Read Hillerman, Tony - [Leaphorn & Chee 04] for Free Online Page A

grandfather died of, too."
    "Dillon Charley? Yeah. That's what Mrs. Vines said."
    Becenti looked uneasy. He was old enough to have the traditions of the People worn deep into the grain, and one of the traditions was not to speak the name of the dead. The ghost might overhear and be summoned to the speaker.
    "Did you know Vines had Dillon Charley buried up at his house?" Chee asked.
    "I heard that," Becenti said. "White men sure got some weird customs."
    Especially their burial customs, Chee thought. He'd spent years among the whites, first at boarding school, then through enough years at the University of New Mexico to win a degree in anthropology, but he still couldn't fathom the attitude of whites toward the corpse.
    "You have any idea why Vines would want to bury Dillon Charley?" Chee asked.
    Becenti made a wry face. "Hell, no."
    "This Tomas Charley," Chee said. "You said he was crazy. Would he be crazy enough to get into Vines' house and steal a lockbox with keepsakes in it?"
    Becenti extracted the cigaret from between his lips and looked at Chee. "Did something like that happen?" he asked. "Why would he want to steal something like that? Vines and his woman are both big hunters. I understand either one of them would just as soon shoot somebody as not."
    "I heard that Tomas' grandfather thought Vines kept the luck of the Darkness People in that box," Chee said. "Maybe Tomas heard about that."
    Becenti nodded. "Okay, then. I'd say yes. That kid would be about crazy enough to break in to steal himself some luck."

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Chapter Six
    « ^ »
    T he spike on his desk the next morning held three pink "While You Were Out" slips. One told him to call Captain Leaphorn at the Chinle substation. The other two, one left over from yesterday, and one received just before he'd got to work, told him to call B. J. Vines. He put those aside and called the Chinle station. Leaphorn's business involved identifying a middle-aged Navajo killed in a truck-pedestrian accident. The captain wanted him to send someone to Thoreau to check with a family there. Chee added it to the afternoon assignment of Officer Dodge. Then he picked up the "Call B. J. Vines" slips, leaned back in his chair and considered them. Both were initialed "T.D." Trixie Dodge was at her desk across the room. He glanced at her. She looked grim this morning. Trixie, he suspected, should have written "Call Mrs. B. J. Vines." Vines wouldn't be back for weeks.
    "Hey, Trixie," he said. "You put down 'Call Vines' here. Wasn't the call from Mrs. Vines?"
    Trixie didn't look up. "Vines,", she said.
    "
Mr
. Vines?" Chee insisted.
    "It was a man. He said his name was B. J. Vines. He asked for you and then he asked you to call him at that number." Trixie's voice was patient.
    Chee dialed the number. It rang once.
    "Yes." The voice was male.
    "This is Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police. I have a note to call B. J. Vines."
    "Oh, good," the voice said. "I'm Vines. I'd like to talk to you about that little theft we had. Could you come out?"
    "When?"
    "Well," the voice said, "the sooner the better. I understand my wife talked to you about it and…" The voice paused and interjected a nervous laugh. "Well, there's some misunderstandings that need to be cleared up." The tone was ironic now. "There tends to be when Rosemary gets involved."
    "Okay," Chee said. "I'll be out there after lunch."
    "Good," Vines said. "Thanks."
    Chee marked the Thoreau assignment off Dodge's assignment sheet. It was on his way. He'd handle it himself.

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Chapter Seven
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    T he pueblo woman answered the doorbell and showed Chee into the predator room without a sign she'd ever seen him before. There was a man behind the glass-topped desk now—a small man with a round face made rounder by the great bush of iron-gray beard that surrounded it. The man pulled himself to his feet. "Ben Vines," he said, offering a small, hard hand. "Have a seat." Chee sat. So did Vines. The room was brighter now than it had been when