Wind Spirit [Ella Clah 10] (37 page)

“You haven’t been on a horse in what, fifteen years?” Clifford looked amused.

“It’s like riding a bicycle, right? Once you learn, you never forget.” Ella scowled at him.

He laughed. “I know this stallion named Lightning that might be available.”

“Find one named Molasses, or Rocking Chair, okay? I’ll see you again soon.” Ella smiled, then left the hogan.

As she drove away, in the rearview mirror she saw her brother standing just outside the entrance to the hogan, and Loretta walking toward him. She wondered if Clifford had heard the rumors about his wife and the professor. It seemed unlikely that he didn’t know. But Clifford wouldn’t pass judgment on Loretta until he found out for himself how much, if any, of the rumor was true.

Ella decided to stop by her home and see Dawn for a bit, but first she called her mother to make sure she didn’t have guests. The sacrifice she’d made by moving out would all be for nothing if anyone saw her at the house.

“Some people will be stopping by later, so come now,” Rose said. “Your daughter misses you.”

The words tugged at her heart. When Ella pulled up a short time later, she saw Dawn and Boots outside in the arena, brushing the pony. As Ella joined them, Dawn gave her a hug. “Riding is fun,
Shimá
. When will you come riding with me?”

Rose came out and, smiling at her daughter, answered for Ella. “She’ll get a horse soon, little one.”

Ella glared at her mother, then saw her laughing eyes. Rose was enjoying this.

“Tomorrow?” Dawn said.

“No, Pumpkin. It’s going to take time for me to find the right horse. But I’ve got some people who will help me, including your uncle.”

“Make sure you keep reminding her, Granddaughter. Your mother might forget,” Rose added, chuckling.

“Okay!” Dawn answered.

“Great, Mom,” Ella answered with complete insincerity.

Finished with the pony, Dawn tugged at her mother’s hand. “Come see the flowers.”

“What flowers?”

“The dying plant she took from your room,” Rose explained.

Ella, curious, followed her daughter. The pot was on a window facing east, just like it had been in Ella’s room. But, here, the plant had done a dramatic about-face. One tiny bud clung to life on the long, bare flower spike and the leaves looked green and healthy again.

“Good job, Pumpkin!”

“It likes it in my room.”

“So I see. You’ve done a marvelous job. What did you do to it?”

Dawn shrugged. “I gave it water and I talked to it. We are connected. All things are. That’s what
Shimasání
says.”

“And she’s right,” Ella said, realizing that she’d also come to accept that belief.

“Daughter, some of the Plant Watchers will be stopping by today. If anyone comes early . . .” Rose warned with a sad smile.

“Right.” Ella smiled at Dawn. “I have to go now, but I’ll see you again soon. Be a good girl.”

“I will.” Dawn gave her mother a hug.

Ella walked away quickly, not looking back. Dawn was in the best hands. She’d take comfort in that.

Moments later, Ella was in her unit heading back to Justine’s.
It was a shame that her brother hadn’t known the Sing she needed. It seemed odd for her to have to rely on another
hataalii
. At least Clifford would have understood why she was having it and not expected her to act or feel any differently after the ceremony concluded. As she pulled up by Justine’s, she saw her partner cleaning a paintbrush in a bucket of soapy water beside the front porch. From what she could see, there was now a new coat of paint on the front door, which was open.

“Anything new turn up on this vandalism?” Ella asked.

Justine shook her head. “Officer Marquez made an official report. The county police were unable to locate the vehicle the suspect was driving. For them, the matter’s closed, at least for now.”

“That’s that then.”

“Why don’t you go on in to the kitchen? I bought a bucket of chicken when I went to get the paint. You can nuke a few pieces and some of the mashed potatoes in the microwave.” Justine paused, then added, “Just don’t touch the door when you go in.”

Ella smiled. “Mom’s never let me buy her a microwave. Do you like yours?”

“I don’t know how I ever got along without one. There’s nothing like nuking coffee in the morning, or a bowl of oatmeal. And you can bake a potato or apple in just a few minutes.”

As Ella went in, her cell phone rang. It was Emily. “Are you going to be home tonight?”

“I’ll be here at Justine’s unless something comes up. Why do you ask?” Ella said, placing a drumstick and a chicken breast on a paper plate—the only kind Justine seemed to have.

“I thought I might come over and meet her. The officer who’s watching your home offered to take my place on stake-out tonight, so I’m free.”

“How much time do you have left before you have to move out?”

“Less than two weeks. Finding a house or duplex within my price range—that also has a large yard—has been nearly impossible. The sticking point is that I need some space for my little greenhouse. It’s about the same size as a large shed.”

“You’d have room here, but it’s Justine’s place so you’d have to work it out with her. Why don’t you come over now? We’re both here.”

Emily arrived a half hour later in her personal vehicle, a red pickup truck with a matching camper shell. Justine and Ella went out to meet her.

“As I was driving up I noticed that your horse is going crazy back there,” Emily said. “He’s bucking and running around everyplace.”

“I better go check and see what’s upset him,” Justine said.

“We’ll come with you,” Ella said.

A moment later they were in the paddock area behind the house. The wild-eyed horse was running around inside the enclosure, bucking and leaping before spinning around and running in the opposite direction. Seeing them, he settled down, still breathing hard and snorting from all the exertion, and watched them.

Ella laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s just feeling good. The weather’s cool, but not cold, and we have a pretty strong breeze right now. He’s just having fun.”

Justine grumbled. “Tell that to the bucket he kicked halfway across the paddock,” she said, pointing to the large, dented-in galvanized tub she’d been using as a feeder. It was sitting on its side now.

“Leggar’s the most temperamental creature I’ve ever come across,” Justine added. As she approached him, the horse pinned his ears back, lowered his head to below the withers, and nipped at the air, barely missing her. “Hey!” She jumped back.

Ella laughed. “You don’t like him and he knows it.”

“I don’t like him because he bites.”

“He bites because you’re forcing things,” Ella said. “Don’t look at him, just turn away from him and wait. He’ll approach you.”

Ella went inside the paddock and demonstrated. The horse trotted in a circle around the enclosure, then stopped and watched her. Ella turned sideways, facing away and remained where she was. The horse waited, then finally came up to her. Ella patted him on the neck and the animal remained calm.

“Wow, you’re great with horses,” Justine said.

“No, not really. I’m good with horses—but only when I’m standing on the ground,” Ella said. “Unfortunately, my daughter wants a riding partner. Why couldn’t she have been interested in cars or motorcycles?”

Emily burst out laughing. “That’s the
first
time I’ve ever heard any mom say that!”

“Hey, I know what I can expect from a motorcycle,” Ella countered. “You want to stop, you put on the brakes. With a horse, you never know.”

Once they were back inside, Justine showed Emily around the house. “There’s plenty of room and the rent is super low.” She quoted Emily the price. “My roommate would pay half of that and half of the utilities. We’d also take turns feeding and grooming the horse.”

“That’s a great deal.”

“Yeah, it is, but you should know that this place is hard to maintain. With no landscaping it can be a lot of work keeping the weeds at bay. Tumbleweeds, in particular, can grow to the size of VWs if you let them.”

“I like gardening, so I wouldn’t mind taking over that chore permanently. Maybe we can plant some sunflower plants just for color around the house. That’s a hardy southwest plant,” Emily said, then after a pause, continued. “I have
a greenhouse that I maintain, but the temperature control and humidifier run efficiently because it’s a small space. I could get it set up on the north or south side of the house where it would be out of the way.”

Ella listened to the two of them talk as they all sat in the living room. Their lives, though different, were similar in the ways that counted the most and they soon grew comfortable with each other. Before long, as it always was when cops got together, shop talk took over.

“I really wish we could have caught that vandal for you guys today. We tried, but we just don’t have enough people out on patrol.”

“That’s okay. I have a pretty good idea that it’s one of the professors at the college here,” Ella said. “He considers me a threat because of my experience at the mine. Anything connected with death gets tricky here on our land.”

“I’ve been giving that a lot of thought, partner, and I think there’s another angle we need to consider,” Justine said. “We’ve assumed that he considers you a threat because of what happened at the mine. But there’s another possibility. Your sister-in-law works with him, and Loretta’s never liked you much, as you know. If they’re as involved as rumor has it, Professor Garnenez may think he’s doing her a favor by trying to scare you away from the Rez.”

Ella wasn’t surprised that Justine knew about the rumors, but before she could answer, Emily spoke.

“Garnenez? Wait—doesn’t he teach organic chemistry?”

“Yeah, that’s him,” Ella answered. “How do you know him?”

“He was part of a forensics workshop the college in Farmington sponsored for our department. After the workshop was over we saw each other a few times socially.”

“Are you seeing him now?” Ella asked. “Dating?”

“No, I never really felt comfortable with him. He was always watching me out of the corner of his eye, assessing
me in some way. And I got the feeling he was putting on an act, pretending to be exactly what I expected of him. I gave up trying to figure out what he was really like.”

Ella nodded. “What’s your take on him otherwise?”

“Outwardly, at least, he’s idealistic and very proud of being a Navajo.”

Justine brought her up to speed on the little they knew about the sniper and why they’d linked the incidents to Garnenez. “But it’s all circumstantial. We don’t even know if he owns a twenty-two rifle.”

“I may be able to help you there,” Emily said.

“I’m all ears,” Ella answered. With luck, Emily would become an ally as well as a friend.

It was early Monday morning when Justine and Ella drove up a low hill near Garnenez’s home near Huerfano.

“Do you think she’ll be able to pull this off?” Justine asked.

“Yeah. Emily’s very pretty and that’ll give her the edge. When she shows up at his home way out here, he’ll think that she’s missed him and is trying to get something going between them. His own ego will work against him. I think she’s right about that.”

“Good thing Garnenez only has a late-afternoon class today,” Justine said. “There’s Emily pulling up to his house now,” she added, passing the binoculars to Ella.

“Now we wait.”

“That was a really good idea you two concocted,” Justine said. “At first I wasn’t sure she’d agree. She’d only volunteered to visit him at his home and look around.”

“Everything changed when she happened to mention that he’d asked her to go target shooting several times and duck hunting once,” Ella said.

“I think that men who consider themselves marksmen, or at least good shots, love to go target shooting with a cop just
to rate their own skills,” Justine said. “Or show us up.”

“That’s why I figured it wouldn’t be too big a stretch for her to steer things back in that direction and see if he’d go target shooting with her. The trick will be making him think it was his idea.”