J. Jance - Kiss the Bees

Julia Joaquin nodded.

"How can you call it a sickness? Somebody hit him in the back with a shovel!"

"Turtle Sickness-paralysis-comes from being rude," she explained firmly. "My brother-in-law has always been a very rude man."

Just then Delia Cachora returned to the waiting room. "Aunt Julia told you what you needed to know?" she asked.

Dan Leggett nodded. "She certainly did," he said.

Gabe stood up and took Julia Joaquin's hand in his. "I'm glad the ant-bit child wasn't there."

Julia nodded. "I am, too," she said.

"Ant-bit child?" Delia Cachora asked. "What are we talking about now?" She seemed almost as puzzled about that as Dan Leggett was about Turtle Sickness.

Julia Joaquin turned to her niece. "There was an old blind medicine man, years ago, who was always telling people that an ant-bit child would someday show up on the reservation and that she would grow up to be a powerful medicine woman."

Delia glanced warily at Detective Leggett. "Aunt Julia," she cautioned, but Julia Joaquin disregarded the warning.

"Kulani O'oks,"she continued. "She was the woman who was kissed by the bees. Looks At Nothing said the ant-bit child would be just like her, that she would save people, not harm them, not even someone like Manny."

"Thank you," Gabe Ortiz said to Julia. "I'm sure you're right."

The tribal chairman left then. Dan Leggett handed Delia Cachora a business card. "I'd appreciate it if you'd keep us posted on your father's condition," he said. "In the meantime, Deputy Fellows and I will head back out to the department to see if there's anything else we can do."

The two officers left the waiting room together. Once outside, Dan Leggett stopped long enough to light a cigar. "So Lani Walker's supposed to be a medicine woman when she grows up," he said. "That one takes the cake. Have you ever heard anything like it in your life?"

As the cloud of smoke ballooned around Detective Leggett's head, Brian Fellows realized there was a certain olfactory resemblance between that and wiw — the wild tobacco Looks At Nothing had always used in his evil-smelling, hand-rolled cigarettes. The smell brought back a string of memories, including Rita Antone saying much the same thing Julia Joaquin had just said, that Davy's new baby sister would one day grow up to be a medicine woman. It came as no surprise to him that Looks At Nothing would have been the original source of that story, and it hardly mattered that the old medicine man had been dead for years before Lani Walker came to live in the house in Gates Pass.

"Actually, I have," Brian Fellows said. "I've heard it before from any number of people."

"The medicine-woman part?"

Brian nodded.

With the cigar now lit, Dan Leggett waved the flaming match in the air until the fire went out. "And you believe it?" Dan asked.

"As a matter of fact I do," Brian Fellows said.

With a quizzical frown on his face, Detective Leggett stared hard at the young deputy. "I think you're all nuts," he said at last. "From the tribal chairman right on down."

After laboring up the steep mountainside for what seemed forever, Mitch finally parked the Bronco in a grove of mesquite. By the time Lani reached the truck, Quentin and Mitch were both outside, with Quentin directing Mitch as they placed several pieces of camouflaged canvas from the back of the Bronco over the top of the vehicle.

Quentin was still none too steady on his feet, but he was clearly proud of his ability to plan ahead. "This way, nobody will be able to spot it," he said. "Not from down below, and not from up above, either."

"Great," Mitch said. "Which way now?"

"Up here," Quentin said. He staggered off across the brush-covered slope, somehow managing to stay upright. "The entrance is hard enough to spot during the daylight, but don't worry. We'll find it."

"You go next," Mitch ordered, shoving Lani forward behind Quentin. "I'll bring up the rear."

For what seemed like a very long time, the three of them clambered single-file on a diagonal up and across the flank of mountain. Mitch and Quentin both carried flashlights, but they opted to leave them off, for fear lights on the mountain might attract unwanted attention. Instead, the trio accomplished the nighttime hike with only the moon to light the path. After half an hour or so, Quentin suddenly disappeared. One moment he was there in front of Lani, the next he was gone. Looking down the side of the mountain, she expected to see him falling to his death. Instead, his unseen hand reached out and grabbed hers.

"In here," Quentin said, dragging her into what looked like an exceptionally deep shadow. "It's this way."

Only when she was right there in front of it was Lani able to see Quentin crouching just inside a three-foot-wide hole in the mountain. "Watch yourself," he added. "For the next fifteen yards or so we have to do this on hands and knees."

Plunged into total darkness, Lani crawled forward into the damp heart of the mountain. At first she could feel walls on either side of her, but eventually the space opened up and the rocks underneath gave way to slimy mud. A light flickered behind her and was followed by the scraping of someone else coming through the tunnel. Moments later Mitch emerged, flashlight in hand. Standing up, he shone the light around them. When he did so, Lani was dumbfounded.

They were standing in the middle of a huge, rough-walled limestone cavern with spectacular bubbles of rock surging up from the floor and with curtains of rock flowing down from above. The place was utterly still. Other than their labored breathing, the only sound inside the cavern was the steady drip of water.

Dolores Lanita Walker had grown up hearing stories of Elder Brother and how he spent his summers in the sacred caves on Ioligam. Rita had taught her that the Desert People, sometimes called the People With Two Houses, were called that because they had two homes-a winter one on the flat and a cooler summer one high up in the mountains. It made sense then that I'itoi, the Tohono O'othham' s beloved Elder Brother, would do much the same thing. In the winter he was said to live on Baboquivari-Grandfather Place Mountain. But in the summertime he was said to come to Ioligam — Manzanita Mountain.

Lani had spent all her life being told that caves like this were both dangerous and sacred; that they were places to be avoided. Now, though, looking around at the towering, ghostly walls, lit by the feeble probing of Mitch's flashlight, Lani Walker felt no fear.

She felt not the slightest doubt that this was a sacred, holy place. And since it was summer, no doubt I'itoi was somewhere nearby. That made this a perfectly good place to die.

By the time David Ladd emerged from the bathroom shaved, showered, and dressed, Candace's suitcases were zipped shut and stacked beside the door. Candace herself was on the phone with her sister, Bridget.

"Thanks, Bridge," Candace was saying. "You know I wouldn't ask you if it weren't an emergency. And yes, we'll let you know what's going on as soon as we know exactly what it is… Sure, that'll work. We'll leave the parking receipt in an envelope for you at the front desk," she said. "Just drive the Jeep home. We'll make arrangements to come get it later."

While Davy finished throwing the few things he had brought to the room into his small bag, Candace gave him a quick thumbs-up, all the while staying tuned to the telephone conversation.

"Sure I know Mom will kill me," Candace replied. "But another wedding like yours would kill Dad, so there you are… No, we don't need a ride to O'Hare. I've already called for a cab. It'll be here in a few minutes, so I'd better go. Tell Larry thanks for being so understanding about me waking you up at this ungodly hour."

"You'd better decide what you're going to leave and what you're going to take," David suggested when Candace put down the phone.