19
“Yes,” she said. “Yes? Mel? Where are you calling . . .” Leaphorn gave her a moment to complete the question. She didn’t.
“This is Joe Leaphorn,” he said. “I am calling for Mr.
Bork.”
Silence. Then: “Mel’s not here. I’m Mrs. Bork. What’s this about?”
“I have a letter from him,” Leaphorn said. “We knew each other years ago when we were in Washington. Both of us were students at the FBI Academy. He sent me a photograph and asked me to call him about it.”
“Photograph! Of that damned weaving. Was that it?” she asked. “He said he was going to send that to someone. The picture he cut out of that magazine?”
“Yes,” Leaphorn said. “He said he was going to check into it and—”
“You’re the policeman,” she said. “The Navajo cop. I remember now.”
“Well, actually I’m—”
“I need to talk to a policeman,” she said. “There’s been a threatening telephone call. And, well . . . I don’t know what to do.”
Leaphorn considered this, sucked in a deep breath.
Waited for a question. None came.
“Was the call about the picture?” he asked. “Threatening Mel about that weaving? Who was it? What did he say?”
“I don’t know,” Grace Bork said. “He didn’t say who he was. It was on the answering machine. A man’s voice, but I didn’t recognize it.”
“Don’t erase the tape,” Leaphorn said.
“I’ll let you hear it,” she said. “Hold on.” 20
TONY HILLERMAN
Leaphorn heard the sound of the telephone mouth-piece bumping against wood, then a sound remembered from the past: Bork’s recorded answering machine voice:
“Can’t come to the phone now. Leave a message.” Then a pause, a sigh, and another deeper male voice:
“Mr. Bork, I have some very serious advice for you. You need to get back to minding your own business. Stop trying to dig up old bones. Let those old bones rest in peace. You keep poking at ’em and they’ll jump out and bite you.” Silence. Then a chuckle. “You’ll be just a set of new bones.” The tape clicked off.
Mrs. Bork said, “What should I do?”
“That call came when?”
“I don’t know.”
“Has Mel heard it?”
“No. I guess it either came in after he left, or maybe he didn’t notice it on his answering machine. I think he would have said something about it if he’d heard it. And now I don’t know where he is. He’s been gone since the day before yesterday. I haven’t heard from him.” Grace Bork was beginning to sound distraught.
“He didn’t say where he was going?”
“Not specifically, he didn’t. He just told me he was going to find out where that rug in that picture came from. He had made a call to somebody—in an art gallery or museum, I think. I think he was going to meet the man he called. Or have lunch with him. I expected him back in time for dinner, and I’ve worried ever since. He just doesn’t do things like this. Just rush off and . . . and not call, or anything.” Mrs. Bork added that Mel had explained that this business with the carpet in that photograph reminded him of what he’d seen in an arson fire in which a THE SHAPE SHIFTER
21
man had been burned, and Leaphorn had talked to him about it when they were both at the FBI Academy.
“He seemed excited about that,” she said. “I’m worried. I’m really worried. He has a cell phone. Why doesn’t he call me?”
Leaphorn found himself remembering Louisa’s plea that he always keep a cell phone in his truck.
“Mrs. Bork,” he said, “first, take that tape out of the answering machine and put it somewhere safe. Take care of it. Does Mel always carry that cell phone with him?”
“He keeps one in his car. I’ve been calling it and calling it, but he doesn’t answer.”
“I presume your company has some contact with the Flagstaff police, or the sheriff’s people. Does Mel have anyone working with him in his investigative service who could help you?”
“Just a woman who keeps his books. She comes in to answer the phone when he’s away.”
“If you have a friend in law enforcement, I think you should call him and discuss this situation.”
“I called Sergeant Garcia last night. He said he didn’t think I should worry.”
Leaphorn checked his mental inventory of cops in the high, dry, mostly empty Four Corners Country.
“Is that the Garcia with the sheriff’s department there? Kelly Garcia, I think it is. Is he a friend?”
