Hillerman, Tony - [Leaphorn & Chee 14] (22 page)

Chee grinned, remembering that. Leaphorn had cut off the SAC’s
arguments by suggesting he could end his doubts by sending a few of his
troops over to Gershwin’s truck and having them unpack some of the
bundles, in which Leaphorn was confident they would find about one
hundred seven pounds and eleven ounces of the paper money taken from
the casino. The SAC did, and they did; some of the money was neatly
double-sacked in eight of those Earth-Smart white-plastic kitchen trash
bags stacked under Gershwin’s luggage, and a bunch of the bigger bills
was layered into the suitcases with his clothing. While that was
happening the ground troops arrived—two sheriff’s cars, a Utah State
Police car and a BIA law-enforcement unit bringing an assortment of
cops—including Border Patrol trackers with their dogs. The trackers
nervously eyed the cumulus clouds, their tops backlit by the setting
sun and their black bottoms producing lightning and promising the
long-overdue rain. Trackers prefer daylight and dry ground and were
making their preference obvious. Finally, the explaining stopped, an
ambulance arrived to take away the much-photographed bodies, and now
here Chee was, dry and comfortable, on his way home and an interested
listener to the Legendary Lieutenant revealing a human side.

“I’ve only met her recently,” Bernie was saying. “But she seemed
very nice.”

“An interesting person,” Leaphorn said. “A real friend, I think." He
chuckled. “At least she’s willing to listen to me when I talk. When
you’re an old widower, and you haven’t gotten used to living alone yet,
that’s something you need.”

Which is why
, Chee was
thinking,
Leaphorn has been
chattering like this
. He’d always thought of him as taciturn,
hard
to talk to. A silent man. But then Bernie was Bernie. He liked to talk
to her, too. Or, come to think of it, he liked to talk while Bernie
listened. He skipped backward into memories of conversations with Janet
Pete. No problem there. Then came another memory, another comparison.
Bernie putting ice on his swollen ankle, leaning over him, her soft
hair brushing past his face. Janet kissing him. Janet’s hair carried
the perfume of flowers, Bernie’s the scent of juniper and the wind.

“You don’t seem old to me,” Bernie was saying. “No older than my
father, and he’s still young.”

“It’s more than age,” Leaphorn said. “Emma and I were married longer
than you’ve been alive. One of those love-at-first-sight things when we
were students at Arizona State. And when she died -" He didn’t finish
that.

The rain stopped. Bernie switched off the wipers. “I’ll bet you she
wouldn’t have approved of you living alone, like a hermit. I’ll bet she
would want you to get married again.”

Wow
, Chee thought.
That took nerve. How will
Lieutenant Leaphorn react to that?

Leaphorn laughed. “Exactly. She did. But not Professor Bourebonette.
At the hospital before her surgery she told me if anything went wrong,
I should remember Navajo tradition.”

“Marry her sister?” Bernie said. “You have a single sister-in-law.?”

“Yep,” Leaphorn said. “Emma almost always gave good advice, but her
sister didn’t like that idea any better than I did.”

“I’ll bet your wife would have approved of Professor Bourebonette,”
Bernie said. “I mean as your wife.”

If Chee hadn’t been watching while Bernie refused to surrender her
sidearm to Leaphorn a few hours ago, he wouldn’t have believed he was
hearing this. He waited. Silence. Then Leaphorn said, “You know,
Bernie, now you mention it, I’m sure she would.”

What a woman, this Officer
Bemadette Manuelito
. Chee remembered
the sort of subconscious uneasiness he’d felt when Bernie showed up
at his trailer and asked him to help her wounded boyfriend. It was
jealousy, of course, though he didn’t want to admit it then. And he was
feeling it again now.

“Bernie,” Chee said, "what’s the condition report on Teddy Bai?”

“Much better,” Bernie said.

“Did you talk to him?”

“Rosemary did,” she said. “She said he’s going to be well enough so
they won’t have to postpone their wedding.”

“Well, now,” Chee said. “Wow. That’s really good news." And he meant
it.