Bad Medicine (22 page)

Ella arrived at the house and found Neskahi waiting. “What was that all about?”

“You never saw anything. Is that clear?”

He smiled. “So we have an informant, finally.”

Ella said nothing, just
looked at him.

“Okay, I get the drift.” He glanced back toward the house. “I think you’re going to have to do some explaining when you go in. Your mother doesn’t want anyone watching her or the house.”

“So what’s new?” she asked with a sigh.

Ella scribbled down the name of the store Angelina frequented in Farmington. “Go talk to the store manager. Take a photo of Angelina and see if anyone
remembers her coming in the day she died, and whether she ever came with a boyfriend. Report back to me first thing tomorrow.”

“Got it.”

Ella walked inside and saw her brother and mother waiting. Rose’s expression was one of undisguised annoyance. “You could have told me that I was going to be watched.”

“It isn’t a permanent thing, Mom. Officers were just passing by more than usual. I just
wasn’t sure you’d be safe after that intruder.” Ella glanced at Two who was walking around normally now, though his bandage was still in place.

“Guards won’t be necessary,” Rose said flatly. “It was a measure taken to frighten us, and if we let them know that it worked we’ve lost a major battle.”

“Fear and caution are two separate things,” Ella protested.

Clifford sat down and regarded her
thoughtfully. “I’ve never liked having our mother alone, but I respect her right to do whatever she wants. There’s no need to have policemen passing by so often.”

“Oh, and you two have decided this, have you?” Ella snapped.

Clifford shook his head. “She won’t be alone, not anymore.”

“You’re planning to stay here?”

“No. But a friend of mine, who like you went to make a living outside the reservation,
has returned for good now. He will be building his home nearby, on this side of the mesa by the dry arroyo. He’ll be just a short distance away.”

“What friend?”

“Do you remember Kevin Tolino?”

Ella felt a rush of adrenaline surging through her. Judy Lujan, Bitah’s girlfriend, had said he had been an associate of the murdered man.

“He serves the tribe as an attorney. He’s a good man, little
sister. You don’t have to be concerned.”

Ella struggled between the need to keep police business confidential and the need to protect her family. “He was also a friend of the miner who was killed,” she said at last.

“I know,” Clifford answered. “He told me. But when the miner left the Native American Church that my friend belongs to, their friendship cooled considerably. The only time they ever
met was on business, since my friend was handling some legal matters for him.”

Ella shook her head. “I don’t know about this.… It sounds too pat.”

“Talk to him yourself. If there is more to it than he’s saying, you’ll know,” Clifford said.

Rose placed her hand on her daughter’s arm. “This man is not an enemy. I’ve spoken to him. He is a very private person who will not interfere with us unless
he’s asked.”

Ella knew her mother’s intuitions were as accurate as her own. “Okay, but I’m still going to talk to him myself.”

Clifford smiled. “You may find he’s as curious about you as you are about him. Distrust of others is a quality you share.”

Ella said nothing.

“Either way, you’ll remove the watcher, right?” Rose insisted. “I can’t believe those men aren’t needed elsewhere right now.”

“They’ll go for now, Mom. That’s the only promise I can make to you.”

*   *   *

Ella met with her team the following morning.

“So far, I’ve got zip on Noah Charley,” Justine said.

“What about you?” Ella glanced at Neskahi. “What did you learn in Farmington?”

“I found out that Angelina purchased an expensive man’s belt the day she was killed. It couldn’t have been for herself since it was
way too large, a size forty-two. I checked the accident report and I found out that there was no belt in the car when she was found.”

“So that means she met the man after she went shopping, and before her accident,” Ella said, sitting forward. “Did the clerk remember anything else?”

“Only that the senator’s daughter was alone and acting just fine when he sold her the belt. The salesman claims
she was flirting with him and insisted on buying the most expensive belt there. I got a copy of the receipt and put it in her file.”

“Good. Now if we find the man she gave the belt to, then we may also find her killer. Did you get a description of the belt?”

“Silver buckle and brown braided leather. And I checked to make sure she hadn’t given it to her father or another male relative for a present.”

“Don’t expect to find anyone wearing it, but keep your eyes open whenever we question suspects. I want updated reports on my desk by noon tomorrow. I need to make a report for Big Ed, and I want to add yours to it.”

As her two assistants left her office Ella leaned back in the chair. They were getting closer to finding answers, she could feel it.

Ella dialed Blalock’s number and filled him in
on what she’d heard about Randy Watson. “Can you go interview him and check out the accident report on his truck? He seemed really open with me when I spoke to him.”

When Blalock agreed, Ella left her office and drove out to see Kevin Tolino. The morning was already hotter than it had been in months. The dry air and heat made her roll up the windows and switch on the air conditioner, all the
while cursing herself for going soft.

When she finally arrived at the half-completed wood-framed dwelling, surrounded by low piñons and junipers, she found Tolino stripped to the waist, cutting through a piece of two-by-six across a work bench with a hand-held power saw. A portable generator provided the electricity.

His body was lean and muscular, and he was tall for a Navajo, at least six
two. The sheen of perspiration that covered his chest made his bronzed skin gleam in the strong light.

Ella climbed out of the Jeep, deliberately keeping her expression neutral. She was surprised to see the same guarded look mirrored on the face looking back at her. “Hi,” she greeted. “I heard you were building here and thought I’d stop by and introduce myself.”

“No introduction is necessary.
I know who you are, just as you know who I am. I believe your assistant, Justine Goodluck, has been looking into my background.”

She smiled. “I’m sure you realize that this is a difficult time for everyone on the reservation.” Seeing him nod, she continued. “My family has many enemies and you’ve chosen to build your home fairly close to ours. That makes me want to be very cautious.”

Tolino nodded
slowly. “I’d do the same if our situations were reversed.” He took a deep breath, then let it out again. “But I’m at least five miles away from your mother’s and your home. It’s close only in the relative terms used here on the reservation.”

“True enough, but your choice of locale still raises questions in my mind.”

“This land was set aside for my grandparents long ago, even before your father
built his home.”

“Why claim it now?”

“I have returned to the reservation to live and this land is part of my family’s legacy. I want to connect myself to that again.” His voice was deep and persuasive.

“You’ll be doing the construction work here yourself?”

“Most of it. It’ll take time, but I have plenty. In the meantime, I have an office and a small apartment in Shiprock.” He leaned the cut
piece of two-by-six against what was obviously the beginning of a door frame among the wall studs. “Your brother has asked me to keep an eye out for any strangers. Is that what you want, considering that you don’t really trust me?”

“You’re right, I’m not sure I do trust you. You were the murdered miner’s friend, so I’m not exactly sure where, if any place, you fit in with his death,” she said
directly. With some people it was better to be blunt, and she had a feeling Tolino was one of them.

He picked out two cans of soda from the ice-filled cooler near his feet. “I knew Stanley and we were friends at one time. He was a member of the Native American Church for a while, too, but then he started crossing too many lines.” He offered her one of the soft drinks.

Ella opened the lift tab,
glad for something cool to moisten her dry throat. “What do you mean, ‘crossing lines’ ?”

“The Native American Church holds to certain tenets. Stanley no longer felt he could adhere to them,” Tolino said with a shrug.

“Counselor, I could use a little more help,” she prodded.

“Yes, but nothing I can tell you can be substantiated.”

“I’d still like to know.”

“Stanley Bitah was a strange man.
When he first joined the NAC he wasn’t like that. But then he began to change. He told the others that the enlightenment he received during our peyote rituals dictated he stand up for the rights of the Navajos in whatever way got results.”

“Meaning confrontations and violence?”

Tolino nodded. “When he finally left us for the Navajo Justice Church he created, none of us were sorry to see him
go.”

“Did you see him after that?”

“From time to time, but not often. I handled a lawsuit that stemmed from a car accident he had, but our meetings were strictly business.”

“Do you know much about the Navajo Justice Church?”

“Only that their philosophy is very different from ours, and dangerous. As I see it, the only link we have in common is a peyote ritual.” He regarded her thoughtfully.
“Does that ease your fears?”

“Meaning do I trust you any more now?” Ella paused, measuring her words. “Your answers make sense, but I’d like to check them out. If you learn anything that could help solve the crimes that have been committed, will you let me know?”

He said nothing for several long moments. Finally he nodded. “I will not go in search of answers for you, but if they cross my path
I’ll pass on what I feel you might find useful.”

“That’s got more qualifications than a politician’s promise,” she commented.

“It’s the best I can do.”

As Ella drove away she felt glad that she’d spoken to Kevin. A man who was used to lying wouldn’t have qualified his statements so much. She sensed he was basically honest, but his loyalties were divided. Whether he’d be any help to her still
remained to be seen.

Ella had reached the highway when Blalock called to ask for a meeting in Farmington. She agreed to rendezvous at the diner at the east end of the shopping mall on Twentieth in half an hour.

It was closer to thirty-five minutes later when Ella found herself sitting across the table from FB-Eyes. Blalock, sipping a glass of iced tea, was the first to bring up business. “I
spoke to Watson. He insists that he swerved to avoid an old lady with a cane standing in the road, and lost control. Nothing in the police report contradicts that, though the officers who checked out the accident scene couldn’t find any old lady. Watson swears that no one came after him and that his accident has nothing to do with The Brotherhood.”

“Do you believe him?”

“I’m not sure. He sounded
convincing enough, but he’s a proud man and likes handling things on his own terms. That fact came across very clearly. What have you uncovered?”

Ella filled Blalock in on everything, except Billy Pete. “Next I’m going to try to find out more about the Navajo Justice Church.”

“Good idea. I’m going to follow up on Truman. I’ve been questioning his neighbors, showing photos around, and trying
to find out who he has met with during the past few months. I’m hoping to get a lead to The Brotherhood that way.”

Ella returned to her vehicle. As she reached for her keys she glanced down at the driver’s-side door. The exterior of the Jeep had been vandalized. Someone had taken a metal object, perhaps a key or pocket knife, and etched the word “traitor” into the paint.

THIRTEEN

Ella went to the passenger’s side and unlocked the back carefully. With her investigative kit in hand, she worked over the surface, trying to find fingerprints. After ten minutes she gave up. Everything that had shown up was too smudged to be of much use. Not that she’d really expected to find anything. One didn’t leave many fingerprints when using a sharp metal object to vandalize a
car. Still, it had been worth a try.

Ella drove back to Shiprock, anger clouding her thinking. She’d been labeled worse than a traitor before, but this particular incident had come from out of left field.

When Ella entered the station a short time later, Justine was just coming out of the lab.

Justine’s eyes widened. “Wow. You sure look angry. What happened?”

“Someone keyed my vehicle, and
from what they wrote, it wasn’t just vandalism. I know I’m being followed.” Ella filled her in on the way to the office.

“Who do you think it was?”

“I was asking Kevin Tolino questions about the Native American Church and the Navajo Justice Church earlier, so common sense would suggest a Navajo, perhaps one of the Fierce Ones. But this happened in Farmington, outside the Rez, so it could have
been an Anglo miner trying to set me against others of our tribe. I’d like to think I would have spotted anyone following me, but it’s possible I missed something. Or maybe they’d been tailing Blalock, but that doesn’t seem very likely either.”

“Do you want me to see what I can do about expediting a repair?” Justine asked.

“No, we can get to that later. Right now, you and I are going over to
the college. We’ll track down Angelina’s friends and grill them separately about this mystery man.”

“They don’t intimidate,” Justine warned. “We’ve tried pressing them before.”

“We’ll see.”

Ella grabbed a vehicle incident report form on her way out, then drove to the college with Justine. Out of stubbornness she’d refused to use Justine’s vehicle, opting for her own despite its vandalized appearance.

Justine, sensing Ella’s mood, kept quiet as they continued down the highway. After ten minutes she broke the silence. “Dr. Roanhorse is back at work. She called you earlier, and I talked to her briefly.”