Bad Medicine Read Free

approached Detective Ute, the officer in charge of the scene, and stepped aside as Sergeant Tache, working with Blalock at his shoulder, photographed each piece of physical evidence in place.“What have you got?”
    Ute held out the clipboard where he was writing a narrative description and showed her the name, “Stanley Bitah.” “Have you heard of the victim?”
    She nodded, respecting the tribal custom not to mention the deceased by name, particularly here where he’d met his death. “He’s an activist in this area. I’ve seen him mentioned in a few newspaper stories. Who found the body?”
    Detective Ute shrugged. “The helicopter pilot who inspects the power lines spotted the body as he flew over at noon.” Ute gestured toward the steel towers standing in a row all the way to the horizon, like armless giants.
    “What else can you tell me?” Ella continued.
    “The deceased worked as a mechanic, helping maintain the heavy equipment at the mine. He was most likely beaten to death with somekind of club. I’ll know more in a while.”
    Officer Justine Goodluck, Ella’s petite young assistant, came out from behind a small stand of junipers. “We’ve really just started focusing on identifying and protecting the physical evidence. Even FB-Eyes over there is helping out.” Justine nodded toward Blalock, who was placing small, wire and plastic flags beside footprints for Tache. The agent hadreceived the nickname from Navajo officers because one of his eyes was blue, and the other brown.
    “I can tell you a little more of what we’ve learned so far,” Justine continued. “Okay, Harry?”
    Ute nodded and looked back down at his narrative. Ella followed the youthful cop/lab tech toward an area filled with scuff marks, footprints, and droplets of blood. “Clearly, a struggle took place here.”

    Ella studied the ground. “From the spray patterns of blood on the ground, and the other signs, I’d say the murder also occurred here.”
    Justine nodded. “That’s what Detective Ute and the others concluded, too.” She crouched by Ella, and pointed. “Four people were present, and one—not the victim—ran away down the arroyo, escaping, maybe.”
    “Do you know where the others went?”
    She shook her head.“I was just about to follow up on that when you arrived.”
    They followed three sets of tracks, which ended abruptly at the highway. Black tire marks indicated a vehicle had taken off in a hurry. “This is a bit of luck,” Ella said. “These tracks are really clear. Ask Tache to take several shots and see if you can identify the type of vehicle they belong to. Blalock might be able to hazard a guesson the spot, so make sure you ask him. He told me recently that he was becoming an expert on tire patterns common to the area.”
    “I’ll take care of it.”
    “I’m going to talk to Dr. Roanhorse,” Ella said, glancing up and seeing that the medical examiner was working alone, as usual, talking into her tape recorder as she examined the body.
    As Ella went up to her friend, she couldn’t help but sympathize.Nobody ever hung around Carolyn for long. Fear of the chindi, of contamination by the dead, was always present among those of their tribe. Even the kids, who seemed to go out of their way to discount other traditional Navajo beliefs, stayed clear of the M.E.
    As she approached, Carolyn switched off her tape recorder. “I was wondering when you’d get here.”
    “I had another emergency call on theway. I’ll tell you about it in a little bit, since it’s going to end up on your desk, too. But first, do you have an opinion on how this all went down?” Ella looked at the victim, and had to force herself not to cringe. The murder had been particularly brutal.
    “In layman’s terms, this man died as a result of several—four or five—heavy blows to the left side of the skull. The last three or fourwere probably unnecessary. The location and angle of the attack suggests the killer was