to place them at the scene, we can’t
prove they committed the crime.”

“So we’ll push them—hard,” Justine said.

“Even if they confess, we’d still be playing right into their hands,” Ella said. “They want a martyr for their cause.”

“We don’t have a choice. You heard Begaye. He wants whoever did that to his car to pay,” Justine said.

“And Garnenez wanted them shot,” Ella said. “Looks to me like we’re not going to make either of
them happy.”

They spent nearly twenty minutes in relative silence, but as they drew close to the Morgan home, Justine spoke. “What’s eating you?”

“I think we’re letting these vandalism incidents throw us off track. We need to stay focused on the money Adam was carrying. What was Adam doing with that cash, and how is that connected to the person or persons who paid to have him shot? I have a
hard time thinking that the Morgans, or Emerson Lee, had anything to do with that. They don’t have the money it takes to pay for a professional hit, nor do they have seventy-five grand lying around. But the Prickly Weed Project does have some major backers with that kind of money at their disposal. Someone in that league is bound to have equally powerful enemies, too.”