Day of the Dead by Brenda Donelan

Author:Brenda Donelan [Donelan, Brenda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brenda Donelan
Published: 2014-05-26T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

The shift change at the Elmwood Police Department happened at 4:00 p.m. Marlee knew that the best time to talk with her contacts within the department was right before they went on duty or right after they finished their shifts. She rolled into the parking lot and went to the glass front window. “Hi, Lois,” she said, thinking this might be the one time Lois would remember her.

“Hello. Can I help you?” Lois asked. No such luck in being remembered.

After re-introducing herself for the hundredth time, Marlee asked if Bettina Crawford was on duty. Lois gave her the stink eye for twenty seconds before contacting Bettina on the intercom. A few minutes later, Bettina walked to the front security door and motioned Marlee inside. When they got to a back office corner, Marlee grumbled, “Geez, why does Lois always act like this is the first time she’s met me? I’ve known her for umpteen years.”

“She thinks that if she’s too chatty, then people will start to ask her for favors and inside information,” said Bettina, shuffling aside some papers. “So, what brings you to the PD?”

“Um, I need a favor and some inside information,” Marlee said with a mischievous smile. Maybe Lois was on to something with her chilly reception. Bettina raised her left eyebrow and gave a quick grin. Marlee had first met Bettina Crawford years ago when she was a federal probation officer and Bettina was an officer with the Sisseton-Wahpeton Tribal Police Department. Marlee frequently traveled to the Lake Traverse Reservation in Sisseton, because tribal land fell under federal jurisdiction. This meant that, if a felony, such as an assault, happened on tribal land, the investigation and prosecution of the crime fell under the auspices of the federal system. This was a major bone of contention since, often times, the federal sentences were more severe than the sentences handed out in South Dakota state courts. What this meant was that a Native American convicted of committing an aggravated assault, such as beating another person with a baseball bat, would end up in an automatic eighteen-month federal prison sentence. If that same person had committed the exact same crime in South Dakota, but off tribal land, then that person might not receive a prison sentence at all and just be placed on probation. Probation allowed for a person to remain in the community without serving prison time. This resulted in two very different systems of justice in South Dakota: one for Native Americans and one for everyone else.

When Marlee traveled to the reservation to meet with people on her probation caseload, she sometimes had trouble locating them. Bettina was a good source of information; she knew if anyone had moved, if they were fighting with parents or spouses, or if they were attending a local festival or a funeral. Since she was an enrolled member of the tribe and a life-long resident of the Lake Traverse Reservation, Bettina had her finger on the pulse of the town of Sisseton and the outlying tribal housing districts on the reservation.

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