Kinsman found him burying the woman, about Woody's desperate sickness. She listened without a word. 'Mickey was just on television announcing the murder charge against your client is being dropped,' Chee said. 'Nothing left now but the 'poaching an endangered species' charge. It's a second offense, done while on probation for the first one. But under the circumstances I'd imagine the judge will just sentence Jano to the time he's already spent locked up waiting for the big trial.'
Janet was looking at her hands folded on the table in front of her. 'Nothing left but that,' she said. 'That and the wreckage.'
He waited for an explanation. None came. She simply looked at him quizzically.
'Let me get you a cup,' Chee said. He pushed back his chair, but she shook her head. 'I got your call about the eagle being tested,' Chee said. 'I intended to call you back, but things got too busy. How did it come out? Mickey made it sound like they found blood.'
'It doesn't matter now, does it?'
'Well, sure,' Chee said. 'It would be nice to know Mr. Jano wasn't lying to us.'
'I haven't seen the report yet,' Janet said.
He sipped his coffee, watching her. The ball was in her court.
She took a deep breath.
'Jim. How long had you known about this Woody? That he'd killed Kinsman?'
'Not very long,' Chee said, wondering where this was leading.
'Before you told me about catching the eagle?'
'No. Not until this morning.' She looked down at her hands again. Calculating all this, he thought. Adding it up. Searching for a conclusion. She found it.
'I want to know why you told me you'd taped Reynald's telephone call.'
'Why not?'
'Why not!' The anger showed in her face as well as her voice. 'Because as you certainly knew I am a sworn officer of the court in this case. You tell me you have committed a crime.' She threw up her hands. 'What did you think I would do?'
Chee shrugged.
'No. Don't just kiss it off. I'm serious. You must have had a reason for telling me. What did you think I would do?'
Chee considered that. By traditional Navajo ethical standards he wouldn't be required to tell the absolute truth unless she asked the question a fourth time. This was time two.
'I thought you'd either push the FBI to get the eagle tested or you'd handle it yourself.'
'That's not what I meant. What would I do about the taped call? And for that matter about the agent in charge asking you to destroy evidence.'
'I thought the information would be useful. Give you leverage if you needed it,' Chee said, thinking: That's the third time.
She stared at him, sighed. 'You're not good at pretending to be naive, Jim. I know you too well. You had a reason—'
Chee held up his hand, ending this just short of the fourth question. Why make her ask it? He spoke carefully.
'I thought you would go to Mickey and tell him that you had learned Jano's first eagle had been caught, that the FBI declined to test it on grounds that it would be a waste of time and money and had ordered the eagle disposed of. I presumed that if you did this, Mickey would tell you he agreed with the FBI. He would suggest that you, a rookie member of the federal justice family, should be part of the team and drop the issue. Then you would either agree or you would defy Mickey and tell him you would have the eagle tested yourself.'
He paused, then drew a deep breath, looked away.
Janet waited.
Chee sighed. 'Or you might start by telling Mickey that you had become aware of a potential risk to the case. The Navajo Police had caught the eagle, the FBI agent representing Mickey had ordered it destroyed and the telephone call during which he had done this had been taped. Therefore you would urgently recommend that he order the first eagle tested immediately and make the results public.'
Janet's face was flushed. She looked away from him, shook her head, looked back.
'And what would I say when Mickey asked who had made this unauthorized felonious tape? And what would I tell the grand jury when Mickey called it to investigate?'
'He wouldn't call a grand jury,' Chee said. 'That would drag Reynald in, Reynald would pass the buck back to Mickey, and then Mickey's political hopes are down the tube. Besides, he'd have no trouble at all figuring out who taped the telephone call.'
'And you certainly knew that. So what did you do? You deliberately wrecked your career in law enforcement. You put me in an intolerable position. What happens if there is a grand jury? What do I testify?'
'You'd have to tell the simple truth. That I had told you I had illegally taped Reynald's call. But Mickey will never call the jury.'
'And what if he doesn't? There's still the fact that you admitted a felony to me and I, also an officer of the court, failed in my duty to report it.'
'And the FBI knows you failed to report it. But the FBI knew it, too, and didn't report it either.'
