Enemy Way (31 page)

SIXTEEN

Ella went to the station the following morning a little late. Her mother had insisted on everyone, including Loretta and her grandson, Julian, who’d both spent the night, eating a proper breakfast. Rose was learning to get around the house in her crutches, and was already doing more than Ella had ever dreamed she’d be doing this soon.

As she walked inside her office, her intercom buzzed.
When Ella answered it, Big Ed’s voice said, “Ella. Come and see me.”

Usually if there was bad news, Big Ed came looking for her, so she took the summons as a signal that Big Ed had good news. She hurried to his office. Maybe things were finally turning around for her. Ella started to knock on Big Ed’s open door, but he waved for her to come inside.

“Sit down,” he said, gesturing to a chair.
“I wanted to let you know that since the brutality suit against you has been officially dropped, you can stop taking Justine with you. I still want to caution you to be very careful. And I want you to stay away from Leo Bekis and his family now that he’s out on bail, clear?” Seeing her nod, he continued. “Just use your common sense, like always, and you’ll be fine.”

“Thanks for that, Chief. I
needed a vote of confidence around here.”

He nodded. “I think I know how you’ve been feeling, like everybody is pulling at you from every direction. Sometimes nothing you do as a cop seems to make the slightest bit of difference. I’ve been there, so has every other senior officer in the department. The Rez has changed in the past few years, and the same troubles that plague law enforcement everywhere
else have caught up to us here. To make matters worse, when we take action to protect the ones we serve, they sometimes create more problems for us than the criminals.”

“It’s more than that, Chief. My problems … go beyond that.”

“You have some personal concerns at this point, too, I understand that. We all do. But you’ll get through it, and the cases you’re working on, too. If you ever have
second thoughts about making a difference, just remember The People need your expertise and your instincts,” he said. “You’re an asset to the tribe, one that would be hard to replace.”

Ella knew that Big Ed was trying to ease the pressure she was feeling, and she appreciated his concern. “You can count on me to do my best, Chief.”

Ella had just left his office when Justine flagged her down.

In Ella’s office Justine dropped wearily into a chair. “We’ve been grilling the boys involved in the Fair Grounds situation for hours, and we’ve got nothing. We’ve used every trick we know, questioning them separately, intimating that we know far more than we do, but they’re saying nothing. We have no idea where they got the guns or ammunition, either. The only thing they insist on mentioning is
the Many Devils, blaming them for absolutely everything, including the neighborhood robberies and the murders.”

Neskahi came into the room, nodded to Ella, then sat down in the empty chair next to Justine. “I did get one thing from the youngest kid. He’s twelve, do you believe it? And he hates school, his parents, and just about every thing I mentioned, especially the Many Devils.”

“But you
still got something!” Ella said. “What is it?”

“The kid wanted to make it even tougher for their rivals. He said he’d heard one of the Many Devils bragging that they’re going to start roaming around between midnight and two
A.M.
They want to tighten their hold on their neighborhoods by making sure everyone is afraid to go to sleep. They want people too scared to complain, and too tired to stand
up to them.”

“Those kids just don’t get it, do they?” Ella commented. “They’re going to get hunted down and killed one by one by the Navajo witches. They’ve stolen from a group that has far greater power at night.”

“Yeah, well, you try telling them that,” Neskahi said. “They’d just laugh in your face. And now that the North Siders know when and where the MDs are hanging out, they might come
looking for them. Everyone will be in danger then. This gang thing is going to explode, and soon.”

Ella sat back and stared at an indeterminate point across the room. “I’m afraid you’re right, Sergeant. Let’s stick close to their area tonight. We want to keep the lid on the powder keg, if we can. We also need to get one of the MDs to tell us what else was stolen that was skinwalker in origin.”

“But anyone who knows that could also be the one who was Shopper’s partner in killing Lisa Aspass. I doubt that boy will be too cooperative.” Justine said. “I wish I could get my hands on Thomas, my cousin. I know my aunt’s been lying about not knowing where he is. We’ve had a stakeout on the place, but he hasn’t shown up. But even if I found him, I doubt he’d talk.”

“We’ll have to do what we
can, and without a warrant, you can’t search their home. I’m afraid the next time these two gangs meet, what we’ve seen in early encounters is going to seem like a school dance in comparison.” Ella shrugged.

*   *   *

Ella patrolled the darkened neighborhood in a souped-up sedan from impound. It was a lackluster vehicle, not one meant to attract attention, unless gray primer paint could be considered
an asset.

So far she hadn’t seen any of the Many Devils or North Siders cruising, but she had a strong feeling some of the kids were inside their homes, watching her. The Many Devils who were not in custody were scared, but when these boys were frightened, they sometimes acted rashly to try and prove themselves. Machismo wasn’t just a Latin thing with gangs and that worried her now.

Minutes
turned into hours, but there was no sign of any teens, much less a gang. As she turned the corner and drove past Lisa’s home, she felt a shudder travel down her spine. She couldn’t rid herself of the sense of evil she felt whenever she was on this street.

Ella shook her head, trying to push back the thought. As she turned the corner again, she saw a truck ahead, driving down the center of the
road, weaving from one side to the other.

Visions of Leo Bekis and her mother passed through Ella’s mind. She picked up her dome light, and placed it on the dashboard. Lights flashing, she pulled the driver over. She was parking behind him when she recognized the truck, despite a muddy splotch over the license plate. Ella put down her mike, choosing not to call the incident in just yet, and approached
Wilson Joe’s vehicle.

The driver’s side window was rolled down and Ella clearly smelled liquor on her friend’s breath. She didn’t need a sobriety test to know that he had been drinking too much to drive safely.

“What are you doing in this neighborhood at this time of the evening?” she asked. “Don’t you know this area isn’t safe?”

He gestured to the rifle rack behind him, where his weapon was
resting. “Let the little punks come after me. I’ll give them the same chance they gave my Lisa.”

“Is that why you’re out here? Are you hoping to find some trouble, anything to give you an excuse to take the law into your own hands?”

“I’ve been waiting and waiting for you and your FBI training and fancy crime team to come up with answers, but you haven’t been able to turn up anything except a
couple of dead kids. I’m out looking on my own now. I know that when a killer isn’t found right away, the chances of ever catching him decrease with each day. I’m not going to let that happen,” Wilson said, his speech slow with the effort it took for him to enunciate clearly.

Ella felt her throat tighten. She’d never seen Wilson drunk before. As far as she could remember, Wilson had never touched
alcohol. He hated the problem plaguing the Rez as much as any of them. Then she remembered her suspicions the other day at Lisa’s house. This wasn’t the first time Wilson had turned to the bottle.

Sadness filled her as she saw the anger and hatred in her old friend’s eyes. “She’s gone, and nothing you can do will change that,” Ella said quietly. “Don’t throw your life away by doing this.”

“Doing
what? Your job? Someone should be looking for the killer, and who better than me?”

Ella knew that if she took him to the station and they did a breathalizer test, his career as a college professor would be jeopardized. He’d saved her and Clifford’s lives more than once, and had stood beside them like a rock when no one else had wanted any part of them. Whether or not he still thought of her as
a friend, that’s exactly what she was and would be to him now. It was time to repay their long friendship, and see that he got home safely.

“Come ride with me. We’ll go to the Totah Cafe and talk.”

“Talk about what? There’s nothing more to say.”

“There’s plenty, believe me. You’re not the only one in pain, you know. My mom was like a mother to you, too, and now she needs someone else’s help
to cope with her new challenge. You haven’t even come by to say hello. Mom misses seeing you,” she said harshly.

The truth must have penetrated Wilson’s alcohol haze, because he looked instantly contrite. “I’m sorry, Ella. You know that I love her, it’s just that…”

“Let’s go. You can tell that to her once you sober up.”

He climbed down out of the truck, managed to lock the door, and followed
Ella to her vehicle. Ella radioed her team and canceled the operation. It was too quiet tonight. The remaining gang members must have opted to stay home and avoid a confrontation, knowing they’d be ill-equipped to handle it. That, or they’d noticed the police were patrolling heavily. Switching frequencies, she contacted Justine and told her she could be found at the Totah Cafe.

“I’m going back
to the office, then,” Justine said. “I need to finish a few reports before I call it a night, and I want to stop by my aunt’s to see if Thomas is home. I think she’s been hiding him from me, and I want to catch her unawares.”

Neskahi called in next. “I’m going to stick around here a while longer. I have a feeling about tonight.”

“What kind of feeling?” Ella pressed, never one to discount a colleague’s
gut reaction to anything.

“I don’t know. Maybe we’re missing something, maybe we’re not. Anyway, you won’t be far, and there are extra patrols in this area. I’ll be okay.”

“Stay in radio contact,” Ella advised, then signed off.

Throughout the drive to the Totah Cafe, Wilson remained silent. Ella allowed him time to mull over his thoughts. Maybe, the alcohol fog that had clouded his brain would
lift, and he would see that she’d done him a very big favor tonight. She was his friend, and would always honor that.

Ella parked and led the way to a booth in the back, the one which would give her the clearest view of the room. Without asking Wilson what he wanted, she ordered an entire pot of coffee. “That should hold us while we talk,” she said.

He remained morose, staring at his hands.

Finally, after his second cup of coffee, Wilson began to come around. Ella saw him take a sip of water, then pour himself another cup of coffee. His hand wasn’t shaking so much anymore, and his eyes looked red, but clear.

“It looks like I owe you one,” Wilson said quietly, sipping the strong coffee. “I don’t know what the administration at the college would have done had they learned that I had
been out driving around like this. Hell, a while before you came along, someone almost hit me broadside. I pulled out into the street, and all I ever saw was his lights as he swerved. I was lucky. Considering what happened to your mom, I’m surprised you didn’t throw the book at me.”

“I think you’re forgetting how many times you’ve saved Clifford’s life, and mine.”

“We were all pretty close once.”
He met her gaze. “We were facing trouble from every corner, hunted by everyone, including the cops, and yet, when I look back on those days I don’t regret one single moment. We knew where we stood then, and what we were fighting against. Things don’t seem so clear-cut now. Was it really simpler then?”

“Things were never simple. But we always knew that no matter how tough things got, none of us
stood alone. It’s that way now, too, even if you don’t realize it.” Ella reminded him.

“Things have changed in all of our lives. We’ve changed.”

She nodded slowly. “That’s true enough. But not all change is bad. For one thing, I never expect to see you like this again—not if you want to stay out of jail.”

He looked into her eyes. “You won’t.” For a long time Wilson stared into his cup then,
finally, he looked up again. “Something’s eating at you, Ella. Something that goes beyond your job. Is it your mother?”

Ella was glad that he’d given her an out. She wasn’t ready to talk to him about Lisa and the skinwalker connection. That was the last thing he needed to hear while he was still coming out of his alcoholic haze. “Mom’s doing better now, and she can take care of herself again,
but I’ve got to admit, she had me scared silly for a while.”

Time passed quickly, and as Wilson relaxed Ella was glad to see that their conversation became more natural and easygoing. They hadn’t spoken this freely with each other in months, but of course, there were still many issues she couldn’t broach with him. She wondered how she would ever be able to bring up the possibility of Lisa being
linked with skinwalkers.

She was about to suggest they call it a night when Justine came into the cafe. In her hand was a thick manila folder, and the red tab let her know it was an active case file. Her face was set, a sign that some progress had been made.

Justine smiled at Wilson, then at Ella as she sat down. “A report from the ME was in my office when I got back. It’s a breakdown of the
chemicals used in the flash powder that burned the first victim’s attacker,” she said, avoiding Lisa’s name for Wilson’s sake. “None of the components are unusual, so their origin would be difficult to trace.”

Wilson stared at a photo that had slipped partially out of the folder as she set it down on the table.

Ella looked at him, concerned by the strange expression on his face. “Are you feeling
okay?”

Wilson nodded. “I was just thinking of the last time I saw that little fetish.”

Ella kept her face expressionless, but it took some effort. “This one?” She brought it out all the way so he could see it clearly. “This was hers?”