long silences between them were not unusual. There was nothing in the older woman's placid countenance to warn Diana that a storm was coming.
'My nephew was here earlier,' Rita said at last. 'He came to give me some news.'
'Oh? What's that?'
'Carlisle.'
At the sound of the name, Diana's heart caught in her throat. ,what about him?'
'He's out.'
'When?'
'Friday. Already he has killed again.'
'No. Are you serious?'
Rita nodded. 'Fat Crack told me. They have arrested an Indian, but it was Carlisle who did it. He bit her.'
'My God,' Diana breathed. 'I'll have to get in touch with Detective Walker right away and let him know.'
'No,' Rita said. 'Detective Walker already tried with Carlisle, and he failed. Gina is dead. Your husband is dead, and now Carlisle is free.
We will not give Detective Walker another chance.'
'What are you saying?' Diana asked. She knew what Rita was thinking, but she didn't dare put it into words.
,,I remember what he said in the hallway,' Rita continued slowly.
'When the deputy's back was turned and when he thought no one else was looking. He said he would come for you, for us. Let him.'
'Let him? Do nothing and wait for him to come after us?'
Rita nodded. 'That's right. I have one very old friend who is a powerful medicine man. He and my nephew win help us.'
An involuntary shiver ran up and down Diana's spine.
'You're saying we should take care of Carlisle ourselves?'
'Yes.'
'But how can we when we don't even know where he is?'
'He will come to us. We must let him.'
'And then what?'
Rita considered her words carefully before she spoke.
'The Tohono, O'othham only kill to eat or in self-defense. If Carlisle comes after us, then it is self-defense, isn't it?'
It wasn't as though Rita Antone was attempting to talk Diana Ladd into something she had never considered on her own. Selling the idea wasn't necessary. For almost seven years now, Diana had longed to throttle Andrew Carlisle with her bare hands.
'How do we find him?' Diana asked.
'We don't,' Rita answered. 'Windmill doesn't go looking for Wind Man.
Neither will we. While we wait for him to come, we have much to do.'
Chapter Twelve
IT IS SAID that long ago a young woman from the Desert People fell in love with a young Hiakim, a Yaqui, Indian went to live with his family far to the south. The mother of the girl, Old White-Haired Woman, loved her daughter very much and missed her. Every evening she would go out to the foothills and call to her daughter's spirit, and every night there was an answer. One night, though, she heard nothing. IVY That night she went to her husband and said, daughter needs me. I must go to her.'
Her husband, who was also old and lame besides, shook his head. 'You are a bent old woman, and the Hiakim live far from here. How will you find your way?'
'The Little People will help me,' she said. So the next morning she got up and called to Ali Chu Chum O'othham, the Little People, in their own language, for old White-Haired Woman still remembered how to speak to them. As soon as they heard her call, the, animals came right away.
'What do you want, Old Mother?' the Little People asked.
'My daughter's spirit is calling me from far away in the land of the Hiakim. I must go to her, but I am old and do not know the way 'We will help you, Old Mother. We will help you go to your daughter.'
And so the birds brought Old White-Haired Woman seeds and grain to eat along the way. The bees brought her honey, and Coyote, who had once been in the land of the Hiakim, guided her footsteps. After many, many days, they reach the village where Old White-Haired Woman's daughter lived with her husband and her baby, but the bent old woman found that her daughter was very sick.
'Mother,' the girl told Old White-Haired Woman, 'my husband's people are waiting for me to die so they can take my baby off into the mountains and teach him to be a warrior. I want you to take him back home to the Tohono O'othham, so he can grow up to be kind and gentle.
You must leave tonight. Tomorrow will be too late.'
Old White-Haired Woman was tired and wanted to rest, but she knew her daughter was right. Late that day,
