The First Eagle

'This book's more interesting,' she said, 'and he would mind.'

And of course she was right. When they parked, Leaphorn had seen Deputy Sheriff Albert 'Cowboy' Dashee sitting in a booth beside the window looking out at them, his expression glum. Now, as he sat across from Dashee, watching him order coffee, Leaphorn was remembering that this Hopi had struck him as a man full of good humor. A happy man. There was no sign of that this morning.

'I'll get right to the point,' Dashee said. 'I need to talk to you about Jim Chee.'

'About Chee?' This wasn't what Leaphorn had expected. In fact, he'd had no idea what to expect. Something about the Hopi killing the Navajo policeman, perhaps. 'You two are old friends, aren't you?'

'For a long, long time,' Dashee said. 'That makes this harder to deal with.'

Leaphorn nodded.

'Jim always considered you a friend, too,' Dashee said. He grinned ruefully. 'Even when he was sore at you.'

Leaphorn nodded again. 'Which was fairly often.'

'The thing is, Jim got the wrong man in this Benjamin Kinsman homicide. Robert Jano didn't do it.'

'He didn't?'

'No. Robert wouldn't kill anyone.'

'Who did?'

'I don't know,' Dashee said. 'But I grew up with Robert Jano. I know you hear this all the time, but—' He threw up his hands.

'I know people myself who I just can't believe would ever kill anyone—no matter what. But sometimes something snaps, and they do it. Temporary insanity.'

'You'd have to know him. If you did, you'd never believe it. He was always gentle, even when we were kids trying to be tough. Robert never seemed to really lose his temper. He liked everybody. Even the bastards.'

Leaphorn could see Dashee was hating this. He'd pushed his uniform cap back on his head. His face was flushed. His forehead was beaded with perspiration.

'I'm retired, you know,' Leaphorn said. 'So all I get is the secondhand gossip. But what I hear is that Chee caught the man red-handed. Jano was supposed to be leaning over Kinsman, blood all over him. Some of the blood was Jano's. Some of the blood was Kinsman's. Was that about it?'

Dashee sighed, rubbed his hand across his face. 'That's the way it must have looked to Jim.'

'You talked to Jim?'

Dashee shook his head. 'That's the advice I wanted. How do I go about that? You know how he is. Kinsman was one of his people. Somebody kills him. He must feel pretty strong about that. And I'm a cop, too. It's not my case. And being a Hopi. The kind of anger that's grown up between us and you Navajos.' He threw up his hands again. 'It's such a damned complicated situation. I want him to know it's not just sentimental bullshit. How can I approach him?'

'Yeah,' Leaphorn said, thinking that everything Dashee had said did indeed sound like sentimental bullshit. 'I understand your problem.'

The coffee arrived, reminding Leaphorn of Louisa waiting outside. But she had the thermos they'd brought and she would understand. Just as Emma always understood. He sipped the coffee without noticing anything, except that it was hot.

'Did they let you talk to Jano?'

Dashee nodded. 'How'd you manage that?'

'I know his lawyer,' Dashee said. 'Janet Pete.'

Leaphorn grunted, shook his head. 'I was afraid of that,' he said. 'I saw her at the hospital the day Kinsman died. The prosecution bunch was gathering and she showed up, too. I'd heard she's been appointed as a federal defender.'

'That's it,' Dashee said. 'She'll do a good job for him, but it sure as hell won't make dealing with Jim any easier.'

'They were about to get married once, I think,' Leaphorn said. 'And then she went back to Washington. Is that on again?'

'I hope not,' Dashee said. 'She's a city gal. Jim's always going to be a sheep-camp Navajo. But whatever, it's going to make him touchy as hell, being on opposite sides of this. He'll be hard to deal with.'

'But Chee was always reasonable,' Leaphorn said. 'If it was me, I'd just go and lay it out for him. Just make the best case you can.'

'You think it will do any good?'

'I doubt it,' Leaphorn said. 'Not unless you give him some sort of evidence. How could it? If what I hear at

Window Rock is right, Jano had a motive. Revenge as well as avoiding arrest. Kinsman had already nailed him before for poaching an eagle. He got off light then, but this would be a second offense. More important, I understand there was no other possible suspect. Besides, even you persuade Chee he's wrong, what can he do about it now?' Dashee hadn't touched his coffee. He leaned across the table. 'Find the person who actually killed Kinsman,' Dashee said. 'I want to ask him to do that. Or help me do it.'

'But as I understand the situation, only Jano and Kinsman were there, until Chee came along answering Kinsman's call for some backup.'

'There was a woman up there,' Dashee said. 'A woman named Catherine Pollard. Maybe other people.'