Dance of the Bones

A cloud of dust bloomed farther down the road as a vehicle turned off the highway and sped toward them, red lights flashing.

“Gotta go,” Lani said hurriedly. “The cops just showed up. I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

“I’m sure it’ll be a while,” Dan said. “Don’t worry. I’ll hold down the fort here. I’m just glad you’re safe.”





CHAPTER 15




YOU WILL REMEMBER, NAWOJ, MY friend, that after I’itoi divided the water and saved the Tohono O’odham, some of the Bad -People—-PaDaj O’odham—-escaped and went to live in the South. Now these bad -people were very lazy—-too lazy to plant their own fields. They would come to the lands of the Desert -People and steal their crops—-their wheat and corn, their pumpkins and melons. Each time they came, the Tohono O’odham fought the Bad -People and drove them away, but after a while when the food was gone and the Bad -People were hungry, they would come again.

By now the Tohono O’odham knew that they should put guards in their fields to protect their crops. One day near the village of Gurli Put Vo—-Dead Man’s Pond—-which the Milgahn call San Miguel, the corn was ready to harvest. That morning Hawani—-Crow—-was sitting in a tree and saw the Bad -People coming up out of the ground. Soon they were cutting down all the corn. Crow was so astonished that he called “Caw, Caw, Caw!” The -people in the village heard Crow’s warning. They came running and drove the Bad -People away.

That is why the Tohono O’odham are always kind to Thah O’odham—-the Flying -People—-and never let them go hungry or thirsty, because Crow sounded the alarm.

LANI WAS BOTH RELIEVED AND a little disappointed when the first officer to arrive on the scene was one of the Shadow Wolves shift supervisors, Henry Rojas. She was disappointed because she wanted to get through whatever interviewing she needed to do with the investigating officers. But she was also relieved because Henry was someone she knew. He was a Navajo who hailed from New Mexico, while his wife, Lucy, was a Tohono O’odham nurse who worked at the Sells Indian Hospital. Lani knew them both because they lived in the hospital housing complex.

“I understand there’s been a homicide,” Henry said.

“Two, actually,” Lani corrected.

It was hardly surprising that a Border Patrol vehicle was the first to arrive. Law enforcement agencies working on the reservation had the ability to monitor one another’s radio traffic. Due to the long distances involved, if an officer got into some kind of trouble, people from other agencies who happened to be in the area could respond and render assistance.

“Any idea who the victims are?”

“There’s a vehicle that may belong to one of the José brothers from Sells,” Lani answered, “but that’s just a guess on my part. We didn’t get close to the victims to attempt an identification because we didn’t want to disturb the crime scene. Instead, we called it in and came here to wait.”

“What made you even think to look there?” Henry asked.

“I heard gunshots during the night,” Lani said. “Leo’s son, Gabe, and I were camping out up on Kitt Peak. The shots seemed to be coming from somewhere down here, so we stopped to check.”

Henry looked questioningly at the backseat.

“Gabe’s not here,” Lani explained. “He got his nose out of joint and went home during the night.”

“Walked?”

Lani nodded.

“Stubborn kid,” Henry observed.

“You can say that again,” Leo added.

“Whereabouts are the victims?”

Leo gestured with his head. “Over there,” he said, “by the charco.”

“Mind if I take a look?”