Red Mesa (6 page)

“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you in particular,” Payestewa said. “I’ve heard
a lot about the legendary Special Investigator Clah.”

Ella shrugged, then as Officer Ralph Tache passed by, she introduced him to Payestewa. Sergeant Neskahi hung back, watching the proceedings, apparently unable to make up his mind about the man.

“So you’ll be stationed pretty close to home,” Ella said, making conversation when everyone fell silent. “Most agents end up halfway across the country,
or farther,” she said, leading all of them to her office and inviting them inside the small room.

“Yeah, but I doubt I’ll get many calls to go to the Hopi mesas. They don’t have much need for an agent with a law degree there. Crimes are usually pretty straightforward, and they already have enough tribal police to find any lost Navajos or run a snoopy Anglo out of a kiva.” He smiled broadly, indicating
he was joking.

“So you’re an attorney, then?” Ella asked

“Yeah, I’ve got the sheepskin and everything. The tribe paid for my schooling, naturally. I think they wanted someone they could trust to represent them, so I ended up specializing in civil rights cases for minorities. Then, after a few years, I realized that I was spending almost all of my time waiting for a case. There just wasn’t enough
work for me there. The tribe didn’t need really me, so I applied to the Bureau. When the Farmington position came open, the Bureau decided to take advantage of my background. With the large Native American population, Farmington has a continuing problem with civil rights violations, especially between the Navajos and the Anglos.” He grinned. “Hey, if you ever want to hear any lawyer jokes, I’ve
heard them all.”

Ella smiled, but she wasn’t at all sure how to take him.

“I think the Bureau made the final decision after the local politicians chose that car dealer, Marvin Riley, to take over for Senator Yellowhair until an election could be held,” Blalock said. “There was quite an uproar on the Rez. I know tribal officials wanted Yellowhair’s wife to get the appointment, or at least another
Navajo.”

“And now you get the honor of being the first FBI agent to open a Shiprock office. That’s going to put you under an even bigger microscope. Is that a step up or a step down?” Ella asked.

“Officially I’ve been promoted,” Blalock said with a scowl. “Because of our history of successful joint operations with your PD, they felt I should open an office here with a two-person full-time clerical
staff. Up to now, the only staff I’ve ever had was the infectious kind,” he muttered.

Ella knew that it was a dubious promotion. The PD would not like having the FBI so close at hand. Although their help had come in handy in the past, the PD preferred to maintain control over all criminal investigations on the Rez. To make things even worse for Blalock, he’d be Payestewa’s supervisor and would
have to keep more regular office hours. He’d also have to use office space provided by the tribal government and be forced to rent tribal housing unless he wanted to drive back and forth every day from his current apartment in Farmington.

Payestewa looked at Ella. “So, is there anything interesting going on around here right now? You guys really made the news about this time last year. Maybe
you’ll get a new gang of terrorists plotting to blow up one of the coal power plants.”

“Things are pretty quiet right now except for a recent armed robbery. But something else will turn up,” she answered vaguely, recognizing the eagerness in his voice as inexperience. “How long have you been working in the field?”

“Two years. I can’t believe that I’m finally back in the Southwest. They started
me out in South Dakota, then sent me to New York because someone thought I’d be good at gaining the trust of some South American immigrants getting pushed around by one of the unions.” He gave her a confused look. “Don’t ask me how they came up with that one.”

Ella remembered her first few years in the Bureau. She’d always been eager to work the complicated, exciting cases. The FBI had been a
totally different world for her, one she’d wanted to leave her mark on. She suspected it was the same for Payestewa.

As a young clerk about Justine’s age came in and began distributing paychecks, Payestewa held out his hand. “It must be eagle day. Where’s mine? I’m new here. Did I forget to fill out all the paperwork?”

“Who are you?” the young clerk said, totally confused.

“Payestewa, Lucas.
New, good-looking, armed and dangerous when I’m low on cash.”

The clerk sorted through the envelopes in her hand, then looked at Ella. “Should I know who he is?”

Ella shook her head, letting her know Payestewa was pulling her leg. “Don’t worry. He’s here on the merit-pay program. We just don’t know if he’s worth anything yet.”

“Oh, now you’re in trouble, Investigator Clah. Here I am, ready
to dazzle you with my new, improved FB-in-your-eye training, and you’re disrespecting me already.”

“Clah was in the Bureau, working undercover, when you were still in high school,” Blalock muttered.

“So you left your poverty-level job in the FBI for a high-paying career in Navajo law enforcement?” Payestewa grinned. “That’s the problem with federal employees today. No dedication.”

Ella looked
at Blalock. “Is he always like this?”

“I don’t know. I never listen to him,” Blalock answered sourly.

Ella put her paycheck into her back pocket and studied Payestewa, who was now introducing himself to Neskahi. She just couldn’t get a clear handle on him.

“Hey, in comparison to us, the Bureau agents are wealthy,” Officer Tache said, looking at his check before putting it away.

“I’ll bet our
take-home is about the same,” Payestewa said. “I had more spending money in college when my tribe was footing the bills. In fact, I’m thinking that maybe I could afford a better apartment if I started taking a few college classes.”

Tache gave Ella a totally confused look, and that same expression was on Neskahi’s face and the clerk’s. Did he ever say anything without including a joke somewhere
in there?

After Blalock and Payestewa left to visit with the chief, Tache looked at Ella and Sergeant Neskahi. “There’s more to that man than meets the eye,” he said. “I’ve never trusted a friendly Hopi.”

Neskahi shook his head. “No one who takes life so casually could get by for long in the FBI. He bears watching.”

Ella nodded. At the heart of everyone’s distrust, including her own, was the
uneasiness between the Hopi and Navajo tribe. She wasn’t kidding herself about that. Yet, as she thought about Payestewa, she had to admit that something about the guy seemed off-center.

“What was his name again?” Tache asked.

“Payes something,” Neskahi answered sourly.

“Paycheck’s more like it,” Tache answered.

Neskahi laughed.

Ella smiled. Navajos often used nicknames, and Payestewa had
just been given his. She had a feeling that before long, the entire department would know him as Paycheck.

*   *   *

Ella stopped by Justine’s house after leaving the station, but no one was there. Ella’s cousin and the rest of the family worked during the day, but she’d expected Justine to be around, particularly if she’d gone home sick.

Puzzled by her cousin’s behavior, and trying not to
see more to it than there was, Ella drove home.

From the moment she walked inside, Ella knew something was wrong. She could hear the TV going in the nursery, something Rose never allowed during the day unless she was in there, too.

Hurrying, she went down the hall. Even before she entered the room, she heard Dawn coughing.

“What’s going on?” Ella asked her mother, who was sitting in a chair
beside the window, crocheting. Ella kneeled down beside Dawn’s side.

“Toons!” Dawn said, then coughed again, standing to give her mother a big hug.

Ella could smell the familiar herbs that her mother had always used for throat ailments and colds. “Hey, short stuff. Looks like I better go to the drugstore and get something for that cough of yours.”

She gave Dawn a little peck on the cheek, then
checked to see if her nose was red or runny.

Rose sighed. “All those cough medicines treat too many things and make her sleepy and cranky. Take her to your brother instead. Our herbs don’t have the side effects Anglo medications have.”

Ella nodded, agreeing, then felt Dawn’s forehead. Her daughter didn’t appear to have a fever, and with the exception of her cough, looked to be in pretty good
shape. “I can drive over there right now. Do you know if my brother’s home?”

“He is. I spoke to my daughter-in-law briefly. She’s in a bad mood because my son has been in the hogan every waking hour for two days preparing new medicines for some of his patients. She wants him to find more time to spend with her and Julian.”

“I’ve never gotten along with her, Mom, but this time I can see where
she’s coming from. The mother’s brother is supposed to assume a lot of responsibility for raising the child, but her own brother lives in California now, and hasn’t seen her son much at all. She sees her husband spending some time with my daughter, and that only reminds her that her own brother is away. She can’t raise her son in the traditionalist way that she would have preferred, so she demands
more of her husband, wanting him to take a greater part, like in the ideal Anglo family.”

“It would have been easier on my daughter-in-law if her mother lived a little closer,” Rose said.

Ella picked up Dawn. “Okay. I’m taking her to see my brother. We’ll be back soon.”

Ella parked next to her brother’s medicine hogan rather than beside the Anglo-style house to signify she was there to see
Clifford in his capacity as
hataalii,
medicine man. She hadn’t been there long when she saw Clifford pull back the blanket that covered the entrance and wave at her. As tall as her but two years older, with long hair and a bandanna tied around his brow, Ella’s brother looked very traditional, as he indeed was.

Clifford had the high cheekbones and broad face characteristic of their family. His
eyes were coal black, deeply set, and sparkled with intelligence and intensity.

Ella took Dawn out of the car seat and, as she walked to the hogan, saw Loretta, clad in a faded yellow dress, standing at the side window of the house. She waved, but Loretta didn’t wave back.

Clifford met Ella at the entrance to the hogan. “My wife’s had a bad day,” he said, apparently having seen the one-way greeting.
“My son is nearly four now, and he’s very independent. He wants to do things on his own, but she wants him to stay her baby.”

“She wants to feel needed, brother,” Ella said quietly. “I’ll probably be the same when my daughter no longer needs me as much.”

“Maybe, but you have other things that demand your attention, like your career. My wife has chosen to devote her life to our son, and because
of that, the inevitable changes that’ll take place as our son grows up and away from us will be difficult for her to take,” Clifford said, taking Dawn from Ella’s arms.

As Dawn began to cough, he set her down on a sheepskin blanket, then reached for a pouch of herbs atop a wooden shelf. “Give this to her as a tea when you get home. It’ll help. It’s Apache plume root. Boiled and prepared with
sugar, it’ll help with her cough. This other is anise and you can make this into a tea as well.” He glanced up at Ella as he prepared an herbal infusion for Dawn to drink right away. “I have to admit that I’m surprised you brought her to me.”

“I thought about getting some cough medicine at the store, but Mom’s right. Those always have side effects, especially for the very young, and some of the
formulas treat symptoms she doesn’t have. Often the old ways have distinct advantages.”

Clifford nodded as he heated water on the potbellied stove in the center of the hogan. Once it began to boil, he poured it into a small pottery bowl. A pleasant minty scent filled the hogan. “Something else is bothering you, sister, I can feel it.”

“Hey, intuition is supposed to be my thing,” she teased.

Clifford gave her an easy smile. “Don’t try to sidetrack me.”

Ella nodded. “I was wondering if you’ve heard anything about any of our old enemies. Is anything going on these days?”

“Not that I know of,” he said. “And I
would
know. Why do you ask?”

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had major trouble here, and I’m feeling a bit concerned. We’re due for something, I can almost sense it.”

He nodded,
straining the herb tea into a small plastic cup, then handing it to Ella. “Have her sip it, if she can.”

As Ella held the cup for Dawn, Clifford answered her question. “Like it is with nature and everything else, the Rez has cycles of rest and unrest. I’ll keep an eye out for signs of trouble. But there’s more on your mind. I can see it in your eyes.”

Ella hesitated, concentrating for a moment
on the task of holding the cup so Dawn could sip. It must have been pleasant enough, because she didn’t shy away from drinking.

At last Ella continued, but measured her words carefully. Police business was always confidential and she had to tread carefully, even when speaking to family. “There’s some trouble at work. It’s making me a little uneasy,” she said, then stopped, hearing a vehicle pulling
up outside.

Clifford pulled back the blanket. “It’s an old friend and a new one.”

“I better leave, then,” she said, reaching for Dawn.

Wilson Joe walked in a moment later, followed by another Navajo man she didn’t recognize. Wilson was dressed in a western-cut shirt, blue jeans, and boots—the uniform of the well-dressed Navajo gentleman.

Wilson was taller than the newcomer, nearly Ella’s height,
and broad shouldered. His eyes lit up when he saw her, and he smiled.

“Don’t leave on our account,” Wilson said. “We’re just here to beg a favor from your brother.” He turned around, ready to introduce his friend, then out of respect for a traditionalist’s views, left out names. “This is our new professor at the college.”

As was customary, they didn’t shake hands. Ella nodded and allowed them
to continue.