Dance of the Bones

“This daughter, Amanda Wasser, where is she?”


“Right here in Tucson. Turns out she’s lived here all her life. She works for the university—-at the library, I believe. She’s probably off this week since it’s spring break, but I doubt she’s out of town. I don’t believe she travels very much. As I said, she has health issues.”

“What kind of health issues?”

“The same thing her father has—-MS. I understand it’s hereditary.”

“Do you have a phone number for her?”

“Sure thing. Let me find it.”

“Do you know where she lives?”

“In a condo development off Speedway on the far side of Wilmot, the one with the dying golf course.”

It took a few moments before Junior dug up Amanda’s address and phone number. “Thanks,” Brandon said. “Now, could you do one more thing?”

“What’s that?”

“Let John Lassiter know that I’ll try to come see him, if not tomorrow then maybe the next day.”

“Good--o,” Junior Glassman replied. “I’ll get a message through to him right away. I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear you’re on board.”

SITTING IN LEO’S TRUCK, LANI dialed 911. After that, it was simply a matter of seeing who would arrive first, Law and Order—-the tribal police—-or someone from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. While they waited, Lani held her phone for a time, dreading and delaying the call she needed to make. Finally she pressed the button.

“Good morning,” Dan Pardee said cheerfully. “We’re having breakfast and wondering when we’d hear from you. Since the cat’s away, I made blueberry pancakes. Tell Mom how you like them.”

“Yummy,” she heard Micah crow in the background.

Lani sighed. This was not a conversation she could have on speaker with Angie and Micah hanging on her every word.

“I need to talk to you in private.”

“Sure,” Dan said. “Just a sec.” Lani heard the legs of his chair scrape on the floor. Then a moment later, a door slammed.

“I’m outside now,” he said, turning off the speaker. “I can tell from your voice that something’s wrong. What is it?”

“Gabe is fine, and so am I,” she said hurriedly, “but there was a shooting down by Rattlesnake Skull charco early this morning. It woke me up. When Leo came to get me, I had him stop and check. We found two dead men lying by the charco. Right now we’re waiting for the cops to arrive.”

“Wait,” Dan said. “You said Leo came to pick you up. Where’s Gabe?”

“We had an argument,” Lani admitted. “He stormed off the mountain, but don’t worry. He’s okay.”

“Don’t worry? Are you kidding? This whole campout idea was all about helping him, and you’re telling me the little shit went off and left you out there on your own?”

Hearing the anger in Dan’s voice, Lani glanced toward Leo, who was sitting stolidly in the driver’s seat, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

“It was fine,” Lani said, grateful her phone wasn’t on speaker, either. “I’m fine.”

An uncomfortable silence passed between Lani and Dan. The next admission would be the worst one, because of Dan’s words of warning the day before.

“The bad guys were firing automatic weapons,” she said finally. “I had my Glock, but up against whatever they were firing, it wouldn’t have been any more effective than a slingshot. You have every right to say I told you so, and plenty of reason to rub my nose in it all you want.”

There was another period of silence before Dan asked, “Any idea who the victims are?”

“We found a vehicle that might belong to one of the José boys, but Leo and I backed off without getting close enough to examine the bodies. Both victims had grocery bags over their heads.”

“Figures,” Dan muttered. “I heard Max was involved in some kind of smuggling operation.”