Navajo's Woman (24 page)

Joe might not be ready to make a commitment, but in her heart she was already commit-ted.Totally.

Completely.

Her first loyalty was to Joe, and she sensed that his was to her. In the past neither of them had given their all to the relationship, which had been tested in its beginning stages. She had failed Joe as surely as he had failed her. But now they had a second chance, and she had no inten-tion of wasting this priceless opportunity.

Kate Whitehorn met them, a warm smile on her face and a hug for Joe and for Andi. "He rested through the night, and this morning he is awake but not completely alert."

"This is good," Joe told her. "He will be his old self soon."

Kate's smile flickered, but she forced it in place. "Yes, this is good. And all that matters is that he is alive and will recover."

“How is his arm?'' Joe asked, and Andi realized as did Joe that something wasn't quite right with Kate.

Kate's smile melted away, leaving a somber expression on her face. "He has no feeling in his arm and he cannot move it. He can't even wriggle his fingers."

Joe took a deep breath. Andi laid her hand on Kate's shoulder. A palpitating silence lingered for several minutes. Alive with unspoken words, the stillness grew heavy and cumbersome.

"This will pass." Joe finally broke the silence. "It will take time, but he will regain use of his arm."

"I hope you're right." Kate grasped Andi's hand. "Is there no word on Russ?''

"No," Andi replied.

"This endless waiting must be torment for Doli," Kate said. "I must call her and speak with her today."

"That's terribly kind of you." Andi hugged Kate, gen-uine appreciation in the gesture.

Joe glanced around, scanning the waiting area. “Where is Ed?"

"He has gone to the cafeteria for breakfast," Kate said. "He insisted that I eat before he did."

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Joe glanced toward the door to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. "May I go in and see Eddie?"

"Yes, of course, you may see him.Soon. But now he is sleeping again." Kate patted Joe's arm. "Why don't you and Andi go to see Joanna before she delivers her baby?"

"What?" Andi and Joe spoke simultaneously.

"You did not know?" Kate laughed. "I did not think to call you, and I'm sure J.T. is much too nervous to think of making phone calls. They drove all the way home last night and had to come right back to Gallup this morning."

"She's not due for another few weeks," Andi said. "I hope everything is all right."

"Yes, J.T. told me that the doctor believes she and the baby are both fine," Kate replied. "Babies come when they are ready to be born. My three certainly did." A wistful look appeared in Kate's dark eyes, and her gaze settled on the SICU door. "Eddie was supposed to be born in May, but he wasn't ready until early June. He was such a big, fat baby.And so healthy."

"He's going to be all right," Andi said. "He will have doctors and nurses and family to make sure that every-thing possible will be done for him."

Kate nodded. "There is a policeman standing guard outside Eddie's door," she said.

"That's as much for his protection as it is anything else," Joe explained.

Kate focused her gaze on Joe. “Bill Cummings wants to question him the minute Dr. Shull gives his permis-sion."

"Has Eddie said anything about Bobby Yazzi's mur-der?" Joe asked.

"No, all he has said is that he is sorry for worrying us. And he asked about Russ."

Andi touched Joe's arm, and he responded immedi-ately, warmth and concern in his expression. "I think I'll go check on Joanna," Andi said. "They won't let me in to see Eddie, anyway, since I'm not family."

"I will go with you," Joe told her. "I would like to speak with J.T. I'm sure he is nervous, waiting for Joanna to give birth. At a time like this, a man is helpless to ease his woman's pain. I can only imagine how difficult that is for J.T."

As it would be for you,Andi thought. Joe was a man who loved with the same dedication and passion he brought to everything in his life. This trait, Joe and J.T. shared.

At 3:18 in the afternoon, Joanna Blackwood gave birth to her fourth child, a second daughter whom she and J.T. named Mary Helene in honor of their mothers. The new-born had eyes as black as J.T.'s and a fluff of dark hair, but her tiny face was a replica of her beautiful mother's. While Andi and Joe were gushing and gooing over the new Miss Blackwood and congratulating the happy par-ents, Ed Whitehorn appeared in the doorway of Joanna's room.

Joe excused himself and met Ed in the hallway. Andi said her goodbyes and quickly followed.

“Dr. Shull is allowing Captain Cummings and a police officer from here in Gallup to question Eddie," Ed
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told them. "They are on their way to the hospital now. We want you to be with us—" he looked directly at Joe "—when they question him."

"I'll go with you now," Joe said. "Eddie's family will be at his side when the police arrive. And I will call Tom Nelson. He is the lawyer that J.T. has arranged to repre-sent Eddie."

"I can wait here," Andi suggested.

"No, you come with me," Joe told her. "Whatever Eddie has to say will directly affect Russ. You represent the Lapahie family. You must be present."

* * *

Andi could tell just by looking at him that Eddie Whitehorn was scared half out of his mind, despite the fact that his parents stood on one side of his bed, she and Joe on the other, and the doctor just a few feet away. Tom Nel-son, who resided in Albuquerque, was a quarter Navajo, a quarter Zuni and half white.

J.T. had told them that Nelson was an excellent criminal lawyer. When Ed had mentioned the cost of paying such a man, Joe had dis-missed Ed's concerns, assuring Ed he would pick up the bill.

"Since I've known Eddie all his life, Captain Dashee has agreed to let me do the questioning,'' Bill Cummings said.

"We appreciate this." Ed nodded first to Captain Cum-mings, a short and stocky man whose neat, military-cut hair make his round face appear fat. And then Ed nodded again, silently thanking the Gallup police department's chief, Captain Dashee, a thin man with a shock of white hair and a hawk nose.

"All we want is to find out what happened the night Bobby Yazzi was murdered," Bill told Eddie. "Take your time. Tell us everything you remember about that night."

Eddie's big brown eyes darted back and forth from his parents to Joe. Joe reached down and patted Eddie's pale cheek. The boy sighed and lifted his good arm, holding out his hand, which Joe clasped tightly.

"Russ and I—" Eddie began.

"Just for the record, you're referring to Russell Lapa-hie, Jr., whenever you say Russ. Is that right?"

Captain Cummings asked.

Eddie nodded,then began again. "Russ and I had a double date that night."

"With whom?"Bill asked.

Eddie glanced at Tom Nelson. "I'm not going to say. Russ and I agreed to keep the girls out of this. We don't want the real killer to know who the girls are and go after them."

"Did the girls see who shot Bobby?" Bill asked.

"I'm not going to say anything about the girls," Eddie replied. "I don't have to, do I, Mr. Nelson?"

"No, Eddie, you don't. Not today," Tom replied.

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Eddie looked directly at Captain Cummings. "But I'll tell you what happened with Russ and me that night."

Joe glanced at Bill Cummings, hoping to convey that he wanted Bill to go easy on Eddie and not push him— not right now—about the identity of the two girls.

"All right," Bill said. "Tell us about what happened."

Good man, Joe thought. When this mess was all cleared up, he owed Bill Cummings a debt of gratitude for more than one good deed.

"We.. .well, actually, Russ wanted some beer, but be-cause we were all sixteen, Russ said the only place to get beer was from Bobby Yazzi. Everybody knew that Bobby sold beer to underage drinkers."

"Were you aware that Bobby Yazzi dealt in illegal drugs, also?" Bill asked.

"Yes, sir."Eddie gulped. He squeezed Joe's hand. "But we weren't going there for anything like that. Not even marijuana. We just wanted some beer."

"We believe you, son," Bill assured Eddie. "Go on. Tell us what happened when the four of you arrived at Bobby's apartment."

"Well, we were in Je—a car that belonged to one of the girls. Russ and I don't either one have a car or a truck. When we got there, Russ went into Bobby's apartment to get the beer."

"Are you saying that you weren't in Bobby's apartment that night?" Bill asked.

"Yes, sir.I mean, no, I didn't go in with Russ,but. . . well, I—I followed him. I thought he might need me."

Joe and Andi shared a quick glance—meaningful and filled with understanding. Eddie and Russ were best friends, loyal to a fault. Andi knew Joe believed as she did—that if the situation had been reversed, Russ would have gone into that apartment to help Eddie.

"I heard what sounded like a car backfiring a few times. Only it wasn't. It was gunshots.Several gunshots." Eddie paused, inhaled deeply and then exhaled. "When I got to the door of Bobby's apartment, it was wide open. I called out to Russ and asked him what was going on, and hecame flying out of the apartment. I looked inside— and that's when I saw the body.Bobby Yazzi's body."

"Was Bobby dead?" Bill asked.

"Yes, sir, as far as I know he was. He sure looked dead."

"What happened then?" Bill took a couple of tentative steps toward the foot of Eddie's bed.

"Somebody started shooting at us, and we ran. When we got outside we realized that the girls had driven off and left us. I know they were scared out of their minds. But with them gone, Russ and I had no way to leave, except on foot. The guy who shot at us was coming after us. We just knew he was. Russ had seen the guy's face. He could identify him."

"Eddie, did Russ have a gun?"

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"No! Russ has a rifle at home, the same as I do, but he didn't have a gun with him that night. I swear he didn't."

"Okay. Okay." Bill's voice lowered to a soft, soothing tone. A look of pure puzzlement crossed bis face.

"Tell me this, son—why didn't you and Russ wait for the police to arrive?"

“We panicked.Plain and simple. Russ had just seen Bobby murdered, and the guy who did it was after us. We ran and kept on running. Russ said nobody would believe us, especially not him since he's been in so much trouble the past couple of years. And people saw us running away from Bobby's apartment."

“Eddie, did you ever see the shooter? Can you identify him?"

"No, sir.I never saw the man's face."

"If you couldn't identify the shooter, why did you run when Russ ran? Did you think the shooter believed you saw him?"

"Yeah, I guess I did. I'm not sure. Neither Russ nor I was thinking straight that night."

"After you and Russ ran way from Bobby's apartment, did you two steal Mr. Lovato's truck?" Bill asked.

"Eddie, you don't have to answer that question," Tom Nelson informed him.

Eddie nodded and kept quiet.

"Do you know where Russ is?" Bill asked, not pur-suing the question about the stolen truck.

"No, sir, I don't."

"I think that's enough for now, don't you?" Joe re-leased Eddie's hand and walked toward Bill Cummings.

Bill glanced over his shoulder at Dr. Shull. “What do you say, doctor, can we continue?"

"I think Mr. Ornelas is right," Dr. Shull said. "You have all the information Eddie seems able to give you about the night in question. Any further interrogation can surely wait until tomorrow."

Bill nodded."Very well." Bill walked over and shook hands with Eddie. “You get well, young man. And if you feel up to it, I'll beback tomorrow with a few more ques-tions."

When the two police captains started to depart, Eddie called, "Captain Cummings?" Bill turned. "Yes?"

"When the police find Russ, please, don't hurt him."

Joe sipped on lukewarm coffee as he sat in the waiting area alone. He had persuaded Kate and Ed to go to Andi's house to bathe and eat before coming back to stay another night at the hospital. He and Andi had spent the day at Rehoboth McKinley, dividing most of their time between visits with Eddie, who had
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remained quiet and withdrawn after the police interrogation, and Joanna Blackwood's maternal domain, which was overflowing with floral ar-rangements, balloons and stuffed animals. J.T. alone had bought out the local supply of pink roses.

Joe was glad that his family and J.T.'s had become close over the years and that Kate felt comfortable leaving Summer and Joey with Elena and Alex, who with Rita Gonzales's help were looking after the three older Black-wood children. While his family needed to concentrate all their time and energy on Eddie, J.T. and Joanna were celebrating a welcome addition to their growing brood.

Joe couldn't erase from his mind the look on Andi's face when Joanna had allowed her to hold Mary Helene. She had beamed with maternal bliss. It was at that mo-ment he realized not only that Andi wanted to be a mother, but that she was meant to be one.

"Mr. Ornelas?" A pretty young nurse stuck her head just inside the waiting room.

"Yes?" Joe met her gaze.

"Your nephew would like to see you."

"I thought he was asleep for the night."

"No, sir.He's awake and seems quite agitated. He asked me to come out here and get you."

"Thanks. I'll be right there."

Joe dumped the foam cup in the garbage on his way out the door,then followed the nurse into the SICU

and straight to Eddie's door. He nodded in greeting to the uniformed police officer standing watch. The man re-turned the amicable gesture.