Navajo's Woman (6 page)

Joe circled his thumb around the mouth of his bottle. "Eddie's never been in any kind of trouble. I know he couldn't have killed Bobby or even been a party to his murder. I'm sure he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"What about Russ?"

"I don't know about that boy. The last thing I want is to believe that Russell's son has committed a crime.

If I have to bring in Russ, it'll be like arresting Russell all over again.Is anybody going to believe that I want to help that boy, and not condemn him?''

"'Anybody' being Andi Stephens?" J.T.'s lips curved up in a hint of a smile.

"I saw her today," Joe said. "She was at Kate and Ed's when I arrived. She still hates me. Still blames me for what happened to Russell."

"Russell Lapahie was a good man who made a bad mistake." J.T. rubbed his beer bottle back and forth be-tween the palms of his hands. "You did the legally re-sponsible thing. You were a police officer with a sworn duty. Russell committed a crime. He was wrong. You were right."

"Yeah, sure."Joe set his beer on the round wooden side table that separated the matching chairs, then stood and walked over to the big window facing the U-shaped veranda that circled the back of the house. “If I was right, then why did everyone I knew—except you and Joanna and Kate and Ed—turn against me? Why did even my fellow officers look at me as if I'd been the one who committed the crime?"

"Everyone liked Russell. He was a respected man in the Navajo community. At the time Russell killed himself, people reacted emotionally. Today, I don't think anyone blames you for what happened. In retrospect, they realize that Russell took the easy way out and that what you did took courage and strong convictions."

"Andi still blames me. And I'm sure Doli and Russ do, too. I doubt I can ever redeem myself in their eyes."

"And is that what you want to do—redeem yourself with Russell's family?"

"Maybe.I don't know."

J.T. stood, walked over and laid his hand on Joe's back. "When we find Eddie and Russ and prove they weren't involved with Bobby'smurder, that should go a long way in helping you get back into Andi's good graces."

"What Andi thinks of me doesn't matter. Not anymore. But what happens if when we find the boys, it turns out that Russ did kill Bobby Yazzi? What do I do then? I'm not a police officer now. To whom do I owe my alle-giance?”

When Andi approached J.T.'s den, she found the door standing wide open, revealing the backs of the two men silhouetted by the late-afternoon sunshine pouring in through the window that faced west. J.T.

was tall and lean, an inheritance from hisbilgaanafather. Joe, a full-blood Navajo, was an inch shy of six feet and more stockily built. His skin was a shade darker, his hair a rich blue-black. There had been a time when her heart skipped a beat whenever she saw him. Even now, she could not control the
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unwanted attraction she felt.

Should I knock?she wondered. Or should I simply barge in? They seemed deep in conversation. The polite thing to do wasknock , announce her presence and state her business. But before she could follow through with her intention to use the good manners her mother had drilled into her since childhood, J.T.

spoke to Joe.

"Your allegiance is to yourself," J.T. said. "If Russ is guilty, then you have to do what you believe is right, not what will gain you popularity points. You knowthat as well as I do ."

"I made a huge mistake telling Kate and Ed that they should let Eddie remain friends with Russ. If only I'd advised them to keep Eddie away from Russ, then my nephew wouldn't be in the situation he's in now.On the run.Wanted by the police."

Andi had heard all she could endure. It was just as she had suspected—Joe and J.T. both thought Russ had killed Bobby Yazzi. Their objective was to find and save Eddie, even if that meant tossing Russ to the wolves. They didn't care what happened to her brother.

"Russ did not kill Bobby Yazzi!" Andi stormed into the room, anger boiling inside her.

Both men snapped around to face an enraged woman. Noting the startled expressions on their faces, she glared at them, hoping they felt as guilty as they looked.

"Andi, we didn'tknow. . .that is, you should have let us. . ." J.T. stammered. "I'm sorry you overheard that part of our conversation and misunderstood. Neither of us be-lieves that Russ is guilty. It's just that we know he's been in trouble quite a bit the past couple of years."

"And Eddie is a saint, who wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for my brother." Andi paused several feet away from the two men, planting herself firmly in front of them.

"You're putting words into our mouths," J.T. told her.

"Andi's very good at doing that." Joe mumbled, but Andi understood what he'd said.

"I'm here to tell both of you that whatever type of search y'all instigate to find the boys, I'm going to be a part of it."

"We don't need you interfering and creating prob-lems," Joe said, his dark gaze narrowing on her.

"We'll keep you informed about—" J.T. tried to ex-plain.

"No!" Andi walked right up to the two men, who stood side by side, stiff and unyielding. With only inches separating her from them, she pointed her finger right in Joe's face. "Just being informed isn't good enough."

"J.T. and I will be splitting up the job of looking for Eddie and Russ," Joe said. "I'll be following up most of the leads that require any traveling, while J.T. spearheads a local investigation for the family. Since Joanna is so close to giving birth, he doesn't want to get very far away from her."

"It seems y'all have everything all figured out." Andi frowned. "Eddie's family is well represented by the two of you, and I intend to make sure Russ's interests aren't forgotten. Wherever Joe goes, I go. He can
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look out for Eddie, and I'll look out for Russ."

"Andi. . ."J.T. held out his hand in a gesture of friend-ship. "Come on. Sit down and we'll talk this thing through until we reach a satisfactory decision."

"I don't need to sit down or talk anything through. The only decision that will satisfy me is to be included in the search."

"You're being unreasonable," Joesaid, his voice deadly soft. Then he added in a growling whisper, "But then, you always were."

"Is it unreasonable to want to protect my brother?" Andi asked. "Is it unreasonable of me not to trust you to do what is best for Russ as you will for Eddie? And it is unreasonable for me to believe that you will not protect our family from further disgrace?''

"You honestly believe that when the time comes, I won't do the right thing, the honorable thing?" Joe broke eye contact with Andi and gazed down at the floor, avoid-ing her intense scrutiny. "Before we've even begun the search, you've condemned me. How do you think you and I can work together? It would be impossible."

"Impossible or not, we must work together." Andi looked to J.T. for confirmation, but before he could speak, Joe did what he was so very good at doing. He ran away.Again.

"Give my regrets to Joanna," Joe said. "I'll have din-ner with your family another time. I need to get settled into my old place. You can follow through and get that ad placed in theNavajo Times.Maybe the boys will see it and contact us. We'll start out first thing in the morning questioning anyone who has a connection to either Eddie or Russ."

"It won't do you any good to ran," Andi said. "You're just postponing the inevitable. I know how to find you, and from now until the boys are safe, you won't get away from me."

Joe nodded to J.T., gave Andi a hard, menacing glare and strode out of the den, leaving behind a fuming Andi and a somber J.T.

Joanna Blackwood stood in the doorway, glancing back and forth from her husband to Andi. "Isn't Joe staying for dinner?"

"No," Andi said. "I think I ran him off."

"What happened?" Joanna asked.

"A difference of opinion," J.T. replied.

"I'm sorry," Andi said. "Under normal circumstances I would never have. . . I'm only doing what I must.

If I don't protect Russ, no one else will. Please understand."

Huffing disgustedly, J.T. shook his head. "Andi, you act as if everyone is against Russ, as if our family—

Eddie's family—would be willing to sacrifice Russ in or-der to save Eddie."

"Not the entire family.Just Joe."

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"Why is it that you can't seem to realize that Joe wasn't the one who committed a crime five years ago?"

J.T. looked Andi square in the eye. "I liked Russell as much as anybody did, but Joe wasn't responsible for his death. Joe didn't make Russell kill himself. Your father chose—"

Joanna rushed to her husband's side and grabbed his arm.

"J.T., I think you've said enough."

"No, it's all right," Andi assured her friend. "J.T. has every right to defend Joe.Just as I have every right to defend my father and my brother."

"There isn't any reason why we can't all work to-gether, is there?" Joanna gazed pleadingly up at J.T.

"Andi needs to be with Joe throughout his search. If Russ were my sixteen-year-old brother, I'd insist on going along."

"Thank you, Joanna, for seeing my side of this situa-tion," Andi said. "I appreciate the predicament y'all find yourselves in and I don't want to cause any friction be-tween the two of you. I think it's best if I leave, too."

Lacing her arm through J.T.'s, Joanna smiled at him and said, "Don't you agree that Andi should go with Joe when he sets out searching for the boys?''

J.T. looked as if he'd been cornered by a grizzly bear. He shrugged, huffed loudly, and then nodded.

“You have to do what you think is right, just the same as Joe does."

"Now, Andi, why don't you stay for dinner?" Joanna said.

"I'm afraid I can't. I have somewhere I need to go."

Right now?''Joanna asked.

"Right now," Andi replied.

J.T. groaned, but then his lips curved into a smile. "You could give him until morning to cool off before you go after him."

“If he gets any information on the boys' whereabouts tonight, he could be long gone by morning," Andi said. "I'm not going to give him the opportunity to go any-where without me."

Chapter 4

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Joe knew the minute he walked into his four-room stucco house that Kate had been there earlier. She had cleaned the place and aired it out. A fire had been built in the fireplace, and both living room windows remained cracked open a couple of inches. He dumped his suitcase just inside the front door and quickly closed the windows, blocking out the cool evening air. He would check out the kitchen, bedroom, bath and back porch later. Right now, all he wanted was a few minutes of peace and quiet.No one asking, demanding, questioning. Back home less than ten hours, and hewas already caught up in the same emotional storm from which he had run five years ago.

He slumped down in a comfortable tan leather chair to the right of the fireplace, lifted his feet and rested them on the matching ottoman. These two pieces of furniture had been his first buy, right after building this small house for himself. He had loved his home, his job and his way of life. He'd been a Native son whom the Navajo youthshad admired and emulated. Joe Ornelas had been the Na-tive American equivalent of the hometown hero.Hand-some.Intelligent.A star athlete.A Tribal police officer. A man dedicated to theDineand traditional ways. He had greatly appreciated and enjoyed having the respect of his people and the high esteem of his family.

He had always been proud of his Native American her-itage, his clan and his family. As part of a matriarchal society, a Navajo is born into his or her mother's clan. Joe had been born into the K'aahanaaniiclan.The Living Arrow People.

To the Navajo, the land is everything, and they believe that all living things are equal and sacred. He had lived his life by that code, respecting not only other humans, but animals and birds, trees and mountains.

With each passing year, it became more and more difficult for theDineto hold on to the old ways, to remain true to an ancient heritage. The boarding school experience, theLivestock Reduction Actand the land dispute issue with the Hopi, had divided the people over the years, making it almost impossible to blend traditional ways with a mod-ern lifestyle. Joe had tried to do just that, but he had failed.

Friends and family alike had been divided in their opin-ion of what Joe should or should not have done when he discovered that Russell Lapahie had not only been cov-ering up his sister-in-law Lucille's husband's criminal acts, but had actually taken money for his silence. In a matter of days, Joseph Ornelas had gone from being a hero to being a traitor. Even one of his own cousins, Ray Judee, a friend since childhood, had turned against him. When swarms of area and national news media had shown up on the reservation after Russell's death, Ray had told Joe that by revealing what Russell had done, Joe had al-lowed the white world to see the worst side of the Navajo.

Every unkind, unsympathetic word hurled at him had hurt, but none so much as Andi's bitter accusation that he'd been responsible for her father's death. She had turned against him completely. He had thought that they could share their grief and console each other. But Andi hadn't given him a chance to explain why he'd arrested her father, why he believed he had done the right thing. Less than a week after Russell's death, Joe had known he couldn't stay in New Mexico, couldn't remain on the Tribal police force. Raw with pain, anger and resentment, Joe hadn't known where to go or what to do. It had been his cousin J.T. who had gotten him the job with the Dun-dee agency in Atlanta, where J.T. himself had once worked. Without looking back, Joe had packed and taken the first available plane to Georgia. He'd left behind ev-erything he'd once held so dear—his heritage, his life-style, his family, and the woman he had loved.