Ghost Medicine (17 page)

“Corpse poison?” she asked in a muted voice.

“There were bone fragments mixed in with the buckshot. I’ve sent samples to the lab in Albuquerque to see if they can match the
DNA to the corpse that was dug up. Otherwise, we may have another body we’ve yet to find. Assuming the bones are human, of course.”

“This just keeps getting better and better.”

“Are you coming into the station?”

“Yeah. Now that we have a warrant, we can get the post office to turn Harry’s mail over to us. Whatever arrived after his death has been sitting in one of those boxes on a shelf,” Ella
said. “Did you ever find out what cell phone carrier he was using? Once we get that, we can also look through his calls for a lead.”

“I haven’t made any progress on that front. I even called his ex-wife, but Selina was no help. Maybe we’ll find a bill in his mail,” Justine said.

Ella walked through the side doors of the station ten minutes later, said hello to the duty officer, then chose the
hall to her left. As she approached Justine’s lab, Benny stepped out the door.

“Morning,” he said, then hurried off.

Ella smiled. It was good to see Justine with someone. Maybe she and Benny would take that final step in their relationship before too long.

As Ella went into the lab, she found Justine seated behind her computer terminal, a yellow rose in the vase next to her.

Ella fingered
the soft petals gently. “Gift from Benny?”

Justine nodded. “Ever since he found out that I love yellow roses, he makes sure to bring one by every other day or so,” she said. “That’s what I like most about him. He isn’t big on special dates. What he does is take the little moments and finds a way to make them memorable. Last weekend he rented an old romantic comedy he knows I like and brought
it over to my place along with a box of microwave popcorn and a six-pack of Mexican Cokes. It was a great evening.” Justine logged off her terminal and stood, reaching into a drawer for her firearm and extra magazines. “You ready to go?”

“Whenever you are,” Ella said, heading for the door.

“Oh, good news for a change. Our Suburban has been checked out. Nothing but cosmetic damage. The department
doesn’t have the funds for a new paint job on an SUV with two hundred thousand miles on it, but we’re back in the saddle again.”

“Small victories, cuz—take ’em when you’ve got ’em,” Ella said.

*   *   *

They were soon back on the highway, Justine at the wheel as usual. Though Justine hadn’t spoken, Ella could see that she had something important on her mind. Rather than rush her, she waited.

After a few minutes, Ella began to worry. Reluctance to speak her mind was not something she’d ever associated with her partner.

“I’m not sure how to bring this up,” Justine said after a while longer. “My uncle mentioned it in passing, assuming I already knew. I tried to get more details from him, but when he realized that was the first I’d heard of it, he refused to say anything more.”

“Just
come straight out with it.”

“Selina Ute and Nelson Natani got one of the tribal attorneys to agree that your involvement in the murder case could jeopardize its outcome in court. They took that legal opinion to Gerald Bidtah and filed a formal protest,” she said. “Bidtah came to our station to talk to Big Ed about that, apparently, but the chief refused to budge, insisting you were the best person
for the job.”

“Are you telling me that Selina went all the way to tribal government with that nonsense about my having ruined her marriage?” Ella shifted in her seat to face Justine.

“I don’t know about that, but my uncle said that the way things stand, if you fail to close the case, Bidtah’s going to use that against Big Ed. He’s already trying to dig up everything he can to force Big Ed into
retirement.”

Ella cursed. “I hate petty, political games that cross over into our arena. Bidtah has no idea how to run a police department, much less a murder investigation.”

“Bidtah’s argument that our department needs new blood has swayed some powerful people, Ella, including the tribal president and some in the tribal council. He’s actually using one of our creation stories to get the People’s
attention and persuade them to side with him.”

“Huh?” Ella said, totally confused. “What story are you talking about?”

“I forget the details, but it’s the one that explains death and the need for renewal.”

“I remember the story, and I can tell you that the guy is really reaching,” Ella said.

“How’s it go?”

After a brief pause, Ella began. “It was during the time of the beginning,” she said,
her voice as soft and entrancing as Rose’s had been when she shared the sacred knowledge. “The Hero Twins, sons of Sun and Turquoise Woman, were sent out to defeat all the monsters that preyed upon the earth. The Twins were invincible in battle and eventually only four dangerous enemies remained—Cold, Hunger, Poverty, and Death. The Twins wanted to kill Cold the second they saw her, but she warned
them that if they killed her, there would be no snow or water in summer.”

“Oh, I know this story! It’s a good one. So they let her live,” Justine said.

Ella nodded. “Hunger then introduced himself. He told the heroes that if they killed him, no one would ever take pleasure in eating again and that’s why he was allowed to continue.”

“Everything has two sides,” Justine said with a nod.

“Poverty
was an old man dressed in dirty rags,” Ella said, continuing. “He begged them to kill him and put him out of his misery, but he also warned that if he died, old clothes would never wear out, and people wouldn’t make new ones. The incentive to better yourself would vanish, so everyone would be as dirty and ragged as he was.”

“Now I remember. Poverty was allowed to live as well,” Justine said.

“Finally they turned to Death,” Ella said. “She was old and frightening to look at. The Hero Twins wanted to kill her as quickly as possible, but Death warned them to reconsider. If she ceased to be, old people wouldn’t die and the young wouldn’t be able to take their places. They needed her so young men could marry, have children, and life could continue its endless cycle of renewal. She assured
them that she was their friend, though they didn’t realize it.”

“So Bidtah’s saying that Big Ed should step aside and allow the renewal cycle to continue,” Justine said.

“Yes, and they’ll probably want me out, too. They’re using a little more finesse to do it, but I have a feeling they’re going to keep pushing me till I quit.”

“I think the real reason Bidtah is targeting you is because you’re
too big a name—too well known. People look to you and your family for answers more often than not, and Gerald would rather be the one the People depend on. It’s a matter of ego—and positioning.”

“The whole thing’s just crazy,” Ella said, and shrugged. “There was a time when I would have fought this nonsense a lot harder, but experience tells me this isn’t a battle I can win. So let’s concentrate
on what’s really important here, finding Harry’s killer.”

TWELVE

They arrived at the Bloomfield post office a little before noon, just beating the Saturday hours. The one postal worker still behind the counter was about to close up when Ella produced the warrant.

In a rush to leave for the weekend, he asked Ella to sign a receipt and quickly gave her the rubber-banded stack of mail that had accumulated.

Once back inside the tribal SUV, Ella had
Justine roll down the windows as she sorted through the stack. “There’s only one credit card bill, so I think Harry may have used that card exclusively.”

“The charges may tell us what he’s been doing and where he’s been,” Justine said.

Ella opened the envelope and studied the lengthy multipage bill. “Here’s something. It’s a monthly fee paid to an Internet data-storage service. It looks like
he backed up all his laptop files online, automatically. We need to take a look at those.”

“We’ll need another court order,” Justine said.

“It would be faster to get permission from Harry’s family,” Ella said slowly.

“Not really. Harry’s daughter is most likely the primary heir, and Selina’s her guardian. After all the noise Selina’s already made—”

“I know, but I wasn’t planning on being the
one doing the asking, not directly, anyway. I have another idea. Stop by the Totah.”

*   *   *

They pulled up in front of Teeny’s place twenty minutes later.

“Have you ever noticed that Teeny looks mean even when he smiles? It comes out looking more like a snarl. Yet when the guy wants something, he can charm the heck out of people,” Ella said.

“Let me guess. You want
him
to ask Selina?”

“Yeah. I don’t think she’ll turn him down. She knows that Harry was working for Teeny and any job-related files are also company files. It makes logical sense for the request to come from him.”

“So all you need to do now is convince Teeny to ask her, and then give you a look at the files.”

Ella glanced down at the four covered Styrofoam plates. “Two for Teeny and one apiece for us. Stuffed sopaipillas
with fresh green chile are his all-time favorites—particularly when Mrs. Curley makes them.”

“We lucked out there.”

Teeny was waiting for them at the front door. “Good to see you both.” He sniffed the air. “A bribe! Did you happen to stop by the Totah?”

“You bet. Mrs. Curley works there on Saturday.”

His face broke out in a wide grin that to the uninitiated might have looked positively frightening.
“Stuffed sopaipillas with green chile. The favor you want must be a doozy,” he said, leading the way into the kitchen.

Ella told him what she needed as they began to eat.

“Selina hates your guts. You know that, right?” Teeny said.

“Yeah, which is why I’m asking you to do the asking,” Ella said.

“All right. I’ll do it after lunch, but you might want to watch yourself, Ella. She intends to do
everything in her power to hurt you.”

“Yeah, I know. She doesn’t realize that I was just a footnote in H’s past.”

“You were more than that,” Teeny said. “A lot more.”

“Not you, too!” Ella shook her head. “There was nothing there after our breakup.”

Teeny stared at her for a long time. “You really
don’t
know, do you?”

She opened her arms, palms up. “What?”

“His ex-wife is right—he never really
got over you. Every time your name came up, his voice changed and he couldn’t look at me. I think he wished he’d stuck around and fought to change your mind.”

“You think he still had feelings for me? You’re wrong,” Ella said.

“I’m not saying he was still in love with you, but he never forgot the time you two were together.” He took another huge bite as he thought things out and then tried to
explain. “It’s kind of like a guy’s first car. Sooner or later, it’s gotta go, but that feeling he had for it never goes away.”

“I wasn’t his first … anything,” she said.

“You were the first woman he actually wanted to marry.”

“No way. H had loads of girlfriends—before and after me.”

“Sure, he dated a lot, but what he felt for you was on a whole different level. You were the love of his life.”

Ella stared at him for a moment, then took a bite, mostly to have another few seconds to think. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Think what you want, but I’m still right,” he said, finishing his meal. “Thanks for the sopaipillas, Ella. I don’t know what Mrs. Curley does to her fry bread, but she’s the best cook around.”

“Coming from you, that’s a huge compliment,” Ella said, knowing that Teeny was a
master chef. She’d tasted some of his creations, and they were second to none.

“I’ll go make that call now. Give me a few minutes,” he said, rising from the table.

Teeny walked into the next room, closed the door behind him, and Ella and Justine ate in silence.

He came back ten minutes later and gave her a thumbs-up. “Selina said okay. I also spoke to my client. Since his name is not on H’s
files, he has no objection to you having the information. I’ve downloaded what H stored with that online backup service onto a flash drive for you. For future reference, his password is ‘19Hosteen70,’ all lowercase except for the
H,
” he said. He handed her the flash drive and a folder containing several sheets of printouts.

“I also printed out something I think you’ll find particularly interesting,”
he said, continuing. “He made a list of missing county inventory, including some serial numbers. In addition to that, you’ll find the names of county employees who have direct access, or supervise those who had access to the inventory. The list includes warehouse employees, the sheriff, county commissioner, unit leaders, and their various office staffs. In that same file I also found the name
of those civilians known to have purchased stolen items. Most were returned to the county once the buyer discovered they were hot.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate this.”

“Pay particular attention to the name at the top. You might have noticed in the past that H arranged lists in order of significance, not alphabetically. Billy O’Donnell is out of your jurisdiction, so you may need county cooperation,
but he’s worth checking out closely. He runs a huge retail store—almost a warehouse, located between Farmington and Bloomfield. The Emporium offers almost anything and everything you can think of—new or used. The county cops have been keeping a close eye on that place for months now because they suspect it’s an outlet for stolen property. No one’s been able to prove anything, though.”

“Did H
have any evidence against O’Donnell?”

“If he did, it went to the grave with him,” Teeny said.

“Which may explain why he was killed,” Ella said.

“Thieves aren’t necessarily murderers,” Teeny said.

Ella nodded slowly. “True, but skinwalkers are both.”

“I can’t shake the feeling that H was killed because he saw someone or something he shouldn’t have,” Teeny said.

“At first I thought that, too,
but now I’m thinking he may have been set up,” Ella said.