found one on his wrist, and disposed of it.
Leaphorn handed him the list. Krause put on a pair of bifocals and studied it. 'Kools,' he said. 'Cathy didn't smoke so those must be from somebody else.'
'I think it notes they were old,' Leaphorn said. 'Could have been there for months.'
'Two shovels?' Krause said. 'Everybody carries one for the digging we do. Wonder why she had the other one?'
'Let me see it,' Leaphorn said, and took the list. Under 'on floor behind front seat' it listed 'long-handled shovel.' Under 'rear luggage space,' it also listed 'long-handled shovel.'
'Maybe a mistake,' Krause said, and shrugged.
'Listing the same shovel twice.'
'Maybe,' Leaphorn said, but he doubted it. 'And here,' Krause said. 'What the hell was she doing with this?' He pointed to the rear luggage space entry, which read: 'One small container of gray powdery substance labeled 'calcium cyanide.''
'Sounds like a poison,' Leaphorn said. 'It damn sure is,' Krause said. 'We used to use it to clean out infected burrows. You blow that dust down it and it wipes out everything. Pack rats, rattlesnakes, burrowing owls, earthworms, spiders, fleas, anything alive. But it's dangerous to handle. Now we use the pill. It's phostoxin, and we just put it in the ground at the mouth of a burrow and it gets the job done.'
'So where would she get this cyanide stuff?'
'We still have a supply of it. It's on a shelf back in our supply closet.'
'She'd have access to it?'
'Sure,' Krause said. 'And look at this.' He pointed to the next entry: ''Air tank with hose and nozzle.' That's what we used to use to blow the cyanide dust back into the burrow. It was in the storeroom, too.'
'What do you think it means—her having that in the Jeep?'
'First, it means she was breaking the rules. She doesn't take that stuff out without checking with me and explaining what she wants it for, and why she's not using the phostoxin instead. And second, she wouldn't be using it unless she wanted to really sterilize burrows. Zap 'em. Something big like prairie dogs. Not just to kill fleas.' He returned the list to Leaphorn. 'Anything else on there you'd wonder about?'
'No, but there's something that should be on that list that isn't. Her PAPR.'
'You always have that with you?'
'No, but you'd damn sure have it if you were going ; to use that calcium cyanide dust.' Krause made a wry face. 'They say the warning is you smell almonds, but the trouble is, by the time you smell it, it's already too late.'
'Not something you'd use casually then.' Krause laughed. 'Hardly. And before I forget it, I found that note Cathy left me. Made a copy for you.' He fished out his wallet, extracted a much-folded sheet of paper, and handed it to Leaphorn. 'I don't see anything helpful on it, though.' The note was written in Pollard's familiar semi-legible scrawl:
'Boss—Heard stuff about Nez infection at Flag. Think we've been lied to. Going to Yells Back, collect fleas and find out—Will fill you in on it when I get back. Pollard.'
Leaphorn looked up from the note at Krause, who was watching his reaction, looking penitent.
'Knowing what I know now, I can see I should have got worried quicker when she didn't get back. But, hell, she was always doing things and then explaining later. If at all. For example, I didn't know where she was the day before. She didn't tell me she was driving down to Flag. Or why.' He shrugged, shook his head. 'So I just thought she'd gone tearing off somewhere else.'
'I wonder why she didn't tell you she was quitting,' Leaphorn said.
Krause stared at him. 'I don't think she was. Did she tell her aunt why?'
'I gather it was something about you.'
Krause had spent too many summers in the sun to look pale. But he did look tense.
'What about me?'
'I don't know,' Leaphorn said. 'She didn't get specific.'
'Well, we never did get along very well,' Krause said, and began putting his equipment in the truck. The legend on his sweat-soaked T-shirt said, SUPPORT SCIENCE:
HUG A HERPETOLOGIST.
Chapter Twenty-six
TWO TELEPHONE NOTES were stuck on his spindle when Chee got to his office. One was from Leaphorn, asking Chee to call him at his motel. The second was from Janet Pete. It said: 'The eagle's being tested today. Please call me.'
Chee wasn't quite ready for that. He dialed Leaphorn's number first. Yesterday the Legendary Lieutenant had wanted to show Krause the list of stuff found in the Jeep. Maybe that had developed into something.
'You had breakfast?' Leaphorn asked.
'I'm not much for eating breakfast,' Chee said. 'What's on your mind?'
'How about joining me for coffee then at the motel diner? I want to go back out to Yells Back Butte. Can you get away? I think I should have an officer along.'
An officer along! 'Oh,' Chee said. He felt elation, quickly tinged with a little disappointment. The Legendary
