Red Mesa (36 page)

“I hope they hang you.”

“They only do that in Utah, around here. I hope
you won’t be disappointed, but there hasn’t been an execution in New Mexico for decades.”

After that exchange, they rode in silence. Ella considered her options. She would have Neskahi question Mrs. Begaye. He’d have better luck with her. She’d also ask him to follow up on the videotapes from the Farmington mall. He was the perfect choice since he already knew about Samuel Begaye being in the
area, having been the one who spotted the bank-robbery vehicle Begaye was believed to have used in the job.

As she pulled into the station and brought Mrs. Begaye inside, the somber faces of the officers at the front desk and booking area told her there was something new going on. It didn’t take intuition to know that she could expect more trouble.

After she finished processing Mrs. Begaye,
Ella went to find Neskahi and found him in the squad area known as the pigpen, filled with desks and chairs but no private offices or partitions. He was at a desk talking to Agent Payestewa.

As she approached, Payestewa excused himself quickly, giving her a curt nod as he left the room. Ella gave Neskahi a puzzled look. “What’s going on with Paycheck?”

“The Feds are running in circles around
here. Paycheck is of no help here except to keep us warm by breathing down our necks. At least Blalock has learned how to work with the department.” He shook his head. “Never mind. That’s not why you’re here. What do you need?”

She told him about Jean Begaye, and his expression perked up. “I’ll interview her. If she has any pertinent information, I’ll get it.”

“Thanks.”

As he walked away, Sergeant
Manuelito approached her. “You’re only damaging Neskahi’s career by having him help you. When you go down, your reputation will stain his.”

“Thanks for your professional objectivity on this case,” Ella snapped.

He scowled at her. “I’ve heard that you’ve been taking the law into your own hands for years. I don’t know why I’m wasting my time talking to you now.”

“Why are you so happy that one
of your fellow officers may be dead and another is facing trumped-up charges?” Ella asked. “What did I ever do to you except perform my job?”

“I’m not happy about Goodluck’s murder, but it was your influence here that kept me from getting the promotions I deserved. I should have made lieutenant by now, or even had your job.”

“I had nothing to do with that. My guess is Big Ed also knows that
your arrogance and your blind adherence to procedures prevent you from being more than a mediocre cop. Like now,” she added pointedly.

“Good police work is done by the book. You like to make up your own rules as you go, and that’s what’s going to take you down. You’ll destroy yourself, Clah, and I’m just going to stand by and watch.”

As Manuelito walked away, Ella realized how much resentment
he harbored. No amount of logic would get through to him now. He was her enemy, pure and simple. With luck, she wouldn’t be put in any situation where she had to depend on him.

Seeing her walking back toward her office, Big Ed stopped her in the hall. “We have to talk, Shorty. Can you come to my office?”

Ella followed him, knowing, deep down, that he was about to deliver even more bad news.

“Have a seat,” he said, as he went to his desk.

Ella took a chair and waited. Big Ed said nothing for several moments. Ella realized that he was having a difficult time getting started, and that was not a good sign.

“You’re an important part of this department, and I want you to know that I intend to continue monitoring this investigation until your name is cleared. But in the meantime … well,
things have to follow their own course.”

“I don’t understand. What are you saying?”

He exhaled softly. “We’ve received an anonymous tip that you’ve got evidence hidden in your office.”

“What? That’s crazy! Whoever made that statement obviously planted something in there. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“I know, and that’s what I believe, too. But this isn’t something that the police
department can ignore. We’ve got the Tribal Council watching our every move.”

“So what’s going to happen? Have you already made a search?”

“Because it’s on our premises, and it’s part of internal affairs, you know we don’t need a warrant. So Blalock is in there now, and they’re turning it inside out. Now, think hard, Shorty. Is there
anything
they’ll find that’s going to create a problem?”

Ella shook her head. “Of course not—except for what someone may have planted in there. That’s not a reach either, especially since the call came out of nowhere. I haven’t locked my office for years.”

Big Ed was about to say something when Blalock came in. He looked at Ella and attempted a half smile. The gesture was so untypical that it made Ella’s skin grow clammy. Something was very, very wrong.

“Do you remember the one earring we found at the crime scene?” Blalock asked her and Big Ed.

Ella nodded, and saw Big Ed do the same.

“We found its partner. It was in your office, Ella. It was fashioned into a pendant and placed inside a hollowed-out book.”

“Take prints from that book. You won’t find mine on it, at least in the hollowed-out part.”

“If this is as good a frame as I think, it
may be your book and your prints will be on it somewhere. Don’t jump the gun.”

“I want to see what you’ve found.”

They went down the hall together, and as they went into her office, she held her breath. Every drawer had been up-ended into a big pile on her desktop, and even the cushion on her chair had been checked.

“Show it to her,” Blalock said curtly, nodding to Payestewa.

The Hopi agent
picked up a suspense novel with a gloved hand, then opened it.

Ella saw the hollowed-out interior and the pendant inside. “The book’s not mine. Fingerprint it. Then when you don’t find my prints, start asking yourselves why I would put that in my office and still wipe my prints off it.”

“Some killers like to keep trophies,” Blalock said. “That’s a well-known fact.”

“I’m a cop. I wouldn’t be
stupid enough to put that in my office. And how would anyone be able to tell you that it was in there unless they’d placed it themselves? Can you track down the person who made the call?”

“We tried,” Big Ed said. “It came from a pay phone and there were too many prints on it to get anything we could use.”

Ella stared at the faces around her. “You
know
I had nothing to do with this. A defense
lawyer would raise all kinds of reasonable doubt about a trick like this.”

Big Ed nodded. “But I’m still going to have to place you on administrative leave, and take your weapon and your badge. Leave your unit parked when you get home, and I know I don’t have to tell you this, but don’t travel out of the area.”

“My home and family are here. I won’t be far.” Ella removed her service pistol from
its holster, unloaded it, then handed the handgun and her badge to the chief. She wanted to demand that they
do
something and help her fight this, but she knew she’d never manage it without her voice cracking.

Holding her head up, Ella strode out of the room. Anger made her hands shake. As she had when her father was killed, she would still investigate what had happened regardless of the consequences.
Someone was out to get her, and now that she was no longer officially a cop, she didn’t need to follow any police procedures. It was time to find the truth, no matter what she had to do to get it.

Ella slipped into her vehicle, and as she started the motor, Neskahi came out, waving to her before she could pull out of the parking place. For a moment, hope filled her. “Did Mrs. Begaye tell you
something useful?”

“Not exactly, but she said that before this was over, the department itself would be in chaos. She told me that once The People lost confidence in us, then we’d all feel the anger of those we’d sold out.”

“Huh? Is that political or revolutionary talk, or just BS?”

“Yeah, exactly. I have no idea what she was talking about either, but she was serious. I get the feeling that
the entire police department is ultimately going to be the target of this frame, not just you.”

“Yeah, but I’m at the top of their list.” She thought of her cousin and how they would have worked the case together. They had different approaches to things, but that had always made them a strong team.

“I’m going home, Joseph,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ve just been suspended. You’ll find out
why from Blalock.”

“I’ll stay on it, Ella, and get those tapes to look at from the mall. You’ve got friends here. We’re not going to let anyone take you down. No way.”

Hearing him say it made her feel a little better. Friends were scarce when careers were on the line. “But watch yourself. If you’re seen as my friend, then you could end up under the shadow that covers me now.”

“Cops take care
of their own. We’ll handle this.”

As Ella drove home, she thought of Neskahi’s words. She knew that Blalock and Big Ed would give her every possible break, but what they needed was physical evidence, and the only thing that had come to the surface so far was what her enemy had planted for them to find.

There was only one way out for her now. She’d have to dig deeper. The key was still Justine.
It had all started with her, beginning with the unraveling of their friendship because of her cousin’s sudden change in attitude.

When she drove up to her home, Ella saw that both Dawn and Rose were gone. Her mother had probably taken her along to one of her weaving classes. Dawn would play with the other toddlers and usually came back tired and sleepy, after having had a wonderful day.

Ella,
relieved at the chance to be alone and not have to explain her suspension, went and checked her computer. There were no messages. Leaning back, she tried to think back to the very beginning. She was missing something. She felt it in her bones.

As she sat before the computer, her gaze unfocused, a small tone told her an instant message had just appeared on-screen. It was her informant, Coyote.
The message was curt, as usual.

As she read the message, her skin turned cold.

You and the police are only one of many targets. The terrorist activity on the Rez last year marked the beginning of a plan designed to create chaos on the Navajo Nation. What I don’t know is what the ultimate goal of the conspiracy is, though it’s tied somehow to political power.

She typed a response, asking questions,
but by the time she hit the send key, Coyote had signed off. Cursing her luck, she turned off the computer and stared at the blank screen, lost in thought again.

Ella knew she should tell Blalock, but she couldn’t bring herself to talk to him or anyone at the PD right now. Too restless to remain idle, she stood up and paced. The only person who would talk to her freely about Justine now was Wilson.
He’d known Justine almost as well as she had. It was time for them to sit down like the old friends they were, and try to puzzle this out together.

TWENTY-THREE

It was past five by the time she arrived at the college, and Wilson was alone in his office, grading papers.

Seeing her standing in the doorway, he smiled and stood. “Two visits in one day? To what do I owe this honor?”

“I need a friend,” she said, coming in and closing the door behind her. Sitting down on the other side of his desk, she explained what had happened, and about her
suspension.

“Ella, I’m really sorry! Chief Atcitty shouldn’t have done that to you. He knows you would never have harmed Justine.”

“He didn’t have a choice, not with all the circumstantial evidence mounting up against me. The law can be very inflexible, and it’s even tougher on cops. We don’t have the same rights a civilian has,” she said in a weary voice. “Whoever is behind all this is doing
one bang-up job of ruining me.”

“Then we’ll have to return the favor. Where do you want to start?” Wilson poured her a cup of coffee from a small pot, then topped off his own cup.

Ella smiled. Wilson was one friend she could count on, no matter what happened. “I’ve been thinking about how everything started. Justine began acting really peculiar, always on edge, which was not like her. And it
wasn’t just with me. She was having some serious family problems, and that, I suspect, affected her a lot more than anyone realized.”

“You mean Jayne and her gambling?”

“Yeah. I didn’t realize you knew.”

“We have an older student here, Bobby Lujan, who’s bad news everywhere he goes. I saw Jayne talking with him several times, and I checked around. Apparently she owes Bobby quite a bit of money.”

“The guy has no criminal record, at least not yet. I checked him out. What I didn’t know was that he was a student here.”

“He’s been attending off and on for several years. Lujan’s apparently well off. I know he likes to gamble, but I hear that he always seems to come out ahead. He’s particularly good at cards, especially poker.”

“Did you ever talk to Jayne about him?”

“I tried, but I think
at the time she was in love with him. When I asked her if he was really the sort she wanted to hang around with, she defended him vehemently.”

“Did you ever tell Justine?”

“Yeah, we discussed it over coffee a week before she died. She thanked me for my concern, then basically told me to mind my own business. She said that she could take care of her sister without any help.”

“That doesn’t sound
like the Justine we knew. She wasn’t on medication, because she hadn’t had any prescriptions filled for months, and Justine wasn’t the type to get into drugs. She loved her work with the police department and she was very protective of her career. She saw it like I do—something that gave her a purpose and made her feel good about getting up in the morning.”

“So what does that leave us with?”
Wilson said, his voice thoughtful. “Had she had a physical recently?”

“Yeah, we all do on the anniversary of our employment with the department. It’s mandatory.”

“I was thinking of something like a brain tumor, but maybe what we’re dealing with is harder to pinpoint. Have you considered the possibility that the skinwalkers are at the root of this? They’ve certainly caused enough problems. I
can tell you that they’ve got knowledge of herbs that will scramble someone’s thinking big time. Remember what they did to me? They drugged me, and I never even knew it.” He stood up and began to pace. “It could be them, all right. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.”