“Thanks, but I better be going,” Ella said, and kissed her mother good-bye.
Leaving the kitchen, she stepped into the living room and found Dawn wrapped in a down comforter watching cartoons. Ella gave her a quick hug and kiss, then walked out across the frozen ground to her Jeep.
Things were okay at home for the moment but, knowing Rose, there was no telling how long that peace would last, especially today.
SIX
Within twenty minutes Ella and the crime-scene team were at the vet’s place. The clinic was off the highway close to Hogback, and between two low hills. Goldman lived on the Rez despite the fact that he was white and therefore Anglo, so she supposed he made a good living doing what he did.
While the team gathered evidence around the rubble of the shattered cinder-block pump house, Ella went to talk to Goldman. He saw a lot of people during the week. Maybe he had some idea who’d done this to his pump.
“Hey, Doc,” Ella said as she went to meet him on the porch.
Frank Goldman was rail thin, with a ruddy complexion, and well over six feet tall. He usually wore an easy smile, but today his expression was glum.
“Are you any closer to catching whoever’s been doing this kind of thing around the Rez?” he asked.
“Not yet. The truth is we could use a little help.”
“Just tell me what I can do.”
“You see quite a few people every day, Doc. Have you heard any rumors about who could be responsible for all this?”
Well bundled up against the cold in a down jacket, he sat down on the old wooden chair on his porch, and a golden retriever trotted up and sat beside him. “I’m a Jewish bilagáana, and although I live here, I’m still considered an outsider. I’m tolerated because I’m needed, but not many tell me anything beyond their problems with their animals.”
She let the silence stretch out.
“If you see Big Ed, would you tell him that his mare is doing fine now, and his wife should pick her up as soon as she can? I’m not going to be able to keep any large animals overnight unless they’re in serious condition. It looks like I’m going to be hauling in water for a while.”
“How long will it take you to replace the pump?”
“I’m having someone come by later today to take a look. If they can’t make a hookup to the old well casing, they’ll have to drill another well.” He paused. “To be honest with you, it might get expensive and, all things considered, I may end up cutting my losses and move on. I’ve been thinking of opening a practice in Farmington. The Rez isn’t that hospitable to strangers, you know.”
She nodded. “Better than most,” Ella said, remembering how it had been for her when she’d returned after living in Los Angeles. People had called her L.A. Woman and would barely acknowledge her presence. “But your services are needed here.”
He shrugged. “There are several competent vets in Farmington. People will just have to transport their animals a bit farther, or pay for a home visit.”
Ella looked at him, knowing that most local farmers couldn’t afford to pay any more for a veterinarian. “Wouldn’t you rather stand up to these punks?”
“I came here to make a difference, not go to war. But more and more I’ve been seeing the Rez dividing into factions who are constantly at odds with one another. Progress, no matter how anyone defines it, is going to come at a cost here. And people who belong to neither the traditionalists nor the modernists are going to be caught in the crossfire.”
Ella nodded slowly. She had a feeling he was right, though she still hated to see the only vet in the area leave the Rez. “Things will settle down, Doc. Just don’t go making any rash decisions.”
Frank nodded, then stood and went back inside the house, taking his dog with him.
Ella checked on the others who were busy collecting evidence. Although there was plenty of debris to pick up, nothing looked as if it would provide them with conclusive answers.
“I was hoping we’d find a nice set of prints on the door to the pump house that weren’t blown to smithereens,” Justine said, “but we struck out, just like yesterday at the Wallace place. And they left no tools behind. They moved fast, used a fuse and the same type blastingcap detonator as with the Dumpster and the outhouse, then boogied out. All I have is another pin to place on my map of vandalism incidents, which, except for their concentration in our area, appear more or less random.”
“I thought that might be how it would look. But here’s an idea. If you get a call from the press, tell them we found something we think will lead us to the perps. I want to make the guys behind all this worry a bit. So far they’ve held all the cards, so maybe it’s time we played a few mind games with them.”
Justine smiled. “Right, boss.”
As Ella started walking back to the SUV, her cell phone rang. “Ella, it’s Harry.”
“Hey, I was told you’d be coming back,” she said, glad to hear his voice. “Did you just fly in?”
“I drove in from Albuquerque, and I’ve been on the Rez for about six hours following a lead. Right now I’m about two hundred yards downwind from a ’killed’ hogan north of Beclabito. I’ve got reason to believe Manyfarms may be in there, but I’m going to need backup before I go in to check it out. I don’t want to risk letting him get away.”
Ella suppressed a shudder of aversion. The purely instinctive response surprised her, because she didn’t consider herself a traditionalist. One hogan should have been as good as any other. Yet it wasn’t. A “killed” hogan was one where a hole had been made in the north or west wall to remove the body of a person who’d died inside. The dwelling was then abandoned and left to the ghost of the dead.
“I’ll bring a team along with me,” Ella said. She wasn’t thrilled about going there, but she’d do her job.
“No. Come alone. If he sees the cavalry he’ll go into fight mode. What I’m hoping to do is catch him before he knows we’re there.”
“All right. I’ll head over now. Be very careful, Harry. We have reason to believe he may be armed with a fiftycaliber sniper rifle.”
“Good to know.”
After they’d agreed on where to meet, Ella quickly told Justine what was going on, then pulled back onto the highway, heading west at a fast clip. Despite the circumstances, she was looking forward to seeing Harry again. He’d occupied her thoughts often since the last time they’d seen each other.
She’d never really believed in things like chemistry but, around Harry, all bets were off. He really appealed to her on almost every possible level. Although she’d never thought about him romantically when they’d worked together, after he’d left New Mexico and returned months later as a federal deputy marshal, he’d seemed like a new man—especially to her.
With a sigh, she brought her thoughts back to the business at hand. What she respected most about Harry and what she liked most about herself, was that they were both seasoned, professional law enforcement officers. Attraction had no place in that equation, at least while they were on the job.
It wasn’t long before Ella arrived at the rendezvous point, a low spot in a shallow ravine beside the highway and south of the hogan, which wasn’t visible from the road. It was already past noon, yet the ground was still frozen in the shade, and the breeze that flowed off the Carizzo Mountains to the west still went right through her, chilling her to the bone despite her gloves, leather jacket, and wool sweater underneath.
As Ella looked around, walking away from the SUV, Harry stepped out from behind the embankment of the ravine where it passed beneath the highway, and smiled.
“Hey. We sure do meet in the oddest places, woman,” he teased.
“And we’re usually armed. Does that make us kinky?”
“Yeah.” He grinned, climbing up to where she stood, but, like her keeping below the road level to avoid presenting a silhouetted target to anyone hiding among the junipers or brush.
Harry was Ella’s height, and had put on a few more pounds of muscle
since the last time she’d seen him. It was obvious that he’d continued to work out. Right now he was wearing a military surplus olive drab parka over a black turtleneck sweater, close-fitting jeans, and laceup boots. He looked like an honest-to-goodness soldier of fortune.
Ella wondered if any of the vividly lecherous thoughts she’d entertained briefly had shown on her face. Harry was extremely observant but hard to read, and the tiny grin on his face told her nothing. Uncomfortable all of a sudden, she turned quickly back to business.
“What’s the situation here now?” she asked, looking warily down the arroyo Harry had emerged from seconds ago.
“I was given a tip that Manyfarms would be there,” he said, cocking his head toward the north. “I’ve circled the area and studied the several-hour-old boot prints I’ve found, but I haven’t seen Manyfarms. Someone drove up a while ago in an old gray pickup, an Indian I couldn’t quite make out because of his low-brimmed hat. He took in a cardboard box of something, stayed about an hour, then drove off. It wasn’t Manyfarms, so I didn’t make a move.”
Harry led the way, cautioning her to remain silent, and they hiked up the arroyo a quarter mile or so until he motioned for her to stop. Pulling out a small pair of binoculars from his coat pocket, Harry peered cautiously over the rim of the narrow wash, here no wider than his outstretched arms. Ella followed his gaze, making sure she was looking through a thin shrub along the edge of the embankment. Two hundred yards away was an old, weather-beaten, hexagonal fitted-log hogan with a clay sealed roof.
“Notice the smoke coming from the smoke hole in the center of the roof?” he said. “Either someone’s still in there, or the guy who was here earlier is wasting firewood.”
“Making a direct approach now is probably a bad idea. We have no cover, except some low brush, and no idea what we’re up against. On top of it all, we can’t assume they don’t already know we’re here.”
“Yeah, but you’ve got to consider the fact that whoever’s inside may not be Manyfarms. It’s quite possible that the tip I got is way off base. This may be just a waste of time.”
She took another look at the terrain, considering their options. “I’ll tell you what. By crawling up the narrow tributary to this wash, we can go a little closer to the hogan and get a better look. Once we’re there, we can decide what to do next.”
“Fair enough.”
They went up the little channel, an empty, erosioncarved ditch that ran closer to the side and rear of the hogan, with Ella leading the way. Then, about fifty yards from the hogan she saw another much deeper arroyo concealing a silver pickup. It was almost completely covered with gray and brown tumbleweeds, and blended in well with the vegetation. They might have missed it completely if they hadn’t been able to get so close.
The tailgate was facing their direction, and Ella wrote down the license plate number in a small notebook she’d pulled from her pocket. The vehicle fit the description of the truck that had been seen racing away after the sniper incident.
Ella motioned for Harry to return to the larger arroyo where they’d been earlier. Once they’d put more distance between them and the hogan, she filled him in quickly. “Sorry, Harry. We’re not doing this solo. I’m calling for backup now. The sniper who shot at me was driving a silver pickup. He was a very good marksman, too, who only narrowly missed his target though he was nearly a thousand yards away, and in a crosswind. And from what I can see there’s only one quick way into that hogan—the doorway. The side has been punched out, according to custom, but the hole isn’t big enough for either of us to crawl through quickly. If we go in after him, whoever takes point is dead, and at point-blank range, that fifty-caliber rifle could penetrate both our vests, front and back. We’re going to need special tactics on this one.”
Harry nodded. “Yeah, under the circumstances, I think you’re right. There are probably enough unchinked gaps between the logs of that old hogan to allow anyone inside to see in every direction. All it would take is a little bad luck and he’d spot us sneaking up. So call it in. But make sure your people stay out of sight and sound until we’re ready to make a move. I’m still not sure how many people are in the hogan, or even if Manyfarms is there at all. Keep in mind that most Navajos would assume that anyone entering a killed hogan is a skinwalker. Many people around here would happily provide us with a false tip in hopes we’d shoot first and ask questions later.”
“Good point,” Ella acknowledged, then relayed instructions to Justine via her handheld radio.
Next, Ella borrowed Harry’s binoculars and studied the blue tarp that had been draped over the front entrance. “Whoever’s in there has got the entrance covered up well. Better than with a blanket, I’ll give him that.”
“I suppose we can just sit tight until he comes out,” Harry said. “Beats getting anyone’s head blown off.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, too,” Ella answered. “Or if he spots us and refuses to budge, we could toss a tear gas grenade through the smoke hole.”
“We’d have to get in pretty close to do that, and avoid being spotted coming up.”
“Yeah, but with enough cover fire from our team, he’d have to stay low until we lobbed it off.”
“How much backup do you think we’ll have?”
“Justine is rounding up the forces. She’ll contact Blalock and Payestewa, the new Hopi agent. Ralph Tache is on call, and Sergeant Neskahi will be coming with him, probably.”
Less than thirty minutes later Ella met the local officers in the arroyo beside the highway. Harry had stayed behind, maintaining his surveillance of the hogan.
Ella filled them in quickly. “The problem is that the suspect only has to cover one entrance. Face-to-face, we won’t be able to use our superior firepower and numbers.”
“Sooner or later he’ll have to come out,” Blalock said. “Then he’s ours.”
“So you vote to wait, too?” Ella asked.
“Yeah. We can zip up our jackets and hunker down for as long as it takes.”
They positioned themselves in key points around the hogan, maintaining watch without breaking cover. Soon the trail of smoke from the hogan stopped completely.
Her radio crackled softly. “Ella, there’s something we really should have considered,” Harry said. “It’s possible that the fire was left burning, and the guy I saw was just dropping off supplies for later. There might not be anyone in there at all now.”
“Or he may be waiting us out, hoping we’ll go in for a closer look,” Blalock interjected. “The best snipers have more patience than their targets.”
“Yeah, there’s that possibility as well,” Harry agreed. Blalock came back on the air. “I vote we continue waiting.”
No one argued.
Hours passed slowly and the temperature dropped even more as the sun got low in the sky, disappearing behind the nearby mountains. But it didn’t get truly miserable until the wind picked up. Even when crouched below ground level in the arroyo, the cold was merciless because the earth had remained in the shade all day long, frozen, and provided neither warmth nor much shelter.
“After this is over, I’m going to stay beneath my electric blanket for the rest of the winter,” Justine whispered into her radio.
’Toughen up, lady,” Blalock growled back.
“Great, now it looks like we’re going to get snow,” Payestewa said as clouds began rolling in from the west, further darkening the sky.
“No, that would mean we’d finally be getting some moisture, and that ain’t gonna happen, boys and girls,” Blalock muttered.
Minutes ticked by slowly as the temperature continued to drop and silence stretched out between them.
“I think it’s time I went in for a look,” Harry said at last. His position in the ditch made him the closest one to the hogan. “I can move silently.”
“You peek through that doorway or the hole in the side, and you’re hable to lose a lot of body heat through the hole in your chest,” Blalock said.<
br />
“Yeah. I know,” Harry replied. “That’s why I was thinking of doing what he doesn’t expect. Now that the wind is coming up, it’s probably whistling though the hogan, making some noise. He won’t be able to hear what’s going on around him very well so I figure I’ll take the homemade ladder that’s resting on the ground beside the west side of the hogan and climb up onto the top. Even if he hears me, which is unlikely, the roof is thick and he’d have to fire blind. But if all goes as I plan, that situation will never come up. I’ll get a quick look inside and be out of there before he ever figures out he had company.”
“If the guy is quick with his trigger, you could catch a bullet in the forehead. That’s just too risky,” Ella said.
“Actually, we’re running low on options,” Harry responded. “We have less than an hour of daylight left, and no night scopes. If he has a night-vision device, he could crawl out of that hogan in the dark and pick us off one by one.”
“It’s your operation, Deputy,” Blalock said, “but I’d recommend we wait until twilight to make our move. We’ll still be able to see each other, and he won’t have any advantage with a night device.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Ella agreed.
“All right,” Harry added.
Another half hour passed. None of them had had anything to eat or drink for a while and the cold was beginning to numb their skin. Blalock had sent Payestewa for hot coffee earlier, and everyone was grateful for the gesture, though the liquid, stored only in foam cups, was lukewarm by the time they got to drink it.
“Quick, somebody remind me why I became a cop,” Justine said over the radio.
“You wanted excitement in your life,” Neskahi answered. “And you liked working outdoors.”
“Hang on, people. Stay sharp,” Blalock grumbled.
Ella didn’t argue. She knew that the chatter helped morale and kept them focused, but Blalock was still a by-the-book sort when the chips were down, and his motives were good.
Restless and cold, Ella tried to shove her gloved hands deeper into her pockets, but nothing was working now. The cold was biting into her fingertips, and her toes felt frozen. She’d always had cold feet and even the thick wool socks she wore in the winter weren’t doing much good out here. She promised to stuff herself with warm food when she got home, put on two layers of socks, and wear fuzzy slippers until morning.
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