Ella refused to be intimidated, and the fact that she was about an inch taller than him made it easier, though he outweighed her by fifty pounds, at least. “Come on,
officer
. Give me a
break. You’re
been a cop for how long? You know the drill.” Her emphasis on the word ‘officer’ and her dispassionate tone of voice got through to him, as Ella had hoped.
“Yeah, yeah. Assume nothing, don’t rule out anyone automatically,” he said with a curt nod.
“
I was home, getting ready for work,” he continued in a calmer tone.
“Samuel, we will need to talk to you again, so I need your home
address and phone number. And your cell?”
Samuel reached for his card, then scribbled a telephone number and his address on the back. “I don’t have a cell, but leave a message on my answering machine or at the station if you can’t reach me on duty. I’ll call you back ASAP.”
Ella watched as Samuel climbed into his unit, then drove off. Stepping away from the dust cloud his tires had churned up,
she brought out her cell phone. She’d need everything the Farmington PD had on Samuel—but she wanted the background check kept under wraps. Mentally reviewing her options she realized that there was only one person could pull that off—Shiprock Police Chief Atcitty—Big Ed.