Jano held up a hand. 'Stand there on the rim at the top of the saddle. Look directly at Humphrey's Peak in the San Franciscos. Walk straight toward it. About two miles you come to the rim again. It's a place there where a slab tilted down and left a gap.'
'Thank you,' Chee said.
Jano smiled at him. 'I think you know eagles,' he said.
Chapter Twenty
LEAPHORN AWOKE IN A SILENT HOUSE, with the early sun shining on his face. He had built their house in Window Rock with their bedroom window facing the rising sun because that pleased Emma. Therefore, both the sun and the emptiness were familiar. Louisa had left a note on the kitchen table, which began: 'Push ON button on the coffeemaker,' and went on to outline the availability of various foods for breakfast and concluded on a more personal note. 'I have errands to run before class. Good hunting.
Please call and let me know what luck you're having. I enjoyed yesterday. A LOT. Louisa.' Leaphorn pushed the on button, dropped bread into the toaster, got out a plate, cup, knife and the butter dish. Then he went to the telephone, began dialing Mrs. Vanders's number in Santa Fe, then hung up. First he would call Chee. Perhaps that would give him something to tell Mrs. Vanders besides that he had nothing at all to tell her.
'He hasn't arrived yet, Lieutenant Leaphorn,' the station secretary said. 'Do you want his home number?'
'It's 'Just call me mister' now,' Leaphorn said. 'And thanks, but I have it.'
'Wait a minute. Here he comes now.'
Leaphorn waited.
'I was just going to call you,' Chee said. 'We found the Jeep.' He gave Leaphorn the details.
'You said the tire tracks showed the sand was still wet when it got there?'
'Right.'
'So it got there after Kinsman was hit.'
'Right again. And probably not long after. It wasn't a very wet rain.'
'I guess it's too early to have anything much from the crime lab about prints or—' Leaphorn paused. 'Look, Lieutenant, I keep forgetting that I'm a civilian now. Just say no comment or something if I'm overstepping.'
Chee laughed. 'Mr. Leaphorn,' he said. 'I'm afraid you're always going to be Lieutenant to me. And they said they found a lot of prints everywhere matching the guy who stole the radio. But there was no old latent stuff in the obvious places. The steering wheel, gearshift knob, door handles—all those places had been wiped.
Very thoroughly.'
'I don't like the sound of that,' Leaphorn said. 'No,' Chee said. 'Either she's on the run and wanted to leave the impression she'd been abducted, or she actually was taken by someone who didn't want to be identified. Take your pick.'
'Probably number two if I had to guess. But who knows? And I guess it's way too early to know anything about the blood,' Leaphorn said. 'Way too early.'
'Is there any chance you could find any samples of Pollard's blood anywhere? Was she a blood bank donor? Or was she scheduled for any surgery that she'd stockpile blood for?'
'That was one reason I was about to call you,' Chee said. 'We can get next of kin and so forth from her employer, but it would be quicker to call that woman who hired you. Was it Vanders?'
Leaphorn provided the name, address and telephone number.
'I'm going to call her right now and tell her the Jeep was found and to expect a call from you,' Leaphorn added. 'Anything you've told me that you want withheld?' A moment of silence while Chee considered. 'Nothing I can think of,' he said. 'You know any reason we should?' Leaphorn didn't. He called Mrs. Vanders. 'Give me a moment to get ready for this,' she said. People who call early in the morning usually have bad news.'
'It might be,' Leaphorn said. 'The Jeep she was driving has been located. It had been abandoned in an arroyo about twenty miles from where she said she was going. There was no sign of an accident. But some dried blood was found on the passenger-side seat. The police don't know yet how long the blood was there, whether it was hers or where it came from.'
'Blood,' Mrs. Vanders said. 'Oh, my.'
'Dried,' Leaphorn said. 'Perhaps from an old injury, an old cut. Do you remember if she ever told you of hurting herself? Or of anyone being hurt in that vehicle?'
'Oh,' she said. 'I don't think so. I can't remember. I just can't make my mind work.'
'It's too early to worry,' Leaphorn said. 'She may be perfectly all right.' This was not the time to tell her the Jeep had been wiped clean of fingerprints. He asked her if Catherine might have been a blood bank donor, if she had scheduled any surgery for which she would have stockpiled blood. Mrs. Vanders didn't remember. She didn't think so.
'You'll be getting a call this morning from the officer investigating the case,' Leaphorn told her. 'A Lieutenant Jim Chee. He'll tell you if anything new has developed.'
'Yes,' Mrs. Vanders said. 'I'm afraid something terrible has happened. She was such a headstrong girl.'
'I'm going now to talk to Mr. Krause,' Leaphorn said. 'Maybe he can tell us something.'
Richard Krause was not in his temporary laboratory at Tuba City, but a note was thumbtacked to the door: 'Out mouse hunting. Back tomorrow. Reachable through Kaibito Chapter House.' Leaphorn topped off his gasoline tank and headed southwest—twenty miles of pavement on U.S. 160 and then another twenty on the washboard gravel of Navajo Route 21. Only three pickups rested in the Chapter House parking lot, and none of them belonged to the Indian Health Service. Discouraging news.
