Mariannaarrived.
Ella hurried Lois and the kids to the car. “I’ll be in touch soon.” Stepping back, she signaled Marianna, then looked back at Lois. “You’ll be safe. Now go.”
After they disappeared from view, Ella walked back to the SUV with Justine.
“I want you to do something for me, Justine. Drive back down the road to the Blackhat residence, advise Mrs. Blackhat to expect a test shot, then go backto the crime scene. After you tell everyone what you’re going to do, fire one round into the ground. I’ll stay here and listen. I need to find out how far the sound of a nine-millimeter round carries, especially this close to the ridge. If I can hear it from this location, the Blackhats, who are closer, would have heard it, too.”
Justine nodded. “That’ll help us determine if the shooter useda silencer when he killed the vics. If he did, then that also suggests that he was the one who just shot you. It’s not likely to be a coincidence. There aren’t many silencers in the hands of the public.”
“That’s what I was thinking, too.”
“Luck was on your side today, Ella. It just occurred to me—those slugs…”
“Yeah. Good thing they weren’t armor-piercing, like with the first victim. We wouldn’tbe having this conversation.”
“Let’s hope he switched ammo because he ran out,” Justine said.
“I’m with you on that.”
Ella started back to the abandoned trading post, now stripped of everything the Bitsillie family could load into their old car. Noticing a narrow trail, Ella climbed up the side of the cliff to a large rock even with the level of the trading post’s roof. After checking for snakesunderneath, she took a seat on the warm, flat surface. Her back still hurt, but Ella forced herself to shake off the discomfort, gave thanks for Kevlar, and tried to make herself comfortable.
From her position on the rock, she took the time to study the surrounding area. She quickly noticed a house almost due north, in the direction of the old coal mines. Like the trading post, it was nestlednext to the cliffs of the Hogback, and, painted a pale green, was almost hidden from view. It was farther away from the crime scene than the Blackhat house, but it was possible that someone living there could have seen something.
As the minutes ticked by, she watched the vehicles pass by on the four-lane main highway to her right. Below, down the far side, lay irrigation canals and the San JuanRiver.
Her thoughts drifted before eventually settling on Rose. Something had been bothering her mom lately and that, in turn, had resulted in a cooking frenzy. The food was wonderful as usual, but Dawn had complained that Rose was packing huge lunches for her, enough to feed the five girls she hung out with at school. It was starting to make her feel like a walking cafeteria.
Ella wonderedif the reason Rose was tense was because Dawn had decided she didn’t want the traditional kinaaldá , a coming-of-age ceremony that usually took place when a Navajo girl had her first menstrual cycle. The ceremony required the girl to carry out a series of traditional tasks and chores, such as baking a cake over coals, grinding corn—and all that with no sleep through a night of prayer in a specialhogan. It was very demanding, and lasted from two to four days.
The kinaaldá was meant to help young girls understand more about family responsibilities and the demands life would make on them in the future. Ella had left the decision whether to have the ceremony or not up to her daughter, just as her father had insisted that Ella be given the freedom to choose for herself when she’d been young.
Dawn had eventually decided that since none of her friends was going to be doing that, and even Ella had opted out at her age, there was no reason for her to go through the ceremony either. Certainly for most Navajos times had changed, along with the role of women in their families.
Ella hadn’t pushed, but the news had clearly
Ella hurried Lois and the kids to the car. “I’ll be in touch soon.” Stepping back, she signaled Marianna, then looked back at Lois. “You’ll be safe. Now go.”
After they disappeared from view, Ella walked back to the SUV with Justine.
“I want you to do something for me, Justine. Drive back down the road to the Blackhat residence, advise Mrs. Blackhat to expect a test shot, then go backto the crime scene. After you tell everyone what you’re going to do, fire one round into the ground. I’ll stay here and listen. I need to find out how far the sound of a nine-millimeter round carries, especially this close to the ridge. If I can hear it from this location, the Blackhats, who are closer, would have heard it, too.”
Justine nodded. “That’ll help us determine if the shooter useda silencer when he killed the vics. If he did, then that also suggests that he was the one who just shot you. It’s not likely to be a coincidence. There aren’t many silencers in the hands of the public.”
“That’s what I was thinking, too.”
“Luck was on your side today, Ella. It just occurred to me—those slugs…”
“Yeah. Good thing they weren’t armor-piercing, like with the first victim. We wouldn’tbe having this conversation.”
“Let’s hope he switched ammo because he ran out,” Justine said.
“I’m with you on that.”
Ella started back to the abandoned trading post, now stripped of everything the Bitsillie family could load into their old car. Noticing a narrow trail, Ella climbed up the side of the cliff to a large rock even with the level of the trading post’s roof. After checking for snakesunderneath, she took a seat on the warm, flat surface. Her back still hurt, but Ella forced herself to shake off the discomfort, gave thanks for Kevlar, and tried to make herself comfortable.
From her position on the rock, she took the time to study the surrounding area. She quickly noticed a house almost due north, in the direction of the old coal mines. Like the trading post, it was nestlednext to the cliffs of the Hogback, and, painted a pale green, was almost hidden from view. It was farther away from the crime scene than the Blackhat house, but it was possible that someone living there could have seen something.
As the minutes ticked by, she watched the vehicles pass by on the four-lane main highway to her right. Below, down the far side, lay irrigation canals and the San JuanRiver.
Her thoughts drifted before eventually settling on Rose. Something had been bothering her mom lately and that, in turn, had resulted in a cooking frenzy. The food was wonderful as usual, but Dawn had complained that Rose was packing huge lunches for her, enough to feed the five girls she hung out with at school. It was starting to make her feel like a walking cafeteria.
Ella wonderedif the reason Rose was tense was because Dawn had decided she didn’t want the traditional kinaaldá , a coming-of-age ceremony that usually took place when a Navajo girl had her first menstrual cycle. The ceremony required the girl to carry out a series of traditional tasks and chores, such as baking a cake over coals, grinding corn—and all that with no sleep through a night of prayer in a specialhogan. It was very demanding, and lasted from two to four days.
The kinaaldá was meant to help young girls understand more about family responsibilities and the demands life would make on them in the future. Ella had left the decision whether to have the ceremony or not up to her daughter, just as her father had insisted that Ella be given the freedom to choose for herself when she’d been young.
Dawn had eventually decided that since none of her friends was going to be doing that, and even Ella had opted out at her age, there was no reason for her to go through the ceremony either. Certainly for most Navajos times had changed, along with the role of women in their families.
Ella hadn’t pushed, but the news had clearly
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