Dance of the Bones

GABE DID NOT LIKE AGENT Howell. She was blond and smelled like some kind of flower, but there was something mean about her. If she was from the FBI, why wasn’t she out looking for Lani instead of sitting here asking him stupid questions?

With his parents flanking him, Gabe had told Agent Howell everything he knew: about Tim leaving the diamond-laced pea-nut butter jar with him for safekeeping; about how Henry had burst into the house looking for it sometime that morning; about waking up in the box with Tim next to him; about how the two of them had managed to get free of their bonds, if not free from the box.

“But how did you know the José family was involved in smuggling diamonds?” Agent Howell insisted.

As far as Gabe knew, the four diamonds he had taken from the peanut butter jar were still hidden in the pocket of his jeans. Gabe had almost died for those diamonds. I’itoi had told him they were his, and he didn’t want to give them up.

“I saw one,” he said. “I couldn’t see what was so important about a jar of peanut butter, so I took out a spoonful and spotted one of the diamonds.”

Gabe had actually seen more than one of the stones, but that was a lie he could live with.

“You’re sure you had no idea about the diamonds before that?”

“Agent Howell,” Delia Ortiz said firmly before Gabe had a chance to reply. “This interview is over.”

“But—-”

“Gabe has explained that he was helping a friend without the slightest idea of what was really going on. It sounds as if you’re coming dangerously close to accusing my son of being actively involved in a smuggling operation, so the next time you speak to him, it will be in the presence of our attorney. In the meantime, I suggest you get the hell out of his room and start doing the rest of your job, like tracking Dr. Walker--Pardee, for instance.”

Gabe looked at his mother in surprise. He had never before heard her use her tribal chairman tone of voice outside of council meetings, not even when she was angry. He looked back at Agent Howell. She seemed poised to voice an objection, but then thought better of it.

“Yes, ma’am,” she said, slapping her notebook shut. “We’re on it.”

Gabe waited until Agent Howell left the room before turning to his mother. “This is all my fault, isn’t it? If I hadn’t walked off the mountain . . .”

“Hush,” Delia said, hugging him close. “None of this is your fault.”

“Mr. Rojas was going to kill us, wasn’t he?”

“Yes,” Delia said. “I believe he was.”

“And now he’s going to kill Lani.”

“I hope not,” Delia said.

Gabe was silent for a moment. “Where are my clothes?” he asked. “There’s something in the pocket that I need to have.”

“Those clothes are filthy,” Delia objected, but Leo was already on his feet.

“They’re out in the tow truck,” he said. “I’ll go get them.”

Leo left the room and returned a few minutes later carrying a black plastic yard waste bag. When Gabe opened it, the stench was enough to make him gag and set his eyes watering, but he found the jeans and gingerly extracted the four diamonds.

“What are those?” his mother asked, eyeing his closed fist.

“They’re my divining crystals,” Gabe said. “I need them.”