Tracking Bear (31 page)

Shives gave her a surprised look, then nodded and took her into his office, which was next to a room labeled Chemistry Lab. “This sounds serious,” he commented, shutting the door behind him. “What’s going on?”

“We understand that you worked with Dr. Kee Franklin
in Los Alamos,” Ella said, taking a seat.

His eyebrows went up. “Yes, I did, back when I was a lot younger. But I can’t talk about it. My research work remains classified.”

“We don’t need any details of the work itself. We want to learn more about Dr. Franklin,” Ella said.

“May I ask why?”

“It’s all part of an ongoing police investigation.”

He took a seat behind his desk and gazed at them
with a thoughtful, penetrating look. “He didn’t get killed, too, did he? Or is he a suspect in his son’s death?”

Ella shook her head. “As I said, I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation.”

“All right. I’ll try to answer your questions, just don’t ask me about the research itself. I’d have to get special clearance before I could discuss it, even though it was years ago.”

“Were you well paid
for your work at the labs?” Ella asked.

“Definitely,” Shives said without hesitation. “I was working through a subcontractor, though. Dr. Franklin was the one making the big bucks and had a permanent staff position.”

“Yet he quit,” Justine interjected.

“The problem with Dr. Franklin is that he’s an idealist. He should have been in medicine or one of the life sciences. A physicist…well that’s
more like death science,” he added with a smile.

“You think Dr. Franklin quit because he couldn’t support the more destructive applications of his work?” Ella said.

“That’s what I thought. Once he started preaching at the labs about the abuses of the mining industry and at the uranium mills, the handwriting was on the wall. He was becoming antinuke, which made him a security risk and an embarrassment
to the labs. He knew he didn’t have long before he was given the choice either to quit or be fired, so he did what he had to do.”

Ella wondered about this bit of new information. No one at the labs had mentioned it. It sounded logical under the circumstances, and it was the kind of situation that would have been kept from the public. “Have you stayed in touch with Dr. Franklin since he left the
labs?”

“Not at all. I haven’t seen him for years. All I know is that he ended up teaching at a junior college in Los Alamos.”

Delbert’s phone rang. “Excuse me a moment,” he said, picking up the phone and turning away from them.

Ella studied his office, then her glance fell on the newspaper sticking out from the bottom in-and-out tray on his desk. It was a recent edition of the campus newspaper
from the community college in Shiprock. Ella could see that one of the lead stories was about a lecture Kee had given.

Either it was coincidence, or Shives was playing coy with them about Kee Franklin, trying to appear uninformed and uninterested. Ella tuned in to the conversation and heard him call the person at the other end of the line “Margaret.”

Ella waited until he hung up, then followed
up on her suspicions. “I couldn’t help but overhear you mention someone by name. Are you regularly in touch with Margaret Bruno?”

He nodded. “We have a common interest, security at the local power plants and mines. As you know, at her request I’ve been introducing her to local enforcement groups, and I helped her set up your team’s training session at the power plant. Did you need to speak to
Ms. Bruno? She left me her cell number.”

“I think I have it somewhere. I just wanted her to know how much we got out of her pursuit driving workshop. Will you tell her for me next time you speak?” Ella asked.

“Certainly.”

“Our workshops have ended. Is she still giving workshops on the reservation?” Justine added.

“No, but she hasn’t left the area. She’s staying in Farmington with me right
now.” His face turned red when he saw Justine’s jaw drop. “Margaret is my foster sister, Officer Goodluck. We grew up together.”

The news surprised them, but she didn’t comment. Justine merely nodded.

“If you have no more questions, ladies, I really should get back to work,” Shives said.

“One more thing. Do you recall if Dr. Franklin ever mentioned having a special camping spot on the reservation,
or in this area?” Ella tried to sound casual.

He shook his head. “Sorry. Dr. Franklin and I worked together, but we were never close friends. We seldom spoke of anything that didn’t pertain to work. When he was at Los Alamos Labs, he was always totally immersed in what he was doing, and he had no patience for chitchat.”

“Okay,” Ella said, and stood. “Thank you for your time.”

As they walked
out, Justine glanced at Ella. “What the heck were you looking at on his desk?”

Ella told her. “I think he’s lying to us. Now we have to figure out why.”

“I’m still working on that background check you wanted.”

“Great, but don’t waste time on the years he was connected to the labs at Los Alamos. Concentrate on the last, say, five years. I want to know what he’s done since he worked with Franklin.
And see what kind of evaluation he’s getting at the power plant now.”

“I’ll work on it as soon as we get back.”

“I think we should start to consider Shives a suspect,” Ella said, “but I can’t figure out why he would want to frame NEED businessmen for murder. With his expertise, I’d think he’d have more to gain if a nuclear power plant opened. With his skills and knowledge, it should be relatively
easy for him to get a job with the tribe.”

She paused, considering her next step. “I’m going to call Blalock. I want Shives’s phone records for the past month, and I won’t be able to get them without some help from the FBI. With the ongoing war against terrorism, the FBI has more latitude, especially when it concerns nuclear weapons research and employees of government research facilities—past
and present.”

“Good idea, but what do you expect to find?” Justine asked.

“I have no idea, but what I’m looking for is a recent link between Shives and Franklin. If they’ve been in touch, I want to know about it. Something smells fishy here. For all we know, he could also be the Anglo that Whitesheep introduced to Billy Redhouse.”

Justine nodded. “That would tie a lot of unexplained details
together, wouldn’t it?”

Once they arrived at the station, Ella phoned Agent Blalock. It took a while to convince him to get the phone records for her. “No matter what he said, Delbert Shives knew that Kee Franklin was back on the Rez, and he may also know where Franklin is now.”

“All right,” he said at last. “I think I can find
a judge that will cut us some slack.”

“Thanks. I appreciate the help.”

After Ella hung up, she leaned back in her chair and considered her options. If Shives and Franklin were connected, where did Margaret Bruno fit in? Ella remembered the nine-millimeter pistol she carried, but that didn’t mean she was guilty of anything. Of course the bottom line was that she didn’t have anything incriminating
on Shives either, and the only people she knew about who could identify the Anglo who dealt with Redhouse and Whitesheep were dead.

As she continued to weigh things in her mind, George Charley stepped into her office and greeted her. “Can I help you?” she asked.

He took a seat across her desk. “I’m worried about Professor Franklin,” he said. “I’ve been trying to locate him for a couple of days,
but no one’s seen him.”

“Why are you looking for him?”

“He and I are still on opposite sides of the fence, but I think in the long run he’ll be one of NEED’s biggest assets. I’m going to try and offer him a compromise he’ll accept. There’s got to be some way for us to find common ground. But I haven’t been able to find him, and that worries me. He’s lost his son and has got to be going through
a really tough time now.”

“So you came because you’re personally worried about him?”

“No, not quite. The bottom line is that our tribe needs him, and we can’t afford to have anything happen to him. His reputation and area of expertise make him one of a kind.”

“You say that with such certainty, yet his work was classified. What haven’t you told me?” Ella’s eyes narrowed.

He leaned back, his
gaze fixed on an indeterminate spot across the room. “All I really have is an informed opinion—nothing either you or I will ever be able to prove one way or another.”

“Fair enough.”

“When I met him, he was known as Dr. Franklin, and everyone at the labs spoke with great respect about him. As an intern, I was able to meet with him a few times and ask about new applications for lasers. That area
of study fascinated me, and I was thinking of specializing in it. He never told me exactly what his own work entailed, but he gave me copies of several scientific papers dealing with enhancing the technology used to purify chemical compounds with the next generation of lasers. He told me that it was a wide-open field I might want to look into. He warned me that the information in the articles wasn’t
really up-to-date, but that it was the most accurate he’d ever seen outside classified papers.”

“So that’s what made you think that his research was along those lines,” she said, nodding.

“At the time, one of the missions at Los Alamos Labs was to develop and improve the processes for purifying uranium into weapons-grade quality. I think that’s what Kee was doing. He may have even pioneered
the technology.”

“I see now why you want him so badly.”

“I also suspect he made additional breakthroughs that are still classified because the government doesn’t want anyone else to know about them. I have a feeling that maybe the reason he dropped out of the program was because he was close to making a discovery that would have made nuclear weapons, or anything requiring enriched uranium, much
cheaper. That, in turn, would have increased the demand for uranium, and he knew what it was already doing to the people here.”

“I was told he hit a dead end with his research,” Ella recalled.

“I don’t believe that. He was brilliant, and didn’t seem the type ever to give up.”

“Thanks for telling me all this. I appreciate it.”

“If you happen to find Dr. Franklin, please tell him that I’d like
to sit down and talk to him, and that I’m willing to work with him until we find a way to join forces.”

“I’ll do that.”

As George walked out, Ella picked up the phone and called Wilson. With his science background, he might be able to provide her with some extra information.

Wilson answered after a few rings. He didn’t need more than a “Hi, Wilson” to know it was her. Good friends seldom did.

“Whatcha need?” Wilson asked. “I know when you call in the mornings it’s because you’re working a case and need something yesterday.”

She laughed. “I’ve learned some interesting things about Kee Franklin, and I’d like to get your input on the science part. But I don’t want to talk about this on the phone. Can I meet you in your office?”

“Sure.”

Ella arrived at the campus less than fifteen minutes
later. She hurried to Wilson’s office and found him sitting behind the desk.

He looked at her and winced. “You’re wired, and on a roll, Ella. You make me nervous when you get this way. Sit down and tell me what’s up.”

“I want to know one thing from you—is it possible that Kee Franklin could have made a breakthrough in his research years ago? Is he as good as people seem to think?”

“Oh, yeah.
I’ve only known him as a physicist who occasionally guest lectures, but his insights on laser technology are incredible.”

“Do you think he would have walked away from it all just on principle?”

He considered it for several moments. “Yes. There are some things he feels strongly about, as you know. Even after all these years, he’s very cynical about his work at the labs. I just remembered an offhand
comment he made to me one day that I think will bring the point home to you. He told me that if the labs ever found a really cheap and efficient way or purifying uranium, they’d make a stack of atomic bombs as high as Shiprock. Then he said that they’d almost had a process that worked once, but they’d hit a human roadblock. I asked him about it, of course, but he shook his head and said that
he was an old man who sometimes exaggerated.”

“Do you think it’s possible Kee found a way of purifying uranium with lasers and kept the details from the labs on purpose?” Ella asked.

“It’s possible. He hates the uranium industry for what happened to the
Dineh
.”

She told Wilson about Delbert Shives. “If Shives was working with him at the time, shouldn’t he have known what was going on?” Ella
asked.

“Shives might have guessed that Kee had made a breakthrough, but without specific details and data from Kee, he couldn’t have proven anything. I’ve met Shives, and he’s no match for Kee in the brainpower department. I doubt Shives could have been able to duplicate Kee’s results on his own.”

“But if Shives ever managed to get hold of the data and information he needed, and take it to the
right company…”

“It might make nuclear power plants very competitive with coal-powered generators. Shives could become a very wealthy man—provided he owned the patents on the process. But that would require him to get it from Kee, either directly, or from his notes. As long as Dr. Franklin hadn’t patented the process himself, or published his research, Shives could write it up so it would look
like he was the one who’d made the discovery.”

“Thanks, Wilson. I owe you one.”

“It’s all conjecture on my part—and I
hate
conjecture. But it’s a reasonable conclusion based on the facts.”

“Okay, Professor. I’m heading back to the station. Thanks again.”

“Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”

By the time Ella got back to her office, Agent Blalock was there waiting.

“Don’t tell
me you’ve got phone records for me already!” she said, not really believing it.

He reached into his pocket and brought out an envelope. “The Bureau is capable of cutting some major corners when it needs to, particular in times like these. The fact that nobody seems to know where Dr. Franklin is at the moment makes a lot of my superiors extremely nervous, especially with the death of his son and
everything else that’s been going on around here.”

Ella studied the printouts. “I see you cross-referenced the numbers already.”

“I figured it would save us all some time.”

“Yeah. And there’s the connection I was looking for. Delbert Shives contacted Dr. Franklin no less than five times during the last three weeks. Shives
was
lying to me.” She went down the list of numbers. “I recognize this
company, Permian Energy Network.”

He nodded. “It’s a multinational energy conglomerate formerly connected to uranium mining, which owns a big chunk of the power facilities in the West. Their headquarters are in Texas. I looked them up.”

Ella looked down at the list, and another name caught her eye. Delbert Shives had called Robert Whitesheep once several days before Billy Redhouse had died.
Perhaps Shives
was
the Anglo Whitesheep arranged to meet the councilman.

Justine came to the door just then, and, seeing Blalock, turned and started to walk away when Ella called her back.

“Have you got something for me, partner?”

Justine came back in, nodded at Blalock, then looked at Ella. “I pulled out all the stops and started digging into Delbert Shives’s life. The last time Shives made
a substantial salary was when he was working with Dr. Franklin years ago. Since then, he’s been laid off from two power companies. His last employer sounded vague about the reasons for letting him go, so I pressed harder. It turns out Shives got into some legal trouble. He was accused of trying to patent some proprietary processes that belonged to that company.”

“Does he have any patents right
now?”

“Yes. Several, in fact—all to do with lasers and chemical extraction processes. I checked with Wilson, and he said it was all basic stuff, nothing extraordinary, but the royalties he gets from his patents help keep him afloat. Despite his degrees and education, Shives has never been able to do more than just barely hang on to his small business. That’s why he works part-time at the power
company.”

“Maybe Shives stole a part of Dr. Franklin’s process at the labs—just not enough of it for him to fill in the gaps and market it as his own. It’s possible he’s spent all these years trying to duplicate Franklin’s genius, and now with the prospect of a nuclear power plant opening here and in other places, he’s decided to get it from Franklin—one way or the other. If Shives got the process,
he could market it to the highest bidder—not just the tribe or the Permian Energy Network.”

“And that’s what all the robberies have been targeting? Trying to find Kee Franklin’s old research notes?” Justine asked.

“It makes sense,” Ella answered. “If Shives came up with a uranium enrichment process that could make the fuel even more powerful, and cheaper than ever, he could undercut the current
price of uranium to power plants and become an incredibly wealthy man.”

“How did you find out Dr. Franklin worked on this kind of research?” Blalock asked.

She smiled, but didn’t answer.

Blalock exhaled softly, then stood. “I’ve got some of my own contacts on the Rez searching for Franklin, and more, including Agent Payestewa, checking the mountains and campgrounds all around the Four Corners.
If I get anything, I’ll give you a heads-up.”

As Blalock left the office, Justine leaned back in her chair. “Okay, I’ve got one more tidbit—it’s about Margaret Bruno.”

“I was wondering if we’d ever figure out how she ties in.”

“I don’t have that, but like Shives, she’s got an interesting record. She was a cop in Amarillo, Texas, and apparently was known for aggressiveness in the field. Bruno
never was in a situation where she actually fired her weapon, but she was sued two times for excessive force. In both cases the city settled out of court, but after that she was taken out of the field. They decided to make her a training officer at the police academy there and sent her to classes at the FBI Academy and elsewhere. She resigned as soon as she completed her courses and took a job as
a security officer for Permian Energy Network, the big energy company.”

“How did she do there?” Ella asked skeptically.

“After several incidents PEN decided she was too competitive and confrontational and gave her the pink slip. She sued, one of the witnesses against her recanted, and she won a settlement. With the nest egg from that she started her own consulting firm, giving workshops to different
police departments and private industry security teams. Her business is doing pretty well. That’s all mostly a matter of public record.”

“But you’ve got something else off the record?” Ella asked, catching the gleam in her partner’s eye.

Justine nodded. “I tracked down an old neighbor of the Shives family. I spoke to her off the record, and I leaned that Bruno was a foster child who was taken
in by Delbert’s parents. Shives’s father was an alcoholic, though few knew about it. He often became abusive, but Delbert, who was quite a bit older, always protected Margaret from him. They became very close but, according to the neighbor, Margaret was basically unstable. She had a dangerous temper, raised hell in the neighborhood, and the only one who could ever control her was Delbert. My contact
said that Margaret adored him.”