Chapter 35

 

 

“Turn on all the lights. Don’t touch anything. If you feel you have to watch the office at least go outside and wait for me in the parking lot. I’ll get Chief Billie and be there within five minutes.”

She was already in the parking lot. No, she hadn’t even breathed on anything. And, yes, all the outside lights were now on. She loved Ben to death, but every once in awhile, he ‘man-splained’ things. Her own brain worked really well, but she probably wouldn’t call attention to his ordering her around because she could tell he was reacting out of fear for her safety.

But it did remind her of how once, when she’d questioned her mother’s silence to her father’s demands, her mother had stuck out her tongue and said, “See? It’s half the size it was before I married your father.” It was a cute way of pointing out that biting one’s tongue every now and then made for a more comfortable marriage. Not everything needed to be confrontational even if it was seemingly belittling her mental ability to assess a situation.

Trini got there first and hurriedly ran up the steps to stand just inside the office door. As she reached for a packet of money on the floor, Julie found herself reminding Trini that it was a crime scene—which sounded a little melodramatic—but got the point across. The area needed to be photographed exactly as Julie had found it. And fingerprints would need to be lifted, as well. It would be too easy to contaminate the scene and until it could be taped off, they needed to discourage anyone else from entering the building.

“How much money was in the safe?” Julie was curious; she knew it probably included the generous gift from the state of New Mexico, and maybe more.

“A little over one hundred fifty thousand.”

“Wow.” It looked like most of it was in one hundred-dollar bills, judging from what she could see of the packets on the floor. “Why so much cash?”

“We needed to have enough on hand to pay for replenishing the tanker trucks bringing in gas. We’re going to need weekly deliveries from them for a couple weeks. And we need to pay the first week’s salaries for all volunteers even though it won’t be a full five day’s work. I also have the bulk of the hangar installation coming due—salaries and materials. I do a work-up on anticipated costs and Chief Billie picks up the cash from the bank that handles the deposits of IHS government funds. He brings the cash to me depending on what I’ve ordered—what the need is for that week. This was our first delivery. It wouldn’t take an Einstein to figure out we were working on a cash-only basis.”

“Sorry for the delay. I took the time to get my camera out of the Bronco.” Chief Billie paused on the porch steps with Ben standing right behind him. “I’ve sent a deputy around back to secure the back door. Other than Mrs. Pecos, has anyone been inside the building?”

“No one,” Julie said.

“I think we were damned lucky that you forgot to leave the sign-in sheets on Trini’s desk earlier. And you’re probably luckier that the perps weren’t still inside,” Ben said. He put an arm around Julie’s shoulders and gave her a hug.

The chief radioed for two of his deputies to come to the office. “We’re going to try to lift some prints and get a copy of yours, Trini, for comparison. I guess I’d be surprised if we found anything we could use.”

“So, you think it’s probably a professional job?”

“Not sure I’d use the word ‘professional’ but look at the facts. Someone knew our schedule—I picked up funds in Shiprock yesterday. We announced that we would be paying for a partial week’s work this Friday—three days from now. Someone knew there would be two pretty big payouts in the next three days because we also owed the construction workers. We brought in the money early rather than wait until the last minute. Someone also knew Trini would be in charge of the money and was familiar with Trini’s office—knew she had a safe. A good guess that the money would be here—that she wouldn’t be carrying it around. But more importantly, someone had the combination.” The chief was standing over the safe. “This has not been forced open.”

“You’re kidding.” Trini stepped forward to look at the safe’s door. “Oh my God, someone just opened it.”

“Looks like the first plan was to take the whole thing. Don’t think they knew that these office models weigh about a hundred and fifty pounds. Only the outside is metal. The interior walls are cast cement—can’t just tuck one of these under your arm and walk off with it. They dragged it this far before going to plan B. And the fact that it’s out here in the entry makes me think there were at least two people moving it.”

“I guess the question is who had the combination?” Julie asked.

“Exactly. Do you know if it was purchased new for the camp? Or preowned?” The chief turned to Trini.

“Used.” Trini spoke up. “But it was in good working condition. It had been in storage in Albuquerque, at the Indian Hospital. There was a lab set up behind the hospital, but it shut down years ago. Dr. Black might know who used to have this item. He was the one who gave it to me.”

The chief was busy taking photos, pausing to get down on his knees and take several shots of the door, the key pad, and the inside of the safe. “Interesting. The safe is still pretty full of money. Ms. Pecos, you’re the hero. Your timing was perfect. A whole bunch of taxpayers owe you.”

The chief moved out of the way for his deputy to dust for fingerprints, then pulled on a pair of latex gloves and proceeded to empty the safe and pick up the bundles lying on the carpet, motioning Trini to help him. He held out gloves. “Better take some precautions here before anything else disappears. I’m interested in knowing how much might be missing.”

Trini stepped forward, pulled on the pair of gloves and carried several packets to a nearby table, sat down and quickly started counting. Finally, the table top was covered in stacks of fairly crisp, one-hundred-dollar bills.

“Would you believe I’m within one thousand dollars of the original amount. They didn’t get away with much. Thank God--and Julie.”

“Looks like we’re done here for the day. We can’t do anything until morning. We need to change the combination and bolt the unit to the floor. This time Trini will be the only one who has the combination. We’ll decide on a backup person tomorrow. Let’s put the safe and money back in Trini’s office. I’ll leave a deputy on guard for the night. I suggest we all get some rest. You know, six a.m. is going to get here rather quickly.”