Plant Them Deep (28 page)

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Authors: Aimee & David Thurlo

BOOK: Plant Them Deep
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“We desperately need to find a plant the Navajos call ‘white at night.’ You would know
it as the white-stemmed
evening primrose. The plant has white flowers that turn reddish pink as they fade. The primrose grows about a foot high and has white stems with dull green leaves. The flowers only open from late afternoon to midmorning.”
“I know the plant you’re talking about. You can sometimes find them along the roadside … but, come to think of it, I can’t recall having seen any recently.
This damned drought may be responsible for its decline.”
Her heart sank. She asked about “baby newborn” next, using the Anglo name, parry bellflower, but he wasn’t able to help her with that one either. “If you see them—”
“I’ll call you immediately,” he said, finishing her thought. “But if you don’t mind my asking, what’s the urgency?”
“We need the primrose so an important lifesaving ritual
can be done. Parry bellflower is also used in the same ritual, and the medicine men have very little on hand.”
“I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for both plants, then,” he said. “Is there anything else?”
“No, that’s all. Thank you for your time,” Rose said, standing up. “I hope we haven’t kept you from leaving.”
“Oh, no, I still have a ton of work to do. I’ve missed a few days lately. Coming
down with something, I think.” Knight coughed again, then nodded to both women as they reached the door.
When they reached the parking lot, Sadie’s phone rang and she answered it. A moment later, her face turned ashen and her eyes grew wide. “I don’t know how to tell you this,” Sadie said.
“It’s about my friend, isn’t it? She needs me to come to her?” Rose asked, correctly reading Sadie’s expression.
In her heart, she already knew what was happening, but she hoped that this time, her intuition would be wrong.
Sadie nodded. “Lena has asked that you go to her now and fulfill the promise you made her.”
Rose felt the tears stinging her eyes. Lena was dying and there seemed to be no way for her to stop it. Swallowing back her tears, she climbed into the truck with Sadie. It was time to honor
her word and carry out her duty.
As they rode toward Shiprock, she tried to think of a way to prevent this from happening. Finally she came up with a plan that might buy Lena, and the search, just a little more time.
R
ose sat by Lena’s bedside. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Rose asked, her voice strained.
“It’s our way,” Lena replied.
“Will you consider another alternative?” Rose asked, hoping Lena wouldn’t fight her on this. When Lena didn’t immediately refuse, Rose quickly added, “Will you return to the hospital?”
“What good could that possibly do?”
“You’ll be closer to all
of us who want to visit, and you’ll be giving the modernists in your family a final gift they’ll never forget. By going there, you’ll give them peace of mind.” Rose really hoped Lena would accept. By doing so, it might make her a little more stubborn, and if there was anything Lena needed right now, it was a reason to keep fighting for her own recovery and not give up.
Lena sighed. “All right.
Let it be the way you suggest. To be honest, I’d hate for them to be reluctant to visit that old hogan because of bad memories. It’s a big part of our family history.”
Rose walked out of the room and met Lena’s daughter, Ruthann. “She’s agreed to go to the hospital.”
“I don’t know how to thank you! I was going crazy thinking
of her over at the hogan lying on a dirt floor. That would certainly
kill her.”
“It was our way once,” Rose answered.
“But not anymore,” Ruthann answered staunchly. “If she has to die, then let her do it someplace clean and comfortable, in a soft bed with heating and cooling, fresh water, and with all of us beside her. And someplace where medical help is available, in case they can intervene.”
Rose sighed. She still couldn’t really believe that she, of all people,
had suggested the hospital, but she was desperate. Maybe Lena’s refusal to die in such a place, or perhaps even the Anglo medicine, could help keep Lena alive until the plant was found.
Ruthann made arrangements for an ambulance to transport her mother, and Rose waited until they came and carried Lena into the vehicle. With a heavy heart, Rose watched her friend being driven away. Slowly her
fear and sadness gave way to resolve. “Do you have that computer of yours handy?” she asked Sadie.
“Of course, it’s still here from before. Do you want me to bring it along when we go to keep an eye on Knight?”
“Yes.” As Rose drove east toward the power plant turnoff, Sadie connected with the Internet. She found the public Web site the company had, but it was of little use to them because the
information only listed the chief company officers, which didn’t include Bradford Knight, of course.
“You need more than I can access on a public Web site,” Sadie said. “You need the kind of information a police officer—perhaps your daughter—would be able to get.”
By the time they reached the power plant, they saw all the day-shift offices were dark. Unfortunately, Knight’s vehicle was no longer
in the small parking lot set aside for administrators and their staff.
“Instead of going to his house to see if he’s there, I’m going to drop you off and then go home,” Rose said. “You’re right about the information I need. I’m going to ask my daughter to help out.”
Rose dropped Sadie off at the Clani house, where she’d remain to take care of Lena’s garden and house-sit. While still at Lena’s,
Rose called home. No one answered, so Rose decided to stop by the police station and see if Ella was in her office.
Ella was behind her desk scowling at some reports when Rose walked in, escorted by the desk sergeant. “Mom! What brings you here?”
“I need your help.” Rose thanked the desk sergeant, who left to return to his post. Once they were alone, Rose told her daughter what she’d done and
learned, courtesy of Knight’s mailbox.
Ella stood, walked to the door, and shut it. “Mom, have you gone completely crazy? You could have been arrested.”
“I don’t have time to argue about my methods now, daughter. I need more information on Bradford Knight. That’s why I’m here.”
“Let me see what I can do.”
Ella logged on to her computer and searched out databases until she had a list of company
officers for Herbal Promise, which was a subdivision of a larger, well-known pharmaceutical company. Knight’s name did not appear. “Let’s see what happens when I search under Knight’s name and Herbal Promise together.”
It took Ella about five minutes to track down the information. “Knight is listed as a scientific consultant to Herbal Promise,” she said. Then, working on that information, she
was able to go deeper into other databases. “And it’s a well-paying job too.”
“You have to investigate this man thoroughly, daughter.”
“On what grounds, Mom? I can’t go after anyone based only on gut feelings and information that was illegally obtained.
Get me something more and I’ll see if I can help you. What I need is something that connects him to an illegal act.”
“You’ll have it!” Rose
announced, then stood and thanked her daughter. She left the police station filled with purpose, and using the pay phone outside, called
Bizaadii
using the cell phone number he’d given her earlier.
“I need to borrow something from you. Where are you now?” she asked.
“I’m home. Curtis went home and settled down for the night watching TV, at least that’s what it sounded like from outside, so we
figured we’d go home too. What do you need?”
“You know those fancy binoculars that you use on those trips into the mountains? I’d like to borrow them for a few hours.”
“Okay. Come on over.”
Rose arrived twenty minutes later. Herman came out of the house, the binoculars around his neck. Before she could say anything, he opened the passenger door to the truck and slipped onto the seat. “Where
are we going?”
Rose was speechless. She’d wanted to do this alone. Herman tended to be too cautious and she was prepared to take whatever chances were necessary to accomplish what she needed to do. She cleared her throat, then whispered, “You don’t want to be involved in this.”
Herman’s reply was definitely not in a whisper. “I’m already involved, old woman. I spent the entire afternoon following
Curtis Largo. He’s such a disagreeable man, and he seems to spend far more time visiting friends than working. I wasted all that time, and got absolutely nothing except bored. He’s supposed to be an expert on plants, but even his yard is a disaster. There’s no garden there—just tumbleweeds and two brown, withered ponderosa pines that probably never received another drop of water from the time
they were planted.” He fastened his seat belt. “Let’s go,” he whispered.
Rose didn’t argue. There was no time. She needed to make sure she had enough daylight to do what she had to do, and the sun was already low in the sky. It would be setting within the hour.
“What are we after?” he said.
“I need to find out if Knight has a greenhouse or a garden for native herbs in the back of his property.”
She filled him in on what Sadie had found. “If he’s the thief, it’s very possible he’s doing research for a big corporation using plants stolen from the Navajo Nation. That would explain why he’s been digging up so many of them. But he may also be innocent. The first step in finding out the truth is to see what’s in his back yard in the middle of that apple orchard. If he’s our man, that’s where
I think the plants will be.”
“If he catches you, he’ll charge you with trespassing, harassment, stalking, or worse.”
Rose laughed.
“Stalking?
I can just see my daughter’s face. Imagine me stalking anyone. That alone makes the risk more than worth it.”
“Your loyalty to Lena may get you in a great deal of trouble, woman,” he muttered, then added, “which won’t help her, by the way.”
“This isn’t
just about Lena. It’s also about my other friend who died searching for the Plant People.”
“Then we’ll do it together.”
“But even if Knight’s guilty, we could both end up in jail unless we can prove it. Are you sure you want to help me?”
“Yes. This is something I have to do as well for the same reasons you mentioned. My nephews may not understand my decision, particularly if we end up in trouble,
but we can’t turn back now.”
“All right, then,” Rose said. The truth was that she was glad to have his company. She valued Herman’s friendship,
though it was very different from what she shared with Lena. As women who’d known each other for a lifetime, they’d talk about anything and everything whenever they got together, but talking to Herman wasn’t as easy.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
She decided not to answer his question, and subtly changed the subject instead. “I just can’t believe how critically important it has become for us to find just one ‘white at night’ plant. This thief has to be stopped.”
He nodded, deep in thought. “It’ll happen.”
A short time later they arrived at the top of a high levee that extended for miles along the south side of the San Juan River, which
ran through Farmington. They drove along the dirt road until they found a spot where they could see Knight’s home on the floodplain just below, less than a few hundred yards away. Rose walked over close to the edge, then asked Herman for his binoculars.
He handed them to her and Rose focused on Knight’s property. But there were too many apple trees obscuring her view. All they could see was the
roof of the house beyond the orchard, and the glow from the lights of the outbuilding.
“If it was winter, I could probably see pretty well, but there are just too many leaves and branches in the way. I’m going to go in closer,” she said.
“Let me have a look first,” he said, taking the binoculars back. After a few minutes, he lowered the binoculars. “You’re right, but we can’t get any closer
without going onto his land. It’s too risky. What if he’s home? There are lights coming from the outbuilding, obviously.”
“I’ll be careful and stay hidden as much as possible.”
“No, I’ll do it,” Herman said, and started down the levee on a narrow trail before she could argue.
Rose followed him, refusing to be deterred. Once they got
onto Knight’s land, she knew she could sneak from tree to
tree quieter than any man.
Herman slipped underneath the fence where a drainage ditch exited the property, then went to the closest apple tree and hid behind the trunk. Rose stayed a few feet behind him and, once she was in the orchard, caught a glimpse of a huge low building in the center of the rows of trees.
The roof was glowing, but suddenly darkened. Then she saw light as a door on the
end of the building door opened and shut. She came up behind Herman, who was looking toward the building from his hiding place. “Stay back. We’ll get caught,” he whispered harshly.
“Shhh.” Rose took his binoculars, then used the tree trunk to hold them steady as she looked. “It’s a greenhouse,” she whispered. “The building is low, with a clear plastic or glass roof. That glow we saw earlier was
from the plant lights, I’ll bet. I have to figure out a way to get in there.”
“No way. It’s almost dark now.”
“Precisely.”
“What are you going to do, pick the lock on the door, or break a window and climb in? He’s home, or someone is. The door just opened and closed. We can’t go in there.”
“Sure we can. The greenhouse lights are out, which means he’s gone elsewhere, probably to the house.
We just need something that will distract him while I search the greenhouse.”
“No. You’d be taking too great a risk for what you could get out of it. Even if you got in and were able to assure your daughter that there are plants there just like the ones that are missing from the reservation, that’s still not proof of anything. He could easily claim that he’d gotten the plants while off Navajo
land. Meanwhile, you trespassed and broke into his greenhouse.”
“You’re right,” Rose said, crestfallen. “But if he has ‘white at
night,’ I could take one of them and give the plant to my son.”
He shook his head. “You won’t be able to do anything at all, or be of any use to your friend, if you get caught and land in jail. And for all you know, he has alarms around that greenhouse, or even traps.
People who have something to hide usually go to great lengths to protect themselves, and aren’t worried about being legal or illegal.”
Rose mulled things over. “What we really need is to catch him digging up plants on the Rez. I bet he goes out at dusk. He spots the plants during the day while conducting legal business, then comes back and digs them up at night when most of us are asleep. Working
in the dark would explain why he damages so many plants trying to remove them.”
“That makes sense, but what can be done?”
“We need a video camera that can operate on low light.”
“A high school teacher friend of mine has one. I think he bought it while studying bat populations along the river for some state agency last summer. At least that’s what one of my nephews told me. He’ll lend it to
us, I’m sure.”
“How long will it take you?”
“I’ll call him now on the cell phone, and if he says yes, then we can go pick it up.” Herman dialed and spoke to his friend. After a minute, he hung up and glanced over at her. “We can pick it up anytime.”

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