Coyote's Wife (39 page)

Blalock nodded slowly at the mention of the agent who’d served with him several years ago. “Good choice. It’ll probably take me twenty-four hours to go through channels—that is, providing I can get him at all.”

“Okay. Let me know if and when
he’s ready to roll. And thanks.”

Ella was in her car on the way to the station when her cell phone rang. She recognized Teeny’s deep baritone voice. “I’ve got some information for you,” he said. “Though Roxanne couldn’t come up with any suspects, she did give me something you may be able to use. When Abby told Roxanne that her services were no longer needed, Roxanne didn’t take the news well.
Before she left, she trashed Abigail’s computer with a virus that screws up the operating system. She thinks
Abby will probably take it in to the Smooth Operator in Waterflow. That’s where she bought the system. You know the place?”

Ella smiled. “Yeah, that’s where I bought my new computer, too. Thanks for the heads up.”

Smooth Operator was run by John Natani, one of Clifford’s best friends
from high school. Ella knew John from the many times he and Clifford had hung out around the house. Though Clifford had chosen the traditionalist’s path, and John was a modernist through and through, the two remained friends.

These days, John lived off the Rez. Taking advantage of his love for computers, he’d opened his own shop. John’s company had a solid reputation and many area Navajos liked
doing business with him.

Ella arrived at the Kirtland-area shop less than twenty minutes later. It was mid-afternoon, and John was at a bench behind the counter, working on a computer he’d disassembled. Looking up when the bell above the front door jingled, he smiled broadly. “Hey, Ella, what a surprise! What brings you here?” he asked, seeing her empty-handed. “You need help carrying something
in from your car?”

“Actually, no, my computer is still running great. I’m here to ask you a favor,” she said. “I need to look at Abigail Yellowhair’s computer—off the record—if she brought it in already, that is.”

“She did, but without a search warrant, I can’t let you examine any of the files I’ve transferred to her new hard drive,” he said. Then, with a smile and a twinkle in his eye, he added,
“However, if someone were to go through my recycle bin outside and just happened to find her old discarded hard drive, marked with a big black X, I’d never see it happen. I deleted the files, of course, so I’ve met my moral and legal responsibilities to my customer …”

Before Ella could say anything, he continued. “By the way, I have this great commercial program for sale today at a real bargain.
If you ever accidentally delete a hard drive, this software will restore most of the lost data. The only exception to that is when the data’s been overwritten,” he said. Then, as an afterthought, he added, “You should run a virus-cleaning program first, just in case one is hiding somewhere on the drive.”

“A restore program sounds like just what I’m looking for,” Ella replied with a smile, and
reached for her wallet.

After paying John, Ella went to the two waste bins at the back of the shop. Since the trash had been emptied recently, and only one contained electronic refuse, it didn’t take her long to find what she was after. With the discarded hard drive and the restore software in hand, she hurried back to the station, calling Teeny on the way.

“If you can meet me at the station,
I’d appreciate it. I could use your expertise in recovering data from a faulty hard drive. I need to make sure I don’t screw anything up.”

“I’ll see you in a bit then. I’ll bring some other software with me, too, in case we need something extra.”

Ella arrived at the station before Teeny did, and was heading to her office when Big Ed met her in the hall and took her aside.

“Shorty, we’re still having a problem with leaks,” he said, speaking softly. “I’ve ruled out the people we spoke about, and the members of your team, but the problem hasn’t gone away.”

“What makes you so sure?” Ella asked.

“I had a private meeting with two tribal leaders in my office recently and Mary Todacheene expressed some sympathy for the Fierce Ones. She said that at least they acted, while the rest of us just talked the problem to death and worried about what the lawyers would do.

“The next day, she went out to her corral and someone had left her a fine-looking horse,” he continued. “She thought it was someone’s
idea of a bribe and called me immediately. But I think it was a thank you, not a bribe. I thought about suggesting she look for that eye symbol the Fierce Ones leave as a calling card, but decided not to push it.”

Ella considered it for several moments. “Chief, I’m meeting Bruce Little here in a few minutes. When he arrives,
let’s hire him to sweep the station, starting with your office, then
mine. His electronic equipment is newer and much more sophisticated than anything we have.”

Big Ed considered it, then nodded. “Yeah, let’s do it. We’re out of options. I’ll put this on the books as an emergency purchase so we won’t have to go through the bid process.”

As Big Ed returned to his office, Ella called Teeny, and explained what they’d be needing.

“Let me return to my office and
pick up some additional equipment. Expect me in half an hour.”

“Just in the odd chance that there
is
a bug here someplace, sweep Big Ed’s office first, then mine. Once that’s done, we can discuss the hard drive and its contents.”

“Got it.”

Ella checked in with her team. Tache and Neskahi had been given the sketch of the dead man and were already out questioning local service stations and auto
repair businesses. Returning to her desk, Ella worked on reports that had been stacking up. Before she knew it, Teeny was at her office door. “I’m going to Big Ed’s office. Want to tag along?”

She nodded. “I don’t know what I’m hoping—that you find a bug so we can put all these leaks behind us—or that you don’t,” she said softly as they hurried down the hall.

“It’s better to find one, in my
opinion,” Teeny answered quietly. “Not knowing the source of the leak generates suspicion among officers who need to trust each other to survive.”

“There’s that,” she admitted.

“If someone did put a bug in one of the offices since they were last swept, you’ll have to figure out who had the capability and the opportunity within that block of time. Locating a bug is only the first step in plugging
a leak. And brace yourself. It’ll undoubtedly be someone everyone here has trusted.”

“I hear you,” Ella said.

When they arrived at Big Ed’s office, the chief stood and, without saying a word, nodded to Teeny, signaling him to begin.

Armed with a handheld electronic device that looked like a cross between a metal detector and an charcoal lighter, Teeny walked around the office, moving the “wand”
in a pattern, starting from the floor and moving up to the ceiling, one wall at a time. No one spoke as Teeny worked his way up the bookshelves, but the tension was thick in the air. The chief’s fists were balled, and Ella caught herself holding her breath.

Finding nothing, Teeny moved out from the walls and began to sweep the chief’s desk, again working from the floor up. When he got to the
desk surface, Teeny stopped suddenly, pointing to the red light that was blinking on the device. He proceeded to move from object to object slowly, checking everything. Finally, he looked up at them and pointed to the PDA on the chief’s desk.

Teeny picked it up, set it on the floor, then moved the “wand” over it. The light started blinking again. Setting the device back on the desk, Teeny took
a screwdriver out of a small case in his shirt pocket, removed the battery cover, and pulled out the PDA’s battery. Working in silence, he examined the compartment, then pointed to a circular device. Hidden earlier by the battery, the object was about the size and thickness of a nickel, with a tiny opening in its center. Reaching in with a tweezer-like tool, he plucked it loose from a drop of soft
glue that had kept it in place. Teeny held it up to them, putting his finger to his lips, reminding them to remain silent.

“Heptane spray?” Teeny asked.

Ella hurried down to Justine’s office and retrieved the small spray bottle. That would “set” any possible fingerprints, allowing them to handle the device without compromising potential evidence.

Once he’d coated it, Teeny let the heptane dry
a few seconds. He then placed the device inside a small, thick-walled metal case and screwed on a thick lid. Finally he nodded. “We’re okay now. We won’t be overheard.”

“Did it draw power from the battery?” Big Ed asked.

“No, it has its own power supply, and it’s still transmitting, but the signal can’t escape the shielded container. It’s just an expensive paperweight now. What do you want me
to do with it?”

“Leave it there for now. Tell us what it is, exactly, how it works, and then we’ll have to figure out how it got in my PDA,” Big Ed said.

Teeny set the case on the desk, then thought about it a moment. “This is a high tech, but not state of the art, microphone and transmitter. Around here, it probably has a range of less than five miles. Couple this with a receiver about the
size of a hardback book and you can pick up any sound within its range, say this room, and automatically record it.”

“Can we backtrack to the receiver?” Ella asked.

“Not really. It doesn’t transmit a signal, it just listens and records. We’d have to be close enough to see it in order to pick up its power source. This was a slick op, Big Ed. Where did you get the PDA?”

“My wife Claire gave it
to me for my birthday. She even had my name engraved on it. I don’t carry it with me all the time though. It usually stays here on my desk.”

“Where did
she
get it?” Teeny and Ella asked simultaneously. They looked at each other in surprise, and smiled.

“Great minds, and all that,” Teeny muttered.

“I’m about to find out,” Big Ed said. He picked up his cell phone and punched in the number. Ten
seconds later, he spoke. “I need to ask you a question, hon. Where did you get the PDA you gave me for my birthday?”

There was a long pause, then Big Ed answered, “No, I
didn’t break it. One of my detectives saw it and decided he’d like one for himself.” He looked at them and shrugged at the white lie.

Ella chuckled softly.

After another pause, Big Ed said, “No, I don’t want to give
mine
away.
I like it a lot. Really. I keep it in my office instead of carrying it around because I’m worried I might lose it.”

Teeny looked at Ella, started to smile, then saw the chief glaring at them. Teeny wiped the grin from his face, turned, and stared out the window.

Another two minutes passed with Big Ed doing all the listening. “Okay, that’s what I needed to know. I’ll explain later,” he said finally.
“No, it’s okay, honey. Really.”

After Big Ed hung up, he looked at Ella then Teeny. “It appears my wife bought it from StarTalk, via Barbara Benally.”

“Ervin’s wife?” Teeny asked.

“The one and only. Claire was shopping for a few things for my office and came across Barbara Benally, who was buying office supplies. Barbara was using a PDA like this one. After Claire saw it, she decided to buy
one for me, so Barbara offered to get her one with her StarTalk discount. Claire told me she got a great deal and paid Barbara in advance right on the spot.”

Ella studied the PDA in silence. “That would suggest that Barbara is responsible for the bug. The StarTalk offices are well within the five mile range, too. She could have been listening in from her desk.”

“Yes, but it still doesn’t rule
out Abigail as an accomplice,” Big Ed said. “Or it’s also possible Barbara was manipulated by her mother and never knew about the bug at all,” Big Ed suggested.

“Do you suppose all the PDAs StarTalk purchased are bugged? It could be some kind of industrial espionage,” Teeny suggested.

“If it’s industrial espionage, why are they passing information along to the Fierce Ones? That doesn’t sound
very likely,” Ella countered. “I’m still leaning toward Abigail. Maybe she was afraid of how Barbara and Ervin would handle a big project like StarTalk so she had the bugs put in to keep tabs on them. When one ended up on your desk, she decided to take advantage of the situation,” Ella said, then stopped and shook her head. “No, nix that thought. We’re dealing with a serious leak, and my instinct
tells me that this bugging wasn’t accidental. It’s got to be part of the overall plan to screw up Ervin.”

Big Ed looked at Ella and nodded slowly. “I agree. Even my wife was manipulated.”

“What we’re still missing is a clear motive. If we had that I think everything else would fall into place,” Ella said.

“It could be greed, distrust, jealousy, revenge, or a wife or mother-in-law thing,” Big
Ed said, then shrugged.

“It narrows down to the two women closest to Ervin,” Ella said.

“So what’s next?” Big Ed asked at last.

Ella told him about having gone Dumpster diving at Smooth Operator and the software she’d purchased.

“I’ve got another program that’s brand new, and if what you purchased won’t do it, mine certainly will,” Teeny said.