me and then back to the body. Again and again. When Officer Bigman showed up, I told him the deceased’s location. He stayed there, and I went to the trailhead to wait for you and your crew and to bar anyone else from access.” She mentioned her encounters with a couple of ladies in their fifties and a teenage boy.
“Then a man argued with me. Hold on. I want to make sure I get his name right.” Bernie glanced at her notebook. “Ed Summersly.” She gave the agent his description. “He told me he ran the trail every day and had already run it once before I saw him. He hesitated when I asked if he’d seen anything unusual and then mentioned the dog. He was the only person who asked to see my ID. After he left, I turned back a few more people. Then you and your crew drove up. That’s it.”
“Do you have Summersly’s contact information?”
“Yes. I made a list for you of everyone I talked to.”
“Thanks.” Johnson turned back to her notebook and jotted something down.
Bernie waited until she was done. “I have some questions for you.”
“Before that, I want you to go through the chain of events for me again. Add any new details that come to mind about the first people you saw, the ones you encountered before you found the body. Take as long as you need.” Johnson paused. “You did very well with your report.”
Bernie repeated the story. This time, it took a bit longer. She remembered a few more details: a fancy watch Summersly wore and a missing finger on the sweaty Navajo’s left hand. When she finished, her throat was dry and her coffee had grown cool.
Johnson looked up. “Would you like more coffee?”
“No, but water would be good.”
The agent left the room and quickly returned with a cold bottle.
Bernie unscrewed the cap and took a sip. “What do you know about the man I found out there?”
“The deceased was a male, possibly in his forties, about six feet tall, a hundred and eighty pounds, slim build. He had no identification. The cause of death looked like a stab wound to the chest. We don’t know yet how long he had been dead or how long the body lay there by the trail before you found it.”
“Officer Bigman mentioned that you seemed to know the victim. Did you?”
Johnson didn’t react to the statement. “Anything else?”
“What happened to the dog?”
“Bigman took custody of it. More questions?”
“Just the obvious. Who did it? And why?”
“Those are our questions, too.” But from the way she said it, Bernie suspected Agent Johnson already had an idea of the answers.
It was late morning when they finished. The agent thanked her for her time and said she might have some additional questions. Bernie called the station, and Sandra told her she was on duty until five p.m. and conveyed Largo’s assignments for the rest of the day. “He said you’re working for the rookie.”
“No, I’m working for the Navajo people.”
“You’re feisty today.”
“I guess I miss having today off.”
As Bernie drove back toward Shiprock, she ate her sandwich in the car and finished the bottle of the FBI’s cold water.
She called Chee, hoping he’d have phone service. He picked up her call on the second ring.
“Hey, beautiful.” He said something else, but his voice drifted into a dead zone and then she heard “. . . interview?”
“I’m finished with the FBI, at least for now, but I’m on duty until five. So far things are slow. Where are you?”
“Ute Mountain Rodeo. Cowboy’s nephew is in the team roping . . .”
She could barely understand him. She knew the event arena sat about an hour north of Shiprock near Cortez, Colorado. “We’ve got a weak signal. You’re fading in and out.”
He said something else she couldn’t decipher, but his laugh came through clearly. Then he said, “Have you talked to the Lieutenant?”
“No. Should I?”
“He called this morning about coming to the station . . .” His voice turned to garble and then “. . . the rookie can’t drive with one eye.” The reception was getting worse. “. . . so hot out here even the rocks are sweating . . .”
“Tell Dashee ‘Hey’ for me. I can’t understand you, so I’m signing off.”
“What? I’m losing . . . sweetheart.”
She drove out to investigate a person walking unsteadily on the highway. As she cruised along, she called Mama on speaker. It took a while for her mother to answer.