Red Mesa (30 page)

“You could take some aspirin for the soreness and inflammation. Remember that the doctor said that you could do that whenever you needed.”

“He gave me pills for my pain before, and all I could do was sleep.
Now he gives me more pills,” Rose said, shaking her head. “With him, all the answers to all the questions come in a pill.”

“Mom, after your accident, you needed the rest. But an aspirin is nothing, unless you take too many. I take them at work for a headache or minor ache, and I wouldn’t be able to do that if there was a problem with side effects.”

“Give them time. They’ll find some.”

Ella
sighed. She wouldn’t change Rose’s mind on this either. She knew that, so why was she wasting her time trying? She just hated to see her mother making things even more difficult for herself.

“I have some herbs and an ointment your brother fixed for me. I’ll use those tonight after your daughter is asleep.”

“I’ll stay up with her, Mom. You can go ahead and go to bed now if you want.”

“And if
you get an emergency call and have to go back to work? Better I should stay awake.”

“If that happens, then I’ll wake you up, I promise.” Ella looked at Dawn, who was now curled up on the sofa, clutching her rag doll. “She’s getting tired anyway.”

“No!” Dawn said loudly.

“Okay, you’re not,” Ella said. She remembered the stories of how difficult it had been to put her to bed when she was Dawn’s
age.

Ella looked back at her mother, noting that her face looked drawn. Taking care of Dawn could sap anyone’s energy some days. She had to find a way to get Rose to accept help. But she would pick the time, and this wasn’t it.

Ella led her mother down the hall. “Mom, I don’t get a lot of time alone with her when things are busy at work, so let me enjoy her tonight. You’ll be doing this for
me, not just yourself.”

“Normally I would disagree, but it’s true that you need time alone with your daughter. She misses you when you’re away.”

Ella shook her head. “No, she sees you as her other
shimá.
”

“I’m her
shimasání,
and she knows the difference. I can fill in for you, but I can’t be her mother.”

“Navajo kids know many mothers, not just one. I’m glad she has you.”

“Even when we don’t
agree?” Rose asked, sitting on the edge of the bed and slipping off her shoes.

“You’re teaching her Navajo, and about The Way already. She knows who and what she is, even at her young age. If I’d lived alone with her anywhere else, she would have been a lot poorer for it.”

Rose nodded thoughtfully. “I see that you’ve given the idea of living away from the Rez some consideration.”

Ella knew
enough not to lie. “With pressure on government agencies to hire minorities, I thought of applying for some other job in law enforcement. Maybe a desk job somewhere, which would mean regular hours. But even if I could talk you into coming with me, my daughter would grow up outside the sacred mountains—feeling different from others but not really understanding why that’s a good thing and not a bad
one. It’s not an acceptable trade-off.”

“I wouldn’t leave my home.”

“Yeah, I figured you’d put up a fight, but sometimes I win.”

“Not on that,” Rose said flatly.

Ella walked to the door. “If you need me, just call.”

By the time she reached the living room, Dawn was sitting up, looking at her through sleepy eyes.

“
Shimá,
pick up,” she said, holding out her tiny arms.

Ella held her daughter,
wishing she could be around to do this more often.

“
Shimasání
sick?”

“She just needs to rest,” Ella answered, rocking her. As her little girl settled quietly against her, Ella felt a sense of peace, then a twinge of sadness thinking about all the special times she’d missed with her child already. She hadn’t been able to nurse her own daughter for more than a few weeks. Her job had made it practically
impossible. Dawn had been brought up with formulas and modern diapers, yet the copper-skinned baby who gazed up at her was all Navajo, and very much a part of a world that always seemed to hover between the old and the new.

“
Shimá
tired, too?”

“A bit,” Ella said, holding her daughter close.

“
Shimá
go to bed.”

“Will Dawn go to bed, too?”

She nodded slowly.

Ella took Dawn to her room and tucked
her beneath the covers, then began telling her a favorite bedtime story, about the Hero twins and Coyote. Noticing that Dawn couldn’t keep her eyes open, Ella cut the story short tonight and gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek.

“Ayóó ninshné,”
Dawn said sleepily.

“I love you, too,” Ella said, and gave her daughter another kiss on the forehead.

By the time she reached the door, Dawn’s breathing
was even. She’d fallen fast asleep. Ella put the gate up so her daughter wouldn’t wander out into the hall in the middle of the night. Dawn’s door would remain open.

Ella returned to her own room and switched on her computer to check E-mail. She then waited on-line for a possible instant message, but none came. After a while she switched the computer off and got ready for bed. As she kicked off
her shoes, her cell phone rang. Ella picked it up on the first ring.

“This is Blalock,” he said, as if she might have trouble recognizing his voice. “You’ll want to be in on this. Officer Tache just made an officer-in-trouble call. He’s come under fire north of the river just west of the reservation border.”

“I’m on my way.” As Ella pulled on her boots, Rose came to the door.

“You have to go
out?”

She nodded, and looked at her mother, wondering if she’d somehow known there would be trouble tonight. Her mother sometimes knew things before they happened.

“I had a feeling.” Rose shrugged, answering Ella’s unspoken question.

Ella reached for her badger fetish and placed it inside her shirt but outside the now ever-present vest.

“Be very careful tonight, daughter. Things are never
quite what they seem.”

“Do you know something, Mom? I don’t care if it’s a feeling that you had, or if you heard a rumor. Please don’t keep anything back right now.”

“I’m not. I just know that someone out there wants to destroy this family.”

Ella checked her pistols, both the one in the holster and the backup in her boot. She would stay sharp out there tonight. Her survival skills were too
well honed to allow her to be otherwise.

“I’ll be back,” she promised, then rushed out the door.

NINETEEN

Ella arrived at the site near Hogback a few minutes behind Blalock and Payestewa. Joseph Neskahi was already there, having responded ahead of all of them.

Guns drawn, the three late arrivals found Ralph Tache and Neskahi behind the sergeant’s tribal unit. Neskahi was carrying a riot gun. Ella saw Tache’s car ahead, illuminated by Neskahi’s spotlight. At least two tires were flat, but
no perp was visible, nor any other vehicles.

“What’s going on?” she asked Tache

“I followed Branch down this dirt road to a sweat lodge by the river. He met with two other Indians, neither of them Navajo. Although they were constantly coming out, checking to make sure they hadn’t been followed, I still managed to get a couple of photographs with my telephoto lens. Then, when they got ready to
leave, I decided to tail one of the two I didn’t know. He headed toward the old road and I stayed with him. I spotted Arizona plates on his car, but I couldn’t get the number with the dust he was raising.”

“And the others?” Ella asked.

“Branch headed off toward the highway, followed by the second man, and that was the last I saw of them. But everything fell apart when the man I was tailing made
a circle and spotted me. He came up from behind my unit and opened fire. He took out my two back tires with two shots, even though I was dodging and trying to blind him with my spotlight. Lucky he wasn’t shooting at me. That guy hit whatever he aimed at.”

“Which direction was he traveling the last time you saw him?”

“He drove farther up this track, which leads to the ditch road that parallels
the river. But I don’t think he could have gone far. I hit one of his rear tires after three shots—just to return the favor.”

“We’ll split up and cover more ground that way,” Blalock said. “I’ll go east because that leads off the Rez.”

“Good idea. Did you all know that George Branch lives just a few miles from here?” Ella asked.

“Go over to his house then, Ella, and check things out,” Blalock
said. “If they’re compadres, the one in trouble might head there.”

“I’ll go west,” Neskahi said, and Blalock nodded at the same time Ella did.

“Accompany Clah to Branch’s,” Blalock ordered Payestewa. Blalock then looked at Ella and added, “We want to make sure your involvement and jurisdiction isn’t questioned further down the line.”

Ella didn’t like it, but Blalock was right and this was no
time to quibble.

Ella led the way in her unit, sticking to a farm road that paralleled the main highway. It would serve as a shortcut and allow them to approach Branch’s house from the south. The route was bumpy, and as she looked behind her at Payestewa’s shiny new sedan, Ella wondered if she’d made a mistake. But the sedan managed to keep up, the road smoothed out a little, and in a matter
of minutes, they drove past a small, neglected apple orchard and arrived at Branch’s home.

Payestewa walked over to meet her. “Let me ask the questions, since we’re off the Rez now,” he suggested.

“Fine. Just let me warn you that George Branch has an extensive gun collection, probably a good home security system, and doesn’t like federal law enforcement—especially the FBI,” Ella said, remembering
a previous visit here.

“I’m insured,” Payestewa said cheerfully, but his eyes were alert. He also had his pistol in his hand, down by his side.

“Stop right there.” A voice from inside the house rang out. “I’m armed.”

“Right on schedule,” the Hopi agent mumbled. “FBI, Mr. Branch.”

The front door opened and a porch light went on. “Why the hell didn’t you say so sooner? It’s dark, and you’re
trespassing. I could have blown your head off.”

“You always this cautious?” Payestewa asked, holstering his weapon.

“I have to be. A radio program like mine is bound to make a man enemies among those conspiring to take away our freedom. I also have an extensive gun collection that any thief would love, as your companion no doubt has already informed you.” The heavyset half-Navajo man waved them
inside the house.

“What’s going on?” the talk-radio host pressed, looking closely at Ella’s waist, trying to spot her weapon. “I can’t believe that they’re still allowing you to run around and play cop.”

Ella remained silent, knowing Branch was baiting her. He was hoping she’d react, and give him even more material for his show. She kept her expression neutral and listened, glancing around the
room and into the kitchen and hall, searching for some sign that he was hiding someone there.

“Where were you tonight?” Payestewa asked. “The last three hours will do.”

“Why the interest?”

“Just answer the question, Mr. Branch,” Payestewa said, his voice uncharacteristically hard.

“I drove to Kirtland to buy a six-pack of beer a bit earlier.”

“Where? Which establishment and when, exactly?”
Payestewa pressed, walking into the kitchen and switching on the light. “Did you put it in the refrigerator?”

“I never got the beer. I’d intended to go to the package store at the Palomino Lounge, but halfway there I realized I didn’t have my wallet. I ended up having to come back. Then as I was getting ready to leave again, I heard you two coming in from the orchard road. Your lights weren’t
on, and it’s pretty damn dark out there. I figured it might have been some of the kids from Kirtland that have been raising hell around here. A few have been breaking into houses, and I would imagine stealing from me would be a feather in their cap.”

“Kids don’t listen to your show. There’s no music,” Ella said. “And they wouldn’t try to break in, because they know they’d get shot.”

“Okay, I’m
getting tired of this. Let’s cut to the chase. Where did you think I was? I have a feeling you’ve got me mixed up with someone else.”

Ella shook his head. “I don’t think so and I advise you to stop playing games. We have evidence that can place you someplace else tonight.”

“Yeah? Then produce it.”

“Why don’t we just take you in for threatening two law enforcement officers and get the ball rolling
that way?” Payestewa suggested.

“Whoa. I explained that. Besides, we both know you’ll never make that stick. You didn’t identify yourselves clearly until I asked you to leave. All you’re both doing right now is giving me material for tomorrow’s show.”

“I wouldn’t go off half-cocked, or you might find yourself trying to do a remote broadcast from the county jail,” Ella said. “It isn’t a bluff.
We’re processing evidence now that will prove you weren’t where you said. If we can also link you to a crime that was committed—”

“Wait a second. What crime?”

“Assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer,” the Hopi agent joined in.

“Who got shot? By whom?”

“You’ll know more when we make things public. For now, just try to process the information we’ve given you,” Payestewa said. “I’m
sure that a man in your position realizes that lying to a federal officer conducting a criminal investigation is a very bad idea. It can bring a wagonload of trouble down on you.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Branch said, neither confirming or denying his words.

Getting a call on his cell phone, Payestewa stepped into the kitchen for a moment.

“Spill it, Clah. What’s going on?” Branch whispered.

“A lot of things, and none of them good for you if you’re connected to any of them.”

“What’s this, a threat?”

“No, consider it a guarantee.” Ella saw Payestewa cock his head and motion for them to leave.

“I’ll be seeing you again, I expect,” Ella said, then hurried out, stopping beside Payestewa’s car. “What’s up?”