Wind Spirit: An Ella Clah Novel (Ella Clah Novels)

by Aimée Thurlo

  “It doesn’t lock properly. Larry warned me about that,” Ella answered.

  “And by now everyone knows that the green SUV is your replacement vehicle, so that won’t tell us anything,” Justine said.

  “We’re stuck, Shorty. No crime was committed. They didn’t take anything out, they just left something behind. And that knife isn’t contraband, though here on the Rez it should be.”

  “Tache asked around, but no one saw anything unusual,” Justine said. “I wish we could afford a surveillance system for the parking lot.”

  “It took a lot of guts to do this in the middle of the day,” the chief growled.

  “Agreed,” Ella answered, “though with the door unlocked it wouldn’t take long.”

  “Shorty, I hate to say this, but you better start watching your back even here at the station, at least until we know what’s going on.”

  “I just had an interesting thought,” Ella said. “Maybe this wasn’t left by someone trying to frame me. Maybe it’s a recruitment invitation. If they think I’m mostly evil now . . .”

  “The fact that it happened here on our lot makes that even worse news,” Big Ed answered.

  FIFTEEN

  Ella drove home slowly, needing to get her thoughts in order. She’d been working long hours lately so taking an hour or so off during the day wasn’t a problem.

  Today was an in-service day for teachers, so she knew that Boots and Dawn would both be at the house now. As she walked in, Rose was talking to someone on the phone, but her mother pointed to Herman Cloud’s metal detector, which was standing in the corner, and gave her a thumbs-up. Apparently no more traps had been found. Ella waved at her, then went outside to join her daughter who was riding under Boots’s supervision.

  At Dawn’s insistence Ella took over for Boots. Taking the reins, she led the pony out of the arena while Dawn continued to ride him. This was a special treat that Dawn was not allowed to attempt on her own under any circumstances. No matter how gentle a horse or pony seemed to be, they were basically unpredictable animals, especially outside the corral where the animal was bound to encounter more distractions. Where Dawn was concerned, she’d always err on the side of caution, and today, despite having had the area searched for traps, she kept a close eye out for anything unusual and avoided the regular paths.

  Her daughter chattered nonstop, but Ella enjoyed hearing Dawn talk about her friends and her riding lessons. By the time they returned to the arena and Dawn helped her unsaddle the pony, Ella had finally managed to unwind.

  Ella put away the saddle and tack, then stopped to speak to Boots while Dawn stood on her mounting block and brushed the pony’s mane.

  “Would you keep her out here for a bit, Boots? I need to talk to Mom.”

  “No problem. Getting your daughter to leave the pony and go back inside—that’s the hard part,” Boots said with a smile.

  Ella found her mother in the living room at the table with a large map and notes and drawings she’d made as part of her plant survey work.

  Ella sat on the sofa facing her. “Mom, I hate to interrupt you but I spoke to my sister-in-law earlier and there’s something I need to ask you.”

  Rose looked up and nodded. “I know. Your brother warned me.”

  “What’s been going on? Is there something I should know about?”

  “Things have grown a little complicated lately, but as you say all the time about yourself, I’m handling it.”

  “I’d still like to know what’s going on.”

  “All right.” Rose pushed the papers aside and looked at Ella. “What my daughter-in-law was referring to is that I’m not really welcome at the Plant Watchers meetings anymore. I can attend, but everyone except my close friend keeps their distance from me.”

  “Because of me?”

  “Partly. But mostly it’s a protest. They strongly believe that I should have made you drop everything to find the Singer. In their defense I have to say that they’re truly worried. The stories . . .”

  “I’m sorry about that. But I do have a full-time—actually more than full-time—job, Mom.”

  “I know. As I said I can handle this problem with the Plant Watchers. I’m far more worried about your daughter. Today she told me that no one except her best friend will play with her anymore.”

  Ella felt her chest tighten as she took in the news. She’d hoped her daughter and her friends would be too young to be affected by this. But at least Dawn’s best friend, Cecelia Light, came from a family of modernist Christians who wouldn’t be bothered by any of this. Her daughter would have an ally.

  “Her friend’s parents have made it clear that they won’t condone superstition. Their church views what happened to you as a blessing,” Rose said. “But that isn’t true for every denomination, or even from family to family. It seems they’re as divided as we are.”

  “I hate the idea of anyone giving my daughter a hard time.” Ella stood and paced around the room. “Mom, do you think I should move out for a while? Would it make life easier for you and my daughter?”

  “It would make things easier here, yes, but it may create a new problem all its own. Some might think that I have finally come to believe the stories about you and have asked you to leave. There’s no telling what new trouble that’ll create.”

  “Let me give this some thought. My daughter and you are my priorities now.”

  Ella drove back to her office and sat down to go over the cases she was working on. Cardell Benally was still missing and, so far, nobody in the law enforcement community had turned up a thing. In the meantime, Lewis Hunt was stirring up whatever trouble he could, trying to build support for Cardell by convincing as many people as possible that Branch had deserved what he’d gotten. Somehow she’d have to track Cardell down and bring him in, though there was a good chance the courts would let him off with a slap on the wrist and he would end up being a local hero. It was frustrating, and with all the trouble her own family was facing, Ella felt particularly wrung out.

  As she sat there, she thought about Cardell and Hunt, then remembered how Hunt’s assistant had verified his statements without question earlier.

  Hunt’s attempt to supply Cardell had failed, but she knew Hunt would try again, or find someone else to do it for him now that he knew he was being monitored. The woman assistant was a perfect candidate, especially if she was as loyal to Lewis as she had appeared to be earlier.

  Ella stood, put away her paperwork, and headed for Hunt’s office. She’d keep an eye on Hunt’s assistant for a few hours after the woman got off work and see if her instincts were correct.

  Five minutes later Ella parked down the street from Hunt’s office, close enough to watch the parking lot but far enough away to avoid being recognized. Pulling out her pair of binoculars, she waited, checking her watch from time to time. Hunt, who hadn’t been followed today after he was tracked to work, was at work, apparently. His own vehicle was still in the parking lot.

  Not knowing exactly when the woman would leave, but figuring it would be between four-thirty and five, Ella was surprised when the woman came out at four-fifteen, in an apparent hurry, and left in a blue Chevy van.

  Ella had no trouble at all following her down into the valley to the grocery store. Less than fifteen minutes had passed when the woman came out to her van, opened the side door, and transferred food items to a big black plastic trash bag she’d also purchased. Then she got inside the van and drove east out of Shiprock down Highway 64.

  Ella picked up her cell phone, dialed Justine, and filled her in.

  “Do you want me to cover Lewis Hunt when he gets off work today?”

  “Yes. You just made me realize that this woman might be creating a diversion to lure us away from Hunt. Get to his office as quickly as you can. Let’s see what he does. Stay in touch.”

  Ella ended the call, then slowed as she saw the Chevy van pull off the highway and head down a dirt road leading toward the river. By now they were off the Rez, a
t least on this side of the river. But this was too good of an opportunity to pass up, and because Cardell Benally was being sought by more than one agency, there wouldn’t be any major jurisdictional problems. If she caught up with Cardell off Rez land, she’d hold him there and send for the county sheriff.

  Ella pulled over to the side of the highway, then waited, watching the Chevy van through her binoculars as it crept down the road between two cornfields. The vehicle crossed over a high spot where a small irrigation ditch passed underneath in a culvert, then nearly disappeared from view as it turned to the left and proceeded down an apparent road beyond the built-up levee surrounding the ditch. Farther south was the river bosque. All Ella could see was the upper half of the van, but Ella knew the general layout of the area and was comfortable continuing slowly down the highway, driving parallel and to the rear of the woman’s vehicle.

  Fields of alfalfa, corn, and melons, with the occasional apple orchard, lined this side of the river for a distance ranging from a quarter to a half mile until they reached the highway. Usually, access roads between fields made it possible to reach the bosque, the forested area of mostly cottonwoods, salt cedars, and willows lining the riverbanks.

  The van stopped at one of the intersections between the river road and a perpendicular track leading to the highway, so Ella stopped as well, reaching over for her binoculars.

  Hunt’s assistant climbed out of the van, looked around, then quickly opened the van’s side door. Ella could see the black trash bag containing the food supplies in her hand as she walked around to the passenger side, disappearing for a moment on the bosque side of the road. Then the woman jogged back to the driver’s side, jumped inside, and drove off toward the highway.

  Ella kept her binoculars on the spot where Hunt’s assistant had climbed out of the van. She couldn’t see anyone at all, but the top of the black bag was visible beside a gnarled old cottonwood tree. Across the road from the tree a red survey flag, nothing more than a strip of bright plastic, was tied to a bush.

  “X marks the spot,” Ella muttered to herself. “All I have to do now is wait for Cardell to show up.”

  Ella ducked down as the Chevy van reached the highway less than a quarter mile ahead, then waited until the van passed by on the opposite side of the four-lane road, heading back to Shiprock.

  Once the woman was gone, Ella checked to make sure the black bag hadn’t been disturbed, then quickly drove farther east, maneuvering around so she could stake out the black bag from a better vantage point. As she drove, Ella called Justine and updated her, telling her to leave Hunt and come to provide backup for her.

  Parking on the side of the ditch road opposite the bosque, Ella climbed out of her vehicle and walked quietly down the field side of the narrow irrigation ditch, which was dry at the moment. Chances were Cardell would approach from the bosque side where concealment was possible. Beyond that was the river, and on the far bank, Navajo land.

  Knowing Justine was probably fifteen or more minutes away, Ella hoped that Cardell would take his time making the pickup. Crouching low, she moved up the embankment to take a look.

  Cardell was already there! He had to have crawled up on his belly, or else darted out from behind cover while she’d been moving forward. Wearing a desert-style camouflage shirt and jeans, he was nearly invisible in the shade of the cottonwood tree. As a squirrel scampered into some brush, Cardell’s gaze swept over the area and came to rest on her.

  “What the hell,” Ella grumbled, and stood up so he could see her clearly now though he was a hundred feet away. The former officer was barrel-chested and nearly six feet tall, but didn’t appear to be armed. “Police officer, Mr. Benally. I need to ask you a few questions. Don’t move.” She placed her hand on the butt of her pistol and held out her badge as she started walking toward him.

  Benally grabbed the bag and ran into the bosque.

  “Crap!” Ella sprinted across the narrow road after Cardell. Maybe having the food would slow him down.

  Cardell ran parallel to the river, moving west, zigzagging around trees and brush, occasionally hurdling a low log or branch and cradling the plastic bag against his chest.

  The ground was quite sandy in places, with stubborn clumps of grass that made the surface uneven and hard to run in. But her hands were free and she could make better speed than Cardell, who was protecting his food source.

  Ella thought about yelling out at the man, but she needed the air if she was going to close the gap between them. Benally was several years older than she was but obviously in good shape. She could have used a horse right now. She wasn’t getting any younger.

  Suddenly Cardell swerved to the left, heading for a narrow gap in the willows that lined the river’s banks. He didn’t have a chance making good time along the shore, she knew that. The river bottom was quite rocky along this section, and the steep banks dropped down almost twenty feet to the river level.

  The river itself was split into two channels here, divided by a half-mile-long sandy island nearly in the middle. It also made a long curve and the inside channel was narrow and deep. He’d have a hard time swimming across with the bag.

  Ella slowed down as she bounded up the ten-foot-high ridge of sandy earth held in place by the purple-gray willows and some kind of long-bladed grass. Now she could smell the river, the damp earth, and the vegetation that was blessed by abundant water most of the time. Cardell Benally was down below there somewhere, hiding.

  The bosque was thick in this section and several old cottonwoods had long branches dangling out over the rocky riverbed. When she didn’t see Cardell, she looked for tracks, and spotted them immediately.

  Moving along the high ground above the river, she stopped to listen and heard the trickle of water to the right, and some kind of creaking noise. Looking up through the foliage she saw two ropes had been tied to a stout cottonwood branch, one about four feet above the other. From the direction they led, she knew instantly that Cardell had prepared a rope bridge so he could cross the river and avoid pursuit by a vehicle.

  Ella ran up to the branch, climbed up the rough bark two feet, then grabbed the top rope, inching her feet out onto the bottom strand carefully like a tightrope walker. On an afterthought, she took her cell phone from her waist and placed it into her breast pocket.

  Cardell had his side to her, and was thirty feet farther out along the drooping ropes, sliding his hands and feet along, crossing over the narrow rushing water just two feet below him. He was almost across already and approaching the anchoring tree growing out of the island.

  If she tried to swim the gap instead of crossing over the rope bridge, she’d be swept fifty yards or more downstream and probably be exhausted by the time she made it across. This was the only way. Hanging on tightly, she began to slide her feet along the bottom rope, holding on to the top rope for balance as she inched out over the water.

  “Go back!” Cardell yelled, his voice just audible above the sound of the river. He’d obviously felt her body motion once she stepped onto the rope.

  “You come back here, Cardell. I’ve got to take you in for questioning,” Ella shouted, but she didn’t bother looking in his direction. She was concentrating too hard on keeping her balance as she slid her feet along the rope.

  “Don’t you believe in justice, Clah?” Cardell yelled back.

  “That’s not my call, Benally. We only investigate and arrest. You were a cop, you know that.” Ella glanced up and saw that he’d already reached the far side and was scrambling onto the other tree.

  Cardell wedged the food bag between a junction of two lower branches, then turned around to look at her. “Go back, Clah. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “Innocent people don’t hurt others,” Ella yelled back, now reaching the halfway point. She was confident enough now to keep her eyes on Cardell as she inched along the rope by feel alone.

  “Get ready to grab onto the bottom rope, please,” he yelled, and Ella saw that he had a shiny huntin
g knife in his hand.

  “No!” Ella watched helplessly as he chopped the upper rope with the blade. It quickly went slack in her hands and she found herself swaying back and forth. Knowing she’d never be able to walk the bottom rope without something to hold on to for balance, she bent down as carefully as she could. Grabbing the bottom rope firmly, she allowed her feet to slip off the rope into the rushing river.

  The water was freezing and she gasped, but she managed to hold on tightly to the still-attached bottom line so she could keep the current from sweeping her downstream. Holding her upper body above the water, her legs not touching the bottom, she kicked to help out her straining arms.

  “Just pull yourself along arm over arm, Officer. You’ll be okay,” Cardell said reassuringly, then disappeared into the brush along with his black food sack.

  “Thanks for nothing,” Ella yelled, then realized she needed to save her strength for the ten feet she still had to go.

  Less than three minutes later, sore muscles protesting, Ella hauled herself up onto level ground and looked for tracks in the sand. She found them right away. As she moved in that direction, she brought out her cell phone, which, after shaking it a bit, still worked.

  The sound of a car engine distracted her for a second, and she turned in time to see a pickup heading south away from the river. Cardell would be long gone before Justine could reach the spot and she wasn’t about to catch him on foot.

  “Justine?” Ella sat down on a dry rock, noting that she still had to wade across a slow-moving, shallow lagoon before she’d be across the river completely. “Take the bridge just west of Hogback and go down the dirt road on the south side of the river. I’ll be waiting for you, on foot.”

  “What about Cardell Benally?” Justine asked.

  “He got away. I got wet.”

  The following morning as Rose, Ella, Boots, and Dawn were at the breakfast table, the Hollywood producer called. Ella spoke to the man for several minutes asking, as Kevin had suggested, for time to get an attorney who could handle the negotiations. When she hung up and looked back toward the table, Ella saw Rose’s gaze riveted on her.