mourned.
“I’m going to start doing a background search on Professor Franklin,” Ella said. “I’d like you to check with area law enforcement off the Rez. See if any trouble has been brewing that we don’t know about.”
“I’m on it.”
Ella went to her office. Before she did anything else she needed to track down JosephNeskahi and have him come in to talk to her. After asking Dispatch to relay a message to him, Ella began doing the background check on Kee Franklin.
An hour later, she heard someone knock on her door. Ella looked up and saw John Ray, the desk sergeant, with two Anglos. One was a tall blond woman wearing a visitor’s badge. The other was Delbert Shives, a chemist at the power plant who also servedas the police contact person there.
After the trouble at the power plant last year, the Tribal Council had asked plant officials to work up a plan to educate local law enforcement concerning the facility in order to help deal with any future problems more effectively. Shives had set up a visitation program and several officers from their department had already made the tour. Her SI team had beenamong the first, accompanied by the two local FBI agents, whom Ella knew. Ella guessed that the woman with him was connected to the program somehow, but she looked more like a security guard than office staff or a technical worker.
“Investigator Clah, how are you? I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of the police officer the other day. The whole community grieves with you.” His words came acrossas rehearsed.
Shives, a slender, slightly balding man in his midfifties, was an outgoing, talkative man, a personality trait she had come to believe was an act required by his job as police liaison. Somehow, his attempts at sincerity always seemed forced.
Ella nodded, and noticed John Ray slipping away, rolling his eyes. The blonde with Shives noticed and smiled, but didn’t say anything.
“I’dlike you to meet Margaret Bruno. Ms. Bruno is a highly qualified security consultant who has been hired by your Tribal Council to conduct tactical training sessions for combined operations involving power plant security officers and your department.”
“What sessions? I don’t recall hearing about this project, Ms. Bruno. I’m sorry.”
Margaret Bruno smiled and offered her hand. Ella took it, stillwary.
“The Tribal Council authorized these workshops about a month ago,” she said. “The purpose of the training is to raise efficiency levels during situations such as the power plant takeover the area experienced several months ago. Special ops training is needed here more than ever now, especially since you’re all so short-staffed at the moment.”
The tall blond woman, older than Ella by atleast ten years and outweighing her by around twenty pounds, pointed to a green folder halfway down the stack in Ella’s “In file” basket. “It’s all in that folder. You probably haven’t had time to get to it yet, something I understand perfectly well, believe me. It’s just one example of what happens in even the best departments when you’re understaffed and overworked.”
“What we need are morecops, Ms. Bruno, and better equipment,” Ella said, “not training sessions.” She just couldn’t imagine why the council was spending money on things like this. She gave Bruno a quick assessment. The blonde was attractive in a hard way, and some Navajo men had a thing for blondes. Maybe she had a friend in the council. Or two.
“No offense, but I don’t know anything about your workshops,” Ella added,“and I really don’t have the time now.”
“I’ve been hired to help your team develop practical strategies and skills that you could use whenever there are potential disturbances at factories, mines, and so on,” she said, pressing on. “I served on a SWAT team in a Texas police department, and I’ve had training at the FBI Academy.”
“So have I,” Ella said coldly. “I was an agent with the
“I’m going to start doing a background search on Professor Franklin,” Ella said. “I’d like you to check with area law enforcement off the Rez. See if any trouble has been brewing that we don’t know about.”
“I’m on it.”
Ella went to her office. Before she did anything else she needed to track down JosephNeskahi and have him come in to talk to her. After asking Dispatch to relay a message to him, Ella began doing the background check on Kee Franklin.
An hour later, she heard someone knock on her door. Ella looked up and saw John Ray, the desk sergeant, with two Anglos. One was a tall blond woman wearing a visitor’s badge. The other was Delbert Shives, a chemist at the power plant who also servedas the police contact person there.
After the trouble at the power plant last year, the Tribal Council had asked plant officials to work up a plan to educate local law enforcement concerning the facility in order to help deal with any future problems more effectively. Shives had set up a visitation program and several officers from their department had already made the tour. Her SI team had beenamong the first, accompanied by the two local FBI agents, whom Ella knew. Ella guessed that the woman with him was connected to the program somehow, but she looked more like a security guard than office staff or a technical worker.
“Investigator Clah, how are you? I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of the police officer the other day. The whole community grieves with you.” His words came acrossas rehearsed.
Shives, a slender, slightly balding man in his midfifties, was an outgoing, talkative man, a personality trait she had come to believe was an act required by his job as police liaison. Somehow, his attempts at sincerity always seemed forced.
Ella nodded, and noticed John Ray slipping away, rolling his eyes. The blonde with Shives noticed and smiled, but didn’t say anything.
“I’dlike you to meet Margaret Bruno. Ms. Bruno is a highly qualified security consultant who has been hired by your Tribal Council to conduct tactical training sessions for combined operations involving power plant security officers and your department.”
“What sessions? I don’t recall hearing about this project, Ms. Bruno. I’m sorry.”
Margaret Bruno smiled and offered her hand. Ella took it, stillwary.
“The Tribal Council authorized these workshops about a month ago,” she said. “The purpose of the training is to raise efficiency levels during situations such as the power plant takeover the area experienced several months ago. Special ops training is needed here more than ever now, especially since you’re all so short-staffed at the moment.”
The tall blond woman, older than Ella by atleast ten years and outweighing her by around twenty pounds, pointed to a green folder halfway down the stack in Ella’s “In file” basket. “It’s all in that folder. You probably haven’t had time to get to it yet, something I understand perfectly well, believe me. It’s just one example of what happens in even the best departments when you’re understaffed and overworked.”
“What we need are morecops, Ms. Bruno, and better equipment,” Ella said, “not training sessions.” She just couldn’t imagine why the council was spending money on things like this. She gave Bruno a quick assessment. The blonde was attractive in a hard way, and some Navajo men had a thing for blondes. Maybe she had a friend in the council. Or two.
“No offense, but I don’t know anything about your workshops,” Ella added,“and I really don’t have the time now.”
“I’ve been hired to help your team develop practical strategies and skills that you could use whenever there are potential disturbances at factories, mines, and so on,” she said, pressing on. “I served on a SWAT team in a Texas police department, and I’ve had training at the FBI Academy.”
“So have I,” Ella said coldly. “I was an agent with the
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