Never-ending-snake by David Thurlo Read Free Book Online Page A

going on in his life.”
    “In D.C., too?” Neskahi asked.
    “Yeah. You can do that part of it by phone,” Ella said. “Also interview people who knew or worked withKevin here and over there. Benny, one last thing. Check on Alan Grady’s alibi. We’ll need to know where he was during the time of the incident.”
    Benny nodded. “I’ll try to get the names of Grady’s closest associates, too. If he was one of the gunmen, he wasn’t alone. But this’ll take a while to put together.”
    “We need more manpower,” Neskahi said, turning as Big Ed appeared at the lab’s door.The chief nodded for the sergeant to continue.
    “Those immediate interviews and alibi checks are going to take time, and we may have to track down locals who saw something—like business employees whose shifts have ended,” Neskahi added.
    “Feel free to pull in Officer Marianna Talk for legwork,” Big Ed said. “If you still need more hands, Shorty, come talk to me. I just took another call from headquartersat Window Rock. You’re to have all the help you need.”
    “I’ll get Marianna then,” Ella said.
    “I’ll arrange for Bureau agents in D.C. to look into any possible connection between the crime and the work that Tolino and Lonewolf were doing in and around the capital,” Blalock said.
    “There’s something else I’m going to need.” Ella showed Big Ed the money Adam had been carrying, and described howthey’d found it. When she repeated what Adam had told her about the game being for his nephew, Big Ed’s eyebrows went up.
    “Do whatever you need to keep this from hitting the fan,” he said.
    “I need to get all the details behind Kevin’s lawsuit against casino management,” Ella said. “I’m planning to talk to Robert Buck about it, but I don’t think he’s going to give me a straight answer.”
    “You’reright about that,” Big Ed said. “In my experience, attorneys play things like this very close to their chests, and Robert Buck is an old defense lawyer. But give me a little time and I’ll see what I can do.”
    “I appreciate the help, Chief,” Ella said.

    As Ella left the building with Blalock some time later, she lapsed into an uneasy silence.
    “What’s eating at you, Clah?” Blalock asked atlast.
    “Every police officer is warned repeatedly that complacency always carries a high price. When the plane landed I was really looking forward to spending some quiet time with my family, and business was the last thing on my mind. I let down my guard, Dwayne, and that was precisely when everything went crazy.”
    “It happens that way sometimes. Don’t start blaming yourself. You couldn’t haveanticipated what happened.”
    Ella thought of Kevin and ex-army sergeant Lonewolf, an authentic war hero who’d been awarded his country’s second highest medal for his heroism in Afghanistan. Now he was fighting for his life after being ambushed, unarmed, at a small Navajo airstrip over three hundred and fifty miles inside the borders of his native land. He’d survived the war abroad, with its IEDs,mortars, snipers, and machine-gun fire, only to have to face his own mortality here at home.
    It was now up to her to restore the
hózh
, the harmony. That’s what she did. In the
bilagáana
world, a police officer upheld the law. Here on the reservation, her job went beyond that. She needed to restore the balance, honoring both the laws of natureand of men, so all could walk in beauty.
    As they drove south out of Shiprock, passing the airstrip on her left, she saw the airplane still sitting there. Heat waves rose from the asphalt where she’d nearly died a few hours ago. Ella forced herself to look away and focus on the job ahead. Her work had only just begun.

THREE

     
     
    “Hey, Ella, you okay in there?” Blalock called out.
    “Yeah, sorry it’s taken me so long, Dwayne,” she yelled from the back bedroom. “Normally I can shower and change in five minutes, but I’m sore all over. All that