by Aimée Thurlo
As she approached, Loretta pushed Julian back inside. “The professor didn’t mean any harm,” Loretta said. “You didn’t have to be so rough or rude to him. He’s out of my house now.”
Ella glared at Loretta, struggling against the urge to throttle her until her teeth rattled. “You’re going to press charges, correct?” she said through clenched teeth.
“Oh, no, I’m not. The professor didn’t come here to harm anyone. We’re both fine.”
Ella pointed to the door. “Then why did you let him in? I specifically told you not to do that.”
“He just slipped past my son. I was trying to be polite and it backfired, that’s all. I just wanted to explain . . .”
“Explain it to your husband. He deserves to know before everyone around Shiprock finds out what happened. Am I clear?”
Loretta nodded once. “But I still won’t press charges,” she said, looking down at Justine who was escorting a handcuffed Garnenez to the unit.
“He has much bigger problems than a domestic disturbance to deal with now.” Leaving Loretta to ponder that, she joined her partner.
“Where are you taking me? She said she wasn’t going to press charges,” Garnenez whined.
“You’re not only pathetic, you’re a suspect for attempted murder. You tried to kill a police officer—me,” Ella clipped.
“I did no such thing.” His voice rose. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Then perhaps you can explain why bullets fired from your twenty-two rifle match the bullets that we found at the crime scenes.”
He started to answer, then clamped his mouth shut. “I’m innocent and I want an attorney,” he finally said.
No one spoke on the trip back to the station and Ella made it a point not to turn around and look at Garnenez. His assertion that he was innocent and the sudden silence that followed bothered her. Gut instinct told her that things wouldn’t be simple after all.
Ella sat across from Garnenez in the interrogation room. His attorney, a Navajo man by the name of Jim John, now sat to Garnenez’s right. Justine stood behind Ella, leaning against the wall.
“My client knows his rights and understands why you’ve made the assumption you have. But he has an alibi.”
“We checked it out and it’s no good.”
“My client mistook the date. He wants to correct his error now.”
Ella looked at Garnenez. The man didn’t seem at all worried about his situation. “You lied to me, Professor, and you got caught. How many times is your story going to change before we get the truth?”
“He made a mistake,” Jim John said firmly. “Shall we move on?”
“All right. What’s his new alibi?”
John nodded to Garnenez.
“No one was supposed to know this,” he said slowly, then paused. “I was following Loretta that day.”
“Come again?”
He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “I was concerned about your contact with death and the danger it presents to others, and so was she. She’d been so worried about the risk to Julian from contact with you and those mines that she hadn’t been concentrating on anything else. She told me that she was going to drive to Farmington to go shopping, then drive back to pick up Julian at his friend’s house. I was afraid that she wouldn’t pay enough attention to traffic and that could lead to an accident. That’s why I followed her. I just wanted to make sure she arrived home safely.”
Ella shook her head. “I don’t buy it.” She didn’t think even Loretta was that worried about contact with her.
“Ask Lea Benjamin, she’s one of my students. I was following Loretta while she shopped in the mall when Lea saw me. From the look on her face, I have a feeling she knew exactly what I was doing.”
“Stalking my sister-in-law.”
“No, not at all. I just wanted to make sure she was okay.”
“My client has answered all of your questions, and his alibi can be corroborated. Now I want him released,” the lawyer asserted.
Ella gave Justine a nod, then as her partner walked out of the room, continued. “If this new alibi of yours turns out to be true, how do you explain the fact that the bullets from your rifle matched those at the crime scene?”
“The rifle was stolen,” John answered smoothly.
“It was,” Garnenez added with a nod. “Well, not stolen exactly. Just borrowed without my permission. I had no idea what he’d done.”
“He—who?”
“My cousin, Daniel Smart. He spent almost a week with me recently. His heart has always been in the right place, but his brain’s never fired on all eight cylinders. And, lately, he’s been worse than ever.”
“Explain what you mean,” Ella clipped, thinking that Garnenez was the wrong person to gauge someone else’s excessive behavior.
“He and I have always been close. For the past five years we’ve been going duck hunting and fishing as often as we could. Then last week he showed up at my door and asked to stay with me for a while. He said he needed time to think, and since he had business in Shiprock, he figured my place was perfect. Of course, he was more than welcome.”
“What changed?”
“I quickly realized that Daniel wasn’t thinking straight. What scared me most was seeing the list he’d made of people he felt were a danger to the tribe—something he compiled by listening to George Branch’s radio program, reading the papers, and sitting in the back during Chapter House meetings taking notes. The list had names associated with the gambling issue, or NEED—the Navajo Electrical Energy Development project—and gun control. Hunt and his brother-in-law, Benally, were both on Daniel’s list, I know that. You were there too, as was Police Chief Atcitty.”
“We’re in the process of getting a search warrant, but you could save us some time if you willingly turn over your rifle, ammunition, and supplies. We may be able to lift Daniel’s prints from something and that would corroborate your story.”
“I’m sure my client cleans his weapon, Investigator Clah. The absence of Smart’s prints won’t mean much.”
“But their presence might,” Ella answered.
“Fine. Knock yourself out,” Garnenez said with a shrug. “My attorney can loan you the key to my home.”
“Now it’s your turn to do something for us,” John said. “You can release my client.”
“Not until we check out his alibi.”
“All right. But do so quickly.”
Ella went back to her office as Garnenez was escorted to lockup, and began filling out a lengthy report. She’d been working on it for nearly an hour when Justine came in.
“I checked out his alibi,” Justine said. “Lea Benjamin remembered seeing him at the mall. She could vouch for the date because she’d gone to the store to pick up a birthday present for her brother. She said that she was almost sure he was following Mrs. Destea. She watched him for a while, and then finally decided to go say hello, but he was really nervous and rushed off. The last time she saw him was in the parking lot. According to her, he pulled out just a few seconds after your sister-in-law left.”
“Did she ever tell Loretta?”
“I asked her the same thing. She said that she considered telling Mrs. Destea, but she thought the professor might deny it. Since there was no way she could prove anything, she decided to keep quiet. But it probably fed the rumor mill at the college about Garnenez and Loretta.”
“I want that twenty-two gone over with a fine-tooth comb. What I’m looking for is Smart’s prints. Check the cartridge boxes, the magazines, and even the cardboard box he used to store some of his shooting gear—everything.”
“I’ll take care of it. Joe’s on his way over to the professor’s house with Ralph Tache now. I’ll work on the rifle and the rest the second they return.”
An hour and a half later, while Justine processed the rifle, Ella signed Garnenez’s release papers. Once that was finished, she called her sister-in-law. “I’m releasing Garnenez now so be careful. A
nd under no circumstances should you ever open your door to him. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” came a muted reply. “And I thought you’d like to know that your brother is home now and I’ve told him everything.” There was a long pause before she added, “He got really angry when he found out.”
“Let me talk to him.”
“He’s in his medicine hogan now. You know how he gets—when he’s upset he doesn’t say a word. But if the professor ever comes around here, I’m not sure what will happen,” she said softly. “You might tell the professor that for his own good.”
There was an emotion laced through Loretta’s words that Ella had a difficult time identifying.
“My husband dislikes confrontations, but he won’t let anyone threaten his family,” Loretta added.
As she heard the pride and satisfaction in Loretta’s voice, Ella suddenly understood her sister-in-law. Loretta was relieved and happy to see Clifford jealous.
“My brother loves you,” Ella answered, tempted to add “though I can’t understand why.” “Did you ever really doubt it?”
“He gets really busy with his patients and sometimes it’s hard to tell what he feels,” Loretta said, her voice heavy with resignation. “He keeps it all inside, and as a wife, I can tell you that’s not easy to deal with.”
Ella shut her eyes, took a deep breath, then summoning all her self-control, said good-bye. It was hard to deal with a blockhead.
Justine came in just then. “I didn’t find any prints except Garnenez’s on the rifle. Since there was only a light trace of gunpowder residue on it, my guess is that it had been cleaned recently—prior to this morning, that is. Then I thought of dusting the clip since most people don’t clean that very often,” she said, and smiled. “I found Daniel Smart’s prints there, big and bold.”
“Okay. Now we’re cooking.”
Before Ella could say more, Preston Garnenez appeared at her open door, escorted by the desk sergeant. Garnenez knocked, though it was scarcely necessary since she was looking directly at him.
“May I come in?” he asked.
Ella nodded, and gestured to an empty chair as the desk sergeant walked away. Garnenez came into her office and took the seat she’d offered. He didn’t seem the least bit concerned about being close to her now, and he held his medicine pouch nonchalantly in his hand.
“I don’t know how dangerous you are to other Navajos, but you do have a reputation of catching those you’re hunting, Investigator Clah. So there’s something I need to tell you. My cousin Daniel is not a bad person. He’s had a hard life, but in his own way, he’s trying to make things better for everyone—to restore harmony. In that respect and others, you two are alike.”
Seeing her start to protest, Garnenez raised one hand, stopping her. “But the way things stand, he’s a danger to you now. If you go up against him, you’ll each follow your own instincts and nothing good will come of it. Both of you will dig in your heels and blood will be shed.”
“I have to bring him in. Whether it goes down easy or not is totally up to him.”
“There’s no need to turn it into an all-out confrontation. I’m sure I can talk Daniel into giving himself up. Let me help you. When you find him, let me talk to him first, before you do anything else. No one has to get hurt.”
Ella looked at him thoughtfully, thinking that maybe she was seeing the real Garnenez for the first time. He’d never really been afraid of her at all, but it made for good theater and was a way of getting attention. It was also clear to her that he didn’t want his cousin to be killed. All things considered she could see no harm in making sure Garnenez talked to him, maybe by phone where he’d be out of the line of fire.
“I’ll keep it in mind,” she said. “Now there’s something I have to say to you.” Ella leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, and looked directly at him. “Stay away from my sister-in-law. Am I making myself clear?”
He nodded. “I had thought she and I . . . But that doesn’t matter now. I won’t go where I’m not wanted.”
“Good,” Ella said.
As he left her office, Ella looked at Justine. “Smart is after Cardell Benally, but Cardell’s no easy target, as I know from personal experience. If those two meet . . .”
“We can’t head this off. We have no idea where either of them is. Unless we get to one of them first . . .”
Ella considered it for several moments. “Let’s go pay Branch another visit. Last time we spoke, I rattled him. Let’s team up and see if we can get even more from him this time.”
Ella rode with Justine to the motel where Branch was staying, but his sedan wasn’t parked in the lot and knocking on his door didn’t do much good.
“Last time I was here, I made sure Branch understood how unstable Smart is and how, if Smart harmed Benally either of his own accord or while trying to bring him in, Branch might be charged as an accessory. But I may have used the wrong tactic. Branch is probably trying to find Smart himself so he can stop him, most likely by buying him off. Of course if that doesn’t work, Branch will have no choice but to lead us to Smart so we can take care of the problem.”
“So if we can locate Branch, we should follow him for a while?” Justine asked.
“Yeah.” Ella then called Hoskie Ben, on the off-chance that the two had been in contact recently. When that proved unsuccessful, she put out an APB with a Code 5, which instructed officers to keep the vehicle under surveillance but not make any attempt to contact the occupant. “Let’s go to the nearest gas station that sells diesel fuel,” Ella told Justine. “Maybe we can find out if anyone’s seen Branch recently.”
They arrived a short time later and Justine parked at one of the parking-lot barriers beside the attendant’s “island” in the middle of the pumps. As Ella reached for the door handle, her cell phone rang. Remaining where she was, she answered the call.
“Ella, this is Branch,” the caller said. “I met with Daniel and tried my level best to get him to come in and square things with you. But you were right about him. He’s gone off the deep end on some nut job vigilante crusade. He wants Benally and Hunt first and then he’s coming after you. Smart is more dangerous than those two jokers put together.”
“And you were the one to light the fuse. Where did you see him and when?” Ella snapped.
“Beside Highway Six-sixty-six where it passes by Table Mesa. While we were talking in the cab of his pickup, I managed to slip a global satellite positioning device under the seat. It’s a demo model I’d been carrying around in the trunk of my car that one of my old sponsors had loaned me for evaluation. The system works the same way as one I had installed in my Mercedes, so I know it’s reliable. You should be able to track him yourself with a computer from the Web site once you get the system’s code number,” he said, giving her the information she would need, including the passwords to get onto the Web site.
“I assume you’re still tracking him?”
“Of course. He’s been circling the area around the south end of the Hogback, east of Table Mesa, for a long time now. Once he headed back to the southwest and stopped by the store at Little Water. But by the time I got there he’d already moved back to the east—in the Burnham area. I spoke to Leroy Joe, the clerk at Little Water. Daniel bought some heavy-duty rope there. From the map on my screen, right now he’s at the base of the Hogback near some old mines. My guess is that he’s found Cardell Benally, but I’ll follow him and verify it.”
“No, that’s too dangerous. Hang back. We’ll take it from here.”
“No way. This is a story, and I’m seeing it through. Something this big could get me back my show. Besides, I don’t want to be responsible for the murder of Cardell Benally—legally or morally. I hired Daniel to find him, not blow him away. I’ve got to see this through.”
Before Ella could argue, Branch hung up. “Damn!” Ella said, tossing the cell phone back on the seat.
“Hogback? You mean the north end near the river, or way
down south past the Four Corners Power Plant?” Justine asked, only getting one side of the conversation.
“South, about fifteen miles from where Smiley lived. At least there’s no question of jurisdiction. Daniel Smart and Branch are definitely on the Rez,” Ella added quickly.
“Come on. We’ve got to get moving.” As they headed south on Highway 666, planning on joining up with reinforcements at Little Water, Ella notified the chief and made sure any patrolmen in that area would be on hand to provide backup.
“I’ll get you all the support possible,” Big Ed said, “though our closest officers right now are just north of Tohatchi and at the Two Gray Hills Chapter House. Sergeant Neskahi just left Shiprock and is en route.”
“Two more things,” Ella said slowly. “Have Neskahi pick up Garnenez at the college and bring him to the Little Water trading post. We’ll pick up the professor there. There’s going to be very iffy cell phone reception from here on out, and if there’s really a chance that Garnenez can get Smart to surrender peaceably, I think we owe it to ourselves to try.”
“Done. And the other?” Big Ed asked.
“I want someone to find Lewis Hunt and let him know he’s being watched. I believe he knows where Cardell is hiding, and I don’t want him to show up right in the middle of all this.”
“It’ll be done. But you watch yourself and your people down there, Shorty.”
TWENTY-ONE
An hour later Ella and Justine met with Neskahi at the intersection of two dirt roads near the Hogback Ridge.
“What do you want me to do with him?” Neskahi gestured toward his unit, where Garnenez was sitting in the passenger seat, looking around anxiously. “He’s scared to death of his cousin and what might happen.”
“From everything we’ve learned so far, he’s got reason to be,” Justine added. “Daniel Smart sounds like he’s really out of touch with reality. Does Garnenez still think he can talk him into surrendering?”
“Yeah. What he’s counting on is the fact that Daniel trusts him. Plus the professor has come up with a strategy to convince Daniel to give himself up.”