by Aimée
Ella showed him the horned toad pouch, the hair, and the nail clippings.
Clifford looked at the evidence, then gazed at Victoria for a few seconds before going over to talk to her. Ella followed.
“I need to ask you a question,” Clifford told Victoria. “Are those the only places the evil one marked?” he said, pointing with his lips to where the drypainting and the other items lay.
“Uncle, I don’t know. I’m only here to search for signs of a dig.”
“Look within yourself,” he insisted. “Are those the only places?”
Victoria stared at the stretch band bracelet on her wrist. It was made of small rock crystals strung together.
“I believe so,” she said at last. “The drypainting alone must have taken a lot of time, and he wouldn’t have wanted to linger out here in the open any longer that absolutely necessary. This one likes being invisible.”
Victoria looked at Ella quickly. “That’s just cultural knowledge and logic, nothing more.”
As Victoria returned to her work, Clifford walked away, shaking his head. “She may want to believe that, but deep down she knows the truth.”
Splitting up, Ella continued the search while Clifford spoke to each of the officers, offering encouragement and, when needed, reciting prayers of protection. After about an hour, he went back to his truck.
“I’m leaving now,” he told Ella as she came over. “I have patients I need to see.”
“Let me know if you hear of this kind of activity anywhere else on the Rez.”
“Of course.”
As he drove off, Justine came up, cell phone in hand. “I just spoke to Benny. He and Joe are back at the station. They brought Big Ed’s brother in for questioning, no arrest or cuffs, and Elroy drove himself. Benny found the missing county property at the construction company’s site. Elroy claims he didn’t know the merchandise was stolen, and he does have at least something to back up his claim. Someone glued on metal tags with phony serial numbers over the originals, and you couldn’t tell without scraping them loose.”
“This is still going to weigh heavily on Big Ed. No matter how you get around it, the stuff was stolen. Is the press or media on to the story yet?” Ella asked.
“Joe said no, but Benny thinks it’s just a matter of time. He’s got that Los Angeles big-city perspective when it comes to bad publicity and news cycles.”
“This isn’t L.A., but I agree with Benny,” Ella said in a heavy voice. “Bad news travels a lot faster than good. Let’s get over to Teeny’s before it all hits the fan. We’ll leave the scene to Victoria and her crew.”
* * *
By the time they arrived at Teeny’s doorstep, he already had what they needed. “I took the sketch county had circulated and altered it by minimizing the woman’s make-up and adding long hair to the image. Come see what I’ve got.”
Ella followed Teeny inside, and as she did, the rich aroma of cinnamon and baking bread filled her senses.
“I made cinnamon rolls. They’re cooling right now,” Teeny said. “Once you take a look at this new sketch, come try some.”
“You really should open your own restaurant,” Ella said with a happy sigh. “You’d be a millionaire in no time.”
“Cooking is something I do because I enjoy it. I don’t want it to ever become a business for me. I love to eat, in case you can’t tell, and if others like what I cook, too, that’s just a plus.”
Moments later, Ella sat in front of Teeny’s computer and studied the image on the monitor. “That could be Eileen Tahoe, but I’m not one hundred percent sure. Can we find a photo of Eileen and work backwards, giving her short hair and heavy makeup, and see what we come up with?”
“Is she from this area?” Teeny asked.
“She went to Chinle High,” Justine said. “I did a quick background search on her, and their Web site has tons of alumni photos. She’s got to have at least one photo online.”
It didn’t take Teeny long to find a suitable photo. “Okay, here we go. Let’s give Eileen more pronounced eye makeup, then go with short, close-cropped hair like in the sketch,” he said.
After several minutes, he waved Ella toward the screen. “Here’s what I got—close, but not identical.”
Ella studied the altered photo. “Let’s take this to the Horny Toad and show it to the bartenders and waitresses.”
“Right now?” Justine asked.
“After we have one of Teeny’s rolls,” Ella said with a smile.
“Good call,” Teeny said, chuckling. “You’ll still catch some of the lunch crowd.”
Ella and Justine left thirty minutes later. It was nearly one in the afternoon.
“I’m going to call Dan, that’s his jurisdiction,” Ella said.
“And you’d love a chance to see him.”
“Cousin, it’s business,” Ella said.
“Yeah, yeah, but admit it. The man’s pure eye candy. I was invited to the county’s gym a few weeks back. Sergeant Emily Marquez, my old roommate, stopped by and asked me to go with her. When we got there, we ran into Dan, who was busy working the heavy bag. He was hot and sweaty, stripped to the waist with his six-pack on display, and whooee!”
Ella laughed. “So you’ve been checking out my boyfriend?”
“What can I say? You can’t blame a girl for looking. That guy’s ripped—hot.”
“That he is, partner.” Ella said, smiling.
By the time Justine pulled into the parking lot in front of the tavern, Dan was already there, standing beside his pickup. He wore dark slacks and a Western shirt, with a light Western-cut jacket that covered his badge and gun.
They met at the entrance. “There’s still a good lunch crowd inside, judging from the nearly full parking lot,” Dan said. “Do you have the sketch you told me about on the phone?”
Ella handed a copy to him. “The similarity is there, but I’m still not convinced we’ve got the same person.”
“Let’s see what kind of reaction we get,” Dan said.
They went inside and spoke to as many patrons as they could, but no one could help. Seeing a bartender he knew, Dan went with Ella to talk to him. Meanwhile, Justine decided to question several women wearing ID badges from a nearby company. All were seated at a corner table.
The bartender looked at the image for several seconds. “I’m almost certain I’ve served her before. I was working a split shift the last night Harry was here, and she may have been the one with him, but I can’t say for sure.”
Disappointed, Ella and Dan joined Justine. “I’ve got nothing,” Justine said in a sour voice.
“What we got is inconclusive. We need to check this out with the regular evening staff and clientele,” Ella said. “We also need to find a way to get Eileen’s fingerprints without letting her know what we’re doing. She’s not on file anywhere. Justine checked.”
“You’d like a match to the partials on the belt buckle?” Dan asked.
“Yeah, exactly,” Ella said, then added, “I know where Eileen works. If we could get something she’s handled—”
“Where does she work?” Dan asked.
“The Little Bear Café in Beclabito,” she said.
“That’s your jurisdiction, not mine,” Dan said. “But she’s met you, right?”
Ella nodded, “And Justine, too.”
“Sheriff Taylor will loan me out to your department for this, no problem. I’m already dressed in civilian clothes, so I’ll drive up there and find a way to get her prints.”
“Sounds good to me,” Ella said, “but do you think you can do it without tipping her off?”
“Oh yeah,” he said easily. “I’ll make it happen.”
“Thanks. We appreciate it,” Ella said.
He nodded once, then walked off.
Ella watched him for a second longer, then heard Justine laugh.
“You’re checking out his butt,” Justine said.
“You’re crazy.”
“Yeah, maybe, but I�
��m also right,” Justine said, getting back into the SUV. “And for what it’s worth, so was I.”
“Head to the station. I want you to fast-track the DNA on the hair and nail samples we found at the skinwalker site,” Ella said. “If that person is the next target…”
Justine nodded. “I’ll ask Blalock to process them at the FBI lab in Albuquerque. The New Mexico State crime lab is always backed up and will take weeks. I’ll let you know when we can expect results.”
Ella returned to her office a short time later. Carolyn’s postmortem report on Harry Ute’s death was on her desk, but it held little she didn’t already know.
Ella leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath. Harry’s death had hit her a lot harder than she’d expected. It wasn’t just the manner of his death, but the randomness of it that bothered her. Harry had woken up one morning, gone to work, and never returned to those he loved.
She thought of her daughter and her family. They were more important to her than anything else in the world. Yet everything was changing at home, and before she knew it, Dawn would be going off to college. If she wanted to spend more time with her family while they were all still together, it was now or never.
Ella shook free of her musings and forced her mind back on work. She was busy filling out reports when her cell phone rang. Hearing Dan’s voice, she smiled. She didn’t even have to ask if he’d succeeded. His upbeat tone as he’d greeted her had said it all.
“Done deal,” he said, “and she never caught on. I pocketed a water glass she handled, then processed it in my truck. No one saw me. I’m sending the print photo over to you now.”
“Send it directly to Justine. She’s in her lab and will process it right away. Are you coming in?”
“Yeah, I’ve been asked by Sheriff Taylor to brief Big Ed.”
“See you then,” Ella said, then hung up.
Big Ed walked inside her office a second later. “Jaime Beyale of the Diné Times just called. They found out what happened to my brother, and so did most of the regional media. A camera crew from one of the television stations is coming over, too. I’ll have to issue a statement.”
“You can’t be held responsible for what your brother does or doesn’t do,” Ella said.
“Not legally, no, but the media is always looking for some way to stir things up, and this will play right into the hands of my … enemies,” he said, sounding tired. “Circumstantially, the case against Elroy is strong—his wife has cancer, and he’s been hit with a lot of overwhelming bills. It’ll be easy to argue that he knowingly purchased stolen merchandise in order to cut corners.”
“The DA will still have to prove that,” Ella said.
“Yes, but in the interim, Elroy will have legal fees to deal with on top of the growing stack of bills on his desk. He’ll also have to return the merchandise he purchased. That means he’ll forfeit the money he laid out at the same time that he’ll lose the machine itself. Worst of all, this is going to damage his company’s reputation when he can least afford to lose clients.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Ella asked, hating feeling helpless.
“No, it’s better if you stand back. If you tell reporters that my brother isn’t getting any special treatment, they’ll jump on that idea and hint that maybe the exact opposite is true.”
“Yeah, I know how the media sometimes ‘creates’ the news,” she said softly.
“Just give them a blank expression and a ‘no comment.’ They won’t like it, but they can’t put a spin on a nonanswer.”
As Ella watched her boss walk back out into the hall, a heavy feeling fell over her. Big Ed had worked hard for the tribe all his life, but there was really no way for him to fight and win a situation like this. The whole thing stank.
She hadn’t been working at her computer for long when Dan knocked and came in. “Have you been able to match that fingerprint yet?”
Ella looked up at the clock and realized that forty minutes had passed since she last spoke to him. “No, but Justine should have finished running it by now. Let’s see what she’s got,” she said, and led the way down the hall.
As they entered the small lab/office, they found Justine sitting by her computer at the far side of the room, staring at the screen.
“Partner, what’s going on?” Ella said.
Justine jumped, startled. “I didn’t even hear you come in!”
“You must have really been concentrating,” Ella said.
Justine rubbed her forehead with her forefinger, then met Ella’s gaze. “Sit down. I have something I need to tell you.”
“About the fingerprint on our friend’s belt?” Ella asked, curious about Justine’s reaction.
Justine shook her head. “Sorry, I didn’t get to it yet. I got sidetracked by something more important—at least to me. I was going to go to your office just as soon as I found a way to…”
“To what?” Ella pressed, losing patience.
“I was studying the hair and nail clippings we found at the skinwalker’s site. Since DNA takes a long time, even when the FBI gives it top priority, I decided to identify the nail polish and see where that might lead. It was Peach Surprise.”
Ella felt her chest tighten. That was her daughter’s favorite color. “Go on.”
“Next I looked at the hair. The color told me nothing. Black’s too common. So I followed my gut,” she said, and swallowed hard. “I had a strand of Dawn’s hair cataloged in the computer. Remember when she was working on her science project last year and I showed her all the ways hair can be classified—pigmentation, cross section, et cetera?”
“What are you telling me?” Ella said, almost losing her voice.
“I don’t have the DNA results yet, but I’m almost ready to conclude that the nail clippings and the hair belong to Dawn.”
TWENTY-ONE
Anger rose inside Ella until she couldn’t stop shaking. “That SOB is targeting my kid?” Her jaw clenched. “It wasn’t enough to threaten me and my home. He now wants me to know that he’s got my kid in his sights.”
“The question you need answered quickly, is how he got that stuff,” Dan said.
“It must have happened the day he snuck over to my house to put that calcified animal jaw in my truck. While he was there, I bet he decided to help himself to our trash. I remember Mom had told Dawn to clean her bathroom and that means emptying the trash, too.” Ella’s hands balled into fists. “No matter what it takes, this piece of walking garbage is going down.”
“I’ve got your back on this—whatever you need,” Dan said.
“Me, too,” Justine said. “Do you want me to pass this along to the rest of our team?”
“Yes. I’m also going to talk to Big Ed,” Ella said, then turned to look at Dan. “Can you stick around for a few minutes?”
“You bet.”
Ella walked down the hall and knocked on Big Ed’s open office door. He waved her in and wordlessly invited her to take a seat as he finished a telephone conversation. While she was waiting, she texted Dawn, at her friend’s house, and told her to avoid strangers. Dawn got the message, because she texted Ella back with “im safe luv u.”
Placing the phone down after a moment, Big Ed focused on Ella, who’d just put away her phone. “I got a heads-up from Jaime at the Diné Times. Reporters will be here shortly.”
“Do you want me with you when you make your statement?”
He shook his head. “I’ll handle it. Besides, we come across as more professional when our investigators are actively investigating, not fielding questions from the press. Now, tell me, what brings you to my office?”
She told him what Justine had found. “I want to request that an officer be sent to protect my family in addition to the ones already patrolling the area.”
He nodded. “It’ll have to be officers willing to work during their off-hours. Right now we’re strained to the limit. With all the cutbacks, we’ve lost too many patrolmen, and the ones who are lef
t are working overtime in this latest crisis.”
“I know,” Ella said, and cleared her throat. “If the department can’t provide what I need, then I’ll hire Bruce Little’s people.”
“No,” Big Ed said. “You’re one of ours, and we handle threats to our own. I’ll get what you need even if I have to call officers back from vacation. You’ll have someone at your home within the hour, and I’ll have my secretary set up a schedule, starting with volunteers first.”
“My daughter’s at her friend’s house. Can someone pick her up there and take her home?”
“Yes. Give me the address,” he responded, sliding a piece of memo paper across the desk.
“Thanks, boss,” Ella said, writing it down, then standing.
“Don’t let this skinwalker business distract you, Shorty. I think that’s precisely what he’s trying to do. If he’d really wanted to harm your family, he would have done so already. He’s trying to keep you busy looking over your shoulder instead of hunting him down.”
“I don’t fear him. The guy is just annoying.”
“That also works against you. Once he clouds your thinking, he wins.”
“You’re right. Thanks, Chief.”
Ella returned to her office and found Dan waiting.
“Did you get the additional protection for your family?” Dan asked.
“Yeah, but with all the cutbacks in personnel, it’ll be hard finding enough officers.”
“Once word gets out, you’ll have no end of volunteers. Cops take care of their own,” Dan said. “County deputies, too,” he added.
She nodded, knowing it was true. “If I ever see this skinwalker scumbag around my place, I may shoot first and worry about it later.”
“If he’s wearing an animal skin, no one would convict you, not here on our land. He may not realize it, but he’s made himself some dangerous enemies by going after an officer’s kid.”
“Yeah, I hear you,” she said. “When he left that animal jaw in my truck, he was threatening me. I didn’t like the fact that he got close to my home, but I was clearly his target. Now, since I haven’t backed off, I guess he decided to move things up a notch and threaten my kid.” She paused, trying hard to stay calm. “Big mistake.”