Red Mesa (25 page)

Blalock shifted restlessly, then cleared his throat. “But this isn’t the reason I stopped you.” He reached into his jacket pocket and
brought out a document. “I have a warrant to search your home for Justine’s weapon, badge, and for tools which may have been used in the crime.”

Ella suppressed the shudder that traveled up her spine. He meant an axe, knife, or any other sharp implements that could have been used to dismember Justine’s body. She took the paper from his hands. “Give me a minute or two to break this to my mother
first, okay?”

“Sure. I thought you might want to do that. That’s the reason I flagged you down,” Blalock said.

Ella stared at the warrant. “I realize that you’re looking for whatever was used to dismember the body, but that could have been any combination of blades or cutting tools. Do you intend to confiscate every kitchen knife we have?” Ella said, unable to keep the anger out of her voice.

Noting it, Blalock gave her a long look. “You’re a cop, Ella. I’m just doing my job and cutting you as much slack as I can. A search for the murder weapon is pretty much standard. We’ll do the same at the places Begaye has been staying in once we or Harry Ute catch up to him.” He paused, then added, “Do you mind if I give you a piece of advice?”

“Go on.”

“Despite the pressure to solve this case
as quickly as possible, I’ve got to investigate the case by the book, especially because we’ve worked together so much in the past. If I don’t, somebody is going to call the investigation a whitewash. You have an advantage I don’t. You know you’re not guilty, so you won’t have to waste time touching all the bases, like me. This is the time for you to call in favors and get me some evidence I can
really use. Go after whoever did this every spare minute you have. Get me what I need to clear your name. Once that’s done, you’ll have more access to this case, and the truth is that I need your help as much as you need mine.”

Ella nodded. “I’ll get what you need. Count on it.”

“Good. For now, let’s get this search warrant executed.”

Ella drove ahead of them, leading the way to the house.
She was worried about her mother. Rose didn’t like strangers in her home, let alone looking through everything they owned.

When they arrived, Blalock followed her to the front door, keeping an eye on Two, who was sitting on the porch, alert. “In staying by the book, you know I can’t let you go inside and talk to your mom unless I’m present. You can whisper, I won’t eavesdrop, but I can’t give
you or her access to the house now that you both know we have a warrant.”

“Understood.” Instead of going into the house, she called her mother out onto the porch. “They have to search the house, Mom. Where’s my daughter?”

“Taking her nap,” Rose answered. “I’ll bring her outside. The men moving around the house and going through things may scare her.”

Blalock stood by the door and looked at
Ella as Rose opened the door to go back inside.

“Go with her, if you need,” Ella said.

Blalock followed Rose noiselessly, and even though she never said a word, Ella could sense her mother’s disapproval. Two followed Blalock, not making a sound either.

To Blalock’s credit, neither he nor Agent Payestewa left things strewn about as she’d seen many officers do during the course of their work.
But he and the Hopi agent were both methodical and thorough. Though their house was small, it took them close to two hours to go through everything to their satisfaction.

Blalock finally came back outside where Rose was sitting, protected by Two and holding Dawn, who was wrapped in a blanket, fast asleep. The senior agent looked at the small storage shed across the way, pulled a flashlight from
his jacket pocket, and handed it to his subordinate.

The Hopi agent looked at the light, smiled, then handed it back, producing a brand-new, even larger flashlight from his coat pocket.

“What do you know? Mine is bigger than yours,” Payestewa deadpanned.

Blalock groaned. “We’re going to have to go in there too, Mrs. Destea,” Blalock said, gesturing toward the shed.

“Nothing’s in there except
some gardening tools and a box of organic insecticide,” Rose said.

Payestewa made a thorough search of the shack and the surrounding area, Blalock at his heels. Two followed, watching the strangers carefully.

Stopping in front of an old stump, Payestewa looked at the scarred wood carefully. “You have an axe, right?”

Blalock looked at Ella, who nodded. “Mom or I usually leave it wedged into
the stump. Maybe somebody borrowed it.” Ella’s throat tightened as she saw her mother looking into the shed.

Rose saw she was being watched. “It should be around here somewhere. Everyone I know around here has their own tools for gathering firewood. Why would anyone run off with it?”

While Payestewa took one last look around the front yard, Blalock joined Ella, a worried frown on his face. “I
wish we could find that axe.”

“You and me both. If it turns up somewhere, I’ll let you know.” Ella shook her head slowly. “I don’t like the coincidences we’re starting to find, Dwayne.”

“Neither do I. But you still might find it somewhere else, maybe where you last went to gather firewood.”

“You’re probably right,” Ella conceded. Though she knew it was probably hopeless, they checked in her
and her mother’s vehicles, but the axe wasn’t there either.

By the time Blalock left, even Dawn seemed uncharacteristically quiet. Two went back over the ground the men had checked, sniffing every inch of their paths. The tension in the air was impossible to miss.

While Dawn, wide-awake now, played with her stuffed animals, Rose sat down wearily on the couch, adjusting a cushion that had been
replaced backward.

“Things are worse for you now that they know the axe is missing, aren’t they?”

“Yes, but it’s not your fault, Mom. Maybe we’ll remember where it is and everything will be fine.” Seeing Rose nod, but with her expression no more optimistic, Ella continued. “Someone is out to get me, and the problem is that I don’t have a clue who that could be.”

“When your brother was learning
to be a Singer, he often got frustrated because he couldn’t remember things exactly right and he was always making mistakes. What he learned—the hard way—was that the only way to get things right is to start at the beginning and make your progress one step at a time.”

Ella considered her mother’s words, then at last nodded. “You’re right. I’m going in too many directions at once and getting nowhere.
I have to rethink everything from the moment I first noticed that things were starting to change between Justine and me.”

“It’ll be hard. You’re scared. I can feel it. Your intuition won’t help you either, not at a time when everything in your life is out of balance and without order.”

Ella stood at the window. The house was quiet now, but she could still feel Blalock’s presence in the trace
scent of cigars that always lingered on his clothes.

A while later, after putting Dawn to bed, Ella went back to her office, though it was getting late. Here she could focus solely on the investigation and try to lay out a clear plan. She could use the break-in of her home as a starting point, or the missing axe, or Two’s poisoning, or, lastly, Justine’s private life.

After weighing all the
options, she decided to start with the latter. She’d begin by talking to Natoni about Justine, though it would have to be an unofficial visit since she was no longer on the case. With that in mind, she checked her watch, then stood and headed out of the building. Now would be a good time to catch him at home.

Ella got his address from the phone book, then drove to an area where several old trailer
homes were clustered. Discarded washing machines and derelict cars littered the area. Each trailer space was defined more by the trash around it than the pieced-together chicken wire that usually held a family’s thin, feather-impaired hens and a wooden crate or two that served as their shelter. The glare of her headlights only served to highlight the ugliness of the place, though she suspected
that in daylight it probably looked even worse.

Disgust and anger filled her as she looked around. She knew that hopelessness and poverty reigned here. When The People’s spirit was broken, they stopped caring. The worst part was that children grew up in areas like these never knowing that they deserved something better.

She’d never liked Natoni, but she knew where he’d come from, and why he
was still here. Poverty wasn’t inevitable, but for some, it was a lifetime excuse to strike out at those who’d worked harder or made smarter choices.

Ella knocked loudly on the front door, trying to be heard over the television set. She thought she heard a woman’s voice, but she couldn’t be sure. It might have only been the TV.

A few minutes later Natoni finally came to the door. His shirt was
open and he held a can of beer in one hand.

He looked at Ella in surprise, brushing his oily hair away from his eyes. “You’re the last person I expected to see. Now that everyone’s convinced you’re guilty of the crime, the police chief should have had enough sense to take away your badge.”

Ella wanted to smash his nose, but using all the willpower she had, remained perfectly still. She even
managed a smile.

“I have a few questions for you.”

“About Justine? You
are
off the case, right?”

“Not quite,” she answered, refusing to acknowledge what he was saying. Not waiting for an invitation, she brushed past him and climbed up the steps.

Natoni laughed. “Come into my humble home, won’t you? Just don’t expect me to offer you a beer.”

“What was happening to my cousin? There was something
wrong with her the last few weeks of her life. If you were around her as much as she said, you should have noticed it, too.”

“Oh, please. What’s next, bad Karma, or a lesson about the perils of not walking in beauty and living in a state of disharmony? Justine was just being Justine. You just couldn’t accept that she was different from you. Face it, Ella. You didn’t want an assistant—you wanted
a clone.”

Natoni was baiting her, and there was no way she would let him get to her. “Save the sarcasm. I just want to know what part you played in my cousin’s troubles.”

“
I
was the one who tried to help her. From what Justine told me, you were hell-bent on undermining her career and her life. You wanted to make sure she didn’t advance too quickly and steal your thunder in the department. You
obviously have an ego problem,” Natoni sneered.

“She knew me better than that. This sounds more like something you were trying to drill into her head.” Ella leaned back on the sofa, feigning ease. The scent of something familiar came from the worn fabric. “Look, I have no other commitments tonight. If you want to entertain me with your witticisms for the rest of the evening, that’s fine by me.”

Suddenly his expression changed. “You’re not staying long.”

“Why? What’s so important? Expecting company?”

“I have a life to lead, and you’re not going to become part of it.” Natoni crushed the empty beer can with his hand, then tossed it into a wastebasket.

“I don’t know about that. Actually, I’m just starting to feel at home.” Ella put her feet up on the narrow coffee table.

“Look, all I
know is that Justine said she was tired of being number two to you, always your gopher and backup. She wanted more responsibility, and not just in the lab. But as long as you were the head of the team, she knew she’d never get a chance for promotion. You never treated her right.”

Ella stood and began to walk around the small room, decorated with prints by Navajo artists she recognized and a small
rug probably from a local weaver. As she reached the hallway, she heard the sound of someone moving on the other side of the thin veneer door. It was open a crack, but as she tried to peer in, Natoni stepped in her path.

Ella turned away, wondering if it had been a trick of her senses. She could have sworn she’d caught a whiff of Justine’s perfume. Maybe it was just something that had lingered
in the air from her last visit.

She started to step around him, but Natoni blocked her way again, pulling the door shut.

“You’re leaving, Investigator Clah. You have no right to be here, and let’s face it, if I complain, you’ll be in a mess of trouble.”

Ella knew he’d won this battle, but the war was far from over. “If I find out that you had anything to do with what happened to my cousin,
my one goal in life will be to ruin yours. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Your threats mean nothing to me. Now, get out or I’ll call the
real
police.”

As he reached for the phone on the wall, a current of air brought a gentle violet scent toward her. There was no doubt in her mind now that it was the same perfume Justine always used.

Of course, Justine wasn’t the only woman who wore that
scent, but it wasn’t available locally. It had been her cousin’s one luxury, and she even carried a small vial of it in her purse. Stores in Albuquerque carried the perfume, but none around here. She knew, because she’d tried to find it for her one Christmas. What if Justine was somehow still alive?

As she stepped to the door, Ella heard footsteps coming from the hallway. She looked straight
at Natoni, then decided to check for herself. Natoni crossed the room in a flash, blocking her way.

“Who I entertain in my home is none of your business,” he snapped.

Ella knew she could have forced him to his knees with one well-placed kick. Unfortunately, she’d forfeit her job for a stunt like that, unless whoever was behind that door solved the case for her right then.

It wasn’t worth it
without more to go on. Suspension without pay pending a hearing was the last thing she needed now. She didn’t have enough savings in the bank to take care of her mother’s and daughter’s needs.

Reluctantly she left the trailer, never once looking back at Natoni. Seeing a smug, self-satisfied look on his face would have been more temptation than she could bear, and she was certain she would have
tried, and succeeded, in wiping it off.