Enemy Way

by Aimée

“Okay, let me give this some thought. I owe your mom big time as you darned well know,” she said with a tiny smile.

  Ella chuckled. Carolyn would help her find a way, somehow. It wasn’t in her nature to walk away from a friend … or a challenge.

  As Ella left the hospital and drove down the highway, her thoughts slowly shifted back to the murder case. Following an impulse, Ella took a right turn, and headed toward the housing area where Lisa had lived. She’d only gone about half a mile when an old compact car raced past her. She recognized the driver, Lillian Peshlakai, almost at the same time she noticed that all the car windows had been smashed.

  In a heartbeat, a pickup filled with boys flashed by. The passenger in the front seat had a baseball bat half out of the window.

  Ella switched on her emergency lights and siren and called for backup as she did a quick 180 and gunned the Jeep’s engine. Abruptly the pickup ahead swerved and raced down a dirt road that led to the river, suddenly no longer pursuing Lillian.

  Ella followed them through the shower of sand and gravel that pelted her windshield, using the dark outline of the pickup to lead the way. Her Jeep bounced along the washerboard road between two dried-out alfalfa fields, and Ella was jolted painfully against the seat belt several times. Her one consolation was knowing that the driver of the pickup was having a much harder time maintaining control at that speed. The truck was fishtailing wildly.

  The boy with the bat leaned out the passenger-side window, bringing the bat up to toss at her windshield. Ella swerved to her left and ducked just as he threw. Looking up a second later, she saw in her side mirror that the bat had missed the car completely. It was tumbling down the road behind her now.

  The pickup widened the gap, exploding up a narrow canyon. When it hit a soft spot, the truck nearly overturned, the left-side wheels leaving the ground. The door on the passenger’s side suddenly flew open and a boy swung out, clinging to the door for dear life.

  Suddenly, the pickup slid to a stop a few feet from an area filled with jagged boulders. The boy managed to hold on and jump to safety as everyone tumbled out of the cab and raced off in different directions. Ella braked hard and slid sideways, effectively blocking the road. Grabbing the pepper spray, she took off after the boy who’d been clinging to the door. He’d thrown the bat.

  The boy reached the river about fifty feet ahead of her. Pushing off the sandy bank, he leaped into the icy water, and floated quickly downstream. The water wasn’t more than four feet deep, but Ella couldn’t see going for a swim in the forty-degree water. She ran along the riverbank, trying to keep the boy in sight, aware that he was slowly working his way toward the other bank. As Ella crashed through a stand of willows, cursing the fact that she eventually would have to go into the water, she suddenly came face-to-face with a large wire and steel flood-control barrier blocking the bank.

  Ella knew that by the time she found a way around or through the rusty maze, it would be too late. The Normandy-Beach-type obstacle had defeated her for now. Losing sight of the boy, she began walking back, using her hand-held to talk to the other officers who were approaching the scene.

  When Ella returned, she was surprised to see Lillian Peshlakai waiting with two officers near the abandoned truck. The moment she saw Ella, Lillian beamed her a grateful, relieved smile.

  “I came back with help as soon as I could. I can’t thank you enough for what you did!”

  “It’s all part of my job. No thanks are necessary,” Ella said. “Why were they chasing you? What happened?”

  “I arrived home after buying my groceries, just like normal. Usually the gang kids aren’t hanging around that early in the day, so I wasn’t watching. As I stepped inside the house with a bag of groceries, I heard a noise outside. I went to the window and saw four boys taking my groceries out of the car and throwing them out into the driveway and everywhere. They were joking that the Many Devils were taking over the whole neighborhood. One got out a can of spray paint. Then one of the boys saw me standing by the window watching.”

  Lillian’s voice broke, and Ella saw the fear and anger that contorted her features. “Take your time,” Ella said gently.

  Lillian took a deep breath, then continued. “The boys rushed to the door before I could lock it. The one with the spray can said that they should paint my house on the inside, too. I panicked and tried to hold the door shut, but they pushed real hard. I knew I would lose, so I jerked it open real fast and the boys pushing fell to the floor. I ran right over them, and when one tried to grab my foot I kicked him right in the face.

  “I reached the car first and got my key in the ignition, but they came after me,” she said, her words coming even faster now. “When I saw they had a baseball bat, I ducked. It was just in time, too. Glass went everywhere. I was so scared!

  “The one with the bat kept hitting the windows. I just pressed down on the accelerator and backed out of there without ever looking up. I figured I’d go to the police station. I was sure they wouldn’t follow me all the way there. But then you passed by. I was really glad to see you. I figured you’d need help though, so I pulled over the first squad car I saw, but they were already on their way to back you up. I decided to come along too then, in case you needed me to identify anyone you caught.”

  “Unfortunately, the boys got away, so we’ll need you to give us descriptions of anyone you can remember. Will you ride back to the station with one of the officers now? They can give you a ride home, too, if that’ll help.”

  “I’m not going back. Michael’s crazy if he thinks I’m going to continue living there. These gang kids are crazy. Next time they’ll have a gun.”

  As one of the officers led her back to the patrol unit, Ella saw Sergeant Neskahi approaching. The look on his face was chilling. “What’s wrong?”

  “I heard your call for backup, and got over here as soon as I could. I was on my way to talk to you anyway. I’d heard a rumor about a turf battle brewing between the North Siders and the Many Devils.”

  Ella expelled her breath in a hiss. As if she didn’t have enough trouble to handle. Now she had to contend with a gang war. “I’ll meet you back at the station, Sergeant. Our team needs to get together for a strategy meeting about this.”

  “Juvenile crime isn’t our territory.”

  “Murder is, and these kids have crossed that line.”

  * * *

  Justine was waiting in Ella’s office. “Good to have you back in one piece, boss.”

  “I assume you’ve heard?”

  “Oh yeah. So has everyone else at the station. Big Ed is off at Window Rock, meeting the tribal honchos, but he’ll hear about this soon enough, too.”

  “If he hasn’t already.” Ella went to her desk. “Anything new since I spoke to you?”

  “Just that the driver of the Many Devils car that we came across, Rudy Keeswood, doesn’t have any record—or didn’t have one until now. Although he’s going to have to go to court over the beer bottles and the broken windshield, plus pay a lot in fines, he still wouldn’t tell me who was in the car with him. We already know about the other guy, but he wasn’t the one who broke the windshield, so we don’t have anything on him we can prove.

  “I haven’t been able to talk to my cousin Thomas, the gang wannabe,” Justine continued. “He’s never at home, and I don’t think it would be a good idea to catch him at school. He certainly wouldn’t talk to me there. He has an image as a bad boy to protect. But I did pick up on a rumor. The Fierce Ones, that radical group of tribal activists that caused so much trouble at the mine, is letting it be known that they will no longer tolerate gangs on the Rez. They’re saying that if we don’t break up the gangs and put a stop to their activities, they’ll take care of the situation themselves.”

  Ella groaned. “Vigilantes. Just what I needed to make a crappy day even worse.” Ella rubbed her temples. Her head was throbbing. Opening a drawer and taking two aspirins from the bottle she kept there, she glanced at Justine. “Any late develo
pments on the murder case?”

  “Not much. The car the boys were driving turns out to belong to Rudy Keeswood’s father. He wasn’t supposed to be driving it because they didn’t have any current registration on the vehicle.”

  “Where’s the car now?” Ella asked.

  “It’s in impound now. I thought you might want me to check it out. Unfortunately the tire prints don’t match those found behind the Aspass house, and the car was spotless inside. The kids must have vacuumed it out after our encounter with them. Everything had been washed too, so no fingerprints were located.

  “Oh, and one more thing,” Justine added. “Several of Lisa Aspass’s students confirmed that she’d forgotten her grade book every once in a while. That, plus the other evidence at the scene, like the keys still in the door, pretty much support the theory that she’d left home and then returned to get the grade book.”

  “Now we need some leads to the gang’s burglary teams. Let’s see if we can glean something useful from the incident today. The truck the boys ditched is still out there. I want it fingerprinted and a full make run on the vehicle. It’s probably stolen, that seems to be another gang specialty, but the prints might give us a lead if any of the boys have records. And the bat they threw at me should have some prints on it. Nobody was wearing gloves that I saw.”

  Sergeant Neskahi entered the room with Harry Ute and Tache directly behind him.

  “Good. I’m glad we’re all here. It looks like our murder case is getting a lot more complicated.” Ella looked at Tache and Ute. “I want you both to gather all the evidence you can from the truck the punks abandoned. We might find our killers among that crowd. Treat it like one of our crime scenes. I need a positive ID on at least one of those kids. I can identify the kid with the bat, and I’ll be looking at mug files soon, but, in the meantime, I’d like some hard evidence. I need something I can take to court to get a conviction on assault, breaking and entering, and maybe even attempted murder. We need an informant, but to get one we need leverage.”

  “We’ll work on that, boss,” Justine said. “And I’ll track down my cousin, one way or the other. If I can get him to loosen up, maybe he can lead us to a gang member we can work on. I just hope Thomas isn’t involved in what’s been happening lately. My mom said his mother has been complaining about Thomas giving her fits.”

  As the team disbanded, Ella went into records and began searching the mug books. There was one thing she hadn’t told them. Her instincts were working overtime telling her that major trouble was right around the corner. They wouldn’t have to look far to find it.

  Ella didn’t find the photo of the bat boy, but she wasn’t surprised. Most of the kids hadn’t been involved long enough to have criminal records, though some of the hard core youths were working on it. This was a new breed of criminal on the Rez.

  Then Ella took out the most recent copies they had of the local school yearbooks. The department had always sponsored the local school annuals, and purchased a copy each year. Not only did it help present the police in a positive light, it also gave the department photos of almost all the local kids. The books had been very useful in picking up truants or missing kids, and had served as a good source of photos whenever a kid who didn’t have a criminal record got into trouble.

  Ella was just into the sophomore class when she located the boy who’d been with the group terrorizing Mrs. Peshlakai, and who had thrown the bat at her Jeep. It was Thomas Bileen, Justine’s cousin.

  SEVEN

  Ella knew she should break the news to Justine right away, so she walked immediately to the small lab where Justine spent most of her day.

  Ella entered the cluttered makeshift facility, noted Justine was on the phone, and caught her attention. Justine held up her hand, asking silently for a moment to get off the phone. “Thanks, Aunt. No, we’re not coming to arrest him or anything, I just want to talk. I’ll try again later.” Justine rolled her eyes at Ella. “Yes, I’ll say hi to Mother for you when I see her. Bye now.” Justine hung up.

  “Were you trying to catch your cousin at home?” Ella asked.

  “Yes, but he’s never there. And if I call first, by the time I get over, Thomas has gone out. Did you find out something I should know? You have that look in your eye, boss.”

  “I think Thomas ditched school today. As a matter of fact, I know he did. He was one of those who hassled Lillian Peshlakai. He was also the one who threw the bat at me.”

  “Are you sure?” Justine groaned. “I’d hoped he hadn’t gone that far yet.”

  “His photo in the last yearbook matches my memory. Either he has a twin, or he’s the one. Sorry, cousin.” Ella shook her head slowly.

  “Well, I guess we’ll have to bring him in. I hope he doesn’t have a burn on him. That would kill my aunt. She’s going to be pissed enough as it is. Unfortunately, I think she’s going to be as angry at me as she is at him. You heard me just tell her I just wanted to talk to him. Now he’s going to be arrested for sure.”

  “Once I see him face-to-face, and we check his prints, we’ll have what we need. I wish it could have been someone else.” Ella knew how much un-Navajo-like pride Justine took in being a cop, and her family had always been close.

  “Would you mind making the arrest, Ella? I don’t want that bit of gossip to be tossed around at family gatherings.”

  “Sure. Maybe this will be his first and last negative encounter with the law. At least he doesn’t have a record, does he?”

  “No. I just hope you’re right about him and the law. Thomas can be so stubborn. Do you want me to put out a pick-up call on him now?”

  “Might as well. The sooner we bring him in, the less time he’ll be out there getting into more trouble.”

  * * *

  Two hours later, after making a call to her mother at the hospital, Ella was alone in her office, writing reports. Hearing footsteps, she glanced up just as Big Ed came in.

  “Chief, what are you doing back here today? I thought you were going to stay over in Window Rock.”

  “I figured I’d better get back here. Every time I got a report it was worse than the one before. At least you have a few gang kids identified, and serious charges you can bring against one of them. What else can you tell me?”

  Ella leaned back, suddenly aware that every joint and muscle in her body ached. “I know you want more than supposition, but all I can tell you for sure right now is that the gangs seem to be right in the middle of everything that’s going on. The really bad news is that I don’t think they’re our only threat.”

  “Explain.”

  She told him about the Fierce Ones, then added, “But it’s more than that. There’s something going on in Lisa’s neighborhood besides gang problems or vigilantes. There’s some major trouble brewing there.”

  “You mean the neighborhood’s going to retaliate?”

  “I wouldn’t rule that out.”

  Big Ed sat back and closed his eyes for a moment, as if assimilating everything she’d said. “Besides finding and bringing in the Bileen kid, what are you going to do next?”

  Before she could answer, Justine knocked on the open door and came in. “Excuse me, but the test results on the burnt cloth we found at Lisa Aspass’ house came back sometime today. The state lab hasn’t been able to determine what she used to burn her attackers, if that’s what she did. They’d like to examine the debris I vacuumed up from the carpet.”

  “Have any teens come into the hospital or local clinics today with burns?”

  “No.”

  “All right. Let me know if you and the sergeant make any progress tracking down your cousin or the other kids we’re looking for,” Ella added, then Justine excused herself to get back to work.

  “I don’t know if you’re ready for more bad news,” the chief said, looking at Ella, “but I don’t know any way to spare you this.”

  Ella sat down. Something told her she’d need a chair. “What’s going on?”

  “An Anglo la
wyer has come around looking for Officers Michael Cloud and Jimmy Frank. He wants to interview them about that incident at the hospital the night of your mother’s accident. Gladys Bekis is threatening to press excessive force charges, and Leo plans to sue you for some defamation-of-character nonsense regarding statements you supposedly made to the press that night and the next morning.”

  “What? Those accusations are totally false. There are witnesses who will back us up on this.”

  “Apparently several of the Bekis family are ready to support their side of it.” Big Ed shrugged. “I’m not questioning your words, but I figure this is the spin their lawyer might put on the events. First, you go through two violent confrontations in one day, one in which you’re nearly shot. By then your nerves are on edge. Then you hear your mother is in emergency surgery after a terrible accident. Upset, you come to the hospital, and the first thing you see is the driver of the other car, who has been labeled DWI. You lose control, get violent, then have to be restrained. It was natural for you to be upset, but cops aren’t supposed to go over the line.”

  “But that wasn’t the way it went down. Bekis is trying to weasel out of his DWI situation, and he’s got his sister’s help. They want to paint me as the bad guy,” Ella said slowly.

  The phone on Ella’s desk rang. She picked it up, then handed the receiver to Big Ed. “It’s Nadine Kodaseet over in Legal. She said you told her to call here.”

  Big Ed’s expression was somber as he spoke to the caller. Finally, he hung up and met Ella’s gaze. “It just started. Gladys Bekis has filed charges of excessive force against you.”

  Ella felt her stomach clench and her hands grow clammy. Bekis was retaliating against her. A cop’s career could be ruined by a lot less than what she was accused of doing. “It’s all a pack of lies, Chief, and I’ll be able to prove it.”

  “I want you to consult one of our tribal attorneys. Police brutality charges have been filed, and you’ll need a legal defense.” He took a deep breath then let it out again. “I hate like hell to say this, but if any other charges come up against you, I’ll probably be ordered to put you on paid suspension until this is settled.”