Shooting Chant (25 page)

“There’s something else you should know right now that could figure into this. I got a fax from the clinic, and Myrna Manus gave me a list of all the patients whose files had been stolen. She also said that the pregnancy tests results had already been placed in the file
folders, though not every patient with a stolen file had a pregnancy test run. So, whoever took the files in the break-in kept just the pregnancy test results.” Justine kept her voice low.

“Let me guess. Mrs. Brownhat’s file was one of those that was taken.” Ella wondered if Myrna had mentioned her own test as well. “Did Mrs. Brownhat have a pregnancy test run?” She asked.

“Myrna wouldn’t say.
She told me that any other information would remain confidential unless you got a court order or every patient’s permission.” Justine shrugged. “I just thought it was too coincidental not to mention.”

“You did the right thing. Let’s wait and see what information I can get from the husband first.”

Ella went inside the house, leaving her team to finish processing the area. They’d be returning
tomorrow in the light of day to make sure they hadn’t overlooked something.

The problem right now was what to tell John Brownhat. He would demand answers, but she couldn’t give him much without compromising the investigation. She also didn’t know if she should mention the pregnancy tests, especially when she didn’t know if his wife had even had one done.

As she approached the house, John came
out to the porch and waved at her to come inside.

Ella followed him into the living room, then sat down on an old, wood-framed couch.

John’s expression was unguarded and sorrow was naked on his face. “Someone murdered her while I was at work,” he said, still in shock.

“I think you may be right,” Ella said, “but we need to get more evidence together before I can tell you anything for sure.”

He nodded “I want to know who did this,” he said in a whisper. “Find him.”

Ella nodded. “Can you think of anyone who may have wanted to do her harm?”

John took a deep breath. “My wife had her own way of doing things, and she wasn’t good at holding her tongue, even when the situation begged for it.”

Ella said nothing as he lapsed into silence. Eventually, he continued.

“Last week we were at
a Chapter House meeting. She spoke against what she called the ‘stranglehold’ our traditionalists had on The People. As you can imagine, since those meetings are filled mostly with traditionalists, her views got some people really angry.”

“Anyone in particular?”

“Billy Pete was there, and they got into a shouting match after the meeting. My wife called him a brainless sheep, following the one
with the bell, and he wasn’t too happy with that.”

“Do you think Billy could have killed her, or made her fall somehow?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. But, if he did, I want him to go to jail until he’s too old to walk.”

“He will—if he’s guilty,” Ella assured him.

“Is there anyone else she may have met—planned to go horseback riding with, for example?”

Brownhat considered it for a long time,
then shook his head. “I don’t think so, but I don’t know. You see, my wife and I were satisfied with our marriage, but we seldom spoke about what we did when we weren’t together. She trained and broke horses during the day to make extra money, and I work at the new coal mine. By nightfall we were both too tired to do much of anything except have dinner, watch a little TV, then go to bed.”

“I’ll
let you know if we uncover anything important,” Ella told him, standing up. “And you know where to reach me if you think of something that may help us out.” She left her card on the coffee table and started toward the door.

“My wife wasn’t the most popular woman around here,” John said as he joined her at the door, “but I loved her, and she didn’t deserve this. Not now, especially,” he added.

“What do you mean, ‘not now’?” Ella asked, suspecting she already knew the answer.

“We were finally going to have our first child. For years and years she tried to get pregnant, but luck wasn’t with us. Then after we’d given up all hope, it happened. We had so many plans, but now…”

“I’m so sorry,” she said. His sorrow and regret cut right through her and she fought not to shed a tear.

“Find
whoever did this,” he said. “Give me that, at least.”

Ella had to clear her throat first before speaking. “I will. You can count on it.”

FOURTEEN

As she stepped out of the house, she saw Harry Ute conferring with Justine and Tache. Ella wondered if she looked as exhausted as they all did.

Forcing herself to focus solely on the case, she approached her team. “You’ll all be back at dawn? This man has animals to tend and graze, and he probably starts early, working at the mine and all. We know he’ll avoid the taped perimeter, but
his animals may not.”

Tache nodded. “I’ll be here at daybreak. I’ve done the best I can with the bad lighting conditions, but there’s no telling what kind of quality or detail the photos I took will have.”

Harry Ute and Justine both agreed to be on hand at daybreak as well.

“We’ll meet in my office at nine tomorrow, and review everything we have. Let’s see if we can come up with some leads
to follow.” Ella looked at their weary expressions. “You’re all doing a terrific job. I’m very proud to be working with you.”

Their faces perked up considerably as they all joined in to stow away their equipment, and Ella knew they’d needed to hear that. Sometimes she forgot to tell them how valuable they were to the tribe. Maybe it would have made a difference with Harry if she’d remembered
to do that more often.

After everything was put away, Justine walked with Ella to their units. “I knew Elisa,” Justine said. “She was magic with the horses, but she also had an uncanny ability for getting people really pissed off.”

“So I’ve heard. There was a ruckus at the Chapter House meeting last week. Get me something on that. Apparently she had a run-in with Billy Pete.”

Justine raised
her eyebrows. “Billy’s many things, Cousin, but he’s no killer.”

“Check it out anyway. There are some really weird things happening on the Rez right now and people are changing.”

“Billy couldn’t hurt anyone, not like that.”

Her words were so firm and resolute, Ella felt a prickle at the base of her spine. “Is there something I should know about?”

Justine hesitated. “It’s personal.”

“If your
personal life touches any of our cases, I want to know. It ceases to be only your concern when it’s linked with your professional duties,” she said a little more harshly than she’d meant.

Justine eyes grew wide and she looked instantly contrite. “Of course. Maybe I should have told you before, but it didn’t seem to matter then.”

“
Told me what?
” she demanded, out of patience.

“I’ve been dating
Billy Pete.”

Had Justine told her that she’d planned to run away on an alien spacecraft, it couldn’t have surprised her more.

“When the heck did all this happen?”

“We’ve been dating for a few weeks. Remember when things were really slow, and we were all trying to find ways to stay busy?”

Ella nodded.

“Billy came over to see my brother Leonard, but he was gone and we sat up almost all night
talking. It turns out we have a lot in common. It was nice,” she said, averting her gaze, embarrassed. “And it got nicer.”

“You’re not pregnant, are you?” Ella could have kicked herself for asking that particular question. It was really none of her business, and she’d only thought of it because the subject was on her own mind constantly now.

Justine gave her a startled look. “Good grief, no!”
she blurted, then laughed. “I’m not ready for kids, not by a long shot.”

At least that was one thing she didn’t have to worry about. Ella breathed a sigh of relief, promising to herself to avoid that topic around those who didn’t know about her yet.

“But I do know Billy and, believe me, he’s no killer.”

“Have you ever discussed any of our cases with him?” Ella asked pointedly.

“I
never
name
names or get specific, but, yeah, sometimes we talk about things—in general terms,” Justine said.

“Stop doing that from this point on,” Ella said, hoping that the feeling she was getting was way off the mark.

“He won’t discuss our private conversations with anyone else,” Justine assured her.

“Our business
is
confidential, and since Billy’s name has come up on several occasions during the investigation,
you have to treat him accordingly. He’s a suspect, Justine, or at least a potentially important witness. Don’t kid yourself.”

Hurt and anger flashed in Justine’s eyes. “I’ll do my duty, Special Investigator Clah, but you’re sorely mistaken if you think he’s capable of doing something like this. Billy Pete is a man of principle.”

“I don’t doubt that you believe that, but you now have a professional
responsibility to follow my orders on this matter.”

As Justine strode back to her own vehicle, Ella felt a cold chill envelop her. Although her cousin and assistant was a good cop, she was still young and in a lot of ways, naive. If Billy Pete was involved with the Fierce Ones as they all suspected, it wasn’t exactly a leap to think he was using Justine to find out what the police were doing
and how their investigations were progressing.

It was too late tonight to go track him down, but she intended to talk to Billy the second she had a chance. She wanted to make a few things crystal clear to him about her cousin.

Angry that she had missed something as important as this, though she spent more time with Justine than she did with her own mother, Ella drove across town to the hospital.
She needed to talk to Carolyn, both as the tribe’s ME and as a friend. Carolyn was the only person Ella knew who would never, under any circumstances, become associated with any of the factions at war in the tribe. Carolyn was a law onto herself.

*   *   *

Ella stepped out of the elevator at the hospital. Everything had been renovated here lately. The faint smell of paint still lingered in the
cold corridors that led to the morgue, and she felt a slight wave of nausea. She wondered if it was the beginning of morning sickness, or just a manifestation of the heightened senses she’d been experiencing lately.

And, as she drew near to Carolyn’s office another, unmistakable scent filled the air. It always reminded her of the inside of a refrigerator when something stored there had gone bad.
It wasn’t overwhelming, just inescapable. And, curiously enough, it didn’t really stay on her clothing after she left the place, though she would continue to smell it for a while, like a bad memory that lingered.

For any Navajo working here day after day, the job could be punishing, but for Carolyn it was simply a debt she paid daily to the tribe that had financed her medical education.

As Ella
walked inside the cluttered office next to the morgue, she found Carolyn at her desk.

“I haven’t even begun the autopsy, and I’m having dinner now, so don’t start with me. It’s past dinner time, I’m hungry and crabby, and in no mood.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She eyed Carolyn’s egg salad sandwich with envy. “That looks good.”

Carolyn gave her a surprised look. “You haven’t been able to even chew gum in
here in the past. You must be starving if this sandwich is tempting you.”

“I am,” Ella said with a sigh. “Can we go upstairs to the cafeteria? I really need to put something in my stomach. I’ve been feeling queasy lately.”

“Sure,” Carolyn said, putting her sandwich in her in-and-out file, and walking out into the hall with Ella. “But don’t tell me you came over here at this hour just so you
can share hospital food,” she added as they entered the elevator.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“Business or personal?”

“Both.”

Carolyn nodded. “Yeah, it’s hard to separate things like that, isn’t it?”

Ella sighed. “What’s worse is that I just got all over my assistant’s case for that same reason.”

“Your cousin Justine?”

“Seems she’s been dating a person who’s become a suspect. And, I’ve got
to tell you Carolyn, it makes my skin crawl. I have a strong feeling she’s being used. The worst part is that she thinks she’s in love.”

Carolyn grimaced. “And you’re feeling protective of her, I gather. It’s hard to mind your own business, or keep it strictly business, when you suspect someone you care about is being used.”

“I like her, and not just because we’re related. If I’m right about
what’s going on, I’m going to wring the guy’s scrawny neck. I don’t care how noble his intent is—the end does not justify the means, not in my book anyway.”

Carolyn nodded slowly. “Do you realize that just a few weeks ago, we were all trying to fill our time because things were so slow. Now we’re all working to capacity and then some?”

Ella nodded as they walked down the hall. “Yeah, but you
know, I prefer it this way. I feel … useful. You know what I mean?”

“Sure. We’re not in our respective lines of work because we like free time. If we’d been looking for that, we’d have chosen different careers. But there’s something ugly going on right now. Even I can feel it and let’s face it, I usually stick solely to facts I can measure and weigh.”

“I know exactly what you’re talking about,
Carolyn. Too many weird things are happening—people who are normally peaceful acting out of character, problems with the livestock, and murders with evidence that only adds to the confusion instead of solving the crime. I haven’t been able to get any of it out of my mind. But I have to admit that it hit me hard when I learned that Elisa Brownhat thought she was pregnant. Her file was taken in the
clinic break-in, and apparently the record of that test was stolen. As a matter of fact, all the pregnancy test results were stolen. It was only by accident that we were able to retrieve the files and discover that little detail.”

Carolyn gave her a surprised look. “Just the pregnancy tests? That’s odd. I’ll verify if she was pregnant, and let you know. But does that tie into her murder, or provide
some kind of motive?”