I Shall Not Want

took the van and drove off, and as soon as they were gone, Izzy was on the phone with somebody. Then the next thing I know, this chrome-flap Hummer pulls in the yard and Izzy's out the door.'

'And that worried you because-?'

'There were Mexicans in it! I almost went and grabbed a gun, 'cause Dad said we ever see another Mexican on our land, we better shoot to kill!'

'But she went with them? Voluntarily?' Could they be some of Janet's men? No. That made no sense. There was only one group of Latinos interested in the Christies. 'When was this?'

'Just a bit before you showed up. That's why I was being so careful and all.'

'Do you know which way they went?'

Porsche stepped onto the porch. She leaned over the railing and pointed to where the open pasture rose into a stretch of woods. It was just visible in the gap between house and barn. 'Up that way. There's a sort of a road up into the mountain, leads to the high meadows. Same way Dad and the others went.'

'They're all up there? Together?' Jesus wept! This mental midget is who Russ almost died for? Clare passed her hand over her face. That was unworthy. 'Porsche.' She tried to project patience. 'Do you have a phone I could use?'

XXVI

'Chief? You awake?'

'Mmm? C'mon in, Kevin.' He opened his eyes. He'd been drifting, not dozing, wrapped in a warm Percocet-flavored cloud. He wanted to dial down the dosage this morning, to take back some small measure of control over his life, but by the time the nurse got around to him, he needed those two little pills rattling around in the plastic cup more than he wanted any sort of self-sufficiency.

Kevin's face came into view. 'Hey.' The kid smiled down at him like a proud dad looking over a newborn. Which, until he got the okay to get up to pee, wasn't too far off the mark. 'Wow. It's sure great to see you.'

None of the hospital staff had told him, yet, how close he had come to checking out. The heart surgeon and the orthopedic surgeon and the internist had gone over the technical aspects; right lung, pericardium, hip joint; the bottom line was he was going to be lying here, hurting, for a long time. After that, he'd be in rehab, hurting, for another long time. But no one said, You nearly died. He was learning that from his visitors' faces.

'Not as great as it is to see you,' he said, getting a laugh. 'What's happening at the station?' Kevin obliged his weak lungs by taking over the conversation at that point, rattling on in his usual Energizer Bunny way, allowing Russ to float in and out of awareness, until he connected the words twenty-two and ballistics test and confirmation. 'What?' he said. 'Go back.'

'The ballistics test matched up one of the Christies' twenty-twos with the bullet that killed John Doe number one.'

'We didn't have a warrant for their twenty-twos.'

'Since there were multiple shootings from several firearms in the incident where you… you…'

'Got shot.'

'… the state required ballistics tests on all possible weapons. MacAuley figured that ought to include all the available guns in the Christie house.'

'Did he, now?' It hurt to smile, but in a good way.

'Well, as he said, how did we know the Punta Diablo guys didn't use one of the Christie guns and then replace it? Of course, there's no way of telling who might've used it, but it gives us something to hang our hats on.' That last phrase was pure Lyle.

There was a knock at the door. Kevin turned, and from his prone position in the bed, Russ could see the slice of his face where his smile cut out.

'Oh,' the kid said. 'Hi.'

'Am I interrupting?' Russ could hear Hadley but not see her.

'No, I was just-'

'Because I can-'

Russ hoisted one hand to a ninety-degree angle with the bed. His exercise for the day. 'I think I can stand the excitement of both of you.'

'I don't know if you can stand this excitement.' Hadley replaced Kevin at the bedside rail. 'Look at this.' She dangled an 11-by-14-inch evidence bag over his bed. It contained a kid's composition book. 'I know I should've taken it straight in, but I wanted you to see it before it goes to CADEA.'

Kevin got it first. 'Is this it?' He leaned over her shoulder. 'The dealer list?'

Hadley looked at him, lit up like the Fourth of July. 'It is.'

'Oh, man. CADEA will be shining their noses on our backsides for this.' Kevin grinned at her. They bumped fists together, something Russ would look like an ass doing; then there was a confusion of looking down and stumbling around, and next thing Russ knew the notebook had dropped onto his bed and his two youngest officers were a good five feet apart, so he had to crane his neck to see both of them. Hadley launched into an account of how the thing came into her hands, word-spinning as much as Kevin was prone to do. The part about Amado-Octavio-Amado clicked for him-that was why the boy had been so nervous during questioning-and he brushed past her apologies for handling the notebook without gloves on-'I didn't have them in my pocket, Chief, because I was just there to translate.' He threw the brakes on when she said she let Amado-the real Amado-go. After he'd just proven he'd been in possession of the Punta Diablo's distribution list.

'I thought it would be okay, Chief. Reverend Clare promised to bring him to the station after they'd spoken to Isabel Christie.'

Clare. Godamighty. He was going to have to get out of this hospital a lot faster than predicted, or she'd be running the damn force.

Kevin's phone rang. 'Sorry.' He checked the number. Flipped it open. 'Kevin here.' Harlene, he mouthed. 'No, I'm visiting the chief.' Hadley shut up. 'What?' Kevin said. He glanced at her. 'Yeah. I will. Hadley's right here with me, I'll tell her.'

He closed the phone. Looked at Hadley. 'Reverend Clare called from the Christies'. A group of Latinos in a Hummer just picked up the sister and went up the mountain after the brothers. We gotta hurry. She said'-he looked at Russ for the first time, as if he just remembered he was lying there-'she's going up after them.'

XXVII

Branches twisted and whipped at the windshield. Clare gripped the steering wheel and eased off the acceleration as her Subaru humped over another kidney-jarring tree root. How far did this goat path go? How far did they dare drive? The last thing she wanted to do was burst onto the scene like a clown car driving into a circus ring. 'Amado…?'

He leaned forward in the passenger seat as if the extra inches would help him see their destination. 'Isobel,' he said, in an unarguable voice. 'We go help.'

From the moment she had conveyed, in Spanglish and sign, who Isabel Christie was with, Amado had been dead set on following her. She couldn't let him go alone, she argued to a mental tribunal consisting of her bishop and Russ. It wouldn't have been-

Consistent was the bishop's word.