Mourning Dove (30 page)

“I’ll handle it,” Ella said.

“Oh, one more thing.
Remember that Boots will be leaving for a two-week vacation in a day or so. She’s decided to go to Albuquerque instead of Denver. But we’ll still keep the schedule we worked out earlier. I’ll be able to take care of my granddaughter.”

“I know we discussed this, but are you sure, I mean with the wedding and all . . .”

“It’ll be fine.”

In transit to the station, Ella called in and Justine answered
and updated her. “Reverend Tome came in and gave us his statement. But Winston and Tony are still insisting on talking to you—and you alone.”

“What about?”

“I don’t know. Joe questioned them, but could only get scraps of information before they shut down completely. All I can tell you for sure is that they want you to get in contact with the leaders of the Many Devils. We’re not sure if that’s
because they have information about carjackings or if they’re making a move
to assert themselves in the community. Joe followed up by trying to question Joey Neskahi, his nephew, but the kid has taken off. Joe’s sister told him that he’d called, telling her he wouldn’t be home for another day or so.”

“What are the gangs up to now?” Ella said thoughtfully, not expecting an answer.

“Hopefully,
we’ll know more after you get here. I’ve already got the guys staring at the walls in the interview rooms.”

Ella arrived at the station less than ten minutes later. As she walked in, she saw Justine slapping the side of the vending machine.

“Give me my candy bar!” Justine roared, and then kicked the machine on the side. A second later, the candy bar fell down with a thud. “That’s better.”

“Talking to machines now, partner?”

Justine gave her a sheepish smile. “It always takes my money, but after that it gets snarky about giving me what I paid for. A good, swift kick works wonders.”

“How do you eat so many candy bars and not gain an ounce?” Ella asked, wishing the same could have been said about her. Gaining weight was becoming too easy these days, probably because she hadn’t been
out jogging in forever.

“I burn it up in our weight room and by running the high school track at night. Well, that, and I’ve switched over to the lowcal bars.”

Ella pointed to the chocolate-and-almond bar Justine was unwrapping. “In what planet is that considered low cal?”

“I’m not a fanatic, Ella. Everyone needs a perk once in a while,” she answered with a sheepish grin.

“You’re hopeless,”
Ella said, then walked with her to the interrogation rooms. Standing by the one-way glass, she looked in on each and made her choice. “This one first, Tony. He looks like he’s crawling out of his skin.”

“We put him in there an hour ago.”

“Good.” Ella was reaching for the doorknob when Blalock came down the hall.

“I heard about the incident and picked up some vibes from Sergeant Neskahi. Mind
if I go in with you? You never know what these kids have managed to uncover by way of information. With luck, we may get a lead or two about either the carjackings or the case involving Jimmy Blacksheep.”

“Sure, come on,” she said. “Let’s see how the Many Devils fit into the big picture.”

They walked inside while Justine remained behind, watching through the one-way glass. At first Ella said
nothing, studying the kid. He was still wearing the gang’s colors and standard-issue dress—long-sleeved T-shirt and baggy pants. “Okay, Tony,” she said at last. “I get it. You don’t want to talk to anyone but me. So here I am. What’s going down?”

“Who’re you, Anglo?” he challenged, looking at Blalock. “I’m talking to Clah—not you.”

“This is Agent Blalock with the FBI. And in case you haven’t
noticed, this is
my
turf. If I say he’s in, he’s in.” Ella sat down across the small table from Tony and leaned back in her chair. Blalock remained standing by the door. “You want out of this jail someday, don’t you?” Ella added. “Give me a reason to get the charges reduced.”

Tony scowled, stared at the handmade tatoos on his arm for about a minute, then finally nodded. “I’ve heard that your
cops were thinking we had something to do with these carjackings. But that’s crap. Those guys are poaching on our turf and disrespecting us. One way or another, we’re going to shut ’em down. That puts you and me on the same team.”

“Convince us,” Blalock said.

Tony looked through Blalock as if he wasn’t there, then turned to Ella. “You know we can’t have these guys operating on our turf. The
other gangs will think we’re weak, and make a move on us. Without respect, you’re nothing.”

Ella made a show of yawning. “Get to the point.”

“You need help finding them, right?”

“So you came to get my attention by trying to push me and Reverend Tome around?” she said, giving him an open look of skepticism.

“Don’t look right sucking up to a cop.”

“Of course,” Ella said with a straight face.

“Forget about all that now, Clah. Just think of what we have to offer you. We’ve got contacts everywhere. We
knew
when you left the Rez and when you came back. Some of our people were keeping an eye out. How do you think I found you at the Totah?”

“Chance?”

He shook his head. “I drove by the place to check out the scene, then came back to talk. I already knew where to find you. If our guys start
looking around for the carjackers, we can spot them too and get you on the scene while it’s still going down—if you move fast. Then you can take care of them. And to show our good faith we’ve come with something to trade.”

“If you had been up front with me this morning, you could have been sipping a cold one right now and kicking back instead of sitting in a cell.”

“Yeah, well. We have business
with the Reverend, too. He’s got to learn not to be messing with us. He’s been screwing us over by talking to the Fierce Ones.”

Ella nodded. The Fierce Ones were a bunch of adults—essentially a vigilante group—who’d banded together to take parts of the reservation back from the youth gangs. They were an impressive power and, though they worked outside the law, they managed to accomplish more
than the police sometimes. Pressure on the parents of troubled kids, along with more direct action, had led to violence being curtailed and the reduction of crimes against the general public, especially vandalism and theft. These days, the gangs mostly strutted around and talked big, which, as far as Ella was concerned, they were welcome to do.

“So you wanted to lean on Reverend Tome?” Ella pressed.

“Yeah. But who knew he was the Navajo Jackie Chan?”

“Okay, enough chitchat. What’s your good-faith offer?” Blalock said, this time getting well inside Tony’s space.

“Word’s come down that the carjackers are feeling the heat from all the cops, so they’re switching tactics.”

“Where’d you get this?” Blalock shot back.

Tony shook his head.

“We need to know,” Ella insisted. “Is one of the Many
Devils in with the carjackers?”

“No way. We tried and got word out onto the street, but . . . nada.”

“So, how do you know they’ve changed tactics?” Blalock repeated. “If you want our trust you’re going to have to give us more.”

“Whatever,” he muttered. “No names, but one of the Many Devils got nailed by the Farmington cops for DWI and while in lock-up heard some stuff.”

“Are you saying that
one of the carjackers was in jail for a separate offense?” Ella pressed him.

He shook his head. “Word just gets around. The ’jackers have everyone’s respect. They’ve been making fools out of the police, and they don’t rat out their people. The one the state cop nailed over by Albuquerque? He still hasn’t told you jack, has he?”

Ella stood up. “You better be playing it straight with me, Tony.”

“Winston’ll tell you the same thing. Ask him.”

“I intend to,” Ella said. Then she knocked on the door and Justine let her and Blalock out. “You heard?” Ella asked.

“Yeah. So what are you going to do?” Justine said.

“Talk to Winston. Then, if the stories match, I’ve got an idea.”

“Tell me that doesn’t include accepting their help,” Blalock said.

“Call it recruiting an informant, then. The
way I see it, Tony
had a point. They have lookouts and contacts everywhere, and our department can’t cover all the roads. The fact that they knew where I was impresses me, since I made the decision to go to the Totah at the last minute. That’s good intel.”

“Unless they just got lucky,” Blalock said, shaking his head. “But we do need to make some headway on this, that’s for sure.”

Winston told
them basically the same story. Since Tony had already managed to find an adult to bail him out, they released him so he could carry the news to the other gang members. Winston, whose relative was still trying to raise the cash, would have to wait.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Blalock said, as they watched Tony drive off with his neighbor. “I wouldn’t trust any of those punks for a bleeping
second.”

“It’s not about trust, it’s about opportunity. We have to cut some corners, remember? If any of the National Guard soldiers are tied up in this, we’ve got to nail them before the Army ships them to Germany,” Ella reminded him.

After Blalock strode off, still skeptical, Ella turned to Justine. “Time to reorganize the hunt. Call the team. We meet in my office in a half hour.”

Once Neskahi
and Tache joined them, Ella filled everyone in on what had transpired since their last contact. “So here’s the deal. We have a ticking clock running with the Nation Guard suspects. Jimmy’s killer may soon be out of the country if he’s a soldier with that transportation company. According to Chief Warrant Officer Carson, those men are all going to be recalled, so we have to speed up this investigation.
Unfortunately, all we have on motive is what’s in the partially written story we got from the victim himself. Jimmy was obviously trying to tell us something, but, so far, we haven’t been able to break his code. And either he never finished the story, planning to tell us the rest in person, or the other
half is already in the hands of the bad guys. If so, it’s probably lost forever. What I need
now is your feedback. Anyone have any ideas on where to go from here?”

“We’ve done everything by the book, taken each logical step, and processed and followed up on every piece of evidence we’ve managed to track down,” Justine said. “Maybe we need to start thinking outside the box.”

Ella nodded slowly, then met her gaze. “You’ve just given me an idea. You know the package that came from Jimmy?”
Seeing her nod, she continued. “That came overnight express. The box is in the evidence room. Get me the tracking label number.”

Five minutes later, Ella was at her computer, the other three officers looking over her shoulders as she logged on to the delivery services Web site. By subtracting one digit from the tracking number, searching, and then by adding one digit and searching again, she
hoped to find out if Jimmy had sent out another package to someone else at the same time and place. The forms used were probably sequential if he’d sent more than one at the same time.

Subtracting a number only got her information about a package sent from the El Paso mailing address to an office-supply place in Denver, Colorado. But when she added one digit, she got the answer she wanted.

“Here it is. Jimmy
did
mail a second package. It went to the Farmington Police Station, and the recipient was his brother—Officer Samuel Blacksheep.”

“But Samuel told us he hadn’t been in touch with his brother in months, except for e-mails and a phone call or two,” Justine recalled.

“So either he’s lying, or someone intercepted the package—which would mean we’ve got another player at the station.
I haven’t scratched Sergeant Sanders off the suspect list, and he was Jimmy’s lieutenant. This news also doesn’t rule out the possibility of woman problems between the brothers. If what we’re dealing
with is a group of crooked cops, some of them also soldiers in the Guard, it’s possible Samuel’s been in on it from the start and Jimmy didn’t know about his brother’s participation. In sending this
story, or part of it to Samuel, Jimmy may have made a fatal mistake. Brothers have been killed over money as well as women.”

“Agreed,” Neskahi said. “But I think the real bottom line is that we have to be careful who we trust outside our own PD. If the Farmington police have some of their own personnel involved in carjackings, or a smuggling op of some sort involving local soldiers, there’s no
telling who we can trust.”

“The carjacking that resulted in Jimmy’s death was simply a copycat crime, a way to take advantage of what was already happening, to muddy up the trail to the killer. So the circle we’ve been following leads us back to the question of motive. Why was Jimmy Blacksheep really killed?” Justine said.

“We have to put a tail on Samuel,” Ella said. “But this has to be done
without the Farmington’s PD’s knowledge, so we’ll need Big Ed’s permission. And we’ll have to handle it ourselves. Anyone have any objections?” She looked around the room, but no one spoke up. “Okay, then give me a half hour to run this past Big Ed, then we’ll get this show started.”

Ella walked around the U-shaped hall to Big Ed’s office in the older part of the building, then gave him the broad
strokes of what they’d uncovered so far. “Samuel Blacksheep is involved somehow, and is either a part of this, or an unknowing victim, too. I can’t guarantee results, but I think a tail would pay off. Maybe we can rule out his guilt, at least. The people involved in this are getting scared and moving to cover their butts. We need to move fast before we lose our opportunity.”

“I agree. But if
word gets out and we’re wrong about this, a ton of grief will come down on this department,” Big Ed warned. “Count on it.”

“I know. That’s why it’s got to be very low profile and a limited
scope type of thing. Just my team will be involved, and we’ll rotate shifts after Blacksheep goes off duty. Trying to follow him at work could just get somebody shot.”

“How are you going to find out when his
shift is over?”

“Justine has a contact I think we can use,” she answered.