Red Mesa (43 page)

“Don’t worry. A man like your husband believes that he can get away with anything, but that’s usually his downfall. It’ll catch
up to him sooner or later.”

Ella went out to the truck, and was pulling out into the street when she caught a glimpse of a Tribal Police unit coming toward her from the end of the block. It didn’t take a genius to figure out Manuelito had somehow guessed where she was going and decided to come here, though it was out of his jurisdiction.

As the police vehicle narrowed the gap between them, Ella
pushed down on the accelerator and headed for the open highway, hoping the Gallup police weren’t in the area to give him backup.

TWENTY-SIX

The tribal unit tried gamely to stay in pursuit, but the Chevy truck’s big 454-cubic-inch engine was everything Herman had said it was, and once she reached the open highway, she was able to pull away from the officer almost as if he were standing still. When she was past the well-lighted section of Highway 666 north of Gallup, she was able to lose sight of her pursuer. At the first
opportunity, she slowed quickly and drove off the highway down a dirt road and into an arroyo.

Night had descended, and in the dark, no one would be able to see her there except up close. As she waited for Manuelito to pass by her location, she recorded her latest findings and suspicions on the small tape recorder she’d brought along in her jacket pocket. Without a witness or partner, this might
be all she had to contribute to the investigation if something happened to her.

Ella kept the police-band scanner on, and heard the frustration in Manuelito’s voice as he called in, asking for an officer farther north to set up a roadblock to intercept her.

Either the sergeant had managed to catch a glimpse of Manyfarms’ name on the computer screen back at the college, or the printer had been
merely taking its time warming up, and delayed printing out the file until after she’d left. Even with the computer turned off, enough data could have passed to the printer for Manuelito to get the drift of what she’d been checking. And with the circuitous route she’d taken to Gallup, Manuelito would have had plenty of time to locate Jeremiah on campus, or guessed where she was headed and driven
to Gallup to stake out Mrs. Manyfarms’ house.

Ella smiled, knowing that she’d eluded Manuelito again. But now she had to tell Blalock what she’d learned. She looked at her cell phone. She’d make a quick call—too short to trace even if they’d managed by some miracle to get the technology and put it in place.

Ella phoned in, and Blalock answered on the first ring.

“How the hell did you get access
to an FBI file like that?” Blalock asked when she’d finished.

“That’s something I can’t tell you. But check it out with your sources. I think you’ll find the file is legit, and it still should be secure, unless Sergeant Manuelito was able to get a partial printout.”

“At least he’s a cop. Ella, where are you, and when are—”

Ella hung up without letting Blalock finish his sentence or saying good-bye,
and headed south, back in the direction she’d come. She wasn’t far from Loretta’s mother’s house now, which was south of Coyote Canyon. She decided to stake the place out. Knowing her brother, he’d never stay at his mother-in-law’s home. Avoidance between a mother-in-law and a son-in-law was a centuries-old cultural rule and not one that Clifford would be likely to break.

She picked a vantage
point on the west side, atop a small hill, and using binoculars, scouted the canyon below, making sure no police cars were around, watching for her to show up. There was a camping tent a few hundred yards from Loretta’s mother’s home.

The tent was old army surplus, a sturdy canvas model Clifford had purchased many years ago in Farmington. Ella approached slowly and cautiously from a small arroyo
running northwest. Sure they’d turn her in to the police, Ella was determined to avoid being spotted by Loretta or her mother.

As she drew near to the camp, she saw her brother sitting near a campfire alone, looking in her direction.

“Come out, sister,” he said. “I’m alone and my wife is at her mother’s.”

“How did you know?”

He smiled. “You still have the footsteps of an elephant.”

“I do
not,” she growled. “You must have seen me coming down the hill earlier, or heard the truck.”

He smiled. “Come and warm yourself, just don’t face the house in front of the fire in case someone looks this direction. There’s no chance my wife will come over to visit right now. She’s with our son, and still has no desire to speak to me. She heard on the radio that the police are searching for you
in connection to our cousin’s murder.”

“I’m in serious trouble at the moment, that’s true. But I could be close to finding the truth.”

“Good. Our mother and your daughter need you back at your home.”

Ella told him briefly why she was on the run, and what she’d put together about Natoni and Manyfarms, then waited for his reaction.

Clifford’s expression was troubled. “I should have suspected
that college professor long before now.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Do you remember when Mom had to take Two to the vet?”

“Sure. You were gone, visiting a patient.”

He nodded. “Yes, it was Jeremiah Manyfarms. I can see now why he called me, though he didn’t seem ill at all. Without me, or Two, or you around, it was easy for his accomplice to break into our mother’s home, steal the kitchen
knife, axe, and hair samples, probably from your own hairbrush or pillow, and have what he needed to frame you.”

Ella smiled knowing he was using the name of his enemy to strip him of its power and undermine him. “If Jeremiah was with you, that means that his stepson or the twins poisoned Two and did the actual legwork for him.”

“It was carefully planned,” Clifford acknowledged.

“I also believe
his twin sons played a part in the incident that created such trouble between Justine and me,” she said, filling him in on what she now suspected about the shooting at the convenience store.

“Did you know that Jeremiah Manyfarms is skilled at repairing radios and electronic equipment? He has a small business on the side. I saw his workshop when I went to his home,” Clifford announced. “That could
explain why you and our cousin couldn’t use your radios to communicate.”

“Maybe FB-Eyes can locate the twins, but I have a feeling Jeremiah has ordered them to stay in hiding.”

“If they’re on the reservation, I may be able to find them for you. If I do, I’ll send the information to FB-Eyes.”

Ella stood up. “I better get going.”

“Where will you go? Do you have supplies?”

“Some. I can get more.”

“You’ll be taking a chance if you go into a store. They may all have your photos on their cash registers by now.” He waved her to the canned food and fresh water bottles in the back of his truck. “Take some of mine. I’ll have no problem getting more.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. Take the tent, too, if you want.”

She shook her head. “No, I won’t need it. The place I’m going to has a good solid
roof.”

“I won’t ask where, but you may have to change hiding places before this is over. Take all the supplies you need,” he said, helping her load water and some food into the tent storage bag so she could carry them back to her truck. “Just remember to stay away from the places that’ll bring you more trouble than safety, like abandoned hogans. Those with a hole punched in the side pose a danger
even if you can’t see it.”

“I know. If a death has occurred there, then there’s danger of contamination by the
chindi,
” she said, completing his thought. “Don’t worry. I’ve got enough enemies already. I’m not looking for any more.”

“And if you need me, send word any way you can. I’ll do my best to help you.”

Ella motioned toward the house. “Have you been able to talk with your wife yet?”

Clifford shook his head. “We used to understand each other very well. Now it’s like we disagree on everything. I’m not sure what happened. Or, more importantly, how to fix it. But I’m not giving up.”

“Take care of yourself,” Ella whispered as she turned to head back to her truck.

“You, too.”

It was late and she was tired, but the safe house was one of several that Blalock had once told her about,
and this one would serve her well tonight.

Exhaustion undermined her as she struggled to remember the directions of the one she had in mind. It was south of Captain Tom Wash, east of the community of Newcomb, and near an old coal mine.

The last stretch was the worst, and she got out several times to look for vehicle tracks. Blalock didn’t have enough men at his disposal to stake out every hiding
place she might know about, but she had to be careful anyway. After a three-mile drive up one of the roughest roads she’d ever seen, she finally reached the safe house located in an old mining camp. The stone house must have originally belonged to a superintendent of the mine. It was the only one still standing. The lack of recent tire tracks or footprints suggested that no one had been around
for quite some time, or come in from another direction, and no vehicles or lights were visible anywhere.

Parking around back, close to the house so the pickup couldn’t be seen by someone approaching, she walked around front. Remembering Blalock’s directions, she used a key she found under the first stone of the flagstone walk leading to the front porch and went inside.

It wasn’t fancy, just
four walls and a roof, but it would do. She searched the entire house using her flashlight, and in the kitchen closet found an oil lamp and a metal can of fuel for it.

Bringing out the lamp, she set it on the bare kitchen table so it would be close by, if needed. Next she brought in her sleeping bag, rifle, and a bottle of water from the truck, and placed them in the kitchen, closest to the back
door and the truck outside.

Taking one last precaution, she went from room to room, standing in the darkness, listening. Finally satisfied that she was alone, she crawled into the sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep.

A commotion right outside jolted her awake sometime later. Ella grabbed the rifle from where it rested beside her, and crouched by the kitchen window. In the soft glow of the
moon, she could see Harry Ute standing over a man who lay prone on the ground, not moving.

Ella watched, uncertain whether to trust Harry now.

“I know you’re there, Ella, but don’t come out. I was closing in on Samuel Begaye, and spotted him while he was watching the turnoff toward your brother’s mother-in-law’s house. He must have learned that Clifford was there, and was hoping you’d show up.
I waited, and followed him when he followed you. If yours hadn’t been the only vehicle leaving the area, you might have fooled both of us in that unfamiliar pickup. He hit his head when I took him down and he’s out cold now, but once I get him to Shiprock, he’ll be questioned extensively at the station. Unless I miss my guess, he’ll be dying to tell everyone where you’re at, so you better get a
move on. It’s not safe for you here anymore.”

“I’ll clear out,” Ella said, now standing in the shadows.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could help you more. You’re not on my fugitives list, so if I’m asked, I never actually saw you.”

“And you didn’t,” she said, watching Harry as he carried his unconscious prisoner over his shoulder and dropped him in the backseat of his sedan.

As soon as she could see
his taillights, Ella gathered up her things, locked the house, replaced the key, then left.

More than anything, she would have liked to be present during Begaye’s questioning. It was possible that he knew something about Justine’s murder, or at the very least, that he might slip up and comment about nearly killing Ella in the drive-by that night when she was in her own truck. He would know who’d
come up behind her in the Farmington Mall, too, or at least have a description. But there was no sense in dwelling on a missed opportunity. It was something that was as out of her reach as her badge was now.

Ella drove northeast through Burnham, and ended up several miles south of Morgan Lake. There was a lot of ground cover here beside the hogback and it would be safe for her to camp out, though
she wouldn’t risk building a fire.

All she really needed now was a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, and for that, this was the ideal place. She was absolutely certain no one had followed her. The unimproved roads behind her had long stretches of open ground around them, and anyone following without headlights would have lost her. Now, between two small hills, she’d take her rest in the bed of
the pickup.

Ella woke up before sunrise, her back stiff from the metal surface beneath her sleeping bag. She opened her eyes slowly, and for a moment, panic set in until she remembered where she was. She had to head back to Shiprock now. The only chance she had to find out if Justine was till alive, and if not, at least clear her name, lay with Manyfarms and Natoni.

Ella went back through Shiprock,
reversing the route she’d taken yesterday, west of Waterflow across the small bridge, then along side roads north of Highway 64. It was risky, but she didn’t think Manuelito would consider her foolhardy enough to come back here. Using her binoculars, she watched from the top of the mesa opposite the college, trying to find Manyfarms and searching for any Tribal Police units on stakeout. She
found neither, but it was still quite early.

Not having Jeremiah’s address and not wanting to risk contacting Wilson now, Ella went to Paul Natoni’s trailer park, then maneuvered around to an arroyo opposite the main entrance, parking the truck below ground level, out of sight from the road. Selecting a vantage point that was somewhat risky, but close in, and out of view of Natoni’s nosy neighbor,
she lay down prone behind a clump of brush, settling in for a long wait. An unfamiliar-looking car was parked beside the trailer, but Natoni’s vehicle was gone.

Ella had been there for about a half hour when a woman wearing a nurse’s uniform came out of the trailer and got into the car. It was still relatively early, barely six-thirty in the morning. The woman, from a distance, was the same height
and body type as Justine, but even with binoculars, she couldn’t ID her. Unwilling to let it go, Ella ran back to her truck, intending to tail her.