The Wailing Wind

Denton seemed not to hear.

'Police,' Chee shouted. 'Drop that pistol.'

Chee had his own pistol cocked. He was aware of Bernie standing beside him.

Denton stood up, faced Chee, his pistol came up.

Chee leaped against Bernie, knocked her out of the doorway. His momentum slammed him into the door-jamb, the flashlight fell from his numbed arm. He found himself on his knees, still gripping his own pistol.

In the bunker he saw Denton standing, illuminated by Leaphorn's flashlight. No pistol visible now.

'He's all right,' Leaphorn shouted. 'Come on in.'

Chee walked down the floor, pistol pointed. Bernie had recovered his flashlight and was walking with him, the light focused on Denton.

'Wiley,' Leaphorn said. 'Hand your pistol over to Sergeant Chee. You don't need it now.'

Denton pulled the pistol out of the waistband of his trousers. 'Take it,' he said, and handed it to Chee.

'And the letter,' Leaphorn said. 'Let me keep that for you. You'll always want it.'

Denton handed Leaphorn the letter, turned away from Chee, and put his arms behind his back.

'Mr. Denton,' Chee said. 'I arrest you for the murder of Thomas Doherty. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. Anything you say may be used against you.'

'Oh!' Bernie exclaimed. 'What did you do to your arm? It's bleeding.'

'Banged it on the doorjamb,' Chee said. 'I'll take Mr. Denton out to the car and call this in.' He was looking at Linda on her cardboard resting place. 'Send an ambulance, I guess.' He tugged at Denton's sleeve.

'Just a minute,' Denton said, and turned to Leaphorn. 'Let me read that last part again.'

Leaphorn looked at Denton's hands, cuffed behind his back, said: 'I'll read it to you.'

'No. You don't need to do that,' Denton said. 'I can remember every word of it.'

In the reflected light of the flash, Leaphorn's face looked old and exhausted. 'Wiley,' he said, 'remember something else, too. Remember you didn't want this to happen. Remember this was because of a lot of misunderstanding.'

'I'm remembering something else, too. That remark you made to me about Shakespeare. I asked the woman at the library about Othello, and she got me a copy. He was just about as stupid as me. But with me, I didn't have someone egging me on. I did it to myself. Looking for a treasure when I already had one.'

'Come on,' Chee said, and he and Wiley walked through the darkness toward the brilliant sunlight of the open door.

Bernie had been staring down at the body. She shook her head and turned away. 'It's hard to believe this,' she said. 'She starved to death here in the dark. It's just too awful. What was McKay doing? Using her as a hostage, I guess. But why didn't Mr. Denton come and get her? What happened?'

'Denton shot McKay before he had time to tell him where he was holding Linda. Denton said he didn't believe any of it,' Leaphorn said. 'Don't you think we should get out of here?'

'What did Linda say?' Bernie asked, pointing to the paper in Leaphorn's hand. 'Could I read it?'

Leaphorn didn't answer that.

'I guess not,' she said. 'But could you tell me whether she was angry?'

'I guess you would say it was a love letter,' Leaphorn said. 'She apologized for introducing McKay to Denton, said she didn't know McKay was an evil man. She said that since Denton hadn't come for her, she was afraid McKay had killed him, and he would never then be able to read her letter. But she would slip off into dreams now and then, and she would dream of Denton being in a hospital, recovering. If he did, she knew he would come and she would try to stay alive until then. And if she failed him again, she wanted him to know that she always loved him and that she was sorry.'

Leaphorn turned off the flashlight. He didn't want to see Bernie's face.

'She was sorry,' Bernie said in a choked voice. 'She said she was sorry?'

The reflected light from the doorway showed Leaphorn that Bernie's eyes were wet. Time to change the subject.

'What happened to Jim's arm?'

'Oh,' she said. 'When he saw Denton holding that pistol, he jumped into me. He knocked me out of the doorway.'

'Hurt you?'

'No, it didn't hurt me,' Bernie said, her tone indignant. 'He was trying to protect me.'

'I think we need to get out into the sunshine,' Leaphorn said.

'I should stay,' Bernie said. 'I'm on duty. Stay with the body until the crime scene crew gets here.'

'I'll stay with you then,' Leaphorn said. 'Aren't you concerned about the chindi? Linda's ghost would have been locked in here with no way out.'

'Lieutenant Leaphorn,' Bernie said. 'Haven't you forgotten? When one dies, their good goes with them. Only the bad is left behind to form the ghost. I doubt if Linda Denton left much of a chindi.'