Death Walker (26 page)

Ella blinked. Whatever it was, it looked much too big for a dog. This beast was huge, and its hair stood out like a cross between a porcupine and a chow. “
What
kind of dog is it supposed
to be?”

“Nobody’s sure. Victor found him on the side of the road when he was a puppy. You could hold him in one hand, Victor says. Then he just grew and grew. And became this,” Justine said, standing up and giving the dusty animal one last pat on the head.

TD walked over to Ella, sniffed her knee, then jumped up on his hind legs and gave Ella a hearty lick on the face.

“Oh, gross!” Ella stepped
back, wiping her face.

TD growled low, annoyed.

“TD gets upset when people aren’t friendly,” Justine warned. “If I were you, I’d get down to his level and pet him. Otherwise, TD will act funny around you, and Victor might decide there’s something about you that can’t be trusted.”

Ella crouched on the ground and petted the dog. The animal seemed instantly mollified, eager to accept her gesture
of friendship with another hearty lick. “Okay, guy, I haven’t been kissed this enthusiastically in months. Give me a break, okay?”

Justine burst out laughing. “Come on, TD. Let’s go see Victor!”

As they started down the hill, Ella wiped her face. “It’s not just spit, it’s slimy. Good grief!”

“But he likes you, which means Victor will too. What’s a little slime in view of that?”

“Yeah, you
say that because he didn’t get you in the face,” Ella grumbled.

Five minutes later, as they approached the house, Victor came outside and waved. “I sent TD to find you. I see he was successful! I was afraid that you’d get stuck in the arroyo. My uncle got trapped in there a few days ago and my dad had to come haul him out. I should have warned you before you set out.”

Ella breathed a sigh of
relief, glad she’d insisted on walking. “We parked on the other side and walked.”

Victor nodded heartily. “Excellent idea.”

Ella studied their host. His hair was buzz-cut short, military style. There was no other military precision about his appearance, however. His T-shirt was threadbare, and the slogan that had once been on it was impossible to read. His jeans were frayed at the hems and a
pocket was hanging half unsewn.

“Come in. If you walked here, you’re probably thirsty. I’ve got some cold soft drinks.”

“I’d like that,” Ella admitted, wiping the perspiration from her brow.

The low-roofed house was cool, shaded by four piñon trees that had grown to nearly twenty feet tall. The living room was decorated with realistic-looking caricatures of Navajo and Anglo politicians and
cartoon strips. All were signed by Victor. His furniture consisted of an old stuffed sofa and three red beanbag chairs. A small TV sat in the corner on a homemade bookshelf. As they went into the kitchen, Ella saw a small stove, refrigerator, and single sink. The dinette set was a folding card table and four matching folding chairs. Victor invited them to sit down.

He went to a refrigerator,
snatched the drinks quickly, and closed the fridge door. “I’ve got to get stuff in and out fast. I’m running low on the liquified petroleum gas that powers my fridge.”

He handed them each a cola, then sat across from them petting TD, who seemed to adore resting his head on Victor’s knee. “I understand you want me to play police artist,” he said.

“It’s no game. I need your help,” Ella admitted.
“If you can help Naomi Zah by turning the description she gives you into a portrait, then maybe we’ll have an image of the suspect we need to search for.”

“You are aware that I specialize in cartoons and caricatures, right?”

Ella nodded. “Justine assured me you can handle this and now I see why. I took a look at some of your sketches as we came through the living room. I’ve seen most of those
people, and what you do is very realistic.”

He nodded. “I’m fast, too, and Naomi should feel comfortable with me. I’ve known her all my life.”

“That’s great. It’s a bonus I hadn’t even counted on,” Ella admitted.

“But I can only work from what she gives me. I can jog her memory by giving her several face shapes and that type of thing, but it’s going to be up to her and the accuracy of her memory
in the long run.” He grabbed a backpack, stuck a handful of pencils and sketch pads inside, and slipped the bag over his shoulder.

Ella finished the last of her cola. “Thanks a million for the soft drink. I really needed it. It’s hot out there, as you’re about to find out.”

He nodded. “That’s okay. It’s a small price for living out here.” He turned toward the dog. “TD, watch the sheep!” Victor
opened the back door, and the dog bounded out eagerly.

“You leave him here to watch the sheep?” Ella wondered aloud.

“Sure. He is very responsible. I’ve never even had a lamb hurt when it’s just been him here alone with them. He takes his work very seriously.”

Ella tried to keep her sigh of relief from becoming audible. TD would have been a pain on a car trip. With Justine driving, she knew
the dog would have been all over her.

*   *   *

They were on their way twenty-five minutes later.

“TD seems to like you and Justine,” Victor said proudly. “He’s a wonderful judge of character, too, you know.”

“He’s a nice dog,” Ella said, grateful that there was only one of him to bathe her with a gooey tongue.

“Can I ask you why you just didn’t take mug shots over to Naomi?” Victor’s question
interrupted Ella’s mental drift and brought her back to the business at hand. “Seems to me that would have been easier.”

“I do have a mug shot book with me, but before Naomi starts to look at hundreds of faces, I’d rather you worked with her. Then it’ll still be clear in her mind. Afterward we’ll see if we can match the person she saw to a known felon.”

Victor nodded. “I’ve got some ideas on
how to jog her memory even more. I’ll have her describe this guy by comparing him to people we both know.”

“Good idea.”

“I’ll be able to get a sketch that you can work from, if anyone can. We all want to catch this guy, particularly people like me who live in a secluded place.”

“Do you have a phone, or a radio?” Ella asked.

“I’ve got a CB radio setup, and I’ve also got a cellular. And I’ve
got TD. If anything approaches, he lets me know in plenty of time.”

“He sleeps inside or out?”

“Outside, right on the porch, so he can watch the sheep and me.”

“Good. If you ever sense trouble, you give us a call immediately. We’ll handle it.”

“I think you mean what’s left of him after TD gets his teeth into him,” he chuckled. “He’s not nice to strangers who come up unannounced. And my shotgun
is even more unfriendly.”

Ella felt that funny tightening in her stomach. “You know how to use it, and practice with it often?”

“I’ve been around rifles and shotguns since I was seven. I usually hit what I aim for, whether it’s a rabbit or wild turkey. If I couldn’t, I’d have grown awful tired of mutton stew by now.”

“Just be careful what you shoot, please?” Ella asked.

“I always am,” he answered,
then lapsed into silence.

Ella wondered if she’d offended him, but the thought of people, ordinary citizens, so ready for an armed response made her jittery. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do to stop them until the case was closed, and that might not be any time soon.

FIFTEEN

Ella sat near the door of the hogan, hoping a breeze would stir. The skies had turned into a maze of gray clouds that were ripped every few seconds by bright flashes of lightning. Thunder in the distance rumbled constantly, like distant artillery, and the increased humidity made the air feel sticky. Yet, despite all that, no rain appeared. Although the land was dry and rain was needed,
Ella hoped it would hold off a while longer. If it didn’t, she had a feeling getting Victor back to his home today would be all but impossible.

Ella watched quietly as Victor prodded Naomi’s memory with all the finesse of the best police artists she’d worked with. He sketched with painstaking attention to detail, erasing and modifying any feature Naomi felt wasn’t quite right. Although Ella still
hadn’t looked at their sketch for fear of interrupting Naomi’s train of thought, she could sense that a clear impression would be the result.

Ella stood up and joined Justine just outside the hogan doorway. “Do you think it’s another false alarm, or will the rain really get to the ground this time?” Ella asked quietly, smelling the ozone in the air.

“It’ll rain, and it’ll come down in sheets.
Let’s just hope it’s after we take Victor home.”

“If not, the department can put him up at a motel, or take him to a relative’s house.”

Ella heard movement inside the hogan and turned to look around. Naomi held the sketch Victor had drawn. “This is just like I remember him.” She waved at Ella to come back inside. “Take a look.”

Naomi placed it on top of the CB Ella knew Officer Neskahi had
brought. Naomi had said nothing about it so far, and to avoid distracting her from the task at hand, neither had Ella.

Ella studied the sketch of the shaggy-haired man and the stringy, ineffective beard. It was no one she knew, but the sketch was detailed enough to work with. She glanced at Justine, who was looking at the drawing too.

“Not too many Navajos try to grow a beard, and you can see
why.” Justine shrugged. “If I’ve seen him before, I can’t place him.”

“Now we can look at all those pictures you brought,” Naomi said.

Ella nodded to Justine, who produced several thick volumes. “I’m going to drive Victor back home while Justine takes you through these, then I’ll come back,” Ella said.

Victor picked up his things. “Good idea. Once it rains I’ll have to hike in, and that can
take a long time. Normally it wouldn’t matter, but the sheep may need tending in the storm and I have some sketches I have to finish by the end of the day tomorrow. I really don’t want to lose time walking back home from the main highway.”

“I’m curious,” Ella said as they walked to the car. “How do you get by when you’re snowed in and you have to get something to the paper?”

Victor shrugged.
“They send someone to the turnoff, and I hike out there. As long as I have enough time, I can usually meet them. It’s not that big a hassle.”

As Ella drove Victor home, she decided to bring up the possibility of keeping him on call for the department. “Would you be willing to work with us again, if the need arose?”

“No problem.”

“We’ll pay you a fee comparable to what you get at the paper.
I’ll make sure of it.”

“Yeah, but this time I did it as a favor to Justine, okay? She tutored me in high school when I was a freshman and sophomore. I don’t think I could have passed my math or science classes without her help. She didn’t get paid for it either; it was all volunteer work through the Honor Society.”

“So you’re even now. But if there is a next time, you’ll be paid, okay?”

“Sounds
good to me. I can always use some more money for supplies and things. I’ve been saving up, hoping to get a phone line in. Then I could fax my ’toons on bad weather days.”

“Then it’s settled.”

As Ella reached his turnoff, she noted that the clouds had begun to dissipate, once again without rain. “I can take you all the way up to the arroyo.”

“That’s great.”

As they drove on, Ella glanced around.
There wasn’t another sign of civilization in sight. “Do you ever miss living in Shiprock?”

Victor shook his head. “Here, I have my animals, and TD can run around all he wants.” He unbuckled his seat belt as she stopped by the dry wash. “The only noisy neighbor is an occasional bleating lamb.” He opened the passenger’s door and got out. “See you around.”

Ella watched him hurry across the sandy
arroyo. She remembered life in the various cities where she had worked with the FBI. Although people had been all around her, she’d never felt more lonely than she had during those days. She’d drowned herself in her work as a way to avoid the loneliness. Even if she’d lived out here by herself, with only the mesas as neighbors, she’d never suffer from the isolation she’d felt back then. The Colorado
Plateau, as inhospitable as it seemed at times, was home.

As Ella returned to the highway, she used her cellular to call Clifford. She wanted to show him Victor’s sketch as soon as possible.

Loretta answered the phone. “He’s not here, but if you need him right away, go to where the Singer’s body was found.”

“Of course,” Ella muttered. She should have known her brother would have been asked
to purify ground that had been tainted by death.

Ella glanced at her watch, then had the dispatcher relay a message to Justine on the CB they’d provided for Naomi. She was going to be delayed a bit.

*   *   *

Ella drove uphill to the volcanic dike south of Shiprock, then parked on the dirt road and proceeded on foot toward the shrine. Her brother would be somewhere up ahead, and she didn’t
want to disturb any Blessing rite he might have started.

She found him several moments later, laying out a dry painting that he would use after sundown. He glanced up, hearing her, and gave her a thin smile. “What brings you here? This land is not yet purified.”

“Have I disturbed you?”

“No, I’m just getting things ready for tonight. I’ll begin then.”

She took out Victor’s sketch and showed
it to him. “Do you recognize this man?”

He studied it for a long time. “I don’t know this person. But he looks young. Is this the killer?”

“Possibly. At this point I have no clear answers. The trail on this case leads in conflicting directions.”

“Yes, I’m aware that one of the killings points to skinwalkers, and the other to a Singer.” He stared off in the direction of the Carrizo mountains
to the northwest. “I’ve been giving this some thought. This could certainly be the work of one of Peterson’s skinwalkers. They specialize in misleading others.”

“I realize that too. That’s why I haven’t neglected that angle. Peterson would know all about criminal profiling, and the evaluation of evidence. If he’s behind this, even remotely, he’d make sure we were getting conflicting signals.
Thinking he’s outsmarting us would appeal to his ego.”