“Last night I asked some of my former students to search the area right outside the reservation within the Sacred Mountains, but they haven’t found what you needed,” he said, readjusting the cell phone clipped to his belt. “Our best bet now is to talk to those whose routines require them to be traveling around the back country and ask them to keep an eye out for those plants.”
One person came immediately to Rose’s mind—Bradford Knight. The ecologist for Southwest Power Company had to spend a lot of time out in the field. Maybe he’d be able to help them in this time of crisis, if only to provide good publicity for the company.
As the other people who’d joined them at this particular search site walked back to their vehicles, Rose noticed how quiet they all were compared to their earlier, enthusiastic banter. Frustration and sadness were mirrored in all the faces she saw.
Rose, who had come in her pickup alone, now got under way. As she drove toward Shiprock, she tried to figure out the best way to approach Knight. They weren’t exactly on good terms with each other.
Deciding to stop by the house and wash up first, she turned south on Highway 666 and headed home. She’d just reached the front door when Ella pulled up behind her in her police unit.
“Mom, I was hoping to catch up with you here. I haven’t been able to take any time off. Did any of the groups have any luck?”
Rose shook her head. “No, and it’s been a very difficult day.” As Rose unlocked the door and went in, Two came up to greet her, but Dawn wasn’t home. “Where’s my granddaughter?” she asked Ella, who was right behind her.
“Boots needed to stay at home today to help out, so she recommended another traditionalist—Anna Woodis, your Plant Watcher friend’s granddaughter. I called her, she said yes, so I took Dawn to her house.”
Rose nodded. She’d met Fannie Woodis’s family many times, and she approved of Jennifer’s choice. “Why couldn’t she come here?”
“She’s licensed for day care and watches several girls at her home. I’ve dropped by twice today and the kids are very well supervised. My daughter is having a terrific time.”
Rose sat down on the sofa. “I’m glad that’s working out, at least.”
“What’s your next move, Mom?”
“I was hoping to get Bradford Knight’s help. He tracks around the reservation a lot and it’s possible he’s seen the plants we need so badly now.”
“That seems like a long shot. What makes you think he ever noticed those two plants in particular, or will remember where he saw them?”
“Desperation, probably,” Rose said with a wry smile. “He’s my last hope. The only other person I know will probably have the plants is the thief, but I haven’t been able to figure out who he is.”
“Then that leaves you with Knight for now.” Ella was about to say more when she got a call. Unclipping the cell phone at her belt, she spoke quickly.
After a moment, she ended the call. “Mom, I’ve got to go. There’s a disturbance at the high school. Some kids are squaring off in the parking lot and I’m needed for backup. Summer school brings its own problems, I suppose.”
Rose watched as her daughter left, but her thought were on the plant crisis. The thief was the key. As a last-ditch idea formed in her mind, Rose called Bizaadii, then Sadie Black Shawl, Gishii, and Fannie Woodis. The search had been halted until it cooled off later in the day, so they’d all returned home.
An hour later they all met at Gishii’s house east of Shiprock.
“Tell us your idea. No matter what it is, you can count on us. We all want to help our friend get better,” Gishii said.
“There’s only one person who’s likely to have the plants we need—the thief,” Rose began. “Although I don’t know who the thief is yet, I have some ideas of who it might be—suspects, as my daughter would call them. To find out if any of my guesses are right, I’ll need all of you to work with me. We need to follow each person on my list and see where they lead us. Bizaadii, Fannie, I’d like you to follow Curtis Largo. But it’s very important that he doesn’t spot you, because it could be dangerous if he knows what you’re doing. Stay far away from him, but see where he goes and who he meets.”
“Got it.”
“Gishii, Sadie, I need you two to focus on our new traditionalist hataalii.” There was no need to mention him by name. That description was enough to identify him.
“Who will you be following?” Herman asked.
“I’m going to check out Bradford Knight. I need to ask him if he’s seen ‘white at night’ or ‘baby newborn’ anyway. After that, I’ll give him plenty of room, then see if he goes anywhere on the Rez.”
“You’re doing that alone?” Herman asked, his tone rising.
“There’s no one else I can ask. I tried to call Jane, but I haven’t been able to reach her at home. But don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”
He shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”
“I’ll go with Rose,” Sadie said. “Gishii can keep calling Jane until she reaches her, then make the arrangements with her.”
“But that could take hours,” Rose protested.
“It probably won’t,” Gishii said, “but, even if it does, it’s safer if we all have someone with us who can go for help.”
“We need cell phones,” Sadie said. “I’ve got one, so Rose and I are covered.”
“My nephews both have them. I can borrow one of theirs,” Herman said.
Gishii considered it. “Jane’s daughter has a cell phone, maybe Jane can borrow hers.”
Taking the phone book, Rose looked up the addresses. All the suspects were listed except Knight, but she already knew where to find him.
“We’re all set,” Rose said. “We’ll stay in touch.”
As soon as the rest of them were on their way, Sadie and Rose climbed into Rose’s truck.
“Why don’t you call Knight on your cell phone and find out if he’s still in his office?” Rose asked. “If he is, make an appointment for later this afternoon, and tell him it’s urgent. In the meantime, we’ll go to his house.” Seeing the surprised look on Sadie’s face, she added, “I’d like to take a quick look around his home, and I can’t do that if he’s there,” Rose explained. “It would be a way to rule him out quickly, perhaps.”
“You don’t plan to break in, do you?”
“No, of course not. I just want to look around his yard and see what kind of herbs and plants he grows.”
Sadie dialed and asked to speak to Knight. Moments later, she hung up. “Done. He said he was planning to work late tonight anyway, so he’ll be glad to meet us at five.”
A short time later, they arrived at a comfortable-looking ranch-style home on a large, fenced-in lot with an orchard of old apple trees. “We’re in luck,” Rose said. “The houses are far enough away from each other that his neighbors will have a difficult time seeing us poking around.”
“I didn’t see any cars parked in the driveways, so the people in this neighborhood probably all work.”
Rose got out of the pickup and looked around. “See if you can find a way to take a look into his back yard. Just be careful in case he has a dog.”
“Okay. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to see if any doors or windows are open so I can poke my head inside. Then I’m going to check his mailbox.”
“Be careful. Tampering with the mail is a federal offense,” Sadie said.
“I’m not going to tamper—I’m just looking.”
Rose found all the doors and windows shut or locked partially open, as was the custom in a part of the country where swamp coolers were so common, so she went up to the mailbox at the end of the drive. Taking the envelopes from the box, she sorted through them. They were mostly bills, but one envelope at the bottom of the stack had come from the Research and Development Division of Herbal Promise, a pharmaceutical company.
Sadie came back as Rose was putting the mail back in place. Reading the expression on Rose’s face a
ccurately, she smiled. “What did you find?”
Rose hesitated. “It’s probably nothing, but I’m going to check it out further,” she said, telling her about the letter she’d found from Herbal Promise. “Without reading it, which is something I wouldn’t do, I can’t know for sure, but it’s definitely worth looking into.”
“You’re thinking that he might be working in cahoots with a pharmaceutical firm, and taking the medicinal herbs from the reservation for testing?” Seeing Rose nod, she added, “We have an appointment with him in thirty minutes. Why don’t you ask him straight out if he’s affiliated with any of the pharmaceutical companies?”
Rose shook her head. “He’d probably deny it, and it would just tip our hand,” she said. “The first thing we have to do is find out if he’s seen ‘white at night’ or ‘baby newborn’ anywhere. Then, after that question is answered, let’s try and see how long he’s planning to be in the office tonight. With luck, we’ll have time to go to your computer and gather up more information on both Herbal Promise and Mr. Knight. Then we can get back to his office and follow him once he leaves work. If he’s already gone by then, we’ll try to catch him at home, and see if he goes out later.”
“That’s a good plan, but we can keep an eye on him at the same time we do the research you want. I have a very good laptop computer, and we can connect it to my cell phone and go on the Internet right here in the pickup.”
“All right. We don’t have time to stop and get your computer now, otherwise I’d suggest going there first, but once we leave his office, we’ll get your laptop and then go right back to keep an eye on him,” Rose said, driving in the direction of the coal power plant where Knight had his office. “By the way, what did you see around the back of his house, besides the apple trees? Anything interesting?”
“There’s quite a bit of land back there—maybe two acres or more. There’s a huge outbuilding in the center of the orchard—maybe it’s a barn. I couldn’t really see much more than that because of the trees in the way. But if we drove up onto the mesa to the north, we might be able to see over the trees, providing we have a good set of binoculars.”
They arrived at Bradford Knight’s office, in an administrative building beside the massive power plant facility, right at five o’clock. The secretary ushered them in, and as they took a chair, Knight looked up from the computer. He looked tired, and his face was pale for a man who spent so much time outside.
“I understand that you had to speak to me on an urgent matter. What can I do for you?”
“You travel around the reservation, studying the land as part of your work, and must spend a lot of time looking at the vegetation,” Rose said. “Do you ever notice the small shrubs and native plants, or do you just study the varieties that could be used in land reclamation?”
“My main concern has been reclamation. Restoring the ground cover effectively and economically is what my job’s all about. Why do you ask?” Knight turned away and coughed into a handkerchief.
“We desperately need to find a plant the Navajos call ‘white at night.’ You would know it as the white-stemmed evening primrose. The plant has white flowers that turn reddish pink as they fade. The primrose grows about a foot high and has white stems with dull green leaves. The flowers only open from late afternoon to midmorning.”
“I know the plant you’re talking about. You can sometimes find them along the roadside … but, come to think of it, I can’t recall having seen any recently. This damned drought may be responsible for its decline.”
Her heart sank. She asked about “baby newborn” next, using the Anglo name, parry bellflower, but he wasn’t able to help her with that one either. “If you see them—”
“I’ll call you immediately,” he said, finishing her thought. “But if you don’t mind my asking, what’s the urgency?”
“We need the primrose so an important lifesaving ritual can be done. Parry bellflower is also used in the same ritual, and the medicine men have very little on hand.”
“I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for both plants, then,” he said. “Is there anything else?”
“No, that’s all. Thank you for your time,” Rose said, standing up. “I hope we haven’t kept you from leaving.”
“Oh, no, I still have a ton of work to do. I’ve missed a few days lately. Coming down with something, I think.” Knight coughed again, then nodded to both women as they reached the door.
When they reached the parking lot, Sadie’s phone rang and she answered it. A moment later, her face turned ashen and her eyes grew wide. “I don’t know how to tell you this,” Sadie said.
“It’s about my friend, isn’t it? She needs me to come to her?” Rose asked, correctly reading Sadie’s expression. In her heart, she already knew what was happening, but she hoped that this time, her intuition would be wrong.
Sadie nodded. “Lena has asked that you go to her now and fulfill the promise you made her.”
Rose felt the tears stinging her eyes. Lena was dying and there seemed to be no way for her to stop it. Swallowing back her tears, she climbed into the truck with Sadie. It was time to honor her word and carry out her duty.
As they rode toward Shiprock, she tried to think of a way to prevent this from happening. Finally she came up with a plan that might buy Lena, and the search, just a little more time.
TWENTY-THREE
Rose sat by Lena’s bedside. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Rose asked, her voice strained.
“It’s our way,” Lena replied.
“Will you consider another alternative?” Rose asked, hoping Lena wouldn’t fight her on this. When Lena didn’t immediately refuse, Rose quickly added, “Will you return to the hospital?”
“What good could that possibly do?”
“You’ll be closer to all of us who want to visit, and you’ll be giving the modernists in your family a final gift they’ll never forget. By going there, you’ll give them peace of mind.” Rose really hoped Lena would accept. By doing so, it might make her a little more stubborn, and if there was anything Lena needed right now, it was a reason to keep fighting for her own recovery and not give up.
Lena sighed. “All right. Let it be the way you suggest. To be honest, I’d hate for them to be reluctant to visit that old hogan because of bad memories. It’s a big part of our family history.”
Rose walked out of the room and met Lena’s daughter, Ruthann. “She’s agreed to go to the hospital.”
“I don’t know how to thank you! I was going crazy thinking of her over at the hogan lying on a dirt floor. That would certainly kill her.”
“It was our way once,” Rose answered.
“But not anymore,” Ruthann answered staunchly. “If she has to die, then let her do it someplace clean and comfortable, in a soft bed with heating and cooling, fresh water, and with all of us beside her. And someplace where medical help is available, in case they can intervene.”
Rose sighed. She still couldn’t really believe that she, of all people, had suggested the hospital, but she was desperate. Maybe Lena’s refusal to die in such a place, or perhaps even the Anglo medicine, could help keep Lena alive until the plant was found.
Ruthann made arrangements for an ambulance to transport her mother, and Rose waited until they came and carried Lena into the vehicle. With a heavy heart, Rose watched her friend being driven away. Slowly her fear and sadness gave way to resolve. “Do you have that computer of yours handy?” she asked Sadie.
“Of course, it’s still here from before. Do you want me to bring it along when we go to keep an eye on Knight?”
“Yes.” As Rose drove east toward the power plant turnoff, Sadie connected with the Internet. She found the public Web site the company had, but it was of little use to them because the information only listed the chief company officers, which didn’t include Bradford Knight, of course.
“You need more than I can access on a public Web site,” Sadie said. “You need the kind of information a police of
ficer—perhaps your daughter—would be able to get.”
By the time they reached the power plant, they saw all the day-shift offices were dark. Unfortunately, Knight’s vehicle was no longer in the small parking lot set aside for administrators and their staff.
“Instead of going to his house to see if he’s there, I’m going to drop you off and then go home,” Rose said. “You’re right about the information I need. I’m going to ask my daughter to help out.”
Rose dropped Sadie off at the Clani house, where she’d remain to take care of Lena’s garden and house-sit. While still at Lena’s, Rose called home. No one answered, so Rose decided to stop by the police station and see if Ella was in her office.
Ella was behind her desk scowling at some reports when Rose walked in, escorted by the desk sergeant. “Mom! What brings you here?”
“I need your help.” Rose thanked the desk sergeant, who left to return to his post. Once they were alone, Rose told her daughter what she’d done and learned, courtesy of Knight’s mailbox.
Ella stood, walked to the door, and shut it. “Mom, have you gone completely crazy? You could have been arrested.”
“I don’t have time to argue about my methods now, daughter. I need more information on Bradford Knight. That’s why I’m here.”
“Let me see what I can do.”
Ella logged on to her computer and searched out databases until she had a list of company officers for Herbal Promise, which was a subdivision of a larger, well-known pharmaceutical company. Knight’s name did not appear. “Let’s see what happens when I search under Knight’s name and Herbal Promise together.”
It took Ella about five minutes to track down the information. “Knight is listed as a scientific consultant to Herbal Promise,” she said. Then, working on that information, she was able to go deeper into other databases. “And it’s a well-paying job too.”
“You have to investigate this man thoroughly, daughter.”
“On what grounds, Mom? I can’t go after anyone based only on gut feelings and information that was illegally obtained. Get me something more and I’ll see if I can help you. What I need is something that connects him to an illegal act.”
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