“That old, obsolete map you gave him. The roads have been rerouted some in the years since that thing was drawn.”
“So why did Tommy tell you where he was going?” Leaphorn glanced over at Tommy, who was staring at him and looking very tense.
“You know,” Leaphorn said, “I think we should skip all the way back to the beginning where all this started.
That’s where you made your first mistake.”
“The beginning? Where do you think that would be, Lieutenant?”
“I know where it was for me,” Leaphorn said. “It was when you stole those two five-gallon cans of pinyon sap from Grandma Peshlakai.”
Delos was frowning. “Are you going all the way back to that fire at the trading post? How does that—” He stopped. “You’re stalling, Lieutenant. Remember what I promised you I’d do.” He aimed the pistol. “Was it the left leg you chose?”
“If you don’t believe that was a mistake, let me tell you another one. This one more serious.” Leaphorn stopped, grinning at Delos, trying desperately to think of some Delos error he could come up with.
THE SHAPE SHIFTER
255
“Make it fast, then,” Delos said. “I am losing—” Delonie emitted a sort of choking groan, and moved one of his legs.
The Delos pistol swerved from Leaphorn to Delonie.
He aimed it, carefully.
Then he raised the gun and focused on Tommy Vang.
“It seems your diagnosis of Mr. Delonie’s health was far too pessimistic, Tommy. And now you’ll have an opportunity to correct it.”
“I think his arm is hurting him,” Vang said. “The bone is broken. I think—”
“Stop thinking, Tommy. Pick up the rifle there. Now you have a chance to demonstrate that you are—just as I always tried to teach you—that you are good enough material to become one of the predator class.”
“Oh,” Tommy said.
“Pick it up,” Delos said.
Tommy picked up the 30-30, looked at it, looked at Delonie.
“Make sure it’s loaded,” Delos said.
“It is loaded.”
“Now remember what I taught you. When something has to be done, don’t hesitate thinking about it, simply decide the best way to do it and get it done immediately.
Here, for example, where do you shoot Mr. Delonie to save him from his pain, and you from your problem? I would suggest the center of his chest. But it is your choice.
You pick your place.”
Vang raised the rifle, swung it past Delonie’s body, and shot Delos in the chest.
Then, as Delos staggered backward, he shot him again.
22
The first step now for Leaphorn was to deal with Tommy Vang, who was standing at the edge of the porch, rifle dangling from his right hand, as pale and wan as his brown skin would allow, and looking totally stricken. Leaphorn stepped off the porch floor, took the rifle, tossed it away, and hugged him.
“Tommy, Tommy,” he said. “You did exactly what you had to do. You saved our lives. Saved not just Mr. Delonie, but me and yourself. He was going to kill us all. You saw that, didn’t you.”
“I guess Mr. Delos is dead,” Tommy said. “Did I kill Mr. Delos?”
“He is dead,” Leaphorn said, and hugged Tommy again. “We thank you for that.”
“I didn’t want to shoot anyone,” Tommy mumbled.
“Not even Mr. Delos.”
“Well, don’t feel bad about it,” Leaphorn said. “We are very proud of you. Mr. Delonie and I.” 258
TONY HILLERMAN
“But now . . . now what I do? What do I do?”
“First, you’ll help me get Mr. Delonie into the house there, and then we will bandage his arm and put a splint on it, and see about getting him some medical attention.
Then we’ll think about that.”
Getting Delonie into the house was no problem. As Delos had suspected, Delonie was not nearly as badly hurt as he’d been pretending. He stepped onto the porch, cushioning his broken arm with his good one, grimacing, and pausing a moment to look down at Delos.
