Coyote's Wife (26 page)

“This whole thing may be a message from the younger members of the Fierce Ones—a way of getting our attention. Or it could be their version of retribution because we’re breathing down their necks. We need more facts. Check and see if our tail on Arthur Brownhat paid off.”

Justine dialed a number then after a brief conversation, glanced over at her. “He hasn’t gone
anywhere except to get truck parts. He and his brother have been working on his truck, nothing else.”

“I wonder if he made our tail.”

“Anything’s possible. Where to next?”

“What do you say we pay Rudy a visit?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Justine said. “I’ve already got his address. He and his wife live alone. Rudy’s been arrested for abusing his wife several times, so watch your step around
this creep. No charges were ever pressed because Martha refused to admit to the attacks.”

“Better call your mother about Jayne,” Ella reminded. “Just don’t tell her I suggested you call Teeny, okay?”

“Gotcha,” Justine said, grinning.

On the way over, they heard from Sergeant Neskahi. Joe, too, had received one of the emergency phone calls. Ella felt a new surge of anger tightening her muscles,
spreading through her, and threatening to spill over. She took a deep breath. Anger solved nothing, and it destroyed her ability to think clearly.

Justine was shaking her head, grumbling loudly. “I’d love ten minutes alone with whoever made these calls. These weren’t just crank calls, partner. Whoever’s doing this has got some good intelligence. They not only know the people on the S.I. team,
they have details. The callers even knew about Dawn’s field trip.”

Ella nodded. “The Fierce Ones have had years to gather information on us and plenty of reluctant sources. If they were behind this, I’m going to keep pushing them until they break, or do something really stupid we can nail them for. One way or another, we’ll get the names of those responsible.”

“Back at you, partner.”

About
a half hour later, they arrived at one of the hundreds of site-built tract homes on the reservation. There were utility poles by the dwelling so they had electricity, and Ella could see a TV set flickering just past the curtained living room window.

“With the TV going, I doubt this is traditionalist housing, despite the hogan-shaped great room. Let’s just go up to the door,” Ella said.

They’d
just left the tribal cruiser when a large, burly man wearing a sweat-stained old gray sweatshirt and jeans came to the front door. He stood there in the doorway and watched them in silence as they approached.

Ella brought out her badge and saw an annoyed glimmer flash in his eyes. That flicker of emotion faded an instant later, giving way to a cold, emotionless stare.

“You have questions, so
ask them out here,” he said, stepping onto the porch and closing the door behind his back.

Ella noticed the red pickup. She hadn’t had a close look at the truck that had raced from the scene after her daughter’s horse had been spooked, but she’d noticed the color. Red trucks were common, so it wasn’t proof of anything, but it was a coincidence she wasn’t about to ignore.

“Where were you Saturday
morning?” Ella asked.

He smiled slowly. “Here and there.”

“This is a police inquiry, so play it straight or be charged with impeding an investigation. I’m not in the mood for any B.S.,” she shot back.

“I was here, with my wife. Ask her yourself if you want.” He turned and opened the door, then yelled, “Get out here.” A woman appeared at the door a few seconds later. Her right eye was almost
swollen shut.

“I was here with you Saturday morning, right? Was that yesterday, or the day before?” he turned and asked Ella, grinning in total insincerity.

Martha nodded wordlessly, then went back inside.

“I heard what happened to you and your kid,” Rudy said. “The firecracker thing? Not my thing, risking a child like that.”

Ella had the feeling he was telling the truth, but her gut told
her that he was holding back, too. Maybe he’d made some of the fake emergency calls.

Ella glanced down and saw him holding what she knew to be an untraceable, disposable cell phone. He followed her gaze and then looked up at her. There was no reaction on his face.

“Why don’t you let me take a look at your cell phone?” Ella said.

“What for? You trying to pin something on me?”

“I already know
that you’re a member of the Fierce Ones,” Ella said. “Don’t make things more difficult on yourself.”

“You should be grateful that there are still some of us on this Rez who have the guts to do whatever has to be done. The police are too busy kissing Anglo asses to take care of our own people. For all your fancy badges and guns, you’re useless—a drain on the tribe.” He took a step toward her,
narrowing the gap. “If you weren’t wearing that badge and gun, I’d teach you some manners—like I do my wife.”

Justine took a step forward, but Ella placed her hand on her shoulder, holding her back.

Moving back with great deliberation, Ella took off her holster and badge and handed them to Justine. She then pushed Rudy—hard. “Wanna give it a try with someone who knows how to hit back? Go for
it,” she said, her voice level. “Or are you just another gutless sissy?”

Ella wanted him to, even lowering her hands slightly, hoping he’d see an opening and take a swing. But he shook his head, turned his back on her, and walked inside the house, closing the door behind him.

Ella took back her weapon and badge from Justine. “Too bad. Breaking his nose would have given me a lot of satisfaction.”

“Where to now?” Justine asked as they got underway. Before she could answer, Dispatch came through on the radio. They both listened to the accident report. A big passenger van was said to have overturned, and the details indicated that the van belonged to Ford’s church.

“An ambulance has been dispatched to the scene,” Dispatch said, “but SI One, you’re our closest unit. Please respond.”

“We’re
on it, Dispatch,” Ella answered. SI One was their vehicle.

Ella signed off, then looked at Justine. “This may be just another hoax. This report was phoned in like the others and hasn’t been verified. But step on it anyway.”

They traveled at the highest speed they could risk after dark, not knowing what lay ahead. But, like it had been with Dawn’s bus, there was no sign that an accident had occurred
anywhere on that stretch of road. Ella checked with Dispatch again, reconfirming the location and directions.

“Reverend Campbell was notified, and indicated that he wasn’t able to reach Reverend Ford on his cell phone,” the dispatcher said.

Ella placed the mike down and looked at Justine. “A lot of people know that Ford and I are seeing each other. Maybe this is another way to keep me going
in circles.”

“But if it’s just another hoax why hasn’t Reverend Campbell been able to reach Ford?” Justine asked.

“He could be in a dead zone. But it still worries me, too,” Ella said.

Ella then called Reverend Campbell, the other pastor at Ford’s church, verifying the probable route the church bus had taken. They followed the path, a dirt road north of Narbona Pass in the southern half of
the Chuskas but, despite their careful watch for tracks leading off the road, the bus was nowhere to be seen.

Although she was nearly certain that they were being set up again, she couldn’t be 100 percent sure. That trace of doubt brought fear, the kind that undermined her confidence. The road was dark and narrow, winding up and down the eastern side of the mountains. There were many steep ravines
that could have easily swallowed up an entire fleet of vans, or just blocked the cell phone signal.

When her cell phone rang, she picked it up. Recognizing Ford’s voice instantly, she listened, scarcely breathing.

“Ella, I’ve got a problem and you’re the only telephone number on my cell that’s actually gone through and stayed connected. I think the canyon walls around here are screening out
my calls.”

“Where are you and what happened?” she asked quickly.

He gave her exact directions, then continued. “Before we left this morning I got a call from a man who wouldn’t identify himself. I was ordered to stop seeing you because you were—and I quote—going down.”

“What did you do?”

“I hung up on him, then left with my youth group to Todacheene Lake. We had a great day. On the way back
we stopped to take some photos. When we got back to the van I discovered we had two flat tires. Both valves had been removed. My cell phone wasn’t getting a signal from up there, so I hiked down onto a ridge, hoping to pick up a cell tower to the east. You’re still the only person I’ve been able to reach. Could you relay a message and have a service truck sent up to us?”

“No problem, but watch
your back,” she said, filling him in on what had happened with the bogus emergency calls.

Ella telephoned a local garage, then updated Dispatch while Justine listened in. Ending her call, Ella leaned back. “We popped up on the Fierce Ones’ radar the moment we started trying to track down the ones who assaulted Marilyn and Wallace. So far, they’ve mostly run us around in circles, but I think things
will get more serious once they realize we won’t back off.”

“Nobody wants to go up against them, particularly those who live in isolated areas. To be perfectly honest with you, I can’t say I blame them,” Justine said, then added, “If you weren’t a police officer, would you risk standing up to them?”

“In a flash,” Ella responded flatly. “I would
never
let anyone bully me. I’m just not made that
way. If someone pushes me, I push back. That’s the way I’ve always been.”

“Me, too,” Justine admitted with a grin.

“So with that in mind, I’ve got a plan. There’s someone I want to go see—alone.”

Though Justine had been dead set against it, Ella had dropped her off at the station and continued toward the home of the Fierce Ones’ new leader, Delbert John. Officer Tache had driven by the residence,
east of Shiprock and south of the
Upper Fruitland Chapter House, to check the place out. He’d reported only one vehicle parked there.

Ella’s plan was to talk to Delbert
alone.
Without an audience, there was less chance that Delbert would feel inclined to posture, or that their talk would escalate into a full-blown incident. As she approached her destination, Ella called Dispatch and reported
in. Less than two minutes later, Agent Blalock contacted her on the cell phone.

“I’m in the Fruitland area and overheard your radio call. Wait for me and I’ll join you. If I’m with you and anything goes down, it’ll be a federal crime. That’ll help keep things under a tight lid.”

Ella considered it, though judging from the tone of Blalock’s voice, he had no intention of taking no for an answer.

“I’ve been following up on the Fierce Ones, Ella. Both faction leaders are being a lot more careful now. There’s only one car outside of Delbert’s home, but that’s because they’ve been parking by the Chapter House and walking over. Your Officer Tache passed by a while ago and I think they spotted his vehicle. Did you send him?”

“Yeah, I did,” Ella replied.

“Tache wasn’t careless. They were just
keeping watch.”

“Are you sure they haven’t made
you?”
she asked.

“Positive. I’m in a satellite TV service van, pretending to be working the ’hood.”

“I’m just passing Hogback, so come back west and meet me at the Quick Stop in Fruitland,” Ella said. “We’ll go in using my wheels. One vehicle isn’t likely to alarm them. I’ll also make sure we have backup ready to roll.”

Blalock joined her about
ten minutes later and slipped into the passenger’s side after parking the van in the small lot. “Ready when you are,” he said, shutting the door.

Several minutes later Ella was across the river, driving
down a narrow gravel road east of the power plant that led into the developed neighborhood. As she turned onto the recently paved street where Delbert’s home was located, an old flatbed truck
stacked high with firewood started to back out of the driveway of another home, apparently unaware of their vehicle.

“Wake up!” Ella said, slowing and honking her horn.

The truck came out another ten feet, then a Navajo man looked over at them, a startled look on his face as he stared into their headlights. He braked hard, spilling firewood off the back of the truck and onto the gravel—and effectively
blocking the road.

“Guy must be deaf,” Blalock muttered. “Suppose we should help clear the road?”

Ella turned on her unit’s emergency lights, then went to talk to the driver while Blalock checked out the spilled load.

“Must be half a cord on the ground,” Blalock yelled.

As Ella came up to the driver’s window, she suddenly realized the man had a knife in his hand. Instantly, she reached for
her weapon, but a second man came around the front of the truck, pointing his rifle at her head. Ella froze just as Blalock spoke from somewhere behind her.

“I’m a federal agent, folks. This is a very
big
mistake.”

Ella turned her head and saw Blalock with his hands up in the air. Another man was standing by the tailgate, aiming a rifle at the agent’s chest.