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new undertaking,” Wilson said.
    “Whatever I decide, I intend to first make sure that everyone knows the potential dangers of what they’re inviting onto our land before they agree to this nuclear casino. Thank you for your time and your thoughts, nephew,” Rose added, using the termas a sign of affection, not kinship.
    “Mom, wait, and I’ll walk back to the parking area with you,” Ella said.
    As Rose went out to the hall, Ella glanced back at Wilson. “I need a lead that will point me to Officer Franklin’s killer. If you hear anything from your students or elsewhere, give me a call.”
    “You’ve got it. I’ll start by finding out if the professor’s son ever attended classes here.”
    Ella joined her mother as they walked back to their cars. “I still can’t get used to you taking such an active part in tribal issues, Mom. That newspaper interview is bound to make you enemies, especially with that nuclear casino sound bite. Sometimes I think you pick all the hot issues on purpose—payback, so I’ll have to worry about you like you have about me all these years.”
    Rose smiled. “Weboth have to accept each other’s needs to be productive and useful—even if we make each other crazy, daughter.”
    Ella laughed. Rose was very much her own person these days. The mother-housekeeper Clifford and she had known had disappeared.
    They were nearing the parking area when a young woman in her early twenties, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, saw them and came over. Four other young womenfollowed her.
    “Aren’t you Rose Destea, the traditionalist who is trying to turn everyone against a tribal nuclear power plant? I read what you said in the newspaper.”
    “You are right about my name. And although the newspaper gave a distorted report of my comments in that article, I do have many serious questions and concerns about the NEED project. But people are free to make up their own minds,”Rose answered calmly.
    “My name is Vera Jim.” The woman stepped right up to within a foot of Rose, but Rose didn’t flinch or give ground. “People like you are the tribe’s biggest enemies. You’re so used to living in poverty you can’t see that the opportunity has finally come for the rest of us to break out of this cycle of misery. New Traditionalists provide leaders who can improve our standardof living, but there is always someone like you to stand in our way.”
    “I am not an enemy of the tribe,” Rose said sharply. “The only ones who truly undermine who we are as the People are the ones who show no respect for our ways.”
    Ella was surprised by how well Rose had handled things, though she could tell her mother was furious with Vera Jim. Her gaze was on Rose when Vera suddenly pushedRose hard.
    “ Your ways suck!” Vera snarled.
    As Rose staggered back, Ella steadied her mother quickly, then in an instant stepped right up to Vera’s face, pinning her against the trunk of a cottonwood tree so she couldn’t move.
    “You have assaulted a member of our tribe,” Ella said. “I am a witness and a police officer.”
    “Daughter, let her go,” Rose said sharply. “There’s enough division amongthe Dineh as it is.”
    “Mom, you can press charges—”
    “No. That’s your way, not mine. Common sense and respect for their elders isn’t something you can force into a person. If they haven’t been raised properly, they have to learn it by themselves.”
    Still angry but unable to turn that feeling into action, Ella focused her attention back on Vera, who had wisely decided not to struggle. “If you everpull something like that again—assaulting anyone young or old, I’ll haul you in. Am I making myself very clear?”
    The woman nodded but didn’t speak, deciding, apparently, that it was best to become one with the tree bark for a while longer.
    Ella stepped back, but Vera remained frozen in place. “Now get out of here before I change my mind and press charges myself.”
    It took a few seconds for