Blackening Song Read Online Free PDF

down some procedures and have a little discipline here.”
    Ella clearly saw the effect Blalock’s booming voiceand tone had on the others. Their stiff silences spoke volumes to her, though she was certain that Blalock hadn’t noticed. He probably thought he was impressing them with his take-charge style.
    Wordlessly, she slipped out of the room. Blalock’s aggressiveness probably worked fine most of the time, but here, he’d just alienate everyone. On the Rez, things moved at their own pace and in their ownway. Unless Blalock changed his tactics fast, official support would be grudging, if given at all. She was surprised he’d been assigned to the Four Corners post.
    Ella loitered near the front entrance of the hospital, wondering whom to phone for a ride. She didn’t want to bother her mom just yet, and her cousin might be tied up for hours.
    Hearing footsteps coming up from behind, she turned tosee Peterson hurrying to catch up with her. “You pulled a fast one on me, letting me think you were working with Blalock. But it’s my own fault. I shouldn’t have assumed anything.”
    “I had to find out for myself what was going on. My mother and brother need my help.”
    He nodded slowly. “You’re not going to stay out of it?”
    She gave him a long glance. “Would you, if you were me?”
    “You alwaysdid answer one question with another.” Peterson gave her a wry smile. “But I’ll admit it—if someone had attacked my parents, I’d use every skill I had to bring them down.”
    “We obviously think alike, but that’s to be expected.”
    “Yeah. We’re both in law enforcement,” he answered.
    She shook her head. “It’s more than that. We’re both Navajo, and this is a Navajo situation. How has Blalock managedto last this long out here?”
    “He gets along with the Anglo politicians, I guess,” Peterson conceded with a shrug. “I’ll have to tell you someday about his record on our land. He forgets that once he enters the Rez, he’s in our world, not his, and he sticks out like a sore thumb.” Peterson pulled out a set of keys. “Come on. I’ll drive you to the station. You can borrow my pickup to get home.I won’t need it until tonight, and I can arrange to swing by your mom’s place later.”
    “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

THREE
    Ella drove south, then east, up a dirt track that led to her mother’s house at the base of a low mesa. Still some distance away, she slowed, then braked to a full stop. For several minutes she stared at the familiar old house. It hadn’t changed in twenty years. The flat-roofed, sand-colored adobe dwelling, with its four one-room-at-a-time additions, resembled the building block structureskids often erected. The house was no different from hundreds of others scattered throughout the reservation, but it conjured a string of memories, like beads on a string, that made it special to her. And daunting, as well.
    She stared pensively at the bright yellow sunflowers that lined the front porch. She’d helped her father plant their ancestors during her senior year in high school. That hadbeen a difficult time for all of them. Clifford, already eighteen, had turned against their father’s adopted religion. In an act of rebellion, he’d built the old-style hogan that stood behind the house.
    As Ella thought about her older brother, she worried about him. Was he out in a ditch somewhere, carved up like her father?
    Ella pressed on the accelerator and drove the rest of the way to thehouse. When she reached the end of the track, her mother stepped out onto the porch. Beside her was Wilson Joe, a friend of Clifford’s from the old days, when they’d all attended Shiprock High.
    Rose Destea rushed to her daughter’s side and hugged her tight. “I’m glad you’re finally home.”
    “I got here as soon as I could.”
    Rose eased her hold and stepped back. “Wilson came to offer his help.”
    He gave Ella a quick half-smile. “I figured I might be of some use until