returned the question, and he had no idea how he could answer it.
She was leaning forward, elbows on table, chin resting on clasped hands, waiting for him to finish.
'End of statement,' he said. 'Sure, I think he's guilty. I was there. Had I been a little faster, I would have stopped it.'
'Cowboy doesn't think he's guilty.'
'Cowboy? Cowboy Dashee?'
'Yes,' Janet said. 'Your old friend, Deputy Sheriff Cowboy Dashee. He told me Jano is his cousin. He's known him since childhood. They were playmates. Close friends. Cowboy told me that thinking Robert Jano would kill somebody with a rock is like thinking Mother Teresa would strangle the Pope.'
'Really?'
'That's what he said. His exact words, in fact.'
'How come you got in touch with Cowboy?'
'I didn't. He called the D.A.'s office. Asked who'd be assigned to handle Jano's defense. They told him a new hire would be assigned to it, and he left a message for whoever that would be to give him a call. It was me, so I called him.'
'Well, hell,' Chee said. 'How come he didn't contact me?'
'I don't have to explain that, do I? He was afraid you'd think he was trying—'
'Sure,' Chee said. 'Of course.'
Janet looked sympathetic. 'That makes it worse for you, doesn't it? I know you guys go way back.'
'Yeah, we do,' Chee said. 'Cowboy's about as good a friend as I ever had.'
'Well, he's a cop, too. He'll understand.'
'He's also a Hopi,' Chee said. 'And some wise man once told us that blood's thicker than water.' He sighed. 'What did Cowboy tell you?'
'He said Jano had caught his eagle. He was coming home with it. He heard noises. He checked. He found the officer on the ground, head bleeding.'
Chee shook his head. 'I know. That's the statement he gave us. When he finally decided to talk about it.'
'It could be true.'
'Sure,' Chee said. 'It could be true. But how about the slash on his forearm, and his blood mixed with Ben's? And no blood on the eagle? And where's the perpetrator, if it wasn't Jano? Ben Kinsman didn't hit himself on the head with that rock. It wasn't suicide.'
'The eagle flew away,' Janet said. 'And don't be sarcastic.'
That stopped Chee cold. He sat for a long moment, just staring at her.
She looked puzzled. 'What?'
'He told you the eagle flew away?'
'That's right. When he caught it, Jano was under some brush or something,' she said. 'A blind, I guess, with something on a cord for bait. He tried to grab the eagle by the legs and just got one of them, and it slashed him on the arm and he released it.'
'Janet,' Chee said. 'The eagle didn't fly away. It was in a wire cage just about eight or ten feet from where Jano was standing over Kinsman.'
Janet put down her coffee cup.
Chee frowned. 'He told you it got away? But he knew we had it. Why would he tell you that?'
She shrugged. Looked down at her hands.
'And it didn't have any blood on its feathers. At least, I didn't see any. I'm sure the lab would check for it.
'If you think I'm lying, look.' He held out his hand, displaying the still healing slash on its side. 'I picked up the cage to move it. That's where its talon caught me. Ripped the skin.'
Janet's face was flushed. 'You didn't have to show We anything,' she said. 'I didn't think you were lying. I'll ask Jano about it. Maybe I misunderstood. I must have.'
Chee saw Janet was embarrassed. 'I'll bet I know what happened,' he said. 'Jano didn't want to talk about the eagle because it got too close to violating kiva secrecy rules. I think it would become a symbolic messenger to God, to the spirit world. Its role would be sacred. He just couldn't talk about it, so he said he turned it loose.'
'Maybe so,' she said.
'I'll bet he just wanted to divert you. To talk about something besides a touchy religious subject.'
Janet's expression told him she doubted that.
'I'll ask him about it,' Janet repeated. 'I really haven't had much chance to talk to him yet. Just a few minutes. I just got here.'
'But he told you he didn't kill Kinsman. Did he tell you who did?'
'Well,' Janet said, and hesitated. 'You know, Jim, I have to be careful talking about this. Let me just say that I guess whoever it was who had hit Officer Kinsman with the rock must have heard Jano coming and went away. Jano said it started raining about the time you got there. By the time you had him handcuffed in the patrol car, and called in for help, and tried to make Kinsman comfortable, any tracks would have been washed away.'
