by Aimée
“Not again,” Ella snapped, and went to her room.
Without turning on the lights she sat on the window seat, staring outside. The single light in the distance probably came from Tolino’s home. She stared at it for a long while. He was close by, but he was a dangerous ally. Too many emotions came into play when she was around him.
Turning away from the window, she went to the computer and switched it on. Routines were good, and she needed them now. As her people said, in everything there was a pattern, and in discerning it, one found harmony.
* * *
Ella woke up later than usual, but, judging from the fact that her phone hadn’t rung, she figured Justine had struck out the night before. Still reluctant to disbelieve her instincts, Ella decided that not identifying Lee as Angelina’s boyfriend could simply be a mistake on the waitresses’s part. Photo IDs weren’t infallible.
As she finished getting dressed, she heard Wilson Joe’s voice out in the living room. Curious, she hurried out to meet him. Ella glanced at her mother, then at Wilson. “What’s going on?”
“I wouldn’t let anyone wake you,” Rose said adamantly. “You’re always working late, then getting up early. Everyone can wait for once!” she said, then strode out of the room.
Ella glanced at Wilson and shrugged. “Sorry about that. She gets protective every once in a while.”
“She has a right to be,” he said quietly.
Ella met his gaze, trying to figure out whether he was referring to the shooting incident. It was amazing how quickly news spread on the reservation. It was worse than any small town.
“I heard rumors about a shooting, but there hasn’t been anything on the radio. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
“I can’t discuss it. I’m sorry,” Ella said. “But it wasn’t one of our people, I’ll tell you that much.”
He nodded and didn’t press. “I found out what you needed. It wasn’t easy, though. The senator’s daughter had few scholars for friends. They all cut classes regularly. I kept digging, though. Finally, one of the professors I spoke to remembered hearing that one of his students, Ruby Atso, had spent some time in the hospital, something to do with drugs.”
Ella remembered the young girl she’d dubbed Diamond Nose. It fit somehow. “I can’t thank you enough. I really needed this piece of information.”
“When you can, will you tell me the whole story?”
“You’ve got it. How are the wedding plans coming?” Ella forced herself to ask, walking with him to the door.
“We’ll have a small ceremony. Nontraditional. It’s what she wants, and it’s okay by me. I’ll talk to you there.”
Ella nodded in agreement. After saying good-bye, she watched him drive off. Rose came to join her. “Regrets?” she asked.
“No, not anymore. Wilson wasn’t for me. He needs more than I could have given him.”
Rose placed a hand on her daughter’s arm. “There could be another for you.”
Ella looked hard at her mother, her eyes narrowing. “Don’t you dare start playing matchmaker.”
“I don’t think I’ll have to,” she said, then walked back into the kitchen.
Ella groaned. There was no way she’d ask her mother to elaborate. Some things were better left alone.
“I’m going now,” Ella yelled out, grabbing her jacket from the hook on the wall.
“No breakfast?” Rose asked, coming back out of the kitchen.
“No, I’m already running late. I’ll grab something later.”
Ella hurried out to the Jeep. She wasn’t hungry. It was a symptom she recognized from the aftermath of the shooting in the L.A. diner so long ago. As she traveled down the highway, images of the men she’d killed merged in her mind until her body began to shake.
Ella slowed down, pulled over, and stopped the Jeep. Her hands gripped the wheel hard as she fought to push back the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. No. She wouldn’t give in to this. She had other responsibilities now. Unless she remained clear and focused, the department would place her on mandatory leave. Officers were watched carefully after a shooting.
Slowly the shudders eased, and Ella pulled back onto the road. She’d done her job, that was all she could ask of herself. Gathering her courage, she drove to the station.
Reaching her office, she practically smashed into Justine coming out as Ella came in.
“Oops,” Justine said, stopping abruptly to avoid colliding with her. “I have sorta good news. The waitress thinks Howard Lee is Angelina Yellowhair’s boyfriend. And you might be interested to know that Judy Lujan said Bitah not only knew Howard, they attended the Navajo Justice Church together. It was too late to call you last night by the time I finished all the paperwork. I just left copies of my reports, including the one on last night’s incident, on your desk.”
“I better go talk to Big Ed. At least I’ll finally have some promising leads to give him.
“I’ll save you a trip to my office, Shorty,” Big Ed said, rounding the corner and blocking the hall with his barrel-chested body. “FB-Eyes just called me. He suggested we give you a commendation. I’ve read your assistant’s report, and I tend to agree.”
Ella forced herself not to cringe. “Please, Chief, can I pass on this? I just reacted to the situation like I’d been trained to do.”
His gaze was sharp, searching for dangerous nuances in her behavior. “You okay with what went down? There are people you can talk to who can help you get through this.”
“Not necessary, Chief. I’m handling it.”
“All right,” Big Ed said after a long pause. “According to Officer Goodluck, we may be able to link Truman to Bitah’s death with that unique gun stock of his. You’d think he’d have burned the wood up instead of carving it into a rifle stock,” Big Ed said.
“Maybe he wanted it as a reminder of his victory over an enemy. Kind of a gruesome trophy, but Truman seems the type,” Ella suggested. “Or maybe it was too expensive to throw away.”
“We’ll just have to see if FB-Eyes can link that wood to the fragments from the victim’s skull. So, what’s new on the senator’s daughter?”
Ella filled him in on their progress regarding Howard Lee. As she did, she saw a flicker of understanding and more, perhaps excitement in his eyes. “I’m going to go track down Ruby Atso. She may be more open to us now that we already know who Angelina’s boyfriend was. Maybe we can finally learn why someone thought Angelina had to die.”
“Are we close to the important answers?” the chief prodded.
She knew he was asking her to use her almost legendary intuition. “Yes, I think so.”
“But you’re not sure.”
“I think we’re still missing something significant. I know it’s there, but I still can’t see it clearly,” Ella tried explaining, then shook her head. “I follow my intuition, Chief, it’s not something I lead with. Do you understand?”
He shrugged. “Keep me current.”
As the chief left, her phone rang. Ella picked it up, and heard Blalock’s voice at the other end.
“I tracked the rifle our sniper was using,” he said. “The French walnut stock was custom-made and added by Truman, replacing the original. The hand-rubbed finish is still curing. He bought the rough-cut stock blank three weeks ago from a mail order place in California. The serial number of the action, however, is the same as a rifle stolen from a Farmington resident who’s a member of my gun club, but not an employee of the mine. I’m checking him out anyway, just in case The Brotherhood has members not connected to the mine.”
“Thanks for letting me know. I’m going to check on Ruby Atso,” Ella said, filling him in, as promised, on her end of their joint investigations.
“Let me know what you turn up.”
Ella hung up and took the note Justine handed her.
“It’s Ruby’s address. She’s a tough cookie. I don’t think she’ll give us any more information that she already has, despi
te the fact that we now know about Howard Lee.”
Ella considered it. “Then let’s rattle her a bit. Pick her up and bring her in. Maybe we’ll get a better response from her once she’s one room away from a cell.”
* * *
Ruby sat in the barren room used for questioning, looking as if she wished she were anywhere but there.
Ella watched her through the two-way glass, waiting. Ruby was so nervous she couldn’t keep still for even a minute.
“How long are you going to let her stew in there?”
Ella had deliberately kept the young girl waiting for over twenty minutes. “Let’s go in now. I want her scared, not angry.”
Ella walked in slowly, then sat across the table from Ruby. “We know you’ve been playing games with us.”
“That’s not true. I told you what I knew about Angelina.”
“How long had you all been experimenting with drugs?” Ella asked pointedly. “The mescaline, peyote, maybe a little of something else?”
Ruby looked ashen. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Angelina took you to the emergency room here in Shiprock. She signed the admission papers herself. Start telling the truth, Ruby, we know enough to catch any lies.”
“Okay, okay. Yeah, we bought some mushrooms and peyote from someone, I don’t remember who. We thought it would be a kick. They’re not like cocaine or anything. You don’t become an addict. The Native American Church, for example, uses peyote for enlightenment and stuff.”
“It’s a sacrament for them, not something to be done for a lark, and using peyote is only part of their beliefs.”
“Yeah, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Angelina had found some tunnels that she swore had been used by skinwalkers once, so we went there. We knew we’d be okay, because we were with a guy who knew first aid.”
Ella looked directly at the girl. “We know about Howard Lee, Angelina’s boyfriend. That’s old news now. What happened next?”
Ruby’s eyes widened, then she sighed. Relief, or defeat, finally showed on her face. “Sooner or later, I knew you’d figure out who he was. Well, he handed out small amounts of the ground-up mushrooms and, though we all took that, none of us had any peyote. The only reason I got sick is because I insisted on taking an extra portion of the ground-up mushroom.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I figured if Howard could do it, so could I.”
“Why did Howard take extra; was it his greater body size?” Ella held her breath, grateful that Ruby had confirmed their ID work.
“No, he said that as a medical professional, he knew exactly what the danger signs were, and he could handle the effects better. I thought that was bull and said so. But he didn’t end up in the hospital, and I did. So maybe he was right.”
“How long had Angelina been dating Howard?” Justine asked.
“Several months, but, with his wife and all, they were very careful. Angelina was protective of him, too. She was afraid that Howard would get in trouble and that his medical career would be ruined, so she made us all promise that we never would tell about the drugs, or about them being together. Now that she’s dead and I’m in trouble about it, that promise doesn’t matter as much to me.”
“How often did you guys meet to experiment with the drugs?”
Ruby looked around nervously before answering. “Just a few times at the tunnels. Then we started meeting in different places, wherever it suited us. Sometimes, if he had some, we would take peyote along with the mushrooms. But when things started getting crazy, we stopped.”
“Crazy how?”
“Howard started talking about skinwalkers, and about how wonderful your dead father-in-law was.”
“What?” Ella was unable to avoid her surprise.
“Oh, yeah. He was totally obsessed with him. He thought old Police Chief Clah was guiding him, and that maybe they were linked.” Ruby tapped her head with one finger. “I’m telling you, he sounded nuts. It even scared Angelina.”
“What did she do?” Ella prodded.
Ruby regarded her with a worried frown. “Look, I’m telling you a lot here. I want to make sure you won’t throw me in jail until my hair turns gray, okay?”
“I’m investigating a murder. The only way I’ll throw the book at you is if you withhold any more of the information I need. Understood?”
Ruby nodded.
“Okay, now tell me about Angelina.”
“When she heard Howard say that Randall Clah was guiding him, she got really upset. She told him that they shouldn’t take any more peyote buttons, that the stuff was dangerous. Howard calmed her down, and promised that he would stop ‘kidding’ her about skinwalkers. He was really good getting her to do or believe whatever he wanted, you know.”
“Was he angry at her for spoiling his fun, angry enough to kill her?”
Ruby shook her head. “No way. He knew Angelina was crazy about him, and he loved knowing he could control her. I always thought that the real reason he didn’t leave his wife was that he used his marriage as a tool to make Angelina want him more.”
“Did Angelina ever ask him to leave his wife?” Justine asked.
“Oh, yes! And he’d said that he would, but I knew it would never happen. He had Angelina under his thumb. He even convinced her to start taking peyote with him again, just the two of them, after he got off work on the weekends.”
“Did anyone else know about this?”
“Sure. All of us did. The other girls may not tell you though, not matter how much you pressure them. We loved Angelina. She was wild, but she was also a lot of fun and she was a good friend.”
“One more question, Ruby. Where did Howard get the peyote? Think hard. I know he’s too busy with work at the hospital and the mine to go out into the desert to collect his own.” Ella waited. This was a critical detail. If she could track down Howard’s dealer, she might learn who had contaminated the peyote buttons with jimsonweed.
“Angelina told us Howard was bringing it back from his new church, the Navajo Justice one. He’d do a little magic trick he learned. He’d pretend to put the buttons in his mouth, but palm them instead, then pretend to chew. He’d get two or three each service that way and bring them back to Angelina, and for a while, us, too; if he could get enough. Angelina wanted to go to the church herself, but she was afraid her father would find out.”
Ruby fidgeted in her chair. “Look, I really have told you all I know. Can I go home now?”
“Sure,” Ella answered, “once you sign a statement for our records.”
As Justine escorted Ruby out to make her statement, Ella rested her back against the cold wall. She had a good suspicion where the notes she’d received from Randall Clah had come from now. Howard Lee was good at deception, almost as good as Randall himself had been.
* * *
An hour later, Justine joined Ella in her office. “Ruby Atso’s statement is logged and I’ve finished the checks on Nelson Yellowhair and Judy Lujan. Both are well liked, and seemingly law-abiding. Neither has a record.”
Ella sat still, thinking. “Nelson Yellowhair had access to the same source of bacterial cultures as Howard Lee. He could be responsible for the illnesses and deaths at the inoculation sites, or be an accomplice. I don’t think Judy Lujan is a player, though.”
“Should I keep digging into Nelson’s past? I really don’t think we’ll find anything there, except for his link with a certain senator.”
“You may be right, but let’s not remove him from the list of suspects. We may be jumping to conclusions if we assume Howard Lee has been solely responsible for everything that has happened.”
“Why do you think Lee is so enthralled with our old police chief?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. Until we have an answer, though, put a close tail on Howard Lee, but not close enough for him to suspect he’s being followed.”
“You think it would do us any good to haul Howard in about the notes?”
“No, he’s been pretty good at lying to protect himself. But let’s check the handwriting on the notes against Howard’s. Also see if anyone knows of a connection between Nelson Yellowhair and Howard, besides work. Then I want you to ask Judy Lujan if Bitah ever suspected that Lee was skimming peyote buttons for his own use. Bitah doesn’t sound like someone who would let something like that go unpunished.”
“Got it.”
“And leave me Howard Lee’s photo, the big one. I’m going to try tracking things from another angle.”
After Justine left, Ella stood up slowly. Her mother would be an excellent source of information. She knew practically everyone on the Rez. Ella left her office and drove to her home. She found Rose in the open-air porch, knitting.
Rose glanced up, surprised. “What are you doing home this time of day?”
“I’m trying to track down some information, and I’m hoping you can help,” she said, explaining.
Rose took a deep breath and let it out again. “I can’t help you with that, but there is one person who might know. The problem is, she scarcely speaks to anyone since your father-in-law died.”
“Who is it?”
“Your father-in-law’s aunt.”
Ella stared at the floor, lost in thought. She remembered hearing about Jane Clah but, to the best of her recollection, she’d never actually met the woman. “I don’t remember ever seeing her.”
“She came to your wedding, but didn’t stay long. She was always nervous around your father-in-law. At the time, I thought it was because he was a policeman.”
“Will you come with me to see her? She may speak more freely to you.”
Rose shook her head. “No, she and I were never friends. I always had the impression she hated our entire family.”
“Where does she live? Do you know?”
“After the news of your father-in-law’s death, and his secret life, she moved out somewhere west of Bisti, just south of one of those big microwave towers. She doesn’t come to town anymore, so nobody has seen her for a long time. I’m not even sure if she’s still alive.”