“If Krause and Rainwater wanted to make an example of the agent, why would they decapitate him and saw off both of his hands?” Ella countered, shaking her head. “Or wait this long to dump the body when they had
to know we’d be checking them out? It also doesn’t add up if we take it from the other angle and
say that one of the Dineh did this. Dismemberment of this type isn’t part of any Navajo ritual. And Melvin Rainwater couldn’t have done this two or three days ago when your witness spotted him. The body hasn’t been here that long.”
“Well, there is a possible explanation for at least one of our questions.
The corpse may have been mutilated just to unnerve us,” Justine said. “But I have no reasonable answer as to why the killers took so long to get rid of the body. No Navajo would keep one around, not unless they were seriously disturbed.”
Ella joined Justine, who was searching through the sand near the body. “What’s this?” Ella asked, picking up a flint arrowhead that appeared to be smeared with
ashes. Holding it in her gloved hand, she studied the artifact. “And what the heck is it doing here?”
“I can answer the first question,” Justine said. “I think it’s something used by the participants of a one-day Evil-Chasing Sing. I attended a ceremony of that type back in high school and I remember the
hataalii
passing those out,” she said, then paused. “Or I think I do. It’s been a long, long
time since my high school days.”
“I’ll ask my brother,” Ella said, placing it in an evidence pouch, then labeling the outside with time, date, location, and her initials. “This means something, I’m sure.”
“Well, we know for sure that the body was dumped here, so I suspect that the arrowhead was also planted here for us to find,” Justine said. “There are no other signs of artifacts or pot shards,
like you’d find around old Indian campsites. But why are they doing all this
now
? Do you think they somehow found out that the agent called us on his cell phone? And where is his cell phone anyway? Why not leave it behind along with the badge?”
Ella shrugged. She couldn’t help but notice how Justine avoided mentioning Agent Thomas by name just in case the body they’d found
was
his. Even modernists
were reluctant to break tradition and speak the name of the dead, particularly at a crime scene. Some things were so deeply ingrained that they became almost instinctual.
“There’s only a very short list of people, almost all of them on our team, who know about the missing agent’s call to Dispatch. We’ve deliberately kept a lid on that in order to protect him,” Ella said.
“Then do you suppose
one of us inadvertently tipped someone off as we questioned them?” Justine asked.
“The trail begins—and maybe ends—at the mortuary and the goings on there with Krause and Rainwater.” Ella considered her next move. “I want you to stay and continue helping Ralph process the scene. Maybe the cell phone will turn up. While you’re taking care of this business, I’ll call Simmons, then go deal with
Rainwater.”
Ella tried to raise Simmons again on his cell phone, but had to settle for leaving him a message to call back immediately. Then she spoke to Big Ed, telling him what they’d found, and suggesting he contact the Albuquerque office and tell them about the body, and the physical evidence. She stressed that they didn’t know for certain it was Thomas, though it was a possibility.
Discouraged
but knowing the investigation had to continue, Ella met up with Teeny in a low-income neighborhood among the cottonwoods and close to the river on Shiprock’s east side. It was very dark, and the only lights came from a few porches down the dusty street. As she pulled up behind him, Teeny came out of his massive truck and they met in the gap between vehicles. He nodded as a greeting, then handed
her a pair of low-light binoculars.
“Nice.” She pressed the top button, and could see the house in shades of green. Even from fifty yards, she could tell that the windows were all open a bit to cool the house. “But I don’t see Melvin’s vehicle.”
“It’s either not here or he’s managed to hide it within walking distance. But he’s inside,” Teeny whispered, “and probably asleep. I have a cheap parabolic
device that can pick up most conversations, but haven’t heard a peep for hours.”
“Before that, did he say anything we can use?”
Teeny shook his head. “No, he’s been talking a lot of garbage about taking a big trip to Vegas. Sounds like he’s trying to convince
his girlfriend not to dump him. They argue so much, you’d think they were married,” he said with a scowl.
It took Ella a moment to realize
that it had been a grin. “Let me bring you up to speed,” she said, telling him about the body they’d found.
“But you don’t think it’s him,” he observed, reading her accurately.
“I’m not convinced, but there aren’t that many missing red-haired men around here at the moment,” Ella said, then clearing her throat, added, “Let’s go wake up Melvin and his lady.”
Again, Teeny walked around back to
keep Melvin from bolting. Ella knocked loudly on the front door and identified herself, stepping back to avoid becoming a target in a doorway. Her hand was resting on the butt of her weapon as the lights came on inside, and slow footsteps could be heard approaching the door.
Then the porch light came on and a woman in her late twenties wearing a long T-shirt, pajama shorts, and fuzzy slippers
opened the door about six inches and peered out through heavy-lidded eyes. “Police? What do you want?”
“Where’s Melvin?” Ella held up her badge in the light.
“Who?”
“Got him!” Teeny yelled before Ella could answer. A moment later Teeny came around the corner, holding Rainwater by the back of his shirt. His toes were all that touched the ground, and he was gagging from the collar gathered under
his chin.
“Put me … ack … down!” Melvin sputtered, wriggling to get free. He reached back, trying ineffectively to grab Teeny, who now held him almost at arm’s length.
“Shall we talk while he holds you up so you won’t make like a jackrabbit on us?” Ella asked Melvin, glaring at him. Out of the corner of her eye she kept an eye on his girlfriend just in case she tried something stupid.
“I’m
cho … king,” Melvin said, making more gagging noises.
“Not nearly enough,” Ella said calmly, then nodded to Teeny who eased his hold slightly.
“Let’s go inside. We can talk there like civilized people,” Melvin said in a whiny voice.
“Not into
my
house, you loser!” The woman came out onto the porch and glowered at him. “You just can’t stay out of trouble. What were you going to do, sneak off
and leave me here to cover for you? You’re such a snake!” She turned and looked at Ella. “He thinks I don’t know about his other girlfriend. Can you imagine that? Take him wherever you want—jail, the dump, anywhere you like. But he’s not coming into my house again, not ever.”
“But Mona!” Melvin called out. “You’re the only woman in my life.”
“Do I look that stupid, you cockroach? You really
blew it tonight. We’re through, Melvin.” She gestured for them to leave. “Go away. You can have him.”
“We may need to talk to you, too,” Ella said. “You’re Mona? …”
“Etcitty. You know where I live, obviously,” she said. Then, glaring at Melvin, she added, “And where he’ll never be again.”
The second they turned away, she slammed the door on all of them.
Ella smiled at Melvin. “Well, it looks
like you’re running out of women
and
places to hide. How about jail? You’ll love the carrot suits.”
“Jail? Not me. I haven’t done anything!”
“Then why did you run?” Ella countered. “For the second time, as a matter of fact.”
“I wasn’t running,” he said, still struggling to get away from Teeny’s iron grip. He reminded her of a fat catfish on a short stringer, wiggling to get back into the water.
“Melvin, here’s the way it shapes up,” Ella said. “Teeny’s going to shove you into the back of my unit. No door handles there, but there’s a nice wire partition so we can drive around and talk for as long as we need. If your answers start to put me to sleep, then I’m hauling you in.”
“Okay, just let go! You’re ruining my shirt!”
Teeny set him down, but kept his hand on his arm, urging him
along
the gravel road to Ella’s unit. Once there, Teeny shoved him inside hard and closed the door while she climbed in and rolled down the window. Ella sat sideways so she could make eye contact with the prisoner. “Okay, Melvin. Let’s start at the beginning. Why did you suddenly disappear from your job at the mortuary?”
“I didn’t disappear. I left. I took some time off,” he said, casting a nervous
glance at Teeny who was crouched down low just outside the car, watching him.
“Why didn’t you mention this little detail to your boss?” She gave him a skeptical look. “I believe he wants to fire you.”
“He can’t fire
me
,” Melvin shot back, then stopped speaking and looked down at his feet
“As interesting as your shoes might be to you, Melvin, I’m going to need some more information,” she said,
then in a firm voice ordered,
“Talk to me.”
“It’s the Sing. I washed off all that stuff from my face and hands, and I got afraid that I’d start having real bad luck, you know?” he said.
“And you were absolutely right,” Ella said, smiling. “Your luck has taken a definite turn for the worse. And it’ll continue to go downhill unless you start giving me some real answers for a change. Again, why
are you running and trying to avoid the police?”
“I told you. I had second thoughts about washing the stuff off so I went to talk to the
hataalii.
He told me that I’d have to have another Sing. But I can’t afford one right now.”
Ella sighed, then shifted. “Wrong answer to the wrong question. I guess I better make myself comfortable because it looks like we’re going to be here long past sunup.”
“What do you want from me?”
“I want the truth about the real issues here. What’s spooking you? What happened to that redhaired Anglo agent the evening of your Sing?”
“I don’t
know.
I never saw him. I’ve been telling you the truth about that.”
Ella smiled. “And what are you keeping back or lying about?” she pressed.
“Hey, Ella, let’s speed this up,” Teeny said, opening the back door just enough
to lean inside and get eyeball to eyeball with Melvin. “Why don’t you go buy yourself a cup of coffee at the Totah Café and let me have some time alone to motivate our reluctant citizen. By the time you get back, I bet he’ll be eager to tell you all he knows.”
Melvin’s eyes grew wide as he looked over at Ella. “No, don’t do that. Don’t go.”
“You’re not giving me much of a choice here, Melvin.
Why don’t you try to help me out a little more?” Ella said, hopefully convincingly, though she would have never turned Teeny loose on him.
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know. But no one at that Sing went after him—not in the way you’re thinking. Of course if, say, someone else happened to follow him there … it’s possible that person might have taken advantage of the situation.”
“Who else confronted
the agent?” Ella remembered the vehicle the Darwin rejects had said they’d seen coming up as they were leaving.
“How many times do I have to tell you? I never saw him so I don’t know what happened.” He looked her directly in the eyes and held her gaze. “Do you want me to start making stuff up?”
“You realize that you’re now implicated in a murder, right?” Ella countered. “Agent Thomas is dead.”
His eyes became as big as saucers. Then he began moving back and forth in a barely perceptible rocking motion. “That’s not true. You’re just saying that to scare me.”
He had to be putting on an act. “No, I’m not. It is the truth. We found his body not far from Sheep Springs.”
“If I knew anything more about what’s going on, believe me, I’d tell you,” he said seriously. “I never bargained for
something like this.”
“Bargained with whom? About what?”
“Look, I work two jobs and I do my best to earn an extra buck here and there. Sometimes families on the Rez call me personally to pick up a body for them. They might be wanting to get it out of the house before anyone finds out that a death occurred there, or maybe they want to get rid of it before the
chindi
shows up. When that happens,
I pick up the body, haul it away in my pickup in a trash bag, then dump it in the county landfill. I pocket however much the family is willing to pay me. That FBI man found out what I was doing and was convinced I’d buried a murder victim.”
“Who? I need a name.”
“He didn’t tell me. What he wanted was the name of everyone I’d buried off the books in the past six months and the addresses where
I’d picked up the bodies. But there was only one—old man Pinto.”
Ella nodded. Rose had helped Ray Pinto a few times so she knew who he meant. He’d been dying of lung cancer last she’d heard.
“I was straight with that agent but he just wouldn’t let it go.” Melvin looked directly at her. “And that’s absolutely all I know about Agent … the agent, and what he was doing.”